Backstage Beauty Tips

Kristy Johnson went backstage at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Sydney and got all the top tips and beauty advice for us mere mortals!

We’ve seen all kinds of beauty looks at Fashion Week from coloured hair extensions at Aurelio Costarella, to glitter eye shadow at Alice McCall, to a more natural and effortless look at LAN YU. While you may think the looks these models are sporting are simply for the runway, think again. Depending on the kind of look you’re after, each style can be modified to suit your own taste.
Kristy Johnson chatted with makeup and hair artists to find out how we can recreate some of these model looks.

Alice McCall – Nail Shades

How have you translated the concept of the show into the choice of nail shade?
The show is quite an eclectic mix of fashion so everyone can wear something from the collection. With the colour that we’ve chosen, it actually works with all the outfits. It’s a little bit green in the light, a little bit pink and a little bit gold. It’s called OPI ‘Kermit Me to Speak’ (pictured below), and it’s from the new Muppets collection. Depending on which way the light hits the nail, it’s a different colour.

And how have you shaped the nails?
We’ve gone for a natural nail. They’re very short and very natural, so it’s very wearable. It’s really nice that the choice of nail shade compliments anything. All the nails were shaped by Manicare products

Alice McCall – Glitter Eye Shadow

What type of shadow have you used to create the overall look?
We’ve got three different MAC glitters: the pink, green, and blue, and that’s all reflecting what Alice has got in her clothes. Alice is usually quite girly and boho so this season she’s got a few stronger shades. We just wanted the Alice McCall girl to be almost grungy with the glitter so she’s effortless, she’s done her makeup, she’s going out for the night and not really caring too much. So she’s not too pedantic and not too perfect, so that’s where we kind of married the grunge and glitter together.

Is this look easy to recreate off the runway?
If you want to go out with it, it’s definitely a wearable makeup. If you’re keen on a bit of glitter and because it’s grungy, I feel like it’s more wearable because it is effortless and it is kind of ‘do it yourself’ makeup. It’s not fiddly. It doesn’t have to be too perfect and that’s what’s great about it. Maybe you could put less glitter or just a tiny bit on the inner corners of the eye.

LAN YU – Natural beauty

How would you describe the overall makeup look?
The girls are so beautiful naturally that we wanted to work with what was already there and just bring out each girl’s natural beauty. For the eye, it’s just a beautiful, soft, smudged brown. For gorgeous skin, we prepped it with a silicon mask because EVOHE is a natural Australian brand, so we wanted to create a gorgeous base. We did the silicon mask first which settles the skin, it doesn’t add any inflammation, which most masks and scrubs do and left on for probably about 10-15 minutes. Then we’ve used the Repair Intensive, which is a moisture boost for the skin, and we created the mineral powder foundation, which we mix in with Repair Intensive or the Omega 369 oil and make the foundation out of it. All that’s needed then is a bit of shine along the cheekbones with the Omega 369. It’s all about enhancing one’s natural beauty.

Is the hair just as effortless as the makeup chosen?
We created a natural, soft, textured and very relaxed look. It looks very effortless in the way that it’s constructed and the hair has energy to it so it has this beautiful, full natural energy.

Is this look easy to recreate at home?
Absolutely. We’ve really worked with texture so we’ve created beautiful curls that you can create volume with, you can brush it out to create smoothness, but the hair has a very energetic texture to it. We’ve used texturising spray, and it’s all about the woman being able to style her hair effortlessly at home, create texture and create finish.