Beauty Squared Round-Up - October 5, 2014

Hello and Happy Sunday! It's time for our weekly round-up of interesting links from all over the web, all related to beauty. Let's get started!

• The beauty brands are gearing up for the holiday season and well, chances are that a lot of the gift sets will sell out before we even get to December. One of these is the Benefit Cheeky Sweet Spot O' Blushes which Temptalia has a sneak peek preview of up right now.
  
• Some makeup organization tips and ideas here, if you're in need of them (aren't we all?).
  
• Vintage beauty tips using cucumber, rose water and petroleum jelly, among others.
  
• I saw this post on fashionable New Yorkers age 60 and up, and it reminded me of the three ladies I photographed at the Met Museum in NYC a few years ago (click here to see).
  
• Small Canadian makeup brand Pandora's Box has been fighting Pandora Jewelry over the name Pandora and has made their battle public in the hopes that it will help fight corporate bullying. Have a watch and share?
  
• MUA Kristen Arnett talks about the 10 things she does to make models runway-ready. There's some great information in this. Think it's just a bit of powder and lipgloss on those 20 year olds? Think again.
  
• A video from MAC showing some of the looks they were a part of for the Spring/Summer 2015 NY Fashion Week this year. Yet-to-be-released products and gorgeous looks to look forward to!

Beauty Squared Round-Up - February 16, 2014

Happy Sunday! The Beauty Squared gals have been awfully busy lately and that's why there have been so few posts. We're working on a few posts though and hope to get back to a regular blogging pace very soon!

But we always have a Round-Up for you and here's this week's...let's go!

• Super-pretty muted mauve-y looks from the Diane von Furstenberg Fall/Winter 2014 runway show.
  
• Fashion shows are a huge source of inspiration for beauty looks - the crazy and the not-so-crazy. Check out this eye look inspired by 60s drag racing just tweeted by @MACcosmetics.
  
• Radiant Orchid is Pantone's Colour of 2013. Here's a monochromatic orchid lip-blush look using an OCC Lip Tar as both lip colour and cheek colour.
  
• Cuticle tattoos from Ciaté.
  
• Do you use blotting papers? Save yourself some money! Here's a cheap (or free) DIY version.
  
• Confused about using the techniques of contouring and highlighting to enhance your facial features? (Me too, admittedly.) Fashion Magazine's Beauty Panel offer up their tips, techniques and products.
  
• Organizing your beauty products is a common dilemma amongst beauty bloggers, makeup artists, product junkies and really, anyone who wears makeup. New Beauty Magazine takes a look at some storage ideas (for purchase).
  
• Are you ready for spring yet? Here's a look at Guerlain's spring 2014 pretty beauty collection. Pretty floral lips and cheeks.
  
• Former model and activist, Sara Ziff spoke to Salon Magazine about the ugly side of the fashion industry, including eating disorders, sexual coercion, and homogenous beauty ideals.
  
• We see stock photography everywhere, even when we don't realize we're looking at it. It is among the many things unconsciously shaping our world and internal views. Getty Images, one of the world's largest source for stock photography, is working to change the visual perception of women in stock photography with their "Lean In Collection", photos showing female leadership in contemporary life. Buzzfeed has some of the photos here.
  
• Australian nurse, mother of four and cancer survivor, Beth Whaanga had photos taken showing her body post-surgeries and posted them on Facebook to try to promote awareness of the physical changes that can signal that something is wrong. The photos are honest, and startling, since our culture rarely shows us women's bodies in their reality. Warning: photos in this link show partial nudity, so click through with caution.

Beauty Squared Round-up - May 6, 2012

Here are some beauty-ful links that caught our attention this week. Check them out!

You've heard about shellac, you've heard about caviar but how about a metal manicure? But this isn't your simple metallic nail polish. 

Victoria's Secret model (and Orlando Bloom's baby momma) Miranda Kerr reveals some of her unusual beauty tricks, including using a tablespoon to curl her eyelashes. 

Dior's new short film has models regally frolicking through the opulent halls and gardens of Versailles to Depeche Mode's 'Enjoy the Silence'. It's wonderful. 

A day late, but here's a really neat colour blocking makeup tutorial in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. 

One of our favourite Etsy shops is Nod To Mod Vintage. Check out the stunning vintage dresses on offer here. 

People Magazine's Most Beautiful issue features photos of celeb beauties Rose Byrne, Julie Bowen, Paris Jackson, Zooey Deschanel, Lily Collins, Jessica Paré, Sandra Lee and Paula Patton without make-up and in our photoshopped world, it's interesting to see these familiar faces bare-faced. Jezebel takes a look at three of these photos (Zooey, Paris and Jessica) and dissects People's intentions. 

How important is hair to your individualism? This short film artfully addresses the link between the hair of 22 Brooklyn men and women and their individuality. 

Daphne Guinness for MAC Q&A

Let’s go to the beginning, for you personally. Can you tell us about some of your first experiences with cosmetics?

