I guess it was inevitable.
With nail art getting crazier and crazier over the last year or so—reaching its pinnacle with elaborate 3D elements glued onto the nail beds—crafty types were bound to seek out new surfaces to decorate.
If you recall, we saw the lips adorned with Swarovski crystals at Christian Dior during Paris Couture Week earlier this year. That same week, Chanel did fanciful tulle appliqués on the eyelids and Jean Paul Gaultier put crystals at the inner corners of the eyes. And way before that, Fendi cut up bathing suit fabric and attached it underneath the lower lashes for S/S ’13.
Now? For their F/W ’13 show, Chanel decided to go balls to the wall with great big chunks of gold and silver glitter decorating the lash lines.
Yep, it’s another extreme beauty move.
Makeup artist Peter Philips (who is freelance now after serving as Chanel’s creative director of makeup for ages) glued the jumbo pieces of art-store glitter on to both the lids and the lashes using a pro makeup adhesive. The goal was to have one bold element on the face that caught the light and served as an accessory.
Mission. Accomplished.
But as always is the case with Chanel, somehow it’s extreme but in a beautiful, artistic, aspirational, expensive way… that is the pure genius of Karl Lagerfeld and his makeup man Peter Philips.
I always talk about “grounding” your eye look with liner (like, say, when you wear a vivid colour) and that’s exactly what Peter did here. After attaching the glitter, a graphic swipe of black eyeliner underneath the lower lashes gave it balance and helped the eyes stand out more. It sort of gives a counterpoint to finish off the look.
Meanwhile, skin was kept fresh and rosy thanks to—new product alert!—a new cream blush that Chanel will be coming out with in July. It’s called Le Blush Crème de Chanel and as a cream blush addict, I cannot wait. There will be six shades and each will coordinate with a lipstick.
See how gorgeous this makeup is? It’s art, pure and simple. High-end art.
As for the hair, stylist Sam McKnight was in Toronto just on Friday and I got to hear all about the hair look here—where it was half tucked into the girls’ coat collars and necklaces. (Thoughts running through my head: “OMG! I can do this! I already do this!”) Basically, it was just a bit of Frédéric Fekkai Full Volume Mousse in the hair to add texture before the lengths were tucked in… super easy.
Other models got to wear these odd candy-coloured hats, which, Chanel or not, I’ll be passing on:
And of course, you obviously want to know what the nail polish colour is… no French manicures this time, ladies:
It’s a creamy, pinky-red shade called Elixir that’ll be out with the fall collection in July. I’m so excited about this because pinky-reds (like OPI’s Most Honorable Red) are my fave, and very flattering.
I don’t know if I’ll be doing the glitter thing (although never say never), but I’ll definitely be wearing this polish. In the meantime, we’ll have to stay tuned to see if this face art thing takes off!
You can watch the runway show here:
Now, tell me:
Do you think face art is the new nail art?
Would you wear glitter on your eyelids?
What do you think of Chanel’s latest beauty moves?
