BY DESIGN : The Bare Necessities : Norma Kamali Wants to Wean Women Off Foundation, So Her New Lines of Makeup Emphasizes Colors and Creams That Target Sheer Beauty
Fashion designer Norma Kamali has done it all with makeup: Twiggy eyes and frosted lips in kohl-rimmed eyes in the ‘80s.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the ‘90s: the health and fitness revolution. Kamali’s lifestyle changed, which is why her new makeup line is as minimalist and unfettered as her clothing designs. About 10 years ago, she recounts, she gave up her preferred lunch of a bacon-cheeseburger “with a cigarette for dessert” and started exercising. And sweating. the ‘60s, shaved eyebrows and inch-thick foundation in the ‘70s, then crimson lipstick and One day, she looked at her makeup-smeared towel mid-workout and thought, “How much longer can I wear foundation to the gym?”
The idea for an un-beauty line was born. “But first I needed to feel brave enough to bare my face,” she says. “It was a difficult process because I was really locked in to wearing base. But I realized that if my skin looked healthy, if the color and texture were better, then I wouldn’t have to keep covering it up to look good.” Besides, foundation was settling into the tiny lines on her face, adding years to her appearance.
She sampled tinted moisturizers offered by a number of cosmetic companies but discovered that sweat made them run. Pressed powder gave her a dry, matte look that aged her. “I know what I need, but I can’t find it anywhere,” she recalls saying. So she did what any three-time Coty Award-winning designer would do: She created Norma Kamali Beauty.
The revolutionary element in her system is a self-tanner that Kamali named Self-Enhancer, a daily squirt of which gives the skin a sun-kissed glow. Day and night moisture creams plump up wrinkles and soften the skin. A terra-cotta powder imparts a bronze tone to face and eyelids, while a pink blush gives cheeks the flush that comes with exercise. These powders are so sheer they couldn’t be used for contouring (“Perish the thought!” says Kamali). They’re meant to be dusted over the face with her natural-bristle brush. A few whisks and the Kamali woman is out the door.
“Your face looks modern, healthy, and glowing,” says the designer by telephone from her East 56th Street boutique in New York. She prefers dark brown mascara to black, which she considers too harsh. Even the glossy lipsticks in the collection, in pale pink, nude and a deep berry stain, allow the texture of the lips to show through. “The shades are so translucent they look different, and equally beautiful, on a black woman, a fair-skinned blond, and on a woman with my Mediterranean coloring,” says the Lebanese-Spanish native New Yorker.
Kamali knew weaning women from foundation wouldn’t be easy. Sales of the line have been slow but steady since its introduction in 1994. A 15-piece kit, including a 15-minute explanatory video, is sold by mail for $89.95 ([800] 452-6254), with a money-back guarantee. The makeup can be sampled only at the OMO (On My Own) Kamali boutique in New York.
Why not sell it in department stores? “Not the right venue,” Kamali says. “Cosmetic consultants are too into making people over to look like someone else. Why not say to the customer, ‘Let’s make a healthier version of you?’ Because when you take pride in yourself, you look more beautiful. That confidence is very special.”
It’s easy to take pride in your appearance when you look like Kamali, an exotic beauty with smooth skin and chiseled cheekbones. On the video that accompanies her cosmetics she appears 20 years younger than her age: 50. Perhaps that was shot through cheesecloth? “Nope, she looks pretty much the same in person,” says someone who met the designer on the selling floor of her store, where she is a familiar presence.
Whatever it is, it doesn’t take a lot of time. “Before I go to bed I brush my teeth and wash my face thoroughly with a nubby washcloth,” Kamali says. “Then I apply the Self-Enhancer and hit the pillow. In the morning, I shower, and while my skin is still moist I put the Day Cream all over my face, neck and chest. Then I put on lipstick. That’s all I’m wearing today and I feel like I look OK.”
That simple approach to beauty seems to be what busy women want: makeup that can be applied in less than five minutes and skin care that doesn’t require a booklet filled with elaborate instructions (which never are read). Complex treatment regimens seem to leave a woman puzzling, “Do I apply this serum under or over my day cream?” If the old approach to beauty was cooking from scratch, streamlined systems like Kamali’s are microwaveable.
There is one sin of omission in the daytime moisturizer: a sunscreen. Kamali left it out because it affected the scent and texture of the cream. “Besides,” she says, “you don’t need sun protection all the time. I’d rather women use their favorite sunscreen, when they need it, on top of the moisturizer.” (Leave it to a New Yorker battling blizzards to discount the necessity for sun screen.)
As much as Kamali believes in her makeup, she isn’t dictatorial. A favorite under-eye concealer or liquid eyeliner can peacefully coexist with her cosmetics. “The only thing I hope is that women consider my philosophy of removing foundation,” she says. “I admit that leaving something off is more traumatic than putting something on. But once a woman does it, she becomes a friend for life.” And a customer. The Self-Enhancer is the most-reordered product in the line.
Kicking the foundation habit “is one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself,” Kamali says. “I’m so happy when other women feel the relief of not having to wear a mask every day.”
