Lux needs a fresh coat of paint.

There is a luxury retailer in town whose business is based on catering to those with lots of money to spend, the wonderful world of wealthy and the ones who wish they were and pretend they are. Customers who spend lots of money on designer clothing, shoes, handbags and of course premium priced beauty products.
It seems this emporium of luxury has lost a bit of its luster. Every woman going to buy her cache of weapons for her beauty arsenal- her wrinkle fighting, lip plumping, eye shading pots, potions and tubes of transformation, needs to feel special. She needs to believe that the world of pretty is warmly welcoming her with open arms and appreciates her business, her time, her dollar-appreciates she chose to come here and not the mass retailer with the identical counter with all the identical products, two doors down, or the specialist beauty retailer just a hop up the street that sends most women into makeup panic overload. Make her feel special. Not so hard I think- so my question is how do chipped paint and dirty chairs make you feel when you think of luxury? Pretty, pretty indifferent or pretty tired and turned off?
It's as if you are going to get your eyebrows shaped by the aesthetician who has the commas/quote marks scrawled and squiggled across her forehead who leaves you looking like Ronald McDonald and his infamous arches, or the hairdresser who thinks bridal hair is a stiff, starched up do, festooned with baby's breath and a can of final net. Just don't- trust me on this- babies the world over will breathe a lot easier if you don't look like scary foliage or a topiary when you say "I do". Beauty, especially luxury beauty, is an experience that is supposed to seduce and delight a woman into wanting to purchase her hope in a jar, not look tawdry and worn, like a $12.00 korean town manicure buffed with steel wool.
The Power of Pretty isn't in the reality of stools with chips and nicks and smudges of dirt, it's in the belief that all the fantastical wonders of pretty lie gleaming under glass, perfectly packaged, waiting to indulge the senses. A magical candy colored land full of compacts of color. A light touch up with a fresh can of paint or a pot of concealer, be it on a chair or a face, makes all the difference on how you present yourself to everyone. When others look at you and when you look at yourself, The Power of Pretty knows the best defense is a great offense. Looking pretty makes you feel pretty which is pretty powerful. In the world of luxury, where image is everything, wear and tear speaks loudly and says I don't care. Not caring sure doesn't make people feel special and wanting to spend.
It's time for a little retailer beauty duty involving a wash of Glidden loving of "Crisp Linen White" or "Eloquent Ivory" to put the lux back into luxurious and the power back into pretty.

POWER OF PRETTY in ACTION!

This is a shameless plug. I am doing a personal makeup appearance @ the new CARGO Cosmetics tomorrow at the Sears entrance/ Toronto Eaton Center from 11am-7pm.
I designed five face charts pulling the looks straight off the Runway and the Red Carpet. Time to shake out of the makeup rut and give yourself a fresh new face!

if you are new to CARGO, they have some amazing products. I especially love the brand new Lash Activator that helps give you stunning lush lashes, the AMAZING Blu-Ray line made for "High Definition" living with concealers, translucent powders, bronzers and the best, must have blush. Of course the easy-to-use Essential Eye Palette that every woman should have as her daily beauty duty and the smartly packaged, you're- gonna-want-one, Eyelighter.

For those of you who can't join me, here's the link to CARGO's website http://www.cargocosmetics.com/

Sit with me and experience The Power of Pretty first hand!

Hope to see you there!

A Must Have for that LBD*- Degree Ultra Clear

This party season you can haul out your *LBD (*Little Black Dress) without worrying you will be forced to keep your hands at your side wallflower style. Those pesky white tell tale deodorant marks normally left behind on your favorite dark clothing, are now unpleasant memories banished to the distant hinterlands of fashion, like 'color you orange' bronzers and Angelinas' old nose.
Degree Ultra Clear smells great in a few fragrances- (I like the smell of Pure Clean while my fashionista gal pal swears by her Pure Powder)-while protecting against odor and wetness. Best of all it goes on clear without worrying a bunch of white streaks marring your favorite, fabulous frock. Now you can throw your hands up in the air and dare to bare while showing off your dazzling smile- which this party season is the only white you want everyone commenting on.
Cool, clean and effortlessly confident. Degree Ultra Clear is 'Little Black Dress' and The Power of Pretty approved.

