Category Archives: Beauty

{Unexpected Boost of Inspiration}

Posted on by
3

H&R3 - CopyH&R2 Halston & Roosevelt HalstonSo, I don’t know if I shared the fact that I’m devoting my winter break to educating myself about American History (as you can imagine, my boyfriend is thrilled…!) but in a rather surprising manner it proved to be a refreshing experience that truly arouses my “grey matter”. Yesterday, as part of my collegial obligations I crafted together a presentation about an odd “couple” in history (well it’s kind of the point) Eleanor Roosevelt and Halston. Although at this point of my life, I am well familiar with the glamorous creations of the later (Halston was an American fashion designer prominent in the 70′s) I was incredibly inspired by the feisty longest serving first lady that perhaps didn’t fulfill the fashionable quota but surely “made-up” for it in many incredible ways… I don’t know if there will ever be a first lady that will be able to compare to Eleanor but there sure hasn’t been one like her since. I think that many of us, in complete disregard to our gender, give ourselves an occasional “discount” and blame reality on circumstances, where we came from, our appearances or society’s expectations as for what we should be. Eleanor lead truly grand life despite the fact she had lost both of her parents at a young age and never really knew maternal affection (the story tell her mother society belle Anna Hall, was disappointed by her daughter’s “plain looks and lack of manners”…) or got to grow up with a father figure (her dad passed away when she was only 10 due to acute alcoholism…). Her passionate ways to pursue her beliefs for equality, women’s and civil rights touched something in me, and the fact she was so bluntly oblivious to any criticism upon her ways suggests a lesson I was fast to catch… It might sound strange, coming from someone that paid a fair share of bills with appearances, but I feel that today, side by side with women’s obvious progression in the race for power and on the career front, there’s an increasing focus on our looks and what doors these may open for us. And although I’ll probably forever stay enthralled by the spell of true splendor, I can’t help but seriously considering removing beauty from it’s fast placement as a condition for success. Surely, it can’t hurt but cultivating our other talents seems more crucial today then ever before… If you’d like to read further about Eleanor check out this article, perhaps it will spike your inspiration as well…

{M.Miles} Beaded Grace

Posted on by
Reply

MMiles_Jewelry One of the highlights of 2012 for me were our trip to Arizona this summer, and alongside rediscovered inspiration that came from the Grand Nature this area is abundant with, I found myself falling for an unexpected object of desire. Beaded jewelry was one of my favorite adornments during my high school days, in fact, when I first received my very first piece from this brand (a gift from my boyfriend, when we first started dating…) I though to myself, if only I could hear about this jewel back then! Anyhow, to sum up the matter, after meeting Marianne, and going through the endless amounts of lustrous merchandise (the owner of the company and also the woman that inspired it’s creation the first place) I knew this brand’s stock will soar in no time. We decided to bring the jewels to New York and shoot a look-book that will do justice to a rare product of hand made craftsmanship and attention. Every piece is gathered by hand in an undisclosed location in South America from glass beads imported from the Czech Republic (considered the highest quality in the world). But to be completely honest, what impressed me the most was the amount of light these reflect, what can I say? Every girl has a soft spot for the shiny! So here’s a little taste of what we depicted…  jewelry_271_lowresMMiles_Jewelryjewelry_368_lowres MMiles _Jewelryjewelry_383_lowres  As this is still work in progress while we try to find ways to offer these beauties to private customers (Marianne’s company operates solely with boutiques at this point) if you too have fallen for the beads and would like to receive the full look-book and place an order contact me in private and I will make the arrangements to contact you with the head quarters is Arizona.

A huge thank you to our talented cast Greg J Konop the photographer, Connie Hau in the make-up front and off course our lovely Natalie Yegorova that joined me on the modeling task!

Dior {Dressy Nudes}

Posted on by
Reply

The last time I was sitting at a Dior make up chair was in Paris. I had just turned 19, and was completely enchanted by the most romantic city I’ve ever seen… The coffee was splendid, the streets alive, and the make up artists snooty and well, oh so French. I was already a huge fan of Dior and had my father carrying goody bags from his trips to Europe on a regular basis, so you can only imagine how excited I was to discover that my first assignment for the Harper’s BAZAAR collaboration was testing out the new Dressy Nudes line, which to be honest, I quite like.

The make up artist, Wilson, was pretty thorough and started from the foundation (Air Flash) that to my surprise came in a spray, and according to Wilson, is great when you are having your picture taken (note to self!) and touched up with the Skin Flash concealer. After complexion was perfect, he applied the new Dressy Nudes palette, in a rather light manner - for day, and explained that it’s very simple to touch up for evening if you’re headed for a drink with friends after hours (there are 5 colors in each palette, so it’s really up to you how dark you want to go…). He finished things up with shimmery blush (J’adore!) and made sure lips are glossy, but still very natural and light (#227 was the best match for me), and Viola!

