This Sunday I talked to M.A.C. Artist Victor Gordon at Tunnel, where Jonathan Saunders was showing his collection in New York for the first time. He created a simple make-up look with skin as the star, showcased by a minimalistic hairstyle from Guido Palau, Creative Consultant for Redken. Many designers and artists that I talked to this season told me that their inspiration was a strong woman, a powerful woman, and this is just one of many looks on that theme that I saw this year. Want to know how to achieve it? There's more after the jump.
The look that M.A.C. Artist Victor Gordon is applying is a very simple look where the focus is on beautiful skin. The foundation he used to achieve that look was M.A.C.'s Face + Body Foundation, a water-based, water-resistant foundation for sheer, natural color, with a little bit of concealer when extra coverage was needed. He then used a little bit of powder to blot.
With the focus on the skin, the eyes and lips needed to melt away. For that effect, he used a cream color base on the eyes, with no mascara at all. To keep the eyes from disappearing completely, the emphasis was on a very strong brow. He used a lip erase to remove and soften the lip.
One last surprise in the look: Victor used M.A.C. Strobe Cream, a facial moisturizer, as a highlighter on the cheeks to get that extra glow.
Guido Palau said that when he was creating the look for Jonathan Saunders, he wanted an expressionistic look to portray a strong woman. There's an intricacy to the clothes and he wanted his style to contrast with that and add to the sophistication in a simplistic way. He also wanted to constrast the matte fabrics in the clothes with a shinier look in the hair. The look provided a uniform for the models and the perfect backdrop for the ensembles being shown.
Redken worked gel into the hair and then pulled it into a ponytail at the nape of the neck, a little to one side. Guido finished by covering the tail with a small piece of fabric and finishing with shine for the high gloss look.