Just because it's in Fashion doesn't make it pretty...

Anyone who knows me well will easily say I have a slight eyebrow obsession- ok maybe not so slight as like any addict, I am consumed with giving great arch as my past Tweezerman tweezer post will attest. The international fashion set wrapped up their beauty duty for Spring/Summer 2010 in Paris and there seems to be a very interesting, some might say alarming, eyebrow trend. As in where are they ? As in where is the pretty?

As the models made their way down the catwalks many designers, including Lanvin and Givenchy, were channeling barely there brow aesthetic. It was as if the late great makeup maestro, Kevyn Aucoin, had hauled out his home bleach kit and went on a lightening spree. It was a "no brow wow" so to speak, with oodles of arches turning shades of an interesting orange or barely there blonde. Faces were left oddly naked looking even when the rest of the features were made up.Without brows, the face looks oddly otherworldly, a celestial terrestrial, or as if a Japanese anime character has come to life. Obviously this is the point- by negating such an important facial feature we are made to see the face differently and the cherry pout sauntering down the runway at influential Prada popped in a new and exciting way.

As someone who has loved his Jolene bleach kit and thrown a lighter shade for many a model on various photo shoots,commercials and music videos, I laughed out loud. While the living, breathing, all things 'must be fashionable' flock, are busily fading away their envious arches and proclaiming this a 'you must do trend', for most real women, a battle with the bleach bottle is a bad idea that many will avoid. It's a beauty moment better left for E eyed club kids and edgily determined fashionistas, tripping over their Manolos and Jimmy Choos in an effort to lighten up and bare it all.

Gorgeous brows give overall balance and are like the latest It bag, one just worn on the face. As many a makeup artist worth their weight in tweezers will attest, an artful arch can take years off your true age and is way less expensive and invasive then a face full of injectables or a loaded syringe of botox. Stripping away the eyebrow is like taking away her hard won and worn beauty armor, no matter how fashionable it makes her. While fashion may dictate the newest trend, most women set their own style and worrying about eyebrow roots and re-growth is beyond the pale, no matter what Miuccia says. While alien beauty has its appeal, few women are willing to give away their power of pretty.

IS this RACIST? Sometimes its not a simple Black or White.

So the cyber and fashion worlds are all atwitter so to speak. Getting in deep and deeper into the color divide debate. French Vogue editor, Carine Rotfield, has come under fire for recently publishing a photo spread of model Lara Stone painted black to match some of the clothing she is wearing. Lara Stone is white and while the photos are beautifully shot they also have a distinctly heated sexuality. There have been calls for the firing of the editor, a very vocal french cri de coeur, don't you think , of "off with her head" from newspapers and irate bloggers all over the world. People angrily insisting that the photo spread is racist and inflammatory and wrong. Insisting that this is another example of blackface buffoonery or mocking minstrels, a big photo spread N word that wraps itself in the guise of high fashion and art.

I think the Stephen Klein photo shoot for French Vogue is beautiful.

France is a country where African American expatriate Josephine Baker was treated like a Queen and revered as a Goddess. She was a French cultural icon of beauty, eventually becoming a French citizen, when back home in the U.S. she was still expected to ride in the back of a bus. France is where vocalist African American Nina Simone is revered as one of the greatest singers the world has ever known and where she died at age 70. France doesn't have the same recent weighted history of clashing color, of civil rights and race riots, as the US does. A nation where palpable tension simmers like a glass of angry OJ left boiling on the stove.

The image of the painted black hand holding the giant 65 carat marquise diamond is from a Vogue photo shoot by David Bailey from 1970. It was the idea of then editor Diana Vreeland who had the rock for two days to shoot. She had the gorgeous arm of a model who had the best arm in Paris, says Vreeland to model it. The model was white, a beautiful Swedish girl. The photo wasn't working. Vreeland thought it looked "too boring, too terrible - too tacky." She was on a deadline and frantic- the clock is ticking and nothing was working. She needed a shot that did the diamond justice. She went for a walk and she thought of precious stones and how they always were found in countries of people of color, who looked so beautiful wearing them on or against their varying shades of dusky skin. Her idea was to shoot the diamond not on a black hand but the white hand painted completely and artificially black. Painted with black shoe polish. She says in her book ALLURE that the reason the shot worked was it's absolute artifice. On a natural black hand , however beautiful, she says she would have just found it banal. Is this photo racist? Was Diana Vreeland the 1970's fashionista equivalent of wearing white sheets and burning crosses?

