FASHION Magazine

If you’re in Toronto and heading to World MasterCard Fashion week, beware. We may just be waiting to quiz you. From an inspiration-seeking vintage boutique owner to Maybelline Canada’s lead makeup artist, we ambushed stylish women outside the shows yesterday and asked them to share their outfits, fall fashion faves and more. Head’s up!

See all the backstage beauty photos from Beaufille Spring 2014 »

For the Beaufille Spring 2014 show, Toronto designers Chloé and Parris Gordon wanted the models to look like “rich grunge girls” with a slight throwback to the ’90s. “I love these girls because they really stick to their branding and their image,” said Grace Lee, lead makeup artist for Maybelline New York. The chocolate shaded smoky eyes were the focus of the look: Lee lined models’ eyes on the top and bottom using Maybelline Eye Studio Master Smoky Longwearing Shadow-Pencil in “Scorching Brown” ($9, well.ca) and then smudged the colour to create a rough, undone look. For a glossy sheen on eyelids and the top of cheekbones, Lee lightly applied Maybelline Baby Lips ($4, well.ca). Meanwhile, models’ actual lips were covered with the shiny but non-sticky Maybelline Color Elixer gloss in “Caramel Infused” ($9, at drugstores November 2013)—which Lee proclaimed “the product of the season.”

See the backstage beauty photos from Pink Tartan Spring 2014 »

The Pink Tartan Spring 2014 show was underscored by a single Andy Warhol quote: “I had a lot of dates but decided to stay home and dye my eyebrows.” It provided obvious beauty inspiration, which Maybelline New York lead makeup artist Grace Lee translated as vertically upswept, full brows filled in with Master Brow pencil ($10, well.ca), brushed upwards and set with clear Great Lash mascara ($8, well.ca)—a fresh interpretation of show muse Edie Sedgwick’s strongly defined arches. ”We want them to look very groomed and bushy,” said Lee. She defined the lashline with Master Precise Ink Pen Eyeliner ($10, well.ca) but skipped the obvious ‘60s wing, instead using the new Volum’Express Smoky Eyes mascara ($9, well.ca) to achieve fat ‘60s lashes with a matte finish. “Picture Edie Sedgwick before she goes out.”

See the full backstage gallery from Joe Fresh Fall 2013 »

There’s always been a pretty predictable pattern to the beauty for Joe Fresh: clean faces, rosy cheeks, a poppy lip and straight, simple hair—usually pulled back into a low ponytail. It’s a beauty routine that plays into the mass appeal of the brand, while also literally playing into the “Fresh” part of the Joe Fresh name.

For Fall 2013, however, the beauty was dictated by that other thing Joe Fresh is known for: being right-to-the-minute on-trend. As such, the cute ponytails were kicked to the curb in favour of punk-inspired cropped cuts. After all, with Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton covering up models’ hair with dark brown wigs and brands like Dior, Chanel and Givenchy all embracing short hair this season, it really is the time to cut it all off.

See the full backstage gallery from Chloé Comme Parris Fall 2013 »

The makeup: “It’s about society girls gone bad. Rich girls who’ve been partying all night long and their makeup’s been really worn in and lived in and danced in.” —Grace Lee, Maybelline New York lead makeup artist

Skin was evened out with a mixture of Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream and moisturizer. For a dewy, “sweaty” highlight, clear Baby Lips lip balm was rubbed on the high plains of the cheek and the bridge of the nose.

Eyes were lined with a black kohl pencil, then more Baby Lips was pressed right into the liner with a thin brush, to give the effect of a girl who’s been in her makeup all night long. Soon-to-launch pots of Maybelline pigments in “Luxurious Bronze” and “Cashmere Brown” were applied on the lids, with more Baby Lips pressed on top. “It’s all about layering,” said Lee. She had models close their eyes while she held the lids open slightly with her finger so she could apply Rocket Mascara thickly to the top and bottom lashes at the same time, which gave an imperfect look, with smudges left below the eyes. “I want them to look a little bit messy, a little bit off. “ Brows were brushed up but left natural, because “it’s all about the screwed-up eye.”