Well to be honest, there wasn’t much makeup around when I was growing up! I never really thought of it. But I was always painting. Let me see...Did I paint myself? I tried to make myself look Japanese...I had a Japanese nanny, and I love the Japanese aesthetic, so I remember trying to achieve that look. But instead of makeup I would use watercolours or acrylics or anything I could get my hands on. Sometimes I would paint pictures on my face, on my eyelids or whatnot. Now if I want to do something like that I go over to the M·A·C Pro Shop in Canada and get these pigments that make your skin really white and pearly. You can use them on your body as well.

I was always fascinated by makeup. My mother didn’t wear any at all and I always thought that was such a great loss because it seems to me that the only point of being a human being is being able to transform the way you look!

So what did you think when M·A·C approached you for this collaboration?

I’ve always loved M·A·C. I’m obsessed with the Lipglass and the Mascaras. I’d often go into the M·A·C shops to play with the brushes and such, but for this, to be able actually to have some kind of input on a project? I felt it was a great opportunity. And of course M·A·C and I have mutual friends. My dear friend Issy did a Lipstick – she was terribly excited about that – and another great friend, David LaChapelle, always had a good time shooting for M·A·C. And I always just thought it was such a cool company. I even remember when it first came on the scene, I thought, ‘great, finally something new for a change.’

Tell us a bit about your creative process as it pertains to this collection.

I was in the Beverly Hills Hotel – and let me tell you there’s always some mad project going on in my bedroom when I’m there, ha! I had parchment papers spread all over the floor and all sorts of different powders and watercolours that I was mixing together and my finished pieces were drying on the balcony. I was painting for so long on that floor. When I’m given a task, I take it really seriously. I start with the raw materials and mix them and all the while I imagine art references and try to consider the Old Masters and try to figure out how they mixed this colour or that colour. Then, when the pieces were done, I packed them all in my suitcase to show M·A·C. Maybe it all sounds strange, but I’m always playing with colours and pencils and paints. I do it all the time! For me a recurring theme in my work is history and the universe – the smallest things and the largest things and I explore that through colour. The process that I’m always in.

Where do you think your instinct for colour comes from?

I think it all has to do with light and the places I grew up. Of course the light is different in Ireland from that in London, and it’s really extraordinary in Cadaqués in the north of Spain. When you have a storm the clouds come out from behind the mountains and make these extraordinary shapes and when the sun hits them from a certain angle it makes a beautiful light. When you look at Dali’s paintings, that’s not him being surreal, that’s him painting from life because that’s what it looks like! I’m very sensitive to light change – I’ll start jumping up and down when the sun begins to set because of the way it goes an orange colour when it comes through my windows because it’s so beautiful. And I hate bad light. When I go in some place and the overhead light is neon it gives me a headache. I’m obsessed with light because without it, you can’t have colour.

Speaking of colour, can we please discuss your hair? Everyone is obsessed!

They are!? Oh gosh. Well what happened was that it’s all an accident. First I dyed the underneath red. At that point it was less baby blonde on the top – it was very white when I was a child and then it went darker as it does. Anyway I dyed it red, then darker red, then plum, then I went to purple, then darkish blue; so at this point it’s not quite black. And the kind of whitest shade of blonde on the top happened by mistake gradually in different salons. Anyway this is what I ended up with! I’m not sure what will be next. I like to experiment. And I do like my hair to be done, it is civilized!

Are there any specific historical or fashion references that directly influenced this collection?

The thing is I don’t like to copy anything and I really try to come up with something completely new. Of course, you have to work with things that are in your frame of reference, but I really aim to create a new colour or at least a new configuration of colours together. As Degas said, “You have to copy and recopy the masters,” but you can only do that for so long and then you have to do your own thing. Otherwise you’re only going backwards and not forward. So I try to take my references from the past and bring them into the present and make them relevant again. I tend to like classic things that you can use many times instead of fads; trends annoy me actually. There’s one thing in loving beautiful things and admiring people’s creations, but a trend? I quite prefer things to move forward, but to exist as a pinnacle of quality.

As for more specific references I would reiterate my love for the Old Masters: Titian, Zurbarán Michelangelo. And I might say that I’m absolutely fascinated by butterflies and outer space. Blimey, I have pictures from the Hubble space telescope and some of those are just extraordinary, and if you look very closely at a butterfly’s wings or even perhaps a jellyfish, you’ll see there are similarities. I mean, I’m not being mad, just have a look! It just absolutely blows my mind.

What are some of your favorite pieces from the collection?

Well for instance, I’m quite proud of the Hyperion Nail Lacquer. It resembles this almost grey, steely light that is pure Whistler from the 1890s when he still had fog in the paintings. The shade is so beautiful and it also reminds me of a celadon-coloured antique Chinese porcelain vase. Porcelain in that colour is rather compelling. There’s something about these sorts of shades that I find quite lovely, and you’ll see that this collection is all about cool tones. I’m not a real primary colour person, and warm colours do not become me. Anyway we can’t all be bouncing along the beach looking sunkissed. I’m never gonna be that girl. I wish, but it ain’t gonna happen! I’m just not great with browns or terracottas and perhaps aside from daffodils, I think yellow is bad luck. I hate canary diamonds with a passion!

