The Magic

Instagirls And The Eighties

There is a myth that blondes have more fun. I think that last Saturday, thanks to the help of  Tracy, we proved that brunettes can have as much fun, with a dose of instaglam and a trip back to the 80s… Explanations are on the way!

So this post came about because I was doing my habitual triple run of Sephora/Holts/The Bay to try out new products. Not to mention that I had a test shoot on the way, where I wanted to revisit the 80s–but in a modern way! Because I had in mind the stunning and iconic brunette: Brooke Shields.

And it’s at Sephora that I found the amazing Contour Palette by Laura Mercier.  It’s gorge!!! There is no other word for it! It’s warm as opposed to the cooler tones you find in traditional contour palettes, this was right up my colour alley. I do like to use contour for photography– but in everyday life, it’s not the best option, compared to the other techniques to carve out a cheek. But this palette is somewhere between bronzer and contour, and it works great for warm skin tones in real life, as much as it can in pictures (which I have to prove).

After getting in touch with the Sephora P.R. people to get a press sample (yes, I can be shameless like that), they informed me that they couldn’t provide one. But they did want me to try the Kat Von D contour palette as well as three of her new liners and three Marc Jacobs lipsticks. So, I said yes to makeup! And went back to Sephora to snatch up the Laura Mercier for the shoot. I’ll soon be talking about my impressions of both of these contour palettes in a different blog-post.

That Saturday morning, Tracy arrived. She was a a total trooper, especially after I had warned her that I was going to try out all my brunette flights of fancy on her. This bubbly girl is just starting off as model with the Dulcedo agency, but I could tell right away that she was an instagirl and a makeup tutorial fan to boot. She was curious about all the makeup I was using on her and we had a great time trying out looks and just having fun!

From seeing her polaroids a week earlier, I got visions of a modern Brooke Shields. But she was really pale, so I gave her that athletic glow by putting a darker foundation over her lovely skin. After concealer, I just went for it and had a lot of fun with my Laura Mercier Palette creating a bronzed contour on Tracy. For the first three looks we used a soft light, and I did a very natural-yet-it-still-looks-like-makeup. She has these amazing lashes that create a natural liner, so I didn’t want to heavy on her eyes, as I wanted to keep it young and fresh!

Cesar Ochoa-Ewa Bilinska

First look I used the Trick shade from the Naked 3 palette on the lid (that whole palette is great for brunettes BTW) and a shimmering orange from the Pantone Marsala palette from the crease up. To bring out the astounding amount of lashes she had (that bottom lash line is au natural). I used the Kat Von D Lightning Liner in Gould right behind her lashes.  Top and shirt Valerie Dumaine.

Cesar Ochoa-Ewa Bilinska

Second look started as a smoky with a nude lip. But it looked just meh on Tracy. So I said: “let’s try one of those Marc Jacobs lispticks?” I lined her lips and applied the the purple/pink shade called“Magenta”. The look navigated to grunge… who knew that there was a connection between 80’s makeup and grunge, wait: it’s the purple! For eyes, I used Laura Mercier eye shadows in in African Violet, Violet Ink and Espresso Bean, without any liner, or black, again to keep it looking fresh rather than heavy. Shirt Valerie Dumaine.

Cesar Ochoa-Ewa Bilinska

Third look, I wen crazy over orange! It’s a colour that I love, but seems to scare a lot of women. It’s a sort of monochrome look, but using only orange/red shades. For the eyes I used the Pantone Marsala palette. From last summer I pulled out a limited edition Armani Maestro blush in a burnt-sienna shade and applied it all over the cheeks and temples. On lips, I used a limited edition  M.A.C lip pencil in Ablaze over some lip balm. To get this look, I would recommend the new cream blushes Les Beiges by Chanel, out this summer. Top and shirt Valerie Dumaine.

Instagirl happened because we decided to switch it up with different lighting. It made the pictures look more spontaneous, so I wanted to do some fun looks!

Cesar Ochoa-Ewa Bilinska

For the first look I just wanted a bright red lip, but very casual, and I decided to add a light smoky. I put a soft haze of black around the lashes using Make Up For Ever black liner pencil and I dusted some NARS Dual Intensity eye shadow in Dionne on the lid. On lips I used the third shade of Marc Jacob Lip Creme in an appropriately named shade: 204 Amazing, a dazzling red. Shirt Valerie Dumaine.

Cesar Ochoa-Ewa Bilinska

Second look I used Make Up For Ever’s Aqua Liner in Black to trace out the sixties eye (it looks like it’s becoming my staple), and on the lips we used another Marc Jacobs shade from the New Nudes called Anaïs, a medium peach with some pink in it. Dress, Maryline Baril.

Cesar Ochoa-Ewa Bilinska

The third look, I pulled something I had never used: last summers’ YSL palette which had some gorge’ blues. With her beautiful green/grey eyes and dark brown hair, I knew it would look stunning ! A peachy mango shade for the lips, keeps it fun, Velvet lip pencil in Bolero NARS.

I curled the hair using a 1 1/2 inch barrel, with Aveda volume tonic at the roots to give them a lift.

Photos by Cesar Ochoa