Graffiti Glam — Splatter-Adorned Nails and Painterly Smoky Eyes At Nicole Miller SS16 Show
When designing her colorful, kinetic, decidedly urban Spring 2016 collection, fashion designer Nicole Miller found inspiration in New York City’s long-standing relationship with street art, sending down separates and dresses with prints that seemed plucked out of the pages of Subway Art or nodding to the elaborate mosaic designs found in subway station walls or outdoor library and playground murals. To give the models a cool, seemingly effortless, and slightly rebellious makeup look that echoed the connection’s urban art theme, James Kaliardos, the key makeup artist for MAC Cosmetics at Nicole Miller, opted for demi-matte skin and smoky eyes with a painterly feel.
To create the look, Kaliardos began by applying the MAC Prep + Prime BB Beauty Balm SPF 35 to models’ complexions, thereby hydrating the skin, improving its overall texture, and creating a more even skin tone. Next, to create a healthy flush, he swept the MAC Perfect Pinch Me Powder Blush over cheeks. To emphasize cheekbones without relying on glistening highlighting powders or dewy creams, Kaliardos used the MAC Pro Sculpt Sculpting Powder Pro Palette and hence lightened the desired area while giving it a demi-matte look.
The key component of the makeup look, however, is the smoldering eye look. Kaliardos started by mixing together the MAC Pro Paint Sticks in Black Black and Pure White in order to coat eyelids with a unique gray color. To set the paint stick pigments, he mixed the MAC Silver Ring and Print eye shadows and swept them over the lids, working the color into the crease and applying it along the outer corners and under the lower lash line for a truly smoky effect. Next, he lined the lower lash line with the Smolder Eye Kohl in order to give the look more intensity, using a brush to blur and diffuse the pencil color. To enhance the brows without too bold an effect, he filled in any gaps with the MAC Big Brow Pencil (available in Spring 2016), matching the shade to each model’s brow color. Last, he applied the Opulash Optimum Black Mascara to lift, lengthen, and define lashes.
To balance the strength of the eyes, Kaliardos kept the lip look subtle. He first applied the MAC Lip Conditioner to models’ pouts to moisturize and prime their lips, then softened them further by applying the MAC Pro Dim Lip Eraser. To give the lips just a hint of color, he applied the MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolor in The Payoff for Lady Be Good shade (available Spring 2016), blending it thoroughly until the color looked completely natural.
Nails, meanwhile, also had an artsy flair — though the attitude here revolved around embracing chaos. Katie Jane Hughes, lead manicurist for butter LONDON masterminded the splatter-effect nail look, which nodded to aerosol art. To create the look, she started by applying two coats of the butter LONDON Cotton Buds Nail Lacquer, a creamy white shade that offers full coverage. Once nails were dry, she began to create the chaotic splatter effect by dipping a bobby pin into a bottle of the butter LONDON Union Jack Black Nail Lacquer, then positioning the bobby pin over the nail and blowing through the middle (the narrow slit dividing the front and back) to disperse the color over the nail in a spray-like fashion.Using a new bobby pin, she repeated this step with the butter LONDON Easy Peasy Nail Lacquer (available April 2016), a funky and electric orchid lilac hue. She sealed the look and gave it a high-shine finish with a single coat of the butter LONDON Hardwear P.D. Quick Topcoat.
