FASHION Magazine

Raise your hand if your last haircut or makeup look was inspired by a celebrity. (We all have our hands raised, right?) While runways set the trends, when your favourite star is spotted wearing the newest fashion, makeup look or hairstyle, that’s likely the point when you want in on it as well. But who are the actresses, musicians and A-listers who inspire your beauty style? Are you devoted to duplicating all their looks—as we know, celebs are quite fond of changing their hair cut and colour at a moment’s notice!—or do you follow the general theme of their go-to beauty routine?

Who better to offer some insight than the Beauty Panel! Our team of expert beauty bloggers were eager to share their celebrity beauty inspiration and offer up easy-to-follow tips on how to duplicate popular red carpet looks. From Kristen Stewart’s signature smoky eye (and sassy smile!) to Jennifer Lawrence’s Oscar-winning red carpet look, there’s plenty of A-list hair and makeup influence.

Challenge 9: Is there a celebrity that inspires how you do your hair and makeup? See the answers now! »

Pop quiz! You have a big event coming up. Do you spend more time thinking about what to wear or obsessing over how you’re going to do your hair? If you answered “hair,” welcome: the Beauty Panel has been waiting for you. While landmark occasions like prom, your best friend’s wedding or, say, attending the Oscars, might seem like the only times worthy of an elaborate hairstyle, there are plenty of reasons to upgrade your look, even if you’re not graduating or walking down the aisle. This week’s challenge is all about how to style your hair for a big night out.

Challenge 8: How do you style your hair for a big night out? See the answers now! »

Structured curls—the kind that have been so popular with the Hollywood set on award show red carpets—will always be a go-to style, but soft, wavy hair is definitely the look to try this summer. From Veronica Lake to Lana Del Rey, soft waves have both retro appeal and a modern, cool girl aesthetic. It’s a trend that fits in with the move to make everything as minimal as possible, like the dropped out curls Tanya Taylor did for Fall 2013. But knowing how to make hair wavy can be a bit of a trick to master. Irons are designed with perfectly round corkscrew curls in mind and the longer your hair, the harder it becomes to get a curl to hold.

So how do you make hair wavy? We asked Toronto-based hair stylist Margot Keith to show us in this step-by-step tutorial. While everyone has a different technique for curling hair, there are two main tricks to note when creating loose waves. First, you want to make sure every curl is done in the same direction. So if you hold the curling iron in front of the section of hair you’re about to curl and then wrap the hair around in a forward motion, you’ll want to make sure you repeat this with every curl.

Every week our Beauty Fix columnist takes on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more. Have a beauty question we haven’t answered? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

What can I use to battle fine lines and wrinkles in my undereye area? They seem to be getting a little bit deeper each year.
A fair question that many people start to ponder as time goes on! It’s important to understand that fine lines can appear due to dehydration, which can be addressed by adding moisture back into the eye area with an eye cream. However, wrinkles and fine lines brought on by aging are bit of a different beast! Consider enlisting a retinoid-based product, such as Philosophy Miracle Worker Retinoid Eye Repair Cream ($65, sephora.com), to help out. Retinoid creams contain vitamin A derivatives that work to smooth fine lines/wrinkles and boost collagen while evening out discoloration and smoothness and this particular one also contains peptides to tackle undereye bags and darkness. Tip: Retinoid creams can make skin particularly sensitive to sun exposure, so don’t forget your SPF and sunglasses when out and about!

The defining moment of 2013’s short hair trend is here: Jennifer Lawrence chopped off her hair this weekend and has a new, shoulder-grazing bob. News of the stunning look broke when celebrity stylist Mark Townsend (who, of course, did the cut) Instagrammed pictures right before Lawrence hit the red carpet at Saturday’s GLAAD Media Awards. “Spring is for layers!” he said of the textured, very Karli Kloss-esque style.

So what inspired the new cut? Harper’s Bazaar spoke to Townsend and he revealed that Jennifer Lawrence came in just an hour before call time and wanted to cut it all off. However, she didn’t want a traditional bob but instead requested all the layers: “We went with a full-on shag, with bangs and a lot of face-framing layers. I loosened up the ends by chopping into them with thinning shears. As I cut, I lost track of how many times she said ‘I love it!’ She was super excited. It’s the shortest her hair has been her whole life.”

The honey-blonde colour is also something new. Though she had blonde highlights at the Oscars, since her win Lawrence has been reshooting scenes for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire—which required a return to her all-black Katniss Everdeen hair colour.