I think the image created by Vreeland and Bailey is beautiful.

The final images are ones taken from my own collaborative creative with photographer Margaret Malandrucolo many moons ago. It was one of those photo shoots where everything seems as if its falling apart at the last minute - the original model, a pretty white girl named Joanie, canceled at the last minute and our concept went out the window - the new 'model' we got was a club kid Margaret met the night before, who she thought had a great face, who's name escapes me.The idea came from me looking at the clothing the stylist brought. The origami paper shapes and hard angles of the clothes was my inspiration for hair and makeup. I had the idea of turning her into a half finished mannequin, whiting out all the skin on her hands and her facial features, letting color only come through where she came to life. Does making an asian girl look 'white' make me racist? I don't even remember contemplating the idea of cultural or ethnic sensitivity- I remember I just wanted to make amazing pictures.

I think the images* we created that day were beautiful.

I think the danger of becoming so politically correct and overtly sensitive to everyones issues and points of view is it becomes paralyzing. I think art, creativity and beauty should make us question ideas and the acceptance of the status quo. The way we see things like color and race and gender and sexuality need to be challenged for us to grow as people. Maybe the viewer's who see these images and cry racism and blackface have a bias they need to change. I see beautiful pictures. You? What do you see?

To see the entire sequence go to www,jodydaye.com under women's fashion

As the Crowfeet Fly

One of my new favorite things in my arsenal of pretty weaponry, is this handy little guy from Canadian skin care innovator Dermaglow. This brand has been around since 2000, is sold internationally and is constantly developing exciting skin care products that work.
Well the Triple Action Eye Lift is now part of my gym bag 'beauty duty' baby! I may not be able to lift my arms right now- damn you deltoid machine- but this product is loverley. Easy to use, designed to slip into your pocket or purse, it has a roll on applicator to deliver instant hydration and lift in one simple stroke with no mess to worry about- how you ask? - Well it it has an active ingredient called escin, which is an extract derived from the horse chestnut tree and promotes increased circulation in the skin and enhanced collagen production. Collagen is what gives your skin fullness and plumps it up. We love our collagen boosters!

Another ingredient is sodium hyaluronate which holds and retains moisture and has small particles which easily penetrate into the skin. Going into the dreaded W word- winter - the season when the temperature drops and all that horrible radiant heat/central air kicks in and starts to suck the moisture out of your face like a bad Bram Stoker adaption starring Keanu Reeves, a quick little roll of this guy is like giving your undereye and crow's feet a big gulping glass of moisture. The consistency is pretty ideal, absorbing quickly and doesn't make you look all disco shiny, like so many other anti- aging products on the shelves. It also reduces under eye puffiness and the appearance of dark circles. I'm not saying give up the late nights, I'm just saying lessen the tell tale look of them. My favorite part is Dermaglow stands behind their products completely, so customer satisfaction is key to their success and if you're not happy bring it back. it is also fragrance free and has no parabens*. I hate lots of smelly products on my face and have been known to toss out new moisturizers just cause of the questionable overload of scent sensation.

Dermaglow's Triple Action Eye Lift retails all over in major drug stores like my favorite personal beauty emporium addiction Shoppers Drug Mart for just less then $35. Now if I could only figure out how to hold mine between my knees, lean in and apply until my shoulders stop screaming, my eye area would be hydrated and happy.


*Note: The case is still out on parabens, which are synthetically made chemical preservatives, as to if they actually are carcinogenic. I am no scientist, mad but not a scientist, but when it's going into my skin, especially my face, I'd rather err on the side of caution.- At one time smoking and sitting outside in the sun slathered in a concoction of iodine and baby oil supposedly didn't cause cancer either -not judging... just saying... ok maybe judging a little.

