Dear Caroline

Sep 15 2007

by Hannah Davies, The Journal

Your exclusive beauty and grooming tips from Mac Cosmetics’ senior make-up artist, Sunderland-born Caroline Donnelly. LAST Friday I was in London heading up a team for a Manish Arora show which was a retrospective of his last four collections and was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum. After a meeting a couple of weeks ago with the stylist and NYC based make up artist Kabuki the looks were finalised. Manish uses Kabuki to design the looks for his shows but as this date clashed with NYC Fashion Week I was asked by Kabuki to look after this on his behalf as I’ve worked with him a few times before. As a huge fan of his work I was extremely excited and proud, if not a little nervous to do this for him. Story continues ADVERTISEMENT We arrived to start work at 8am to get ready for the first show at noon. This may seem like a long time to get models ready but we are just a small part of a big team of hairdressers, producers and stylists. The noon show was the first of four that day, the last being at 8pm so when choosing products I had to be sure it was going to last well. I used a majority of MAC Pro (www.macpro.com) products to create the high drama look for the show. A thin base of MAC Pro Clear Face and Body was used instead of moisturiser to ensure the products were to stay put all day. On top of this the colours were all painted using MAC Pro Chroma Cakes with the addition of a liquid metal in places which was made using MAC Pro Water Mixing Medium and MAC Pro Rose Gold Metal Pigment. Once the base designs were completed I looked at the finished designs and decided upon products to be applied on top to add the final wow factor. MAC Pro Glitters and MAC Pigments were added in places to add a contrast of textures against the absolute matte of the Chroma Cakes. I had been in touch with Swarovski to order some of their gorgeous crystals to add the ultimate finishing touches to the make up. Manish Arora uses these crystals a lot in his stunning creations and MAC have worked a lot with the company also, so this was a perfect opportunity to work with them again. I've been back in London since Sunday evening to be here for the start of London Fashion Week’s pre-fashion week stuff! We are here to be present at the make-up tests/fittings which take place to decide upon the looks for the shows with the make-up artist, stylist, hair stylist and designer all being there to add their ideas. This is most definitely the calm before the storm! Even though I've done this for years, it still seems funny to be doing spring/summer make-up for next year. Let’s hope we hope we get one next year! I've seen in the press that New York Fashion Week is on at the moment and London Fashion Week is about to start. I'm wondering what look should I be wearing on my skin right now and what foundation would you recommend? A. London Fashion Week has officially started! MAC is always ahead of the game with the collections and colour, and you'll always receive great trend advice from the MAC retail artists as we pass this backstage information on way before the trends actually emerge. The autumn and winter shows were done back in February and they dictated the trends you are seeing now. This season sees a brand new texture for skin with designers wanting their models to look flawless, matte and perfectly healthy. Foundation being the part that make-up artists spend time perfecting backstage. The skin should look matte, but not dry – it's more of a sumptuous silken matte so don't over powder. MAC Studio Fix Fluid was used on almost all the shows for this coming season as it provides that gorgeous cashmere skin which is so in right now. If you have really dry skin and a matte foundation scares you a little I have a great tip for you; I love to add a couple of little drops of a Decleor product called Aromessence. This is a gorgeous oil which has been designed for facial skin and comes in a range of different scents for different skin types. My particular favourite is Rose D'Orient and this is great for sensitive skin. Don't add too much as a tiny drop goes a long way. Use the MAC #187 brush to really buff the foundation into your skin for a flawless finish. If you have any questions for Caroline, email hannah.davies@ncjmedia.co.uk and we will pass them on.

Top | Back | E-mail to a friend | Printable version

Copyright and Trade Mark Notice

© 2012 owned by or licensed to ncjMedia Limited. icNewcastle™ is a trade mark of ncjMedia Limited. Please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statement before using this site.

 

Jobs Newcastle, Homes in Northeast, Used Cars Northeast, Newcastle Free Classified ads Mortgages, Jobs in Newcastle Local Mole - Local Directory