Coming Back after Being Out of Myself or Vice Versa

So, yes have been away from the blog for about a month, and have missed it.  Life events took me away from this and many other elements that serve as reminders for what I enjoy about life. But I'm back.

Yes, realize that blog post title may appear confusing ... sit with it a while, you'll get it. Or you won't ... and it's still ok. LOL x

Monique Lhuillier Spring 2011 - Euphoria

Euphoria. The inspiration behind Monique Lhuillier's Spring 2011 Collection.

Feminine evening gowns. It's what Monique Lhuillier does best.  What surprises me about this season's collection is the choice of color palette, a departure from what we've come to expect for her.  Nude, white, gold ... yes, very familiar ... poppy red? Really? Ok ... we're willing to take a look. Let it sink in a little bit.  Ummm .... sure, I suppose this could be interesting. In fact, the more I study the collection with its pops of soft seafoam-y teal contrasted with the warmth of the golden red, the more appealing it becomes. 

"Welcome to the Garden of Eden," greets Lhuillier, gesturing around the hotel suite. "We have the angelic side, and the naughty side."

Slender metallics, draped silk sheaths and flamboyant ballgowns — poufed and appliquéd chiffons with plenty of fanfare like bustled, petaled or trumpet skirts. Your choice, ladies.

Lead makeup artist Val Garland for MAC created glowing faces that complimented the elegant feel of the line. The eye was for facial focal point here, using black gel eyeliner for a “sleek Fifties” winged feel. “It’s a bit of a cat eye,” said Garland. “It's a 1950's Audrey Hepburn look with an aerodynamic beautiful eye liner.  Very haute couture and red carpet, slightly debutant with gilded lilacs on the eye lid, liner and a delicate soft pink glossed lip.”

Proving you don't have to match your makeup colors to your clothing, Garland used MAC eye shadows in Digit and Vellum layered onto the lids, Crystal through the crease of the lids and a layer of Idol (one of my fave MAC shadows) applied wet on the top.  Woodwinked was dabbed on the inner corners of the lids for golden highlighting. Eyebrows were slightly extended to frame the face. MAC Face and Body foundation was applied as a base with Bamboo Cream Colour Base blended onto the cheeks and Shell Cream Colour Base to highlight the cheekbones. Garland’s “soft look” for lips was achieved by patting on MAC Viva Glam Gaga Lipglass, a pigmented matte baby pink lip gloss.

Rudi Lewis, lead hairstylist for Bumble and Bumble described the look he created at Monique Lhuillier’s Spring 2011 show as “magical but modern.” Before beginning the updo, Lewis added Spray de Mode to blow-dried hair. He pulled hair up into a “sculpted high ponytail.” A section of hair on the top of the head was left out of the updo and given a softer texture. He then tucked hair up in a roll, using only one long piece of elastic to create the refined look. “This is reminiscent of an Irving Penn woman,” said Lewis. “It’s Fifties without being too retro.” Lewis added that models were styled to look “expensive” and polished. “It’s not about trends,” he said.

Nails, styled by Wanda Ruiz for CND, were gilded — a combination of two coats of Putty nail polish and a top coat of shimmering Perfectly Bare polish, for a “reflective three-dimensional, holographic effect.” Um, gorgeous is what I say!

Watch the video to really get the elegant feel of this collection, the look of beauty and backstage fun!

source: Monique Lhuillier, MAC, wwd, style.com

A Nude Frontier with Bryan Meehan

Intrigued?  You should be. Eco-entreprenuer and NUDE Skincare founder Bryan Meehan will be on hand in San Francisco for a Q & A session and to unveil NUDE’s latest product - Advanced Cellular Renewal Serum – a breakthrough treatment formulated with the highest concentration of Probiotics and proven to stimulate cellular renewal up to 70% and reduce cellular damage up to 50%.