The Skinny on Skinny

Just got off the phone with my friend who went to a designer trunk show last night featuring what she called "the skinniest models I have ever seen." She and her two female compadres have the kind of wallets, fashion sense and disposable incomes that make sales people weak in the knees and salivate, with visions of big commissions dancing in front of their eyes like a jonesing beauty junkie getting inside my cosmetic tickle trunk.  But the show left them feeling slighted and uninspired. Not by the clothing, which barely received a mention,  but by the clothing hangers modeling them. If customer service is all about making you, the customer, the one with the cash,  feel great, feel pretty, feel empowered -then this show fell flat and the only great sounding fizzy fizzy pop was the free flowing Veuve.

Now my friend has a real woman's body, in fact an enviable one, with curves that make men stupid and other woman stand up straighter and throw their shoulders back. When she walks into a room people notice, but at this trunk show the clothing became secondary to the cult of skinny. What woman with curves is going to want to try things on when she is surrounded by size 0 or 2's? What woman is going to feel pretty  surrounded by all those jutting angles of hips and elbows knowing that if she didn't eat for weeks her thigh would still be bigger then these models waist?

They tried on nothing- they bought nothing. They enjoyed the Veuve but left with a bitter taste in their mouth. The designer who understands that women come in all shapes and sizes and celebrates that on the runway and in reality will be the designer that sells to women everywhere, not just the hungry ones. The retailer that realizes the power of pretty is in how being made to feel pretty outside makes you feel inside, will hear their cash register sing. By sending out only a solo parade of skinny, the designer effectively stopped women from seeing themselves wearing his clothing. It sure is difficult to sell to someone you just alienated and made to feel bad, even in the smallest way.

Fashion is cyclical- so tell me, when do curves come back? When do hips and a shapely bottom become the next new in fashion it item ? The reality is for most women they never went out.

Does she look too fat to you?

Last week on my blog- http://thepowerofpretty.blogspot.com -see below- I posted the scary digital diet picture manipulation of the Ralph Lauren spokesmodel Filippa Hamilton, where her head was bigger then her hips. Well now she is speaking out. She said in a recent interview with the NY Daily News, her almost decade long contract with Ralph Lauren was terminated in April because she was told she was too fat to fit the clothes. She's a size four. Please let that sink in. She is a size four. She is around 5'8'' and weighing 120 lbs according to her modeling website, a shape that she says has remained constant for the last eight years of her contract. A size four is too fat?? really??
WTF??
Now explain why anorexia is common among young women, why girls as young as eight years old are already dieting and hating their bodies, why a healthy beautiful young woman's career is washed up at twenty three. Does she look fat to you? Does it make you crazy how narrowly (and I do mean that literally) fashion and beauty are defined? Does it make you look with slitted eye at your own womanly hips and baby there baby belly that you hate! hate! hate!? or does it just make you feel bad realizing you can never ever measure up to a standard that so few can healthily obtain?
Sometimes I think beauty and fashion aren't fun. I think they are cruel and mean. When a size four is fat we all really need to take a long look in the mirror and love what is looking back. Even the power of pretty needs to eat.

Ode to Tweezerman- a Beauty Duty!

As a self proclaimed eyebrow obsessive, the kind of guy that sits on the subway mentally, meticulously, reshaping the bushy brows and anemic arches of transits' teaming masses, I would be lost without one of my favorite makeup artist go to tools. I have had in my career bought so many I should own stock in the company, using them to work my eyebrow magic on everyone from supermodels to super moms. And as far as addictions go there is no need yet for tweezer rehab.

The Tweezerman Slant Tweezer is an absolute makeup kit necessity for superior brow shaping. I love how the perfectly aligned, hand-filed tips are seamlessly slanted on an angle to get every one of those hairs, even the tiny ones just poking through the skin, and do so effortlessly without pinching skin. There is a reason Tweezerman's tweezer is a beauty award winner including being chosen by magazine's like InStyle, and Allure. The editorial team for Allure, the beauty bible, have chosen Tweezerman's for eight consecutive years in their round up of 'Best of Beauty'. They are even the tweezer used to perfect Michelle Obama's first lady arches for the US inauguration  of her beau Barack and Madonna's makeup artist tames her fiercely bushy Italian ancestry with a divalicious pair. 

You can find them at the beauty counter in your local Shoppers Drug Mart for around $20 or so in stainless steel and other various colored enamel shades, like the red seen here. My new favorite is the camouflage pair I received in a gift bag. I'd post a pic but they're camouflaged. They also come with a lifetime warranty if they start to dull down. I myself have never bothered to send them back, as I usually have 3 pairs on the go in various kits, but the company will re-sharpen or send you a brand new pair, if yours starts to fail in their pulling power. You no longer have to take on the world brow beaten, but like Madonna and Obama's Missus, with an artful tweeze you can give great face!

