Colors pop at Betsey Johnson Spring 2011. Photo: Getty Images
Backstage at the Betsey Johnson Spring 2011 fashion show at New York Fashion Week, bright moss green burst from lids, hair was a nest of wind-blown braids and ponytails, and nails were triple striped pink, royal navy and yellow. Caution: all who read on must have a sense of humour.
MAKEUP: Sarah Lucero for Stila for Beauty.com
HAIR: Peter Gray for Redken
NAILS: Nonie Creme for Butter London for Beauty.com
SNAPSHOT: Biker Chicks Gone Wild
Colors pop at Betsey Johnson Spring 2011. Photo: Getty Images
Betsey Johnson's Spring 2011 collection carried a super-fun bicycle theme, with colourful flounces of chiffon dresses, gold-buttoned navy wear and teeny-tiny shortie sports sets that looked like models had just rode in on a bicycle -- which the designer herself did to the roar of the audience during the finale, before jumping into her trademark cartwheel-bow.
The beauty makers took the bicycle theme and rode with it, highlighting a face vibrant with Barbie dreamland-like colour, hair that had blown through miles of high wind and nails adorned in the cheekiest of bright shades.
"She's riding a bicycle through New York City, and is filled with optimism and fun -- and I wanted to capture that with bright colours that jump right off the face!" Lucero said. Green powder shadow was applied and mixed with water for a wet acrylic paint-like look, and hot pink painted the apples of the cheeks. "It looks like a pop of a balloon floating on the cheeks," said Lucero. Fuchsia pink lips lacquered the lips of models who added even more of a stain by licking lollipops and downing the Swedish Fish, Skittles, M&Ms and Twizzlers available in candy plate spreads backstage.
Hair ascended to another level of craziness. "It's like athletic punk roadkill. We're going for as weird and different as possible," Gray explained. Hair was saturated in Redken gels, creams and pastes for a plastic-like texture, and then put into teased-out dreadlocks and curls.
Nails captured the essence of the brand. "The inspiration is always Betsey, she's never driven by global trends -- she is all about the fun, fun, fun," Creme explained. Creme custom-blended a pepto pink as the base, which was similar to the one she mixed yesterday for the Victoria Beckham show. "We're probably going to put the Beckham pink into production instead of this one, not both since they're so similar," said Creme. And keeping in bicycle theme, a racing stripe french tipped the tops of nails with Royal Navy and Yellow Cheeky. Nails were press-on fakes, with a flat matte finish.
GET THE LOOK - MAKEUP: All products by Stila. Even the complexion with One Step Makeup, and use the Palm shade for Fiji Palette No. 5 all over lid and up to brow, extending past the sides and undersides of the top and bottom eye lines. Apply two pairs of lush false lashes on top of one another, and marry together with mascara. Blend a brilliant hot pink pop of color onto the apples of the cheeks, and finish with Long Wear Liquid Lip Color in Caprice.
GET THE LOOK - HAIR: All products by Redken. Apply a generous amount of Wool Shake 8, All Soft Heavy Cream and Rough Paste 08 so that strands are covered in product. Then use elastic bands to secure an assortment of dreadlocks, curls, braids and twists into hair for a windblown look. Touch ends with Outshine when done.
GET THE LOOK NAILS: All products by Butter London. Apply a pink shade to entire nail, and then stripe a line of royal blue underneath a stripe of yellow at the very edge of the nail plate. Use stick-on nails so that you can paint your art and allow it to dry before you stick them on your fingers.