Interviews with Stars of the Red Dress Fashion Show

Backstage at the Heart Truth Red Dress Show last week the focus wasn't so much on "the look," but more on the message.  Each notable was walking in hopes to spread awareness of heart disease.  Did you know it was the number one killer amongst women?  Crazy right?  I chatted with Giada De Laurentiis, Taryn Manning (who is hysterical) and Sasha Cohen about walking in the show, their favorite way to wear red and the best piece beauty advice they've ever gotten.

Giada De Laurentiis

• Runway Lesson:  I went to the BCBG show earlier this morning and learned I need to walk with my hips forward.
• Who She Wore: Carolina Herrera
• Favorite Way to Wear Red: I usually love to wear a red lip.  When I don't have time to do my makeup, I throw it on and that's all people look at.
• Best Beauty Advice: My grandmother told me that as I get older and since I travel a lot I'm going to get circles under my eyes.  So she told me to get ice and put it in my sink with a little bit of water and dunk my face in it for two seconds.  I do it every morning when I travel and it really brings the puffiness down from underneath my eyes.

Taryn Manning

• Runway Lesson:  I've watched a lot of runways growing up and when I put the dress on the designer taught me to do a U turn when I get to the end because of my train.  In acting that's called a banana or a snake so I understood.
• Who She Wore: Carmen Marc Valvo
• Favorite Way to Wear Red: I love a red pump.  I just wore a pair out by Dolce Vita.
• Best Beauty Advice:  I've always had funky style and wear a bunch of hats, cause I'm a musician, too.  What I would do, is over do jewelry and stuff like that.  An old family friend, who I barely even know told me that less is more.  My mom told me she meant to lose the hat and the jewelry.  She was right.  Less makeup.  And shut your trap, too!  It goes for everything.

Sasha Cohen

• Runway Lesson: I've seen a lot of shows so I'll just walk and have fun.
• Who She Wore: Marc Bouwer
• Favorite Way to Wear Red: I have pale skin and dark hair so I think a red  lip suits me well.
• Best Beauty Advice: My mom always told me to take care of my skin.  I cleanse every day with a hot towel, tone then moisturize and add sunblock.  Always.

Exclusive Sneak Peek: Herve Leger NYFW Beauty

The invite to cover Max Azria's Herve Leger show is always an honor as his infamous bandage dresses always catch my attention, but this season an even more special invite landed in my inbox – the opportunity to cover the hair and makeup test the day before the show. RSVP: Yes.  Here are details on my exclusive preview of what the models hair, makeup and nails will look like.  PS: The show is tomorrow afternoon.

Prior to today, the glam squad met with Lubov Azria, the Chief Creative Officer of Max Azria to give direction for look and show off the Fall 2014 collection.  According to Lead Bumble & Bumble Stylist, Laurent Philippon, words like "bold," "cyber," "high tech" and "robotic" kept coming up.  There were two models at the test and I watched as he pulled their hair into high, tight ponytails and added streaks of "avatar blue" extensions into them starting at the root.  A look that later, wasn't approved by Azria.

Tomorrow, the girls are expected to walk with the same equestrian style ponytail, but the colored pieces of blue and a reddish coral will be coming in from the bottom as if they were an extension of their necklines.  "This way the audience can only see the color when the model turns, making it a more subtle statement," explains Philippon.

The eyes were the makeup look.  "I applied everything n a diagonal so you get the feeling of digital speed and movement," comments Val Garland, the lead makeup artist for Temptu.  The whole look was really emulated through the eyeliner, which Garland used a cream liner to create the graphic shape and then set it with Temptu's paint.  Her tip:  Don't move for 15 seconds after applying eyeliner to ensure it stays crisp like "a tick."  Her look was instantly approved.

Essie's Lead Manicurist, Julie Kandalec gave Azria a variety of designs to choose from playing off of the the lines in a bandage dress.  "She wanted to go in a blush direction to pick up the bare shade in the collection," she commented.  Tomorrow, all of the models will be wearing the same shade, Lady Like, but maybe not the same nail.

Breakfast at Tiffanys, Backstage at Monique Lhuillier

Backstage at the Monique Lhuillier fall 2011 show Val Garland for MAC and Jan Arnold for Creative Nail Design were joined by Odile Gilbert for Kerastase to create a glamourous yet edgy look. "The gowns are cleam, long and slender," commented Arnold. "Think Angelina Jolie in The Tourist."

The nail color was made of a combination of two shades layered on top of each other: Silver Chrome, Desert Suede and lined them with Dark Ameythest (which will debut in Fall 2011).

Gilbert created a twist of ponytils that were strategically placed and pinned around the head to resemble ribbons and added a black velvet bow into each of the models hair for a girly, Breakfast at Tiffanys effect.

Garland made the eyes the focal point of the face using a combination of blacks with deep plum for a smokey effect.

Sexy Siren Meets Old Hollywood, Backstage Lela Rose

I absolutely loved the look at the Lela Rose Fall 2011 show. Sarah Lucero from Stila was the lead on makeup, and she said the look was a “sultry, sexy siren with a vintage, old Hollywood feeling.” She used Stila’s Long Wear Lip Color in “daring” to get a powerful lip. She applied “gladiola,” a bright coral hue on the high plane of cheeks, to create an art deco feeling. The eyes were meant to be “really dreamy and hazy” with lots of beiges and a rosy shade in a heavy contour underneath. She wanted the lashes to be long and fluttery. The key element for this look was the skin—to even out under eye circles and redness, all the models used Clarisonic’s sonic skin cleansing system, which cleanses the skin 2 times better than manual cleansing. The brush oscillates against the skin to remove dirt from pores, and it lets all products that go on skin absorb more evenly. Models also used Clarisonic Opal Serum around the eyes to brighten and hydrate that area. I want to go out and buy these treatments pronto!

Deborah Lippmann provided the nails, and the color that all the models sported was a deep green shade called “billionaire.” Since the hair and makeup was so glam, this very wearable and earthy color was a nice contrast.

Devin Toth of the Ted Gibson Salon was the lead on hair, and in keeping with the old Hollywood theme, he created a strong side part with Tame It Shine Lotion. He then curled the right side of hair, freshened the wave out, and shaped it into a strong “s” wave. He used Beautiful Hold Hair Spray to help set the wave. The look is slightly different from regular Hollywood glam because the s wave is not as soft; it’s more severe and large, exaggerated French bobby pins were left in the models’ hair for the runway. To complete the look, he pulled hair into a low ponytail.

Urban Eskimos Invaded the Runway at Rag & Bone

Backstage at Rag & Bone the inspiration was urban eskimo.  Loose braids sporatically placed throughout the hair that "look as if a girl did them herself as she day dreams about her boyfriend" were paired with windswept skin and rosy lips. The Redken lead stylist didn't want the braids to look too perfect.  Each model had two that were secured with a clear hair band and then pulled out a bit to make them looser.

Gucci Westman was the lead makeup artist for Revlon and leaned on a new Revlon compact that comes out in October to complete the look.  It featured a quad of what looked like a mix of lipsticks and eyeshadows. The lipstick was used not only on some of the models' lips to make them pinker, but also on the eye lids to create more texture.

Check out this video of Gucci Westman doing a model's full face: