Beauty snippets: The Bling Ring, Jean-Louis Sebagh, Lisa Eldridge, Pinterest, YSL Baby Doll, Cosmetics A La Carte, Charlotte Tilbury, Into The Gloss, Bourjois
COSMETICS A LA CARTE COLOUR AND CULTURE EXHIBITION
This is turning out to be an exciting month for beauty. I would love to make it to the Chanel no5 exhibition in Paris but frankly, that ain’t gonna happen. More achievable is the Cosmetics A La Carte ‘Colour And Culture’ exhibition next week at 50 Redchurch Street E2. Celebrating forty years of the specialist cosmetics company (I’ve always wanted one of their custom-made foundations), the exhibition is only on for five days (22-26 May, 10-6pm) so rearrange that diary and schedule it in!
BEAUTY SECRETS OF THE BLING RING
Next month sees the release of The Bling Ring which has just premiered at Cannes. Style.com ran this great interview with the film’s lead make-up artist Roz Music, which reveals the fascinating process of researching beauty for movies. I like the story of Sofia Coppola wanting a specific shade of Chanel lipstick for one of the characters that was out of circulation (well it would be, wouldn’t it). Music had to track down the ‘Kensington’ lipstick in Paris but she should have just asked me, I have a spare right here! Watch the trailer for The Bling Ring below…
LISA ELDRIDGE’S #MYLISALOOK PINTEREST BOARD
I posted yesterday about Pinterest’s UK push but I’ve just discovered this. Lisa Eldridge has created a new Pinterest board to support Pinterest’s UK ‘Pin It Forward’ campaign and it’s absolutely genius. Eldridge invites her fans (and she has a lot) to send her pictures of their recreated looks from her beaut-orial videos which she then adds to the board Your Lisa Eldridge Looks. Now that’s what I call an ‘inspiration board’! Each pin then links to the original video, sending traffic to her Youtube channel. What a clever, creative and thoroughly engaging way to connect with your following.
Charlotte Tilbury’s House of Rock’n’Kohl comes to Selfridges
Another A-list make-up artist, Charlotte Tilbury is stirring things up at Selfridges. Selfridges is proving to be a leader in experiential retail and naturally, has spotted the ‘fashionisation’ of beauty. So next month (June 17th-23rd) it’s launching a week-long event with Tilbury where the influential makeup artist will host makeovers and panel discussions to look at beauty ‘in a broader cultural and social context’ (according to WWD). Plus, of course there will be an Eye Flick Bar from the queen of the statement eye.
Into The Gloss just ran one of their fab beauty profiles on Tilbury in which the main point that everyone jumped on was that Tilbury wears her make-up in bed. (Yes way!) “If I’m on my own, I won’t sleep in it, but my husband has never seen me without makeup,” says Tilbury. “At night, I take everything off my face and moisturise — because you have to let your skin breathe a bit — but then I put everything right back on again: a little under-eye brightener, then the eye goes back on, and maybe a little tint on the cheeks. My mother said to me, ‘You always have to keep the mystery alive…”
BOURGEOUS MAGIC NAIL POLISH REMOVER
Wow, how good is Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover? It makes doing my nails so much less of a chore. Just stick each nail into the bottle, twist left and right and done. Easy!
JEAN-LOUIS SEBAGH ON BOTOX, EXERCISE AND RUSSIANS
I’ve only just started reading System, the new magazine that celebrates fashion industry insiders and the workings of the business. For some reason I started with the interview with Pat McGrath and ‘Botox king’ Jean-Louis Sebagh. The first half is quite annoying as I keep reading stuff about people ‘needing Botox’. Please, nobody needs Botox! The second half is more interesting. Sebagh is dead against jogging as a form of exercise as he thinks it traumatises the skin by shaking out all the padding. On the subject of facial exercises he says, “the only exercise you should be doing is smiling all the time, if you can. And chewing.” Amen!
Sebagh also talks about why Russian women don’t respond to Botox. It’s quite an interesting theory. He says, “Botox is derived from the botulinum toxin which is food poisoning. During the cold war, the Russians had very few food supplies, so they used to receive expired cans of food from Europe. They used to eat out-of-date food, so they must have had a lot of food poisoning and become immune to the botulinum toxin. You can inject 10 bottles and they won’t react. Nothing!” Who knew?
I also can’t resist posting this 1990 photo of model Amanda Cazalet from System’s interview with art director Marc Ascoli. Look at that profile…
YSL BABYDOLL MASCARA
Finally, YSL has just launched its Baby Doll mascara which has had rave reviews from the bloggersphere. I’m not really a mascara obsessive, I’m quite happy with the subtle effect I get from my Clinique Naturally Glossy mascara, but I’ve given this a go and the effect is quite lovely for more dramatic coverage. Oh and the fragrance is delicious. Here’s a video YSL has released with Cara Delevingne whipping her hair and cavorting around the streets of Paris (there are high heels and skateboards involved). Ah youth…
Fashion illustration in New York: Sara Singh
I love to draw and I love to watch other people draw. This is a really nice video from the H&M Life site, about New York illustrator Sara Singh…
Catherine Baba for Nars
Like thousands of other, I love Lisa Eldridge and her excellent how-to ‘beaut-orial’ videos. But here’s something a bit different that I spotted on her Facebook page today. It’s a film for the new NARS Satin Lip Pencils featuring Canadian pop star Sarah Ruba (beauty-wise a cross between Angelina Jolie and Lana Del Rey) and the inimitable Catherine Baba. Quentin Jones directed the vid with Lisa Eldridge wielding the powder brush.
There really does seem to be an effort by brands to feature more diverse examples of style and beauty and it’s great that true originals like Baba are getting featured in beauty campaigns, just because they’re fabulous, not because they ‘look good for their age’ (a ghastly phrase if ever there was one). The video has also caused a bit of buzz due to its interactive technology that allows the viewer to dictate the storytelling. (You can see that version here.) Watch and enjoy Catherine Baba slinking across the screen in kimono-arm-party-gown-fest awesomeness as only she can…
Watch this: a documentary about Fashion Week street style
I just watched Garage Magazine’s mini documentary on Style Bubble but in case you haven’t seen it, here it is again. Filming began a year ago and the result is a good 9-minute sum-up of the Fashion Week street style phenomenon. Tim Blanks makes most of the commentary but Imran Amed from Business of fashion is also featured, as is Susie Bubble and Phil Oh.
This London Fashion Week, I had a conversation with a well known street style photographer who mentioned that they have noticed a change. Some of their regulars have now decided they don’t want to be photographed, they’re actively ignoring street style photographers, even when in the past they were quite chummy. It’s not surprising to me. What die-hard fashionista wants to be seen embracing something once it’s been tainted with the naff brush? (I’m not saying street style is naff, but the bad publicity in this context could have that effect.)
The Archivist: A Selby’s film for Coach
Errrr…. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THE COACH ARCHIVE!!! Oh to have a play in that…
Dream jeans: MIH SS13
Denim brand MiH has been going since 2005 and I love how it has slowly but consistently grown from a denim-only brand to incorporate other beautiful-but-useful basics. Its Bretons frequently sell out, the oversized shirts are tweaked and repeated season-on-season and every so often you get something simple yet brilliant, like this spring’s washed-out jade boilersuit (above).
Another bonus: this utterly dreamy, Super-8 film. It was shot by the equally super Blue Farrier (you may have come across her blog, JackyBlue. If not, do take a look). Watch below or on Youtube (best viewed in 480p quality mode)…
MIH ss13 can be found at MIH-Jeans.com Continue reading
Warehouse Christmas SOS film – recognise yourself?
Warehouse has upped its digital game considerably since relaunching its etail site a few months ago. As well as a much fresher looking site with the full complement of social sharing buttons, the British high street brand has embraced the power of the fashion film.
This sharply observed ‘Christmas SOS’ film, produced to promote its 90-minute delivery service (er – wow), is brilliantly executed and top contender to upstage last year’s Walk Of Shame viral (remember the work of genius from Harvey Nichols?).
Watch and cringe…
Francis Ford Coppola’s Palazzo Margherita on Nowness
One of the best storytellers out there, here’s Francis Ford Coppola talking about his new(ish) hotel, Palazzo Margherita in this 3-minute film on the relaunched Nowness site. Although there’s also some tasty footage of the hotel rooms and grounds, the star of the film* is neither Coppola nor the palazzo, but his 95-year-old uncle Anton. Watch and you’ll see why…
*Update: I had to take the video off as it was autoplaying, so just click the link to watch
It’s a Bruce Weber Christmas at Selfridges (here’s the film, now buy the tee)
The best thing about this Bruce Weber for Selfridges Christmas video isn’t the eclectic cast of animals, kids and fabulistas, or the signature jazzy soundtrack, or Weber’s magical feel-good fantasy world that makes you want to climb into the screen and stay there. No, for me it’s the fact that you (meaning I) can buy one of the Bruce Weber tees for a mere £20 at Selfridges Wonder Room with all proceeds going to Kids Company.
Yes, Christmas just came early…
