About Face
Like the teacher in a life-drawing class, Laura Mercier, in a navy velvet tunic and long chiffon skirt, paces the row of high directors’ chairs, surveying the work of her students--professional makeup artists trained in her technique. The canvases, in this case, are the upturned faces of store customers, eager to try out Mercier’s just-launched makeup line.
With 5-foot-tall stereo speakers blaring Alanis Morrisette, who is “here / To remind you / Of the mess you left when you went away,” it’s hard to eavesdrop on Mercier. Her voice is soft and her French accent seems as thick as the day she moved to the States 11 years ago. Still, we can make out that she isn’t happy with the shade of foundation used on one customer.
“It needs to be a little bit darker,” she tells the makeup artist, “to match the undertones of her skin. Foundation can be very tricky.”
Golden Beige is removed, Suntan is applied, and Mercier moves on the next subject. Another makeup artist complains about the lighting, which is about as good as it gets in a department store (not very).
Although she is known for painting supermodel faces (Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Amber Valetta), Mercier swears the average woman is just as easy to make up. “I look at her face and project what I think should be emphasized. It’s just habit, I guess,” she says. After 18 years in the business, “It’s a reflex.”
No one is safe from the reflexive gesture, not even Isabella Rossellini, an old friend whom Mercier greets this recent day with a kiss and a powder puff on the nose. Soon, one side of the cosmetics floor at Bullock’s/Macy’s Beverly Center is listing with shoppers and employees curious to check out the actress. (Baby bangs top her bobbed hair, highlighting eyes that are a swirl of brown and blue.)
“I’ve known Laura for 15 years,” says Rossellini, looking almost slight in a navy pantsuit. “We met in Paris when I was starting to model, and I’ve worked with her ever since, especially on the Lancome ad campaigns. Laura helped my career tremendously.”
So it’s easy to forgive Rossellini for carrying on about Mercier’s makeup line: “The colors--you can’t go wrong. The eye shadows are soft and fine--if there is any smudge, it just disappears. And the Bitten Lips, which is a sheer kind of stain, is great if you don’t want a heavy lipstick. I have a daughter who’s 12, and she’s not allowed to wear makeup yet, although she wants to. Bitten Lips--I think we can start with that.”
Until this year, 37-year-old Mercier was an anonymous worker bee on the set of Madonna’s videos (“Take a Bow,” “Human Nature,” “I Want You”) and in the studio of photographer Steven Meisel (who snaps cover shots for such magazines as Vogue and Allure). And while colleagues like Bobbi Brown and Trish McEvoy have become known to consumers via their eponymous makeup lines, something held Mercier back (besides the huge financial investment required).
“I couldn’t find a good concealer,” she concedes. “Everything on the market was too greasy, or too liquid, or too transparent, or the wrong color. I was obsessed with finding something to even out the skin besides foundation, which many women just layer on to cover imperfections.” On photo shoots she relied on an old standby developed by a plastic surgeon, a thick concealer “that is not easy to work with.”
Then two Texas entrepreneurs--Gary Kusin and Janet Gurwitch--came to town and persuaded her to create a cosmetics line. “Only then [during research] did I realize why a good concealer doesn’t exist,” Mercier says. “In order for it to cover, it needs to be highly pigmented, which can be drying, especially under the eye. But if you add too much oil to the formula, it won’t stay on blemishes and discolorations.”
After engaging a cosmetics lab near her New York City home, Mercier came up with Secret Camouflage, a compact containing two shades of creamy concealer (applied in a very small dose with a brush; fingers deposit too much product). It works anywhere on the face, Mercier says, but the under-eye area should be prepped with a dab of eye cream.
Other technical tidbits from the pro:
* Apply eye pencil at the root of the lashes (not above or under). This is easier said than done, but the effort pays off in the look of thick, dark lashes.
* Refrigerate Foundation Primer (a tube of colorless moisturizer) before applying to reduce facial puffiness.
* In warm climates, submerge lip pencils (caps on) in ice water to keep the tips firm.
* Apply mascara by wiggling it on the root of the lashes.
Mercier’s line, subtitled Classique and priced from $15 to $35 per item, is sold in selected Bullock’s/Macy’s and Broadway stores.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
How She Got That Look
Makeup-artist-to-the-stars Laura Mercier used products from her new Classiques line to glamorize Susan Sarandon for what turned out to be a very big night. “I did her makeup for the Oscars in her hotel room at the Four Seasons,” Mercier recalls. “Tim [Robbins] was there, and their children. She showed me her gown immediately, which was bronze silk. I matched her lipstick to her dress, but I used golden-green eye shadow on her green eyes.”
* Under eyes:
Secret Camouflage (No. 3)
* On face:
Foundation Primer
Foundation (Golden Beige)
* On cheeks:
Blush (Crushed Hazelnut)
* On eyes:
Shadow in shimmery forest green (Scheherazade) mixed with navy blue (Deep Night)
Pencil liner (Black Extreme)
Mascara (Black)
* On lips:
Pencil (Hazelnut Brown)
Lipstick (Macaroon) mixed with shimmer (Gold River eye shadow)