Ali Hewson and Bryan Meehan, Co-Founders, NUDE Skincare

Find out how NUDE is changing the face of natural skincare with Probiotics and high performance ingredients. Meehan co-founded NUDE with Ali Hewson, wife of U2 singer Bono, and the two set off on the adventure of teaching the world about Pre and Pro biotic skincare that actually renders effective results.  These two were giving us natural, organic skincare before it became "sexy" to do so.  Yes, they are the visionaries!

Elle, Sept 2010

NUDE has just introduced Advanced Cellular Renewal Serum and this beauty is already hitting the beauty editors' pages as the new "It" item, a must have and a skincare fave.  With good reason.

With the highest concentration of Probiotic Technology in the NUDE range, this breakthrough serum uses three bio-available technologies proven to help the skin repair itself. 

Beauty editors aren't the only ones singing this elixir's praises.  The serum has also found its way onto the faces and into the hearts of Uma Thurman, Kim Cattrall, Erin O'Connor and Helena Christensen to name a few.

'After just 3 days I have the dewiest, most beautiful skin. It feels incredible and looks so much younger. I'm obsessed'

~ Helena Christensen

BIOACTIVE PEPTIDES
Powerful Bioactive Peptides help stimulate Collagen, Hyaluronic Acid and Fibronectin production, restructuring the cellular matrix to firm the skin and reduce the depth of wrinkles.


COMPLETE HYALURONIC ACID SYSTEM
NUDE has created a unique three way system to optimise Hyaluronic Acid within the skin

• A concentrated dose of Hyaluronic Acid instantly plumps and smoothes
• Bioactive Peptides boost natural synthesis of Hyaluronic Acid
• Antioxidant Japanese Sea Kelp helps to protect against the breakdown of Hyaluronic Acid


Wishing I lived near San Fran so I could take advantage of the opportunity to meet Bryan! What a treat!  Here are the deets:

When: Wednesday, September 15th

12pm – 2pm & 5pm – 7pm

Where: Potrero Hill Whole Foods Market

Guests will receive $10 off (for a limited time) any purchase of  NUDE’s Advanced Cellular Renewal Serum.  For additional information or questions, please contact Kelly Sedei, 415-786-2724.

Erin Fetherston Spring 2011

When asked to name the inspiration for her Spring 2011 collection in one word, Erin Fetherston responded, "Aphrodisiac;" this photo (below) was submitted as an inpiring element ... just envision the travels this diva must have experienced.

"I like the idea of this woman who travels far and wide, and collects these treasures to add to her wardrobe," Erin Fetherston said before her Spring show.

With that inspiration, Fetherston opened Spring 2011 show with two safari jackets. "Birds of Paradise," the name of the collection, showcased one-shouldered cocktail dresses, peplum jackets and other pieces in florals and patterns. Somewhat neutral shades of ivory, a muted warm green and peachy orange enhanced the color palette. Nowhere in this collection will one find the berry, plum or jewel tones of Fall 2010 trending.

Fetherston's penchant for feminine charm shows through this season, the clothes almost demure, pretty silk wrap dresses in soft geometric prints and chic jackets with fronts draped to look like bows, flowy silhouettes. The pop of pumpkin orange lipstick courtesy of MAC enhances the simplicity of the designs in a marked way.

source: wwd, MAC, the cut, erin fetherston, youtube (aol)

No Go: MAC Rethinks Rodarte Collection and Pulls Out

MAC Cosmetics rethinks decision to launch the controversially marketed Rodarte x MAC collection and withdraws.  MAC made the announcement via their facebook page with this little note:

This decision will not impact M·A·C 's commitment to donate all of its projected profits from the collection to benefit the women and girls of Juarez.

Out of respect for the people of Mexico, the women and girls of Juarez and their families, as well as our M·A·C Mexican staff and colleagues, M·A·C has made the decision not to ship the M·A·C Rodarte limited edition makeup collection. This decision will have no impact on M·A·C's commitment to donate all of its projected global profits from this collection to local and international groups that work to improve the lives of the women and girls of Juarez. We are currently conducting due diligence to ensure we donate to organizations with a proven record of directly supporting the women and girls of Juarez.

