MELISSA’S BEAUTY ADVENTURE
Melissa Street’s longstanding love for makeup didn’t begin in the most typical way. While for many teenagers the crush happened in a mall’s beauty counter or flipping through fashion magazines, for Melissa it was while admiring monster masks and sci-fi artifacts. Her friend’s father was a special effects makeup artist, and, as a fan of horror movies, she loved spending time admiring all the magic he created in his laboratory. She soon realized that she wanted to pursue a career as a special effects makeup artist. In her early career, she had the opportunity to be an assistant on two of the most important sci-fi movies of all time, Terminator and Aliens, but then she quickly realized that she was in a very male-dominated industry. She decided that if she wanted to truly make it, she would have to start working with traditional beauty as well. Melissa pioneered the use of HD camera makeup and became one of the most experienced and versatile professionals in her field. She has worked on different movie sets and major television shows and networks, including E!, ESPN, Larry King Live, Miss Universe and Miss USA. Her experience in special effects always has come in handy… Read on to learn more about this beauty extraordinaire’s fascinating career.
How did you react to the quick rise in popularity of the HD camera?
About six years ago, HD television started with the introduction of the RED camera. Great for viewers at home, not so much for the actors on screen. High definition is extremely unforgiving. The makeup looks very harsh, some cameras pull out the redness in a person’s face, and pimples and rosacea will show even with coverage. I had to learn what products worked and how to use them while the industry was increasingly converting to the technology. My experience in special effects gave me a unique advantage because I knew how to use products that could handle the scrutiny of such an invasive camera.
Which products helped you adapt?
There are certain products I love using on my clients. Jouer Cosmetics is an amazing line. I like the luminizing tinted moisturizer, and I use the matte version on men. Another recurrent tool is the Temptu Airbrush kit. The silicone based formula gives flawless coverage and it is not noticeable on camera. Concealers from OCC are also great, but very pigmented, so you need to know how to use them in real life. I would say Jouer is definitely useable in real life, so is Senna Cosmetics, another one of my favorites. Created by Bette Midler’s makeup artist, Eugena Weston, Senna has a nice range of BB creams, foundations, cream blushes and color palettes. It translates very well with consumers. I love using products in different ways. I use Talika’s eyelash extender on beards and eyebrows to darken grays and make hair longer and curlier.
What are the most challenging aspects of your job?
Being in the television industry, I work with everyone from actors to everyday people. One thing about TV is it moves fast, I have be very quick and able to adapt. When I worked on Larry King Live, celebrities would always show up with some makeup on from previous appearances. All makeup artists can attest that it’s best to work with a blank slate. Stars would come in with glittery makeup on, which is extremely unforgiving on camera. I would have to work around what was already done, removing and blending it. In movies, directors constantly change their visions, and what they want their characters to look like, so you have to be on your toes as well.
What do you enjoy most your career? Any defining moments?
I absolutely adored working with James Earl Jones…yes, Darth Vader. He was so humble, generous and kind. Who would have thought that Darth Vader would have no ego? The people I have met throughout my career have played a major role in making my job so rewarding. My colleague, Cathi Singh, started out as my assistant and we love learning from each other. We work so well together, sharing tips and tricks, and experimenting with new products.
What are you up to right now? Any new projects?
I am working on launching an iPhone beauty app with my colleague, Kim Greene, who has worked on movies such as Scream 4 and Identity Thief. We also co-created a YouTube channel with beauty tips, Greenestreetbeauty.
You can connect with Melissa on Pampadour!
For more information, visit Melissa’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages.
OUT OF THIS WORLD MAKEUP
This was just one of the many crazy looks we spotted at The Makeup Show. (By Graftobian Make-Up Co.)
TEAM PAMP HITS THE MAKEUP SHOW
The annual Makeup Show took place this past week at NYC’s Metropolitan Pavilion, and the Pampadour team felt like kids in a candy store. Featuring dozens of the hottest beauty brands, we scouted out the best of the best and here are the discoveries we’re obsessing over.
MAKE COSMETICS – We told you first. MAKE is an up-and-coming brand to get excited about. With a full selection of products featuring cosmetics, skincare and tools, MAKE donates 1/3 of all sales to the We See Beauty Foundation. Doing good by looking good… what’s not to love? Also, check out their website – beautiful is an understatement.
STILA STAY ALL DAY WATERPROOF LIQUID EYE LINER in INDIGO – Stila’s liquid liner comes in a variety of shades, but this gorgeous blue color won us over. It glides on smoothly and is long lasting. Especially as the weather gets warmer, experimenting with colored liners is fun for brightening up your eyes and keeping your look interesting.
STILA AFTER GLOW LIP COLOR – This has been a favorite on Pampadour for the past month, so it was exciting to see it in person. The lip color does exactly what it promises – it glows in the dark. It’s offered in fun neon shades ranging from orange to fuchsia to violet. After Glow is a great summer lip product for nights where you dare to go bold.