No doubt I had already had a soft spot for Dior make up but the new palette is a great addition to a girl’s make up repertoire… Thank you to Wilson Rodriguez for giving me the VIP treatment, Oren R Cohen for documenting with such grace and last but not least Harper’s Bazaar for giving me just what I needed at the end of this insane {Hurricane Sandy} week!

{Privileged}

Posted on by
Reply

In so many words, life, is what you make of it. Some are born privileged, adorned with power and showered with comfort, following a clear path… Some are gifted with a talent that will carry them through life with grace and glory… Others, have to craft their own, allegedly ‘unprivileged’ route through battles of pride, patches of hunger and supreme urge to be the exception of their breed…

Sometimes I feel lucky, sipping on a great cup of coffee or indulging a divine glass of wine, entrenched in a conversation, on the setting of one of the most wonderful cities in the world… And sometimes I feel it’s time to buckle up, as I’m in for a wild ride, holding on to life, or at least the idea of what it “should” be…

Whoever you are and wherever you may be, in the possession of the latest Celine bag or not, the wheel is turning and whether you end up at “the table” (feeding your dog in your lap…) is entirely up to you and how much you are willing invest in the journey…

And after that somewhat philosophic out lash, I hope you will too admire some old school Parisian bourgeoisy chic from the latest Vogue Paris (August 2012), staring the incredible Malgosia Bela…

Images found here

*Twinkle Tips*

Posted on by
Reply

Ever since Miuccia marched down a small army of beauties down her runways with blindingly sparkling shoes, the entire web has been continuously overflowing with shiny DIYs from all glitter sorts, and I’ve been sitting quietly pondering in observation…

I suppose you can say I’m a bit of a “trend-snob” at times, and I take my time with deciding whether I really like it or not… So I’m not running to spend my monthly allowance on a pair of MIUs but I am quite infatuated with all things sparkly on my fingertips, it’s like a small girly twinkle party at 10 different places a once!

Speaking of party… Going out with my roomie tonight! She is a real stunner in case you were wondering (should be fun!!!)

Stop by tomorrow for the rest of the look, shot by Eldad of course…

Pink-Pressed-Wonder {Blush Trickery}

Posted on by
2

I don’t mean to sound silly, but discovering blush was a real revelation to me. Some might consider being pale as an equivalent of true beauty, to me it was always a matter to avoid, and since I first came across this pink-pressed wonder, it became one the most important steps in my beauty regiment (and a bit of an obsession, I usually have at least 7 different shades of blush in my make-up kit…).

So although this is not a “legit” beauty tutorial, since today I discovered I need to replenish my blush supply asap I though I’ll share with you a neat trick (of giving your face a tiny bit more definition in a matter of seconds) I learned from one of the most talented make up artists I have ever worked with, Alona Belayeva (she is the one credited for the make up in all of these… The photo above is from a lingerie shoot we worked together a while ago and despite the fact that the make up is very subtle, I think the blush work is on the dot.

So… The trickery is actually quite simple. All you’ll need is two shades of blush, both on a natural palette, one is soft pink (I use “Barely Buff by Revlon) and the other more on the brown side (for ex, “Toast of New-York” also by Revlon) , both have to be matte . The bronzy/purly blushes won’t give you that natural effect… The pink shade goes on the apples of the cheek and the darker shade goes a little bit below the cheek bones in a long “swoosh” towards the sides of the face, that way you create an illusion of much more defined bone structure. After you apply, just blend the two and Voila! Seems pretty simple, but I have never done it that way before Alona showed me…

{Oh, and another favorite is definitely by Vincent Longo, it comes in two divine shades of naive pink and peach!}

The top photo by Eldad Carin

It’s A Doll’s Life

Posted on by
Reply

I met Natalie in the very beginning of my arrival to New York. At the time, I was working around the clock on my design portfolio for a few schools in the city, and for one of them I decided to pull off an entire photo-shoot for proper representation of one completed garment that the assignment had asked for.

Being completely new to New-York, I had no idea how exactly would that happen since I didn’t know any photographers or models or for that matter not even a single make-up artist, but I was trying to stay positive. So, while searching for all the above I was exploring the city and after a long day of window-shopping in Soho, we sat down to grab a bite in a corner cafe and guess who was our waitress? I guess I was in luck to stumble upon that exact cafe and to be seated at that table… Since our first shoot about three years ago me and Natalie worked together quite a few times (including recently) but mostly we became close friends, and even though we both run on ridiculous schedules, every once in a while we’ll get some quality-girls-time and catch up over a cup of coffee (or green tea…).

Here are a few of the images we ended up using from our first collaboration, shot by Daniel VanFlymen.