TIPs and TRICKS: Make sure when you tweeze, you go slowly and take only one hair at a time. If possible get a professional to give you great brows- like me- so you can follow their line and maintain what they have created. I always tell my clients if they are going to an estheticians to be shaped, look very carefully at her eyebrows and like what you see, because yours will be very similar when she is done. If you can, open up the pores first with a hot shower or a warm towel. This lessens the pain and makes the hair slide out easier. Put down the tweezers during your period as the nerves in your skin are more sensitive and the hurt can increase exponentially. You're just removing some hair not having invasive surgery and giving away your kidney.

Day into Night with a Perfect Pout

Outlast Lip Stains by Cover Girl          

  These are great for when you want color to last all day and not have to keep reapplying. Its an easy product to use once you get the hang of it, but your lips need to be in good condition- not chapped or dry as the product will really emphasize dry skin and go darker on those parts. I also love the price! Great way to try a shade out of your comfort zone without busting your budget. I pulled the fall colors that give you a pop of color : Berry Smooch #405, Coy Coral #430 and Plum Pout #425 are three of my autumn favorites that give a vibrant on trend type of stain  without the heaviness of traditional lipstick. If you want to rock a sooty/smoked eye with a bit of goth rock and roll flavor, I really like Flirty Nude #435. The best way to apply these is open your mouth and one constant light application- it is really simple to use and works like a waterproof marker- the more times you go over the section the more color intensity you will build up, so the less is more mantra really works here- DONOT lick your lips or press together right away as you need around 60 seconds to let it dry- If you are addicted to that killer pout I suggest you first use a natural or complimentary looking  lip liner to define your mouth-  it should fade away towards the middle and not leave you with a solid, hard noticeable line. Use your finger, bruh or q-tip to soften- you can really use a lip liner to give your mouth an almost 3-D effect and really give yourself wannabe Angelina lips. 

With the first three lip shades you should look like you ate some really delicious fruit and your mouth was stained by it. This look is best if you are not doing tons of eye makeup as your lips become the focus and everything else is simple, chic and doesn’t require constant maintenance. Simple curled lashes and mascara on top will look great if you are really working the glamorous fall mouth with a thicker defined eyebrow.  The darker edgy eye needs a softer muted mouth so your face doesn't look like it's fighting with itself and stays modern. For this I'd keep all the focus on the strong eye and keep everything else understated.

 TIP AND TRICK- If you are worried about your lipstick bleeding/traveling into cracks/ fine lines around your mouth, I like to use a little concealer all around on the outer edge of the lip, blend  in and follow right away with a loose or pressed translucent powder to set. This works well on giving you a fuller pout and also keeps your lip color where you want it.

Go Go Goth Girl- When black is the new black

The huge runway trend for fall had a heavy gothic influence and what is happening in clothing has made it to the face. Major beauty companies like Yves St Laurent with its limited edition Beaute' Pur Lip Gloss and MAC have introduced goth inspired black make up that is flying off the beauty counter. MACs' Style Black collection has a couple of different lipsticks and glosses to choose from. You can decide how dark you dare in the application from a sheer color wash that gives a hint of night to a full ebony pout with hints of a deep dark plum. 

If you want to try a little black on the face it takes a little bit of fearlessness so you don't end up looking like an extra from a Marilyn Manson video shoot. Keep everything else simple and pull one aspect out you want to feature. A black lipstick or gloss can look really chic on an otherwise understated face and I love Sally Hanson's nail polish "Pat on the Black" on a short squared off nail. If you are hearing the siren call of beauty and want to jump on the gothic black trend like a makeup loving fashionista, just make sure you have some color on your face somewhere- A swirl of blush and a warmed up cheek will take away Tim Burton's corpse bride effect and not have anyone checking your wrist for a pulse.

How does this image make a Woman feel?

