Backstage at Chadwick Bell Spring 2013 — Makeup Inspired By Cubist Art
After depicting a nearly deranged, disheveled but somehow still fabulous woman last season, designer Chadwick Bell decided to show a more composed female persona for his Spring 2013 show — albeit in a non-traditional manner that steered away from conventional notions of beauty. To that end, the makeup look created by Daniel Martin, key makeup artist for Lancôme, was very structured and graphic, a play on the Cubist movement, with Martin and his team deconstructing models’ faces and then rearranging them using geometric shapes. The key to doing so was demarcating a down-turned triangle via the use of highlighters, blush, and balm, positioning the triangle base along the forehead (a straight line running from one temple to the other), the slanted sides of the triangle sloping inward through the cheeks, and the apex located at the chin. And yet, the products used were mainly taupe and rosy shades that registered as soft so that, to the untrained eye, the makeup might have appeared rather minimalist but, upon closer inspection, was actually distinguished through these strong lines.
To give the models coverage, Martin and his team started by applying the Giorgio Armani Maestro Foundation to the entire face, giving the face a sense of texture and a radiance, as if they had spent the day in the desert. Next, they used the YSL Touche Eclat Radiant Touch Highlighter along the cheeks to demarcate cheekbones and create the necessary angular lines. Next, the Lancôme Blush Subtil in Capuccine and Lancôme Blush Subtil Palette in Nectar Lace were applied along the sides of the face, the forehead, and the chin to create the desired triangle shape, with the peachy apricot and rosy taupe shades creating a lot of depth along the cheeks. The new Lancôme Cheek in Love (a long-lasting, richly pigmented cream blush poised for a Spring 2013 release) was also used along the cheeks, forehead, and chin to create the triangular motif.
Smaller triangle shapes were also created along the eyes by using combination of the Lancôme Color Design Sensational Effects Eye Shadow in Chic and the Lancôme Color Design Infinité 24H Eye Shadow in Extreme Espresso, filling in brows with Lancôme’s Le Crayon Poudre in Sable to create yet another slightly triangular shape, then adding a metallic color along the inner corners of eyes so as to follow the natural “V” shape along the waterline. No mascara was applied since Martin felt this would create a strength that would interfere with the softness of the look.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the look was the lip. Martin and his team used an eyebrow pencil for the top lip, using it to trace the widow’s peak in a dramatic and angular fashion and to fill in the entire top lip, adding a bit of color to the lip while keeping the finish matte. On the center of the bottom lip, meanwhile, he used the Lancôme Baume in Love in Rose in Love (available in Spring 2013), which looks like a fluorescent pink in its packaging but actually breaks down into a very sheer and subtle shade with just a trace of that neon vibrancy.
