Montreal fashion week backstage beauty: Martin Lim, UNTTLD, and Travis Taddeo

Just shy of a traditional wingtip and meant to hover somewhere between European- and Asian-inspired looks, makeup artist Sebastien Tardif’s eye for the Martin Lim Spring 2012 is so fresh, so clean, so… spring! “The liner has a clean edge instead of coming to a point,” Tardiff told me backstage before the show. It’s a lift rather than an eye extension, with a bit of the graphic liner we loved at Marc Jacobs and Dolce & Gabbana for fall.

At UNTTLD, Cover Girl pro makeup artist Amélie Ducharme mimicked the collection’s clean lines by brushing brows upwards and defining their shape with Cover Girl Brow & Eye Makers and a touch of clear mascara. “We wanted to fill in the eyebrows, but very naturally to frame and give shape, or an angle, to the overall look,” she told me. The rest of the face was almost nude, with only a barely there pink shadow for a hint of shimmer on the eyes.

Meanwhile, hair stylist Denis Binet was busy concocting a coif inspired by young French girls who spend “icy” winter nights sipping cocktails on Montreal’s cache club scene. (Naturally!) “I want the top to look slick and shiny, like it’s been under a hat, with the ends left free,” he said. To get the look, he applied loads of Sebastian Professional Gel Forte into the roots from the nape of the neck upwards towards the crown but left the ends clean. Using a much less liquid-y approach at Travis Taddeo, Binet prepped hair with Wella Mirror Polish before parting hair in the centre, tying it in a traditional braid, and gently pulling at the sections to loosen the weave until it laid flat. Who knew it took so much work to look undone?

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