I like Ralph Lauren, I really do but this is a bit much. I tell my female clients all the time not to compare themselves to magazine images- they are all fake. To begin with there is a team of people standing behind the photographer and his camera and all his lights- makeup, hair, wardrobe, add in a few assistants and one or two art directors or editors. There is a team of people creating what passes for pretty. Debating, analyzing, and criticizing. Creating and celebrating the power of pretty.

And then its time for some retouching- in some cases crazy retouching- This is crazy retouching. Crazy!  This ad appeared overseas in a Japanese shopping mall and what I think is even more amazing- this was approved by the Ralph Lauren company. Seriously. Its like one of those dolls that my sister had with the giant heads and flat bodies- a little 'Alienesque' to say the least.

 When you have size 0 models and girls who want to look like models, starving themselves to look like images that have been on a zero carb, no mega bites, digital diet it just seems the fashion/beauty industry needs to step back and apologize. Give the girl her ass and hips back and say sorry. Give the girl a burger and step away from the photoshop. Barbie looked at this image and standing on her tip toes, smiled and swore to never eat again.

If a picture is worth a thousand words imagine hearing 'you're fat- get thinner, you're fat -get thinner' another 998 times whispered in your ears. For every young girl and grown woman who looks at ads and pictures like this, with a wish and a want, dreaming of thin,  where the only meal they consume is one of self doubt inside gnawing away, remember this is all fake. While fake can be fun and fabulous, it is definitely not real. You are. And that's pretty great. Celebrate that.

A Cold Weather Pretty Pout

Life Lip Balms-These all smell great and make me think of summer. Just use a bit on your finger or lip brush and you can hydrate your lips with coconut oils and rich shea butters to give dry lips a big old glass of moisture. They give just a hint of color to the lip when you’re not in the mood for lots of makeup and I love the price- I was able to get all four on sale for a total of $5.00 at my neighborhood Shoppers Drug Mart. A soft mouth is always in fashion and keeping your pout protected from the harsh winds of winter is a beauty duty 

TIP AND TRICK- Use your favorite lip liner of any colour (say you want to try a deep red that was all over the fall runways) and cover your whole mouth with the liner like you are coloring in school. The heavier you go the more intensity/darker the tone. Blend your lip line inwards with a lip brush, q-tip or your finger- Make sure no hard liner look is there-its the most modern way to lip line so you don't have a 'joker' mouth. Follow with your a little of you favorite Life Lip Balm starting in the middle of your mouth and working out towards the edges- You have created a lush moisture rich lip for your self in a softer version of a color that may have intimidated you just a little- you Makeup artist you!!

Delay the Summer fade!

 Jergens^® natural glow Revitalizing Daily Moisturizer   

A perfect way to extend your golden gleaming skin of summer- Jergens Natural Glow foaming daily moisturizer- This is a great new product I found that gives you a natural looking sunny glow gradually as you use it. It is a foam so right away you can watch it disappear on your skin and I find the color is really good and gradual,- no orange face- it doesn’t streak and dries fast. Use it every day for a week and you can see the color build up- This is also great if you tan your body but try to keep your face out of the sun as it allows you to get a ‘tan’ on your face that still protects your skin and ensures that your face and body match color.

TIP: Just watch your hairline and eyebrows as these areas can “grab’ the color. Especially important for blondes.  If you have fine little hairs on your face/ lip area make sure you blend carefully as they may pull and hold on to the colour also and darken in those areas. Make sure you wash the palms of your hands and fingers carefully after applying everytime!

WHY PRETTY POWER??

I think a lot of women fall into a makeup rut and get stuck. I can usually tell when a woman went to high school by the makeup she wears and how she applies it. From robin blue eye liner traced under the lash line but only half way (hello 1984) to that overdrawn brown lip liner with the pale lipstick filled in (1990's muted - I call that one the porn star mouth) to those frosty 1970's eye shadows that scream and gleam.  At a certain age Frosty is left best as a snowman- just saying...

We can chat about some new products coming down the pipeline, ones I have tried out, my old tried and true favorites, some tips and tricks I am happy to share with you and ways you can dip your toe into the beauty pool without feeling like you're drowning in the deep end. Let's have a little fun shall we? 

I learned a long time ago a little bit of makeup properly applied can change your whole day and the way you feel-  I learned a long time ago to never underestimate the 'Power of Pretty.'

all makeup by jody daye/www.jodydaye.com