I figured the fact that Natalie has a Birthday today (!!!Happy Birthday Luv!!!) is the perfect excuse to share some of these with you guys…

{Credits for B&W Beauty shots: photographer- Andy Bae, Hair- Sarah Ashanti & Make-Up Artist- Mark Edio.}

 

The Loose Braid {Beauty Tutorial #1}

Posted on by
2

Ever since Alexander Wang sent down the runway an army of beauties in loosely braided hair in his Spring 2010 collection, ”the braid” was on my mind, and after my hair grew out to the right length, it became one of my “go-to” looks for everyday school/work run-arounds (As seen here & recently here). It always makes me feel like such a Russian girl, and smile when I see a reflection in the windows, because if you would have told my platinum blonde chopped version 5 years ago I would be wearing my hair in a braid (in my natural color!) I would probably burst in laughter, but hey, here we are…

So, although it’s one of my favorites, I always felt as though I never really got that ‘wow’ effect I was looking for, I was always missing a tad of volume and that intentionally messy texture that seems so effortlessly chic… And now with the help of Sara Ashanti, that’s been “quietly” making history in New-York City in the past two years and climbing her way to desirable jobs with the top magazines (VOGUE, ELLE, Vanity Fair and W just to name a few) in the industry, I was hoping to get that little “extra” under my belt, or should I say, on the top of my head…

So the first secret, and you might have guessed it by now is Volume. The way to get it is through a combination of the right products and a little bit of heat (using the blow-dryer). First you need to have:

If there’s anything I learned about hair from this day, it’s how crucial it is to prepare your hair even before you start styling it. I’ll walk you through it. step by step…

Step 1 : APPLY

On wet hair, apply PHYTO Volumizer Spray ( a real magic-worker by the way) only to your roots ,to literally raise the hair from the root up, and as for the rest of the hair ( excluding the roots), to achieve that texture I was talking about before apply the Full Volume Mouse. A word about the Mouse, when I asked Sara about the brand she recommends she said it really doesn’t have to be Fekkai or any other brand, as long as it’s in a medium price range and up (you certainly don’t want to get that 1.99 bottle from a company you’ve never heard of before) it should do the trick. Sara herself is constantly trying new products as they are being released.

Step 2: BLOW-DRY

After you’ve applied the products as directed, turn your head upside down (no kidding!) and blow dry it while lingering a bit longer on the roots and “massaging” the hair upwards, to help it raise and dry in the direction we want.

Step 3: TEASE

This is probably my favorite step, and not just because of the name! This is where you get to play around with your new special comb (you can find it practically in every pharmacy or even on Amazon for less than 5$, totally worth the investment!) and comb the hair in the opposite direction. It really is amazing how much volume you can get that way even out of the finest hair. Note to do the teasing after you’ve decided where will you part your hair into two sections.

Step 4: BRAID

After we’ve given the hair texture and volume, and even teased it for heights in never seen before we can safely braid away! Make the braid loose and intentionally sloppy, to get that “”" effortless”" look (now you understand how not quite effortless those looks going down the runways really are…)

Eh – Voila! I don’t know if Alexander (Wang) will look my way when I pass by him on the street, but I sure am feeling just a tiny bit more ‘Runway Ready’ than before!

Stop by tomorrow, to get all the make-up secrets from our make-up artist – Angela Wang!

Photo by Andy Bae

Flowers In Her Hair

Posted on by
Reply

Just finished watching The Young Victoria and I must say it was lovely, and so enchantingly tender yet so powerful…

Needles to say, the movie is beyond esthetically pleasing but I was especially charmed by the flowers in her hair… How feminine and naive… Can you imagine women today wearing their hair with fresh petals in between their locks?

‘MUA’

Posted on by
Reply

My first modeling job for print was for what we call, a beauty shoot. For merely 2 hours I submitted (my 15-year-old) face to all kinds of grooming devices and many shapes and forms of beauty products I was never aware of. Since then, I did quite a few jobs that involved my ‘visage’ all dressed up in a myriad of ”magic” powders and bright colors that made me literally - shine. I can say, that in a way that’s exactly the reason I don’t wear a lot of make up in my everyday life, a fact in which I take pride. Well, most days.

Recently, having to do my own make up for a couple of test shoots, I realized how clueless I really am, when it comes to grooming my own self. I got so “spoiled”, accustomed to having my make up done by professional make-up artists, that I never really learned how to do the most basic things that go a tad beyond my usual blush and mascara. A situation like that called for help from the professionals, and I figured there must be a few lost ladies (like myself) out there, that for some reason missed out “the beauty class” and would be interested in a mini-tutorial.

Having all that said, I’m proud to announce on a brand new collaboration between myself and a team of brilliant professionals that teamed up to solve “that mystery” and to teach me a few tricks for days that call for a bit more. In the course of the next weeks, I will be presenting you the looks- and even better- revealing all the secrets from a first source of  professionals that work in the industry!

Stay tuned!

P.S- as for the title of the post, it’s an abbreviation often used in for Make Up Artist, don’t you just love the sound of it?