Alexander McQueen Spring 2012 Inspired Makeup

Hello!

So today we travel very deep into the ocean to discover Sarah Burton's swimming Spring 2012 collection. This show was held in a large white room with a massive chandelier that practically touched the floor! The inspirations were sea creatures and desire.

“I was thinking about a woman as an object of desire. We go to such lengths to adorn ourselves that we almost become our clothes or are taken over by them. This is a collection about excess – an exploration of ideals of beauty at their most extreme.” Sarah Burton

This collection was held a few months after the Royal Wedding so there was quite a bit of pressure for Sarah to deliver something amazing. And that she did. The first quarter of the show began with outfits in trios: suit jackets and skirts, little dresses in pale pink, gold and spun jacquards and beading with lace detailing. That eventually gave way to a trio of babydoll dresses in lilac, pale pink and peach and with a corset underneath and hand massaged ruffles. Then came a section of black gowns, jackets and dresses which people said was the "sea witch of the collection". That expanded into a finale of gowns all covered in metal embroideries and lace detailing and pearls and even more ruffles. Each piece was paired with a lace headpiece with embellishment matching the outfit.

I was able to pick a few of my favorites as inspiration (above). The first a jacquard waist piece and skirt with a corset belt and lace bra. The second being a bright orangey red dress with a ruffled skirt and pearl detailing on the cutout top. The last a gown with gold metal embroidery and and organza ruffles.

For my look I took inspiration from fishes and the movement in the show. This isn't my favorite look I've created but I still really like it. I don't think really any look could touch the beauty of the collection, personally.

The skin was kept very dewy but not shimmery. I didn't want any shimmer on the skin, just a healthy looking base. I applied a peachy cream blush to the cheeks and that was about it.

For the eyes I applied gold cream eyeshadow and blended it out really well. I also applied a white eyeliner to the upper and lower waterlines to make my eyes look really big. The little shapes on the temples were drawn with a purple eyeliner, a pale blue eyeliner and an orange lip pencil. I don't know what they are, maybe fish gills or something. I just thought they added to the look. When all was done I applied waterproof mascara.

For my brows I put a little concealer on a disposable mascara wand and brushed it through them. this gave the face a feeling of space and made it feel a little more masculine. (Weirdly enough, my face looked super girly with dark eyebrows, and with this look I wanted it to feel like a guy could wear it too of he decides so.)

For the lips I first applied a bit of Vaseline before I did anything else on my face, this allows it to sink and moisturize them. At the end I removed it and overlined my lips just a bit to shape them. I did this with a nude lip liner.Then I applied a coral lipstick and clear lip gloss for extra shine.

I really hope you enjoy this and I'll see you soon! =D

For the full collection:  http://www.style.com/fashion-shows/spring-2012-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen
Or to learn more about the brand, look through their old shows or shop: Alexandermcqueen.com

Alexander McQueen Fall 2011 Inspired Makeup

I'm back!

So this is the third look in my Alexander McQueen series and takes inspiration from Sarah Burton's second show. In case you're wondering I will be doing all of her shows for the house in order (Excluding mens, pre-fall and resort.)

So for this show the theme was "The Ice Queen and her Court" and was in the Conciergerie where Marie Antoinette held as a prisoner. Lee also held a show here in the early 2000s.

This collection was held a few months prior the Royal Wedding, so this collection was considered a collection fit for princesses. This show specifically had a touch of Lee's darkness but in a way that felt very light. They were separates in grey and black and menswear fabrics with touches of fur and zipper detailing as well as amazing dresses just doused in dyed furs. The collection then expanded into dresses in white with smocking techniques and amazing embroideries in organza. The collection then erupted into Sarah's amazing gowns in frayed and ruffled organza with details of feathers and even broken china. Some pieces were topped off with leather harnesses and collars.

Just (a few) of my favorite looks are above. An amazing coat of sheared fur to create shapes on the coat, a pale purple ruffled organza dress, which mind you was the only colored piece in the whole show, and a gown with a bodice of feathers, a skirt of textured fabric and a train of more feathers and fur.

For my look I obviously took inspiration from all the amazing textures in the collection. I really wanted to make it feel kind of icy but with the idea of all that fur.

 For the skin I moisturized very well beforehand and then layered on a really matte foundation with key highlighting. On the bridge of the nose, the the cheekbones, temples, cupids bow, and chin. I then added a pale pink blush.

For the eyes I wanted to create the look of fur. This look only took about four tries and four completely different ideas. I applied an eyeshadow base then on top applied a matte white eyeshadow. I then took a liquid eyeliner pen (my personal favorite kind of eyeliner) and just started to make these lines. It didn't even matter what kind of lines, I just had this gut feeling it would be cool. I ended with the result above. It just looks cool. Afterwards I lined my waterlines with a white eyeliner.