Music festivals should be all about the music, but given the popularity of our Coachella fashion slideshow, it’s safe to say that festival style is the unofficial headliner of the season. And the season has just begun: Coachella’s second weekend is a day away and after it ends all other music festivals will quickly follow. We’ve shared our tips for festival style and now it’s time to talk about how to do your hair and makeup for a music festival. To get the best advice, we turned to the Beauty Panel, our team of beauty blogging experts. Even if you’re not headed to Bonnaroo, Osheaga, Lollapalooza or another music festival this summer, their answers are ideal for any day you’ll be out and about under the hot, hot sun.

Challenge 7: With Coachella in full swing, it’s officially music festival season. How do you do your hair and makeup for a festival? See the answers now! »

Just when we thought Michelle Williams was growing out her hair she debuted a shorter, very trendy style at the Kate Young for Target launch in New York City last night. The “very trendy” description is key: Williams’ cut is quite short on one side with a long sweep of bang on top—making it very similar to the shaved-side styles recently worn by Pink and Miley Cyrus. (Well, to be fair, Pink has had that haircut for years…) Either way, it’s certainly the edgiest look we’ve seen on Williams, who tends to favour softer styles and classic pixie cuts.

But with Michelle Williams embracing the side-shaved style, does this mean it’s en route to becoming a mainstream cut? Up until now, the look has been reserved for pop stars and It girls—from Rihanna to Kelly Osbourne to Kate Lanphear. Even Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco emulated the style at the ACM Awards on Sunday night with a slicked-back pompadour. And not to leave the guys out of this, Justin Bieber also showed off a similar style this week. His new cut echoes the long bangs of his iconic tween-age Bieber style with, you guessed it, close-shaven sides.

In case you missed the memo, the 1990s are back in a big way. Minimalist and grunge designs have dominated the catwalk for spring (and fall!) and unsurprisingly this trend has crossed over into beauty as well. 1990s beauty is tricky in that it can easily go from relaxed to messy. So how do you try the 1990s beauty trend without looking like Courtney Love’s darker days?

We posed the question to our Beauty Panel this week and they came back with some surprising and innovative tips for the ’90s trend. From statement lips to smoky eyes, our Beauty Panel bloggers had lots of interesting makeup ideas to share.

Challenge 5: 1990s beauty is on trend for spring. How are you incorporating the ’90s look with your hair and makeup? See the answers now! »

Ah, the age old question: How can you transition your makeup and hair from your typical daytime look into something special enough for a big night out? After a day spent sitting at a desk or rushing between meetings, it’s unlikely that the makeup you applied at 7am will still look good to go come cocktail hour. Thankfully, with just a few products and tricks, it can be done—and without the need to set up a full vanity in your office!

Challenge 3: How do you take your hair and/or makeup from day to night? See the answers now! »

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 Tanya Taylor Fall 2013 »

If you’re a fan of loose curls and beachy waves, listen up. While backstage at the Tanya Taylor Fall 2013 show I witnessed an incredibly inventive way to add movement and texture to hair without relying on a curling iron.

Justin German, Pantene Pro-V’s consulting stylist, wanted “dropped out waves” for the ’60s-inspired look, which meant no structured ringlets were welcome. Instead, German added texture and movement to the hair by rolling pieces up into pin curls and setting them with a quick clamp of the flatiron. “To make it a little more random we [rolled] some one way and some the other way,” German explained of the technique. “We didn’t want it to look like it was done with a curling iron.” Finally, he set everything in place with a quick spritz of Pantene Pro-V Stylers Flexible Hold Hairspray.

See the backstage beauty gallery from Jeremy Laing Fall 2013 »

The makeup: “The cool thing about this look is the shape of the eye; Jeremy wanted to have a very hollowed out eye socket. He doesn’t like the girls to look too preppy, princess-y, or too done. Maybe a little bit androgynous. It’s all about the shapes; and you can tell his shapes are a little bit unusual. “ – Greg Wencel, Cover Girl makeup pro

To achieve this “Sleepy Hollow” look, Wencel custom mixed a shade of slate grey, using both shades from the Cover Girl Smokey ShadowBlast eyeshadow stick in “Onyx Smoke” on the back of his hand. The cream shadow was chosen because it would give a “lived in, glossy eye effect.” Wencel applied the majority of color is from the crease of the eye to the brows, leaving a slightly lighter wash of grey on the lid of the eye. To set the cream, a silver shadow was pressed over top, which also added a “hint of blue.” The lashes were kept natural with no curling or mascara. To keep models looking fragile, Wencel wanted a “pale veil of color” on the skin. He used a foundation one or two shades lighter than the models natural color then set it with an even paler shade of pressed powder. For cheeks, it was all about “hollowing and sculpting” with bronzer to exaggerate the contour. Finally, lips were almost devoid of pigment: Wencel applied a clear balm on the lips and then buffed foundation over the edge of the lip line for an ombré effect.