FASHION Magazine

Given the bone-chilling temperatures of late, a reminder of what’s to come in spring is always welcome. At last night’s Greta Constantine Spring 2014 presentation the beauty look had warmer weather in mind—but with a slight après-ski twist. Models had glistening skin and wet hair, designed to look like they had just stepped out of a steamy hot tub.

The man behind the hair was, believe it or not, one half of the Greta design duo: Stephen Wong. After completely drenching models’ hair with water he applied a handful of Redken Guts 10 Volume Spray Foam ($17, at salons) to the roots and raked it through to ends. This step was repeated twice to give hair a very product-heavy, flattened appearance. To further emphasis the slick, wet look, Wong applied a quarter-size of Redken Diamond Oil Shatterproof Shine Intense hair oil ($40, at salons) directly to the roots. He then brushed hair back and pinned the sides flat to the head. A heavy coat of Redken 23 Forceful Super Strength Finishing Spray ($17, at salons) kept everything in place. Before the show began, Wong removed the clips from the sides of the hair and gave it another spritz to complete the fresh-out-of-water look.

See our product picks for getting Taylor Swift’s red lip »

Red has been the colour of the year for Taylor Swift. Her latest album, Red, has been wildly successful, her global tour of the same name has sold out at every stop and the single, “Red” was a catchy summer hit. But then there’s the other red in Swift’s life: her signature red lip. The shade practically defines her pop star identity and not since Tragic Kingdom-era Gwen Stefani has a lip colour inspired a generation of beauty junkies.

Whether she’s singing her heartbreak anthems, posing on the red carpet or flipping her hair back and fourth, her lipstick never seems to budge. What’s her secret? To get Taylor Swift’s flawless red lip look, we spoke with M.A.C Cosmetics senior artist Melissa Gibson. She gave us the inside scoop on how to get the perfect, long-lasting red lip. From preventing your lips from drying out to choosing the right colour, here’s how to get Taylor Swift’s look.

See the backstage pictures from Greta Constantine Fall 2013 »

“A sense of tribal,” is how Stephen Wong—one half of the Greta Constantine design duo—described the beauty look for the label’s Fall 2013 collection. When presenting the looks last night, models were turned into fierce warriors, goddesses and Amazonians with textured hair, smoky eyes and geometric, neutral nails. “We took our cues from Oribe [Canales], a hairstylist who did all the supermodels in the ’90s,” Wong says. “I remember looking at the shows he’d do and thinking the hair was amazing. It had a sense of tribal, but very cool and modern feel to it.”

Sebastian core stylist Daniel Di Tommaso was the lead for the three different hairstyles, inspired by three variations of tribal. “All three hair looks were tight on the sides but textured on top to blend all the girls together.”

See the full Greta Constantine Spring 2013 backstage beauty gallery »

The inspiration:
Daniel Di Tommaso, Sebastian core stylist: “Super, super tight and very, very shiny. [Kirk Pickersgill and Stephen Wong] wanted to make sure that when we pulled the hair back it was almost stretching the eyes.”

Melissa Gibson, M.A.C makeup key: “[Kirk Pickersgill and Stephen Wong] sent a photograph that had a kind of ’50s-ish feel to it [and then] we were talking about the clothing which is so structured, and you think, ‘architectural, how does that come into makeup?’ The idea behind a graphic liner [is that] it’s still a play on what a ’50s liner would be if you were to modernize it, make it a bit more edgy and structural.”

Get the look:
– The super-tight ponytail for Greta Constantine Spring 2013 was actually created by bonding two ponytails together. After wetting down the hair, Di Tommaso brushed Sebastian Shine Crafter Wax through to tame any flyaways. Hair was brushed back into bump-free ponytails and the ends were rope knotted into a bun and pinned down to the head as tightly as possible. Many Sebastian products were layered to achieve a high-shine, but Liquid Steel Concentrated Styler was what made the look: Di Tommaso brushed the Liquid Steel directly to models’ heads, lacquering the hair into place.

See the full backstage gallery from Sid Neigum Spring 2013! »

“It’s more about a mood than a theme,” said M.A.C makeup key Melissa Gibson of the beauty look for Sid Neigum’s Spring 2013 show. Featuring a strong eyebrow, smoky eyes and matte skin, Gibson referenced Helmut Newton and “Cindy Crawford in the ’90s” as inspiration. “It’s not just a heavy black smoky eye…there’s an edge to it, the fleck of grey metallic in there brightens it up for spring and summer.” To build this graphic-yet-soft look, she used a mix of three M.A.C eyeshadows–“Carbon,” “Print” and “Typographic” ($18 each, maccosmetics.com)—diffusing the pigment across the eye and blending out any straight lines. Fluidline eyeliner in “Blacktrack” ($18, maccosmetics.com) was also diffused at the lashline and lashes were curled and given two coats of mascara for extra drama. But it was two winged-out lines across the brows that completed the look, which was a last minute addition from Gibson: “At the end I threw on that eyebrow and that did it!”

Vote in our pop princess red carpet battle! Carly Rae versus Taylor Swift »

We’re totally obsessed with Canada’s newest singing sensation Carly Rae Jepsen, and she certainly proved her it girl–worth at Sunday night’s Juno Awards. Jepsen’s shimmering, smoky makeup let her play the part of pop princess (can’t you picture her soon-to-be-BFF Selena Gomez in this makeup?) without betraying her age—she is 27, after all!

See our full gallery of backstage pictures! »
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With bleached-out brows being a huge beauty story from Milan, Greta Constantine showed its support for the trend with a brow-less “army of beautiful girls.” However, instead of bleach, brow hair was blocked out with the use of Pros-Aide adhesive. M.A.C senior artist Melissa Gibson explained that by taking away the characteristics that eyebrows provide, all the models look alike—resulting in a “mechanical, almost science fiction–like” aesthetic. Eyes were blacked out with M.A.C Chromaline in “Black Black” and then given a shimmering shot of M.A.C Pigment in “Gold Metal” to prevent the look from being flat, but also to add a “hint of glamour.” Cheeks were kept bare and a salmon-pink shade of lipstick (M.A.C lipstick in “Hue”) brought a bit of beauty back to the overall look. Gibson explained: “We’re playing not on the ugly, but the sinister parts of beauty. You have to take it all away and then add specific elements back in.”

“The makeup has a cold feeling,” said M.A.C Cosmetics Senior Artist Melissa Gibson backstage at Greta Constantine on Friday night. Fitting since, “backstage” was actually the frigid basement of the Audi dealership. With references that included Tibetan children and Tilda Swinton in Orlando, Gibson created what she called “almost a non makeup, but there’s kind of this wind burnt lower cheek.” In addition, pictures of Renaissance women that she found online as part of her research compelled her to put “some redness around the eye,” but was quick to disassociate it from the kind one develops from too much partying. “It just gives a pure look to the face.” To mimic the “really ruddy, great skin” of the Tibetan tots, Gibson mixed M.A.C Cream Colour Blush in “Premeditated” and “Movie Star Red” and deepened it with “Root”. On lids, she applied M.A.C Eye Shadow in “Coral” and “Orange”, layered it with “Sushi Flower” and softened it with M.A.C Mineralize Skin Finish to make it look more “fleshy”.  Lashes were left bare, and lips muted out with a touch of concealer.