See the full backstage gallery from Pink Tartan Fall 2013 »

The makeup: “When I talked to [Kim Newport-Mimran], it was really Alfred Hitchcock meets Tippi Hedren. She’s a little bit off, she could be a little bit crazy, but she’s beautifully dressed. She wanted beautiful skin, but really it’s about that big, dramatic brow.” – Grace Lee, Maybelline New York lead makeup artist

– With a focus on “big and bold brows, with an element of naturalness,” Lee layered multiple products in a variety of colors to ensure the the brows didn’t come across as one dimensional and flat. First she filled in the brows by brushing through a shade of ashy-brown. Then she lightly went over the hairs with and almost-black shade to achieve “3D effect.” Finally. Lee finished them off by combing a gel through to keep all the hairs in place.

See the full backstage beauty gallery from Joe Fresh Spring 2013 »

The look:
Grace Lee, Maybelline New York’s lead makeup artist: “Joe Fresh is known for that really fresh colour. [Joe Mimran] told me that because there’s a lot of whites and metallics for spring he wanted to do a poppy colour. [The lipstick] is petty much that perfect, perfect coral.”

Jorge Joao, Redken lead stylist: “We created a low ponytail and released some of the slack to have it droop a little bit, to give it a vintage feel. And from there we added a little bit of texture on the side, to make it more ‘now’ and to give it something fresh and urban.”

Top tips:
– The Joe Fresh Spring 2013 look takes the matte lip to the next level. With direction to make it look “like the girls had been in their lipstick all day long,” Grace Lee brushed translucent powder around the lip line after applying Maybelline Color Sensational Vivids lipstick in “Vibrant Mandarin,” which helped to diffuse the colour and give it that worn-in look. “We wanted to make it look almost like chalk,” she explained.

To coincide with FASHION’s 35th anniversary we’re taking a look back at some Canadian beauty trailblazers that have made waves throughout the country and abroad over the past 35 years. Brands such as M.A.C, Ojon, Moroccanoil and Cargo may have started small, but are now recognized around the globe and have been providing consumers with makeup products and tips for decades. Talent-wise, from Kristjan Hayden to Grace Lee to Greg Wencel (and more!), Canadian-born hairstylists and makeup artists have left their mark on top brands and stars—including Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gisele and Kristen Stewart. And the ever-growing green beauty industry is yet another area that Canadians excel at: brands like RMS Beauty, Consonant and Bite Beauty & Sula are getting noticed for their eco-friendly and all-natural approach.

See all the beauty trailblazers »

Jump to: BRANDS | HAIR & MAKEUP | FRAGRANCE | GREEN

See the full backstage beauty gallery from Pink Tartan »
View all 30 looks from the Pink Tartan Fall 2012 runway »
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While beatnik style was the official inspiration for beauty at Pink Tartan’s Fall 2012 show, there was a definite Rooney Mara vibe happening backstage. The makeup was almost entirely focused on a deep “ox blood” red lip—Maybelline Super Stay 14Hr lipstick in “Wine and Forever”—a colour that Mara’s known for and that has been trending on runways all season long. (Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci, for instance.)

See the full backstage beauty gallery from Joe Fresh »
View all 54 looks from the Joe Fresh Fall 2012 runway »
See all Toronto Fashion Week coverage »

The Joe Fresh girl is always pretty, in a never-ambitious and always-achievable sort of way. After all, when your product is sold at grocery stores across the country, it’s best to avoid making a statement with a bleached eyebrow or dreadlocked hair. But that’s not to say Joe Fresh has to be completely vanilla: the beauty inspiration for their Fall 2012 show was Blow-Up, a sultry, swinging film from the ‘60s.

See our full backstage beauty gallery! »
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Moody and dramatic, the inspiration for makeup at Chloé Comme Parris was a 1920s aesthetic mixed with an “if you had a lot of money to dress up in black grungy clothes” sentiment. Grace Lee, lead makeup artist for Maybelline New York Canada, started by slightly lightening the tone of each model’s face with Maybelline Fit Me Liquid Foundation for a fresh, porcelain effect. Then dark purple eyeshadow—Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24Hr Cream Gel Shadow in “Pomegranate Punk”—was applied to the eye, followed by Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in “Mauve-ulous.” Both were layered in an almost translucent manner to give the eyes a hollowed out (think Clara Bow) look. Brown mascara kept lashes soft, however the lips were fully saturated with a rich coat of the same plum shade Lee used on the eyes.