Last Saturday I spent some time backstage at Kenzo with MAC COSMETICS at Paris Men Fashion Week. I’ve mentioned a few times my love / obsession with MAC products and we all know my love for eclectic fashino which is Kenzo’s forte so picture the excitement…
This show showcased the Men SS 17 collection and the women’s pre-collection so there were both male and female models which means two separate beauty teams for each gender. The inspiration for the collections is 90s clubbing nights so there’s a lot of colour, a lot of sex appeal and a lot of fun. The makeup team lead was Lynsey Alexandra (pic below).
Since this was Men’s Fashion Week let’s start with the male look. Most makeup artists will tell you that male makeup is a lot harder to apply than one would thing. I spoke backstage with one of the senior artists and he said that one of the hard parts is making the makeup seem totally invisible, correcting what needs to be correcting but at the same time letting the skin show through. This is made even harder by the fact that most male models don’t take good care of their skin.
The look was nude but sexy with an emphasis on shine on the cheekbones. The idea was for the models to look like they’ve been partying for hours, that sexy, somewhat shiny look.
The main products used are the ones in the picture below. That brush is apparently perfect for male grooming because it is made of super dense fibers – it helps the product get absorbed by the skin and at the same time removes excess so it helps to make makeup look invisible.
The leftmost pro product mixing medium shine is only available in pro shops. It is a colourless was based formula. It is used used a lot backstage – it creates that after few hrs shine, it isn’t the same shine like gloss which gives a futuristic look, this is a more balanced shine effect.
The female look was a lot brighter and colourful. Rather than explaining it all myself, I’ve taken a picture of the face charts and you can use them to get the look if you want.
All Photos by KURT PARIS
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