FASHION Magazine

Go inside Krisin Ess’s and Amy Nadine’s purses! »

Amy Nadine and Kristin Ess are the two talented ladies behind The Beauty Department, a hair and makeup blog that breaks down on-trend looks and posts them as bite-sized tutorials. Based out of Los Angeles, the site has become extremely popular thanks to its adorable graphics, practical advice and the occasional inclusion of a celebrity guest-star within the content.

With the year’s end on the horizon, social calendars are filled to the brim with holiday parties of all sorts—and you’re suddenly tasked with finding new and creative ways to primp. Taking a nod from beauty trends on the runways and red carpets, we’ve created three scene-stealing holiday makeup looks that will be the perfect accompaniment to both your sky-high heels and cozy cashmere knits. In fact, you can wear all of these looks to any type of festive event, so whether you’re heading to an intimate house party or a glittering gala, our tutorials will have you covered—and make sure you stand out in a sea of cocktail dresses.

HOLIDAY MAKEUP
‘Tis the season to swap pale-pink lipstick for oxblood-red »

PARTY MAKEUP
Electric brights bring your eyes to life with this metallic look »

NEW YEAR’S EVE MAKEUP
Sparkling gemstone add-ons make this glittery look countdown-ready »

Go inside Allison Williams’ bag! »

Girls is back. Girls is back! One of our most intense cultural obsessions returns with its Season 2 premiere on January 13, 2013 at 9pm on HBO Canada, and what better way to celebrate than with a look inside the beautiful bag of one of its beautiful stars, Allison Williams.

Our former cover girl was in Toronto last week to promote the new episodes as well as the release of season one on DVD and Blu-Ray (Its accompanying book of Lena Dunham’s tweets is epic, FYI) and graciously dumped the contents of her Jason Wu Daphne shoulder bag. While her stuff was being photographed, I super-fan quizzed her on the return of Booth Johnathan as well as what the next season looks like for character Marnie Michaels, who seemed to be floundering sans-boyfriend and roommate at the end of season one. “She’s having a rough go. She’s without the same comforts that she had in season one, so she’s very influx, and that is something that I know that I, and a lot of my friends can relate to,” she said. “When it rains, it really does seem to pour especially when you’re in your mid-twenties when you don’t have a lot of foundation already laid down it can just throw everything into upheaval at once—job, everything.”

See 10 stylish ways to celebrate Hanukkah »
See the rest of our Holiday Guide »

Though we all tend to fixate on Christmas around this time of the year, it’s easy to forget that it ain’t the only holiday in town. Hanukkah, the annual Festival of Lights is pretty rad too. Beginning tomorrow night (December 8) and going for 8 days until December 16, Hannukah will be celebrated by Jews by lighting menorahs, spinning dreidels, and eating too many latkes and jelly-stuffed doughnuts (Speaking for myself, that is). And while the kiddies may receive a different gift and a gold wrapped chocolate coin each night, the adults need a little bit of fun too. To ramp up the Hanukkah spirit, we’ve picked 10 super stylish and awesome ways to celebrate including themed nail decals, blue and silver picks and one party ugly partly adorable dreidel sweater. From us here at FASHION (and Adam Sandler of course), Happy Hanukkah!

See what you can win in our contest »
Visit our Contests Page to enter* »

Tis the season to give and to get, and because we are selfless (and attempting to ensure that we’re on Santa’s Nice List), we’ve brought back our annual 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways contest to celebrate the holiday season. The premise of the countdown is simple. For twelve weekdays we’ll be giving away prizes starting with 12, then 11, then 10 and so on.

Kicking off on December 6, we’ll be giving away 12 copies of the first season of everybody’s favourite show Girls, and counting down towards the ultimate prize pack on December 21 with one very full swag bag from Holt Renfrew including a 3.1 Phillip Lim purse, goodies from Jo Malone, Nars and more.

Check back every day at 12:01 a.m. to enter the daily contest and cross your fashionable fingers! Have a fierce holiday season and good luck from us at FASHION.

We love the bright lips and mussed hair on J.Crew models. Kari Molvar meets the woman driving the brand’s beauty direction.