For the eyebrows I took a disposable mascara wand and ran foundation on it lightly. I brushed it though my eyebrows to make them a bit paler. 

I don't know what drove me to do the berry purpley lip. I just thought it would look cool and I love that purple dress and knew it had to be incorporated somehow. I just layered a a deep purple lipstick (I used one from Wet n Wild)  over a dark red one with a touch of a really dark wine color. The layered a clear gloss over that.

I really hope you guys enjoy this and I'll see you soon! 

For the full collection: http://www.style.com/fashion-shows/fall-2011-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen

Or to learn more about the brand, look through their old shows or shop: Alexandermcqueen.com

Alexander McQueen Spring 2011 Inspired Makeup

The second look in my Alexander McQueen inspired series is the first show by Sarah Burton. This show was her first full collection for the house. Many people were quite excited to see what she would do because she worked with McQueen so closely, about 15 years. 

This collection was very much about lightening the brand and taking away a lot of the darkness that came with previous show and making it more feminine. Sarah said that she was inspired by nature and women losing their identities, "almost as if she's being taken aback by nature."

The show started quite strong suit like pieces, with slashed shoulders and light fabrics, then progressed into dresses with prints and string silhouettes. Leaf embroidery and applique progressed into woven sting and wheat dresses (quite literally) and then went into gowns with even more embroidery. 

My absolute favorite looks were a trio of dresses (image above) that looked like they had been woven from grass or something then appliqued with fronds of wheat. So that was where I took inspiration from for the makeup look I created.

So for the makeup look I kept the idea of very organic and earthy colors but making a bit of an impact. Really natural but still feel as though you're wearing makeup kind of feel.

I started by applying a deep hunter green eye shadow pigment all over the eyelid, but decided it was too much. So I took and gold and just brushed it over the top to diffuse the color a bit. I then took a chocolate brown color and popped it into the crease and then took an ivory and put it under the eyebrow. I then curled the eyelashes (SUPER WELL) and applied mascara. I also put in the orange in the inner corner for another favorite piece from the collection. A dress made of hand painted feathers made too look like butterflies.

I decided to keep with the traditional Alexander McQueen look of perfect skin for the face. I just applied a touch of peach blush and that was it!

For the lips I just concealed their natural color with foundation then applied a nude lip gloss on top. 

I really hope you enjoy this look and till next time! :)

For the full collection: http://www.style.com/fashion-shows/spring-2011-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen

Or to learn more about the brand, look through their old shows or shop: Alexandermcqueen.com

Photos courtesy of Style.com

The Quintessential Alexander McQueen Look

One of my absolute favorite fashion houses in the one of Alexander McQueen. Although the original designer, Lee McQueen, died in February 2011, his understudy, Sarah Burton has been excelling and growing the house evermore. She has injected the DNA of the house, originally consisting of dark clothes with incredible tailoring and detail, and large production fashion shows where the models were always playing a character. She has added a much more feminine and lighter touch to the clothes but amping the level of craftsmanship and still keeping Lee’s incredible sense of history. Another thing she changed was the makeup!

Lee almost always had makeup artist Val Garland makeup the models according the inspiration of the collection. She painted then as creepy clowns (Fall 2001), space aliens (Spring 2010) and pasted feathers to models faces (Spring 2008). But since Sarah Burton has arrived the girls have been painted to look like blank canvases, so to speak. Very pale, perfect skin an that’s about it. No other “adornments”.

The look consists of not many steps or products at all. Keep reading to find out more.

So for McQueen shows these days Peter Philips does the makeup, for anyone who doesn't know him he is the creative director for the Chanel makeup line. What he does is he takes a sheer, matte, water based foundation and concealer in shades a bit paler than the models skin tone. He evens out the skin and covers any blemishes and covers the lips. He brushes through the brows, curls the lashes and dusts on a bit or translucent powder. And that’s it!

For my look I did exactly that. But don’t panic! You can absolutely do this in your everyday life but add little bits and bobs here and there. Keep reading for some tips.

- With this look you really should just do your foundation/concealer in your favorite foundation. Don’t change the shade or anything, the key to this look is just really perfect, gorgeous skin.

- You can absolutely fill in your brows, just take a a pencil, gel, whatever you use and fill in your brows lightly. Very lightly. You want to stay with the no makeup makeup feel of this look.

- I think in order to add a touch of life back into your face with blush. So after you do your base dust blush along your cheeks and this will help banish the starkness of this look.

- Put on a coat of brown mascara if you must. If you can’t live without mascara, add just a touch of brown to look natural.

- For the lips use tinted lip balm so you can get a touch of color and hydration. A full on bright color would overwhelm the subtlety of this look.

I really hope you enjoy this series and try some of the looks coming up! :)

You can also go to Alexandermcqueen.com or Style.com to learn more about the brand, view more shows or look through their online store.

Backstage photos courtesy of Style.com