Christmas Make-Up

By Tammi Ireland

Yay, Christmas is just days away.  Eating with the family, drinking with friends, and being merry all weekend, we can’t wait here in the Coveted Canvas office!  What are you doing for Christmas?

Whichever way you celebrate, the key for your makeup is to keep it simple. You don’t want to be running to the bathroom to check your foundation or fix your lippy in between the prawn cocktail entree and turkey main.  The key is a little in the prep, a lot in the application.  Here’s the look we’re aiming for this year…

Chloë Moretz

The Men’s Room: A Guy’s First Skincare Routine

By Mark Reed

Mark is our resident male writer, bringing you the low-down on everything masculine in beauty.  Not afraid to hold back, he’ll be honest when reviewing products you may consider as grooming tools for your husband/boyfriend/brother/Dad.   – Ed.

 

Cleanse, tone, moisturise. A mantra I was unfamiliar with until a week ago.

Sure, I use a face wash, and yes, I moisturise. But what on earth was a toner? And how long would it take? Am I going to have to factor this into my morning pre-work prep time?

“But Mark, it’ll do wonders for your skin. And your partner will thank you for it.”  Leaving aside for a second my increasing paranoia vis a vis my girlfriend’s feelings RE: my skin, lets talk about Olay for Men.

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The Multi Solution Smooth Cream Foaming Cleanser (RRP$10.95) is essentially a face wash. It feels softer than other men’s products on the market, notably L’Oreal’s line. Mind you, who said these things had to be rough? The fact is it works, and since it’s only replacing an action you already perform every day, why wouldn’t you use it?

Fresh out of the shower, and we get to the mysterious Multi Solution Refreshing Toner (RRP$16.95). For the blokes, the closest comparison I can make is aftershave in look and texture. A few drops massaged into the face and YOU CAN FEEL IT WORKING. It’s strange. The skin tightens ever so slightly. The good news? Takes three seconds. So far, so good.

Beauty Q&A: Fiona Hay, celebrity manicurist

Fiona Hay, celebrity manicurist and ORLY Creative Director

 

Beauty routine (day):

I start my day by cleansing with Malin + Goetz Grapefruit cleanser, Ageproof CoQ10 serum by Trilogy, Vital Moisturising Cream by Trilogy, To Save Face 30+ by Mecca Cosmetica.

Beauty routine (night):

Cleanse with Malin + Goetz Grapefruit cleanser, exfoliate twice a week with Microdermabrasion in a jar by Dr Brandt, Ageproof CoQ10 serum by Trilogy, Ageproof Replenishing Night Cream by Trilogy.

The Best of Beauty

There’s a magazine on the stands that you all should know.  It’s called Allure and it’s a bit of a beauty bible.  There’s no Aussie version but the October American issue has just been released with Blake Lively on the cover and a whole lot of great articles.  My favourite is by far Best of Beauty where “the 190 greatest shampoos, lipsticks, moisturisers, concealers, frizz busters, mascara, wrinkle fighters, and more – handpicked and field-tested by Allure’s editors”.

Blake Lively covers Allure's Best of Beauty Issue

Here’s my selection of the top products within Allure’s Best of Beauty:

Beige Eye

‘Many so-called beige shadows are too white, too golden, or simply too boring.  Bobbi Brown Shimmer Wash Eye Shadow in Beige has a delicate sheen that flouts the blah stereotype.’

Grey Eye

‘Swipe on Laura Mercier Lustre Eye Colour in Celestial, a stormy shade of pewter, and voilà: instant smokey eyes.’

Melbourne Spring Fashion Week!

Our Melbourne contributor Jo Davy went to Melbourne Spring Fashion Week‘s Designer Series 3 and has this to say about spring hair and makeup trends…

Feeling all kinds of fashion-forward and channelling Olivia Palermo’s tousled waves, I took myself off to one of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week fabulous designer shows.  There’s little more to be said for the clothes than ‘I fell in love with all of it, but can afford less than none of it’, but what I did notice was some searing new beauty trends, sashaying down the runway.

Before the show started, I managed to scamper into the VIP beauty room, and grab some face time with the stylists from Kevin Murphy and Napoleon Perdis teams that designed hair and makeup for the show.  In the midst of a lightning fast mini-makeover, they shared with me some tips about recreating the runway look at home, and because I’m such a generous person, I’ll tell you everything I know.

