Bright and Pearly : This Year’s Holiday Shine Beams From Soft Iridescents, Not Hard, Heavy Metals
MAKEUP ARTISTS tend to use the holidays as an excuse to ornament the face with supercharged colors and glittering, metallic textures. But this year, leading makeup designers are creating looks that are a subtle counterpoint to the season’s opulent party clothes and lavish jewelry.
Contrasting with the matte-finish daytime face that cosmetics manufacturers have been showing since last spring, the evening look for the holidays beams with allover iridescence. “I hesitate to use the word iridescence for fear that women will get too extreme,” says makeup artist Victoria Jackson, whose brushes and puffs have enhanced faces as diverse as Brooke Shields’ and Barbara Walters’. The effect should be a delicate shimmer created with finishing powders such as Princess Marcella Borghese’s Perlati , or Lancome’s translucent Poudre Majeur.
What’s important about iridescence, says Joanne Fradkin, owner of Pigments, a Beverly Hills makeup salon, is that “the sheen is only apparent when the light hits it a certain way. It is the happy medium between matte and metallic--something more people can wear.”
The pearl-like quality of the season’s cosmetics is, in part, a reflection of an accessory trend. Women with well-dressed necks--including the Princess of Wales, the Duchess of York and Ivana Trump--are wearing 14-millimeter pearls. Cosmetics manufactureres are featuring soft, iridescent fisishes that complement these lustrous beads. Indeed, Guerlain’s Meteorites powder even looks like pastel pearls.
Jeff Angell, a Hollywood makeup artist and author of “The Makeup Difference,” explains that shimmer should be dusted over a sheer, matte-finish foundation or a tinted moisturizer. “The look is not as made-up as it has been in the past, so the natural complexion tone and texture are evident,” he says.
Jackson, who has just released her own collection of cosmetics through Beauty Secrets International of Dallas and Los Angeles, says she urges women to use the same foundation color day and night, changing its look with powders and blushers. Jackson suggests extending the iridescent look to the neck, shoulders and chest by adding a powder such as Borghese’s Perlati to a body lotion and smoothing it on. “It adds a touch of sheen and looks natural,” she says.
Angell carries the natural look to the eyes. He recommends very little mascara and suggests the addition of a few artificial lashes “if the natural lashes are sparse.” Jackson darkens the lashes with black or brown mascara and then uses a color such as blue or purple on the tips--”just for special occasions,” she says.
Makeup artist Angelika Schubert, owner of Celestine-Cloutier, an agency for free-lance makeup and hair stylists, says the overall look for the holidays is very sophisticated and feminine, “away from the messy look that has been in style for too long.” Angell adds: “Iridescence is the way to keep the whole look subdued. Sparkle without glare.”
Styling: Karen O’Neil; hair and makeup: Victoria Jackson/A la Mode; model: Erin Payne / Elite Model Management
