As I was watching the Emmy red carpet (yes, live on E! of course), I was chatting with some of my favorite celebrity makeup artists who created the looks for some of the biggest stars for the evening. First, Daniel Martin, a friend of Boardwalk Empire's Gretchen Mol, who after about a week of debate decided to swap out a red lip for a contemporary eye.
First introduced to Mol through an editor at Vanity Fair about 2 1/2 years ago, he's been the artist behind her fresh faced looks ever since. Creating her Emmys look began last Wednesday when he received a picture of her red, vintage Valentino gown, but was finalized just this morning.
"Gretchen's very classic looking so when she gets dressed up she can look retro," Martin exlpains. "Initially we wanted to do a red lip with the red dress, but keeping that in mind, we swapped it out for an eye to make her look more modern and chic."
Prep began at 12:30 PST, but before they even got together, Mol texted Martin to remind him to bring his Clarisonic Opal. "I got her addicted to it," he says. After cleansing, he used Lancome Genifique Eye Light Pearl, around her eye area and also as a highlighter on her cheekbones. Topping off her skin with Armani Maestro Foundation, since it "looks great on camera whether it's still photography or video."
The real focus was on her eyes. "She has small eyes so if she wears anything heavy on them when she smiles they get lost so I had to be strategic about creating depth without eating up the eye," Matin explains. His secret? Concentrating color on the outer corners.
He drew a subtle cat eye with Lancome's Le Crayon Kohl in Black Coffee and smoked it out so there were no harsh lines and continued to create a sensual look using a combination of black and coffee toned shadows. "Her eyes change color from blue to green to grey and reflect what she's wearing beautifully," Martin says. "The red Valentino and dark sultry eyes make them appear green tonight.
Lancome L'Absolu Rouge Lipstick in Rich Cashmere and nude gloss completed the look. In her clutch? The lipstick and blotting papers were all she needed.
This morning I did a segment on WPIX on Holiday Beauty Bargain Buys. One of the great things about holiday shopping is that not only are we in the holiday spirit, but so are beauty brands and retailers. They're packaging some of their best selling items into affordable giftables so you can give without breaking the bank. It doesn't hurt to pick up some beauty loot for yourself either while the deals are going on! Check out the segment 
Often times whenever I'm around family or friends I'm asked a ton of beauty questions and whether it be about a specific product or advice on how to rid dark under eye circles, I love talking about it (obvi). Recently I was doing a TV segment and the host asked me if the Clarisonic was really worth the splurge. I went off about it and my passion for the device made me realize I needed to write about it.
Ever since I began writing in beauty at Cosmopolitan (this is going back about 5 years now) I've been regularly using a Clarisonic. In case you're not familiar, it's a gadget that you can use your own cleanser with to really deep clean your skin. There are several different kinds of brush heads and they massage back and forth gently, getting down into your pores ridding any dirt and oil without tearing at your skin.
I've always been more traditional about beauty products – a big fan of creams and an occasional facial and I feel good. However, as any beauty guru would, testing out the latest 