M·A·C and Rodarte are deeply and sincerely sorry and we apologize to everyone we offended. We have listened very closely to the feedback of concerned global citizens. We are doing our very best to right this wrong. The essence of M·A·C is to give back and care for the community and Rodarte is committed to using creativity for positive social change. We are grateful for the opportunity to use what we have learned to raise awareness on this important issue.

______________________________

No word on whether Rodarte will follow suit with their fashion collection.  One finds most often art makes no apologies, but we shall see. For more commentary on this controversy, I'd encourage you to check out my beauty blogging buddy Pink Sith's article on the issue.  She outlined some well thought out points on the matter.

Alexander Wang Spring 2011

Loving Alexander Wang's Spring 2011 collection, well - some of it! Feminine, breezy, light and airy, and the color palette ... fresh and clean, just beautiful. The "construction" theme went a little overboard for my amateurish taste.  The rose gold metallic splashes here and there on some of the designs just didn't do it for me, and the color blotches gone haywire seemed a bit - overdone (can I say that?) ... but hey, I'm a minimalist purist with conservative style in its simplest form, so forgive me.

“I wanted to explore a purity and honesty,” said Wang, preshow. “As you can see, there’s not one hint of black.”

loooooving the shoes!

So far this NYFW we're seeing designers are returning to the feeling of light-ness, and what a welcome relief. Wang certainly appreciates this idea in his new collection, though it gets skewed with a few of the "color gone paint-ball" designs and sloppiness of some of the exaggerated pieces for the sake of his construction motif.

One nuance for Wang that can't be missed in this collection? Construction!

The collection includes overalls and wide-leg carpenter pants, denim jackets accented with copper paint. His flyaway silk trench had utilitarian crisscross straps at the back. The foil details throughout? Apparently a reference to duct tape (see image at top). His models came accessorized with swipes of white paint in their hair to add to the overall "under construction" vibe. 

In the continuation of last year's deconstruction theme, he showed layering and ultra-relaxed silhouettes. As reported by WWD, Wang also introduced his first-ever in-house prints — childlike scribbles and doodles done by his staff and interns on a 5-foot-by-5-foot sheet of paper in the studio and reproduced on fabrics in washed-out hues. “There are inside jokes [written] that even I don’t know,” he said.

source/images: WWD, Style.com

Wha??? Abbey Lee Has Gone Platinum

The Hair Transitions of Abbey Lee: L-R Fall 2010 for Emilio Pucci; Fall 2010 for Chanel Couture; Spring 2011 for Rag & Bone

Ok, so we know they're all prone to doing it at some point ... the high fashion models ... and platinum blonde hair.  Agyness Deyn, Iekeline Stange and now little Abbey Lee Kershaw.  I say little not because of her stature or popularity, this girl rocks it! I say it because the dear is a mere 20 years old (yes, I know 33 or so in model years).  We've been following her here since she first broke out as a fresh-faced catwalk star Fall 2008.

Here's what fashionologie reports about Abbey's fun new look having spoken with the gorg one herself at Chanel's Soho store opening this past Thursday:

Abbey Lee Kershaw, who not long ago cut her hair short, has taken the change even further. "I was ready for a big change," she explained this evening at the Chanel Soho store opening in New York, where she debuted her newly-dyed platinum blonde hair. She plans to keep the color all season, "unless a designer asks for it to be changed." How's it been received so far? "I only dyed it two days ago, so no one's really seen it yet." She told Modelinia of the dye job: "It took seven hours and I didn’t speak for another four hours. I’ve never dyed my hair before. Also I think that with the cut that I’ve got, it was the time to go white.”

Lee is so beautiful she could shave her head bald and still garner beauty adoration!  On another note, Stay tuned, my loves, some Spring 2011 Mercedes Benz Fashion Week posts about to roll out!

source: fashionologie