NAKED COSMETICS PIGMENTS – Never knew something like this existed, so it was fun to play around at the Naked Cosmetics booth. Naked pigments can be used in virtually any way – as a lipstick, eyeliner, eye shadow, blush…even nail polish! They had over one hundred colors to choose from, including ones with glittery finishes. Perfect for the girl who wants to experiment and create new looks.
NARS x PIERRE HARDY – This highly anticipated collaboration was on full display at the NARS booth at the show. The colors look even more decadent up close and personal. Love how the polishes come in duos…it takes all of the guesswork out of complementing your manicure to your pedicure. The blushes were also gorgeous…‘Boys Don’t Cry’ is a summer necessity.
THE MAKEUP BULLET – You’ve heard about the Beauty Blender a million times (with good reason), but this little wonder we discovered at the show is even more exciting. The Makeup Bullet is essentially a portable version of the Beauty Blender. By placing the sponge on your finger, makeup application becomes quick, easy and more precise. It’s amazing for blending hard to reach spots, like around your eyes.
For more pictures and product details, check out the collection on Pampadour.
OCC LIP TAR
Some beauty products are mainstream, some are boutique, while others have a cult following. OCC Lip Tar falls into the latter category. The ultra-pigmented lip colors are known to be extremely long lasting – just a drop goes a very long way! We were all over them at The Makeup Show.
With fun names like Psycho, Stalker and NSFW, this brand wants to make a statement in every possible way. There are plenty of standard colors like reds, nudes and pinks (along with the crazy blues and yellows that people tend to associate with the line), but everything is so highly saturated that even a typical color will make a bold impact. The brand recommends picking up its white and black Lip Tars to lighten and darken the other shades, thus creating endless color options.
Use the Clear Lip Tar as a primer, and the lip brush that comes with the package to apply one of the over fifty color options. It goes on like a gloss, lasts longer than lipstick, and dries down to a gorgeous satin finish. On top of all that, the line is 100% vegan and cruelty-free.
Final verdict? Add us to the OCC converts.
BEAUTY ADVENTURES @ THE DIOR COUNTER
Caroline Hallereau-Williams fell in love with the world fragrance in her teenage years in France while reading a novel, Perfume: Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskin, which tells a story of a murderer with a high sense of smell. Scent spoke to her, from the the jasmine and orange blossom fragrance she woke up to in her home in Provence, to her mother’s intoxicating perfumes, like Chanel n.5 and Femme de Rochas, that she stole and wore even if they were a bit too mature for a sixteen year old girl. While Christine became a high school teacher, her love for fragrance expanded to a full addiction for all beauty and makeup. It was only when she moved in 200, to join her new husband in Wilmington, North Carolina, that she started a career in beauty becoming a sales specialist at the Dillard’s Dior counter. Selected to take the Fragrance Foundation Certified Fragrance Specialists Course, she achieved the top score on the exam and won the most prestigious award in the industry, The Fragrance Foundation Award. We had the pleasure of meeting her at the ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental in New York and chat about her experience behind the beauty counter.
Congratulations on your award! Very exciting. What was the most interesting thing that you learned in the fragrance specialist course?
I became very interested in the physiology of fragrance and scent. Of all the senses, scent is the one that creates the longest-lasting memory. The fragrance molecules reach your brain and stay for many years to come. I find that fascinating.
Tell us what some of your favorite fragrances are.
I love Eau Svelte by Dior. Unfortunately, it is only available in Europe, so I stock up when I travel there. J’Adore Voile de Parfum is another fantastic Dior scent, with white musk and Tuscan iris. Bronze Goddess by Estee Lauder is truly the scent of the beach captured in a bottle. I am not faithful to only one fragrance…
It must be very chaotic working at the beauty counter all day. Tell us about the good and the bad of the job.
I absolutely love my job. I feel like I am directly touching people’s lives and making a difference. Women will come up to the counter, and leave in a totally different, happy mood. I love doing their makeup, it connects me to them. On the another hand, I am a sensitive person, so if someone is very stressed or depressed, I really absorb the tension and negativity. It is also tiring, you have to stay on your feet all day for five days a week.
How do you make sure the makeup fits the person?
I always try to listen to my customers and ask a lot of questions. I give them a mirror to hold, so they can see what I am doing and I can sense their reactions. Most of the time, my clients agree with the look I give them, but if they don’t, we work together to find something that makes them happy. Ultimately, the customer is always right.
How do you help someone pick out a fragrance?
Helping someone pick a fragrance is trickier. I always start off by asking what kind of scents they normally wear, and I try to stay in the same olfactive family. I make them try the scent directly on their skin, and never put more than three. If a customer is purchasing a gift, I ask questions about the person they are buying it for. I give samples with the final purchase though, so they can come and exchange it before opening it.
Are there any new products you are excited about for spring?
Yes, the new Glow products by Dior are extremely popular. It is a set of blush, lip gloss and nail polish, and it is flying off the shelves.