‘Getting Down & Dirty with Dermalogica’

Last Tuesday night the lovely editor of Flourish magazine online, Jane and I attended a Blogger event at Dermalogica‘s WA headquarters in Fremantle.  The first to arrive amidst an August shower, I was greeted by three lovely smiling (and completely flawless) faces, one of which was Claire Crouch’s – the company’s corporate trainer.  Claire grew up in London out of the harsh sun and thus has magnificent skin and a killer sense of humour.  I liked her immediately.  In front of the pretty faces sat a large plate of scones from which I was too scared to take on account of their delicious-looking, but will-definitely-drop-on-the-clinical-Dermalogica-floors cream fillings.  Instead, I took a glass of champers.  Damn.

Jane arrived not long after and we had a quick tour of the complex.  It’s all very white and bright and exciting because that’s exactly how you want your skin to be!  There were two training rooms, a face-mapping stall set up, a kitchen area with fridge, microwave, herbal teas, etc and bathrooms too.  The facility is there for therapists who use Dermalogica products to go and get the low down on ingredients and skin health so they can then transfer it to their customers.  Brilliant!

Tina, Jane, me and Claire in front of the Dermalogica shop (I want it all!)

After our tour, we headed into Room 2 where a powerpoint presentation and lots of Dermalogica goodies were set up for us, amidst notepads, pencils and information booklets.  We took a seat and Claire launched right into explaining the five Dermalogica steps to healthy skin, while Tina kindly demonstrated (how brave!) as we went along.  Much information was shared and it is my beauty editor duty to pass it on.  So grab a cup of green tea and settle in for a mind-blowing info sesh that will change your skin forever!

Poppin’ and Lockin’

As you know, I love a bright punchy lip.  Hot pink used to be my colour of choice, but now I’m into the oranges!  On the weekend my all black uniform, oops I mean outfit, was boring until I added a punch of orange lip stain from kit Cosmetics‘ Duo Cheek & Lip Creme in ‘Pretty Cheeky’.

This awesome duo has pink on one side (because I know I’ll head back to that trend again) and orange on the other side.  And it’s not just a duo in colour – you can use both palettes on cheeks or lips.  Perfect!!

Simon Says, Do What This Post Says

Okay guys, I know you all wander over to the blog for tips and tricks, how to’s, product reviews, comps and more, and sometimes it can seem a bit daunting to you.  I mean, you’re being inundated with all this information about what to put on your skin/hair/eyes that it can be overwhelming (you should see my storage cupboards!).  So for this post I’m going to make it a bit easier for you.  This is a product review and tips post.  It’s also a must read!  If you choose to only read one post on CC (although that would be seriously detrimental to your beauty wellbeing), this is The One.

I’d like to talk about morning rituals.  What do you do when you wake up in the morning?  I stretch, check my emails and Twitter ( I can hear you groaning, J) and then hop in the shower.  Here’s where the skin ritual begins and it goes a little something like this:

Exfoliate with a mit.

Cleanse face.

- hops out of shower and towel dries –

The Real Reason I Don’t Smoke

Everyone has rules and restrictions they place on themselves, and everyone has them for their own reasons. Here is a quick list of mine:

- Don’t squint

- Don’t go in the sun without SPF

- Don’t see the sun without sunglasses on

- Don’t frown

- Avoid pulling faces

- Drink very few glasses of alcohol

- Don’t smoke

- Don’t make a ‘kiss’ with your lips (that’s a pout, you know?)

So what’s my reason for this list?

To stop ageing.

BALL & FORMAL SPECIAL!

You’ll want to bookmark this post.  You see, it contains everything you need to know for that next huge, glamourous event in your life.  School formal?  Charity ball?  Wedding?  The tips, tricks, product reviews and industry insider goss you read on this here post will be all you’ll need to look fabulous.  Trust me!

Hair

There are three ways you can go with your hair for a formal occasion.  You can choose to go trendy, opt for a casual look and let your dress shine, or go all out and make it a formal up-do.  It does depend on the event as to which type of hair style you use, however we’ve gone and selected the best of the three and we’ll tell you how to do them, too.  (Lucky you!)

Trendy: It’s all about Alexander Wang’s side plait.  Imagine this, will you?  You’re in a long, slinky black gown. Your makeup and skin is golden and just dark enough to come across mysterious, yet fun.  Your shoes are sky-high and you’re feeling a million bucks.  But so is every other girl at this thing, because that outfit I just described can often be ‘cookie-cutter’ (read: everyone does it).  Set yourself apart from the pack with a fashion-forward hair do: