Every day for two weeks, we send beauty writer and punishment sucker Lindsay MacAdam to one Toronto fashion show. She’ll go backstage to get step-by-step instructions from a makeup pro, then follow them herself, delivering each time a verdict: do, or don’t, try this look at home. At Pink Tartan, models channel ‘60s bombshell Brigitte Bardot after a wild night on the town and between the sheets.
At the show: This season’s Pink Tartan girls were oozing that late-‘60s, early-‘70s feel, best encompassed by Franaise beauty Brigitte Bardot. The look was flirty and bit rough-around-the-edges, like when you roll out of bed after a big night out, with day-old makeup that you neglected to wash off and your once-soft curls that somehow look better today as a tousled mess.
To create what he called “dirty bedroom hair,” Eric Del Monaco, Official Hair Artist and Colourist for L’Oral Paris Canada, split the hair into 12 sections—six at the back and three on each side—and used a large-barrel curling iron to create subtle movement. He grabbed the hair with the curling iron around half way down the length, gave it one twist, held it for 10 seconds and then let go. Right before curling each section, he lightly misted the hair with L’Oral Paris Elnett Satin Hairspray to ensure a longer hold. If you’re anything like me, using hairspray before a hot tool is anxiety-inducing, but Del Monaco assures me that it’s a stylist-approved technique: “If you hear a singeing sound and there’s some smoke, that’s not the hair burning, that’s just the product evaporating.” Good to know.
Now, to make the hair look properly sexed, the secret was Studio Line Special FX Architect Texturizing Wax. Del Monaco took a small amount of wax, emulsified it between his hands and fingers, and then flipped the model’s head upside down before rubbing the product into the hair.
The makeup was all about eyes and brows. After evening out the skin with foundation, concealer and powder, Eddie Malter, Official Make-up Artist for L’Oral Paris Canada, contoured the cheeks and warmed up the skin tone using a light bronzer. Lips were muted with foundation and polished with Colour Riche Le Gloss in “Naturally Nude,” and brows were enhanced and darkened using Infallible Eyeliner. For the eyes, L’Oral’s La Couleur Infallible Eye Shadow in “Flashback Silver” was applied into the crease of the eyelid and swept upwards, leaving the lower part of the eyelid bare. To create that ‘60s cat-eye look, Malter used Lineur Intense Brush Tip in “Black” along the entire upper lash line and the outer corner of the lower lash line, and he winged it up just a little. To finish the look, he added his favourite (discontinued) multi-purpose product, Studio Secrets Professional Eye Shadow Single in “Morning Light” to highlight the brow bone and the inner eye corner, and L’Oral’s Voluminous False Fiber Lashes Mascara amped up that old Hollywood feel.
At home: I can safely assume that by now, you’re all experts at creating a natural dewy base and bare-looking lips, since that’s been done in nearly every show this season. So yeah, that. For eyes, since I don’t have the “Flashback Silver” eye shadow, I combined the silvery-blue “All Made Up” shadow from the Denis Gagnon for Lancme Parisian Nights palette with the Infallible Eye Shadow in “Hourglass Beige.” I applied both colours into the crease of my eyelid and blended upward, then used the Yves Saint Laurent Palette Metallic Colorama to highlight under the brow and the inner corner of the eye. Since liquid liners are far less forgiving than pencils or creams, I used an angled brush and Smashbox Cream Eye Liner in “Caviar” to line the eye and create the wing tip. Finally, two coats of False Fiber Lashes Mascara pulled everything together.
Verdict: DO try this at home, but save it for a hot night out—or in. Personally, I’d take both the brows and the eye shadow down a few notches to make it a little more wearable and a little less Kat Von D.