Have more questions? Connect with Caroline on Pampadour!
PUNK BEAUTIES
A tribute to the anti-establishment movement that broke barriers in music, fashion, beauty and pushed its way into the most prestigious art museum in New York, the Met. Remember, it’s not only about the eyeliner and the leather jacket, it’s mostly about living by your own rules, as Patti Smith teaches us.
LESSONS FROM THE GODMOTHER
In an industry so obsessed with youth and beauty, Patti Smith, widely regarded as the ‘Godmother of Punk’, made the bold statement that it is not about what you look like, but rather who you are. She didn’t care about clothes or makeup or brushing her hair, and her resistance to conforming to society’s ideals of how women should look made her an icon for generations of girls. She made it clear that being an artist should be about your art, and not any other external factors. Her attitude of “like me for who I am or leave me alone” embodies what the punk genre is all about. Punk is a state of mind, a feeling of freedom. It’s about not playing by anyone else’s rules.
Danziger Gallery in NYC is displaying early photos of Patti Smith, with her former partner Robert Mapplethrope until May 4.
Photo via the Danziger Gallery website.
PUNK: CHAOS TO COUTURE
This year’s Costume Institute Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York explores the impact of punk culture on high fashion since its inception in the 1970s.
PUNK: Chaos to Couture will be open to the public on May 9th. It will be preceded by the legendary Met Gala, know as “The Fashion Oscars”, on May 6th, a glamorous, star-studded event which will be co-chaired this year by Rooney Mara, Anna Wintour, Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci and Lauren Santo Domingo.
The exhibition will be displayed in the Cantor galleries and will feature over one hundred designs for men and women. Original punk garments from the seventies will be showcased alongside haute couture and ready-to-wear from today to show the profound impact these styles have made on modern-day fashion.
Each exhibit represents an influential icon, with the first gallery devoted entirely to the legendary CBGB in New York City, which will be fronted by punk innovator Richard Hell, who actually inspired The Sex Pistols’ iconic wardrobe. An homage to punk fashion pioneers Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McClaren, and their Seditionaries boutique on Kings Road in London, is another highlight of the show.
The notion of “do it yourself” fashion, which is so prevalent in the punk world, is explored in four of the galleries. Safety pins and zippers, ripped clothing, graffiti, recycled materials have all been reinterpreted on the runway. Sid Vicious is fronting D.I.Y. Hardware, which explores high fashion’s use of studs, spikes and chains. Debbie Harry, The Clash and Johnny Rotten also serve as faces for the D.I.Y. galleries.
To further feel the punk essence, the clothing are animated by period music videos and audio. Designs by Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent, Givenchy and many more are featured in the exhibition.
Learn more at www.metmuseum.org/punk.
Photo: Karl Lagerfeld (French, born Hamburg, 1938) for House of Chanel (French, founded 1913) - Vogue, March 2011 - Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photograph by David Sims
BREAKING THE RULES IN BEAUTY AND FASHION
From The Clash to Debbie Harry, punk artists have not only brought us some of the best music of the past century, but the most fierce looks in terms of beauty and fashion.
Sid Vicious (featured in a photo from the PUNK: Chaos to Couture exhibit), the most rebellious and controversial character, brought us some of the best looks, spiky jet black hair, chains and ripped clothes. His bandmate, Johnny Rotten, was a punk icon in his own right, with his wild orange hair, that perfectly matched his enraged anti-establishment lyrics.
While it could look a bit superficial for the regular guy to adopt the Sex Pistols look, no girl would have a problem stealing Debbie Harry’s legendary platinum hair. She brought glam to punk like no one else, with electric blue shadow, red lips and dramatic blush which continue to inspire countless fans. The makeup brand NARS recently released a Debbie Harry eye and cheek palette as part of its Andy Warhol collection, based on his iconic print of the star.
That was not the case with German rocker Nina Hagen, with her literally out of this world Space Age looks. She didn’t play by the rules, and had fun with her hair color, eye makeup… especially eyebrow shape. The bold theatrical makeup would not easily translate unless you are, well, Lady Gaga.
Joan Jett, with her iconic shag haircut and black-rimmed eyes, embodies a true rocker chick. She’s been a badass since her days with the Runaways in the ‘70s. Kristen Stewart recently portrayed the legend in a film, but no one else can quite capture her iconic cool.
Punk bands like the Ramones, with their minimalist and disaffected clothing, have inspired generations to wear rocker leather jackets and All Star sneakers to embody laid back cool. Their band logos has been used for countless signature T-shirts, hoodies, and all sorts for merchandising. A band that took a completely different approach to style was The Clash. Yes, they also wore the standard leather jacket, but their more refined taste was evident in their wardrobes. By mixing tailored suits with Doc Martens (who never owned a pair?), they had their own sartorial taste that was carefully curated and explored.
Photo: Sid Vicious, 1977 - Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photograph © Dennis Morris - all rights reserved