You’re known as a patron of couture when it comes to fashion. Would you call this a couture cosmetics collection?

Oh certainly. Couture means handmade, and I mixed the colours by hand and really, really, really put a lot of thought into them! It’s been one very happy experience and I’ve had such a nice time. The only thing I missed is I wanted to be right there in the factory. I would love that. The process is just everything to me. You see, before I was speaking to you I was literally in my bathroom mixing up products and smashing them about! I’ve learned so much and I’m having so much fun with makeup.

Gareth Pugh for MAC Preview

GARETH PUGH FOR M∙A∙C 

Challenging the conventions of fashion with his signature style that blurs the traditional gender divide…M·A·C is proud to partner with London-based designer Gareth Pugh. Infusing his trademark esoteric experimentation into Beauty Powders, Metal-X Cream Shadows, Technakohl Liner, Pigments, Lipsticks, Lipglass, Studio Fix Boldblack Lash, Powder Blushes, Nail Lacquers, Buffer Brush and a Makeup Bag, he delivers an assortment of futuristic yet primal shades in custom geometric packaging.

Gareth Pugh for M∙A∙C Available November 23, 2011 through December 23, 2011

Beauty Powder in Elude
Translucent Neutral Beige
$72 CDN/$60 US

Square-handled buffer brush
$72 CDN/$60 US

Flight Lash
Dense, geometric, triangle-shaped lash
$21.50 CDN/$18 US

Lipglass in Outrage
Sheer berry with blue pearl
$27 CDN/$22 US

Lipglass in Vacant
Sheer light lavender grey with violet pearl
$27 CDN/$22 US

Lipstick in Fervent
Glossy blackened berry (satin)
$27 CDN/$22 US

Lipstick in Restrict
Creamy greyed nude (cremesheen)
$27 CDN/$22 US

Studio Fix Boldblack Lash
Blackest black
$18 CDN/$15 US

Metal-X Cream Shadow in Ardent
Frosty blackened burgundy
$38.50 CDN/$32 US

Metal-X Cream Shadow in Obscura
Frosty gunmetal grey
$38.50 CDN/$32 US

Nail Lacquer in Ascension
Grey with blue violet reflective pearl (frost)
$27.50 CDN/$23 US

Nail Lacquer in Hyper
Deep blue with violet pearl (frost)
$27.50 CDN/$23 US

Nail Lacquer in Inert
Creamy mid-tone greyed nude (crème)
$27.50 CDN/$23 US

Pigment in Deceit
Blackened plum with pink pearl
$38.50 CDN/$32 US

Pigment in Guise
Frosty grey
$28.50 CDN/$32 US

Powder Blush in Strada
Mid-tone nude
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Technakohl Liner in Graphblack
Rich graphic black
$23 CDN/$19 US

Technakohl Liner in Greyprint
Rich pewter grey
$23 CDN/$19 US

Gareth Pugh for MAC makeup bag
$90 CDN/$75 US

This is one of those MAC/fashion designer collections. If you've never heard of Gareth Pugh, check out this video of his Spring/Summer 2011 collection:

Prices for the Gareth Pugh for MAC collection are higher than regular MAC collections but that's due to the unique packaging. These are collector's items. 

What do you think? Do you splurge on this MAC/designer collections or pass them by? 

Click here to read a Q&A with Gareth Pugh on his collaboration with MAC.

C.

LUSTING: Seychelles Password Print Pumps

My friend Donna spotted these online and immediately thought of me. She was right, I love them. They're very me. A little bit retro, a little bit shiny and in an unexpected colour that doesn't scream at you.

More photos:

WANT!

C.

MAC S/S 2011 Faces - London Fashion Week

On Sunday, September 19, MAC MUAs Sam Bryant, Gordon Espinet, Val Garland and Sam Bryant did the makeup looks for the runway shows of Richard Nicoll, Vivienne Westwood (Squee!), Mary Katrantzou and Margaret Howell.

"A modern take on a 90s David Bowie."

Some of the Richard Nicoll Spring/Summer 2011 runway looks:

"This is a makeup that starts off with a totally pretty base...and then we go nuts with colour on it! The final result is more like an impressionist painting."

A close-up of one of the models.

  Some of the looks from Vivienne Westwood's Spring/Summer 2011 runway show (I wanted to post them all!):

"This is not a makeup, it's an 'icy' look inspired by a palette of ladurée pastels."

Ladurée is a patisserie based in Paris.

Some of the runway looks from Mary Katrantzou's Spring/Summer 2011 collection:

"I don't want them to look like they're wearing makeup at all - it's really about natural gorgeousness, so the focus is on conditioning and nourishing the skin."

A closeup of a model's makeup look.

Some of the looks on Margaret Howell's Spring/Summer 2011 runway:

 

C.