See what has influenced J.Crew’s look »
See Gayle Spannaus’ favourite lipsticks used at J.Crew »

J.Crew has launched many obsessions over the years: cashmere V-necks, brightly coloured capris and novelty ballet flats. But the fashion retailer, which began as a catalogue-only business in the eighties, has also been not so quietly causing a beauty revolution. Flip open the catalogues, or “Style Guides” as they’re now known, and you’ll find models with electro-pop lips, windblown hair and brushed-up brows, a signature look that went over well when the brand officially presented at New York Fashion Week for the first time with its Spring 2012 collection. Collaborations with indie makeup brands Face Stockholm and Lipstick Queen have led to sold-out collections of lipstick and nail polish (not even eBay-able anymore!), and beauty boldfaces such as Linda Rodin (she of the cult face oil Rodin Olio Lusso) star in the company’s latest ad campaign. All of which is to say: J.Crew is on a big beauty roll.

See all the Christmas gifts
for best friends »

Buying a Christmas gift for your best friend should come as one easy task. You know your best friend inside and out, and chances are that you have similar tastes and shopping habits. But for those out there that don’t have a clue where to start, we have many ideas for Christmas gifts for best friends (and sisters and girlfriends too!) included here in our 2012 gift guide.

Christmas is a season of giving, and why not choose a Christmas gift idea for your best friend who you’ll likely be spending some of the holidays with? The affordable gift ideas for best friends featured here are all under $100, so even if the Christmas season is draining your wallet there are still cute, but cheap options out there for your best friend.

Every week we take on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more and provide all the answers. This week, Beauty Fix is focused on making it last—or not. Some things, like a great makeup application, a brightly-coloured lip or an ombré hair dye are worth preserving and we have the tips to help you do so. On the flip side, we also have a foolproof method for curing one of the most common beauty errors. If you’ve ever sprayed too much perfume, read on! In need of a beauty fix yourself? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

Read on for the full fix! »

The clock is ticking, and if you’re still scrambling to create a Halloween costume it may be time to switch efforts over to your nails. Halloween nail art is an ideal, last-minute way to dress up for this candy-filled holiday and there are plenty of options that take almost no time or effort to do. (Seriously!) First option: do-it-yourself decals. Sally Hansen has a complete series of Halloween-themed Salon Effects nail polish strips, meaning in less than ten minutes your fingers can go from plain to patterned. For those who are more comfortable with nail art, dress up each nail with a Day of the Dead skull, Jack-O-Lantern face or black cat. This week Nail Corner combined Halloween decals with nail art for a somewhat spooky and definitely festive manicure.

See how this Halloween nail art is done! »

View the collection and its Andy Warhol inspiration »

If his product shade names are any indication—Edie, Nico, Ondine and Chelsea Girls—makeup artist François Nars has long been an Andy Warhol enthusiast. Though Nars laments the fact that he never had the opportunity to meet Warhol (“I think the first thing I would have done would be photograph him”), when he moved to New York in 1984, he had a connection to him in the form of his friend Marina Schiano, a former model and muse of Yves Saint Laurent, and a Warhol silkscreen subject. “She was extremely friendly with Andy and told me so many stories about him,” says Nars.

From the Luoboutin heels that Carly Rae Jepsen is wearing on the cover of our October issue to all the animal print accessories that got a spot in our Fall/Winter 2012 trends guide, there’s never been a better time to paint leopard-print spots on your nails. It’s a fan favourite for nail art that can done in endless colour combinations—but we think it looks best in the classic shades of tawny-brown, copper and black. The muted colours of a leopard-print manicure is also a clever way to sneak some nail art into otherwise formal occasions. (Say, for instance, a family-filled Thanksgiving dinner?) Above all else, leopard-print spots are easy to master: all you need is a dotting tool!

See how easy leopard-print nail art is! »

Outer space has inspired many a manicure, from the classic moon manicure (okay, it may be named for the moon of your nails and not the moon in the sky, but still!) to glittering galaxy-style nail art. Last fall Jeremy Laing had many a moon print in his collection and this season it seems Carolina Herrera is taking inspiration from astronomy. Two pieces in particular seemed to capture the crater-filled, swirling surface of the moon and it’s this print that served as the basis for today’s nail art. (Also, I’m not the only one completely enamoured with the images of Mars that the Curiosity Rover has been sending back to Earth, right? Outer space is on-trend!) To get the surface of the moon on your nails, you’ll need two shades of mushroom-purple nail polish, a silver-purple glitter and a few dotting tools. Don’t worry, this manicure is easier than rocket science.

See how the surface of the moon manicure is done! »