Sunday, September 7, 2008

Direct from the Runway: Tracy Reese

One of the all-time best designers for flirty, feminine clothes that I'm just dying to have in my closet? Tracy Reese, of course! Her clothing is somehow absolutely gorgeous yet completely wearable season after season. So for Spring 2009 Fashion Week, I was psyched to head backstage and learn about the hair, makeup and nails accompanying the looks down the runway! Keep reading to discover what I found out.

One of my absolute fave makeup artists? Mally Roncal. I've loved her line for years, and after meeting this spunky firecracker at the Henri Bendel Beauty Breakfast became an even bigger fan. So how happy was I when I walked up to her at the show and she remembered me?!?! (Yes, that deserves extra punctuation.) After giving me a huge hug and asking how I'd been, she -- of course -- launched into the details on the beautiful look seen at left.

"The look was inspired by Tracy's collection, which is all about very innocent, beautiful, girly looks," Mally told me. "We wanted to do a balance between very soft, pretty and innocent and then a little tougher." To accomplish this, Mally began by using soft, sherbet-hued colors around the eye and cheek, making the two parts of the face into one unit. She then wanted to add in a bit of definition, so she lined with a brown liner and accented with a black liner on the waterline. And, as seen at many of the shows this season, Mally did a strong brow -- "to keep it very tough," she said. She finished off the look with lots and lots of mascara, confirming to me that big lashes are a huge trend for spring.

The lip was my absolute favorite part of the look. I love a good peach gloss as much as the next girl, so the juicy, apricot-pink lip was just bea
utiful. Mally accomplished this by blending three different lipglosses together, layering them one on top of the other to create that fullness and wetness. And, of course, every product used was Mally Beauty!

I then headed to key hairstylist Nathaniel Hawkins from TRESemme to find out about the gorgeous, subtly undone bun seen on the models here. "The hair is kind of perfectly imperfect," he told me. "It's a girl who just kind of throws her hair up and it's perfection. She maybe doesn't know how it looks, but it looks incredible. The hair is just effortless, it's not over-indulged."

Nathaniel started with TRESemme Big Boost Root Lift Spray, which adds thickness and a beachy, sort of rough texture to the hair. He then blew out the hair with a nozzle attached to the end of the dryer so that he could press the hair with strong force, making it smooth and flat, but at the same time he blew the air flow toward to the head to create a bit of volume and texture.

After hair was dry, Nathaniel gathered tresses into a braid, and then shook it out to make it just a bit destroyed and give it some looseness. After securing the end of the ponytail with another elastic, he then wrapped and twisted it around to create the bun, and pulled out the ends for that subtly undone look seen in the pictures at left and right.

I was curious about the placeme
nt of the bun, which I asked Nathaniel about. He said he wanted to place it straight back from the eyes, because for most women out there, it's what will make them look their most beautiful. "It's something interesting that people will see when you walk away from them, even when you turn your head," Nathaniel told me. "When you're completely put together, people notice you, and then they watch you leave. You have to give them something to look at every which way. It's nice to have a little surprise in the back!"

And of course, what would any Tracy Reese show be without the nails? For the sixth season, Tracy Reese collaborated with Sally Hansen to create a line of colors based on the clothing in her collection. The color she chose for the nails this season was Tassel, a beautiful goldish yellow. Nail technicians began with a coat of Age Correct Strength, which works as a ridge filler and really smooths out the nails before applying polish. They then applied one coat of Tassel and finished with the Speed Shine 10 Day Top Coat to really seal in the color and keep it shiny. Check out some pictures of the entire Tracy Reese for Sally Hansen line for Spring 2009, conveniently set up on a table in the back of the room!



All in all? Totally a fun, wearable, easy look that anyone would be lucky to wear. Black mascara, peach lipgloss and an undone bun -- the look I'll be rocking all spring!

*All photos are the property of The Beauty of Life.

1 comment:

  1. Ooo I love this look. I can't wait for my hair to grow out so I can wear a cute bun like that!

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