Elle Canada - The Elle Word

All images courtesy of Michele Li.

Lucian Matis is remarkably calm in a crammed room at the Royal York hotel, doing last-minute sewing and ironing. He only takes a moment to check in on the beauty look for for his Fall/Winter 2012 collection.

Just as calm is Smashbox makeup artist and Director of Global Pro Lead Artistry, Lori Taylor, who after blending in layer after layer of black shadow and liner on a model’s eye, gets word from Matis that he wants the look “darker and stronger to really frame the face.”

I’m in love with this fall hair style. It’s so polished, smooth and chic for day or night. I attempted to recreate it on my own, but after many failed attempts (just couldn’t get my hair smooth ans shiny enough!), I enlisted the help of Charles Baker Strahan, hair stylist for Herbal Essences. Here are his tips for getting this impeccably smooth hair style.

Backstage at Ferragamo. Image courtesy of ImaxTree.com

1. This look is all about being sleek and touchably smooth and the first place to start is in the shower. To create the right base for styling, I recommend Herbal Essences Touchably Smooth Shampoo and Conditioner that has a built-in smoothing serum to help control frizz and maintain smoothness.

2. Next, work styling gel (try Herbal Essences Set Me Up Styling Gel) through your wet hair and blow-dry your hair straight using a boar bristle round brush to smooth down the cuticle layer.

3. Then pull your hair back into a low ponytail.

4. Next, apply Herbal Essences Long Term Relationship Leave-In Split-End Protector to the ends of your hair and separate the pony in two and twist each section into opposing directions allowing the sections to twist around one another and down upon themselves. Then secure the ends underneath with bobby pins.

5. You can artfully manipulate the coils and secure areas with pins for extra hold.

6. The last step is to finish the look with a bit of hairspray to smooth down any flyaways (Try: Herbal Essences Set Me Up Extra Hold Hairspray).  Read the rest of this entry

There’s finally a nip in the air that makes me long for not only a cozy fall wardrobe, but also some major changes in my beauty routine. I’m anxious to start slathering on thicker creams in anticipation of colder temps. I can’t wait to update my summer smoky eye, to a deep shaded fall eye. And I’m excited to toss out my summer lip shades for more robust colours.

Here are the three key things to swap from your summer beauty routine to get fall prepped.

Bright lips at Jil Sander. Image coutesy of ImaxTree.com.

Switch up your lip colour
If you jumped on the spring and summer bright lip colour bandwagon, you won’t be disappointed with fall’s lip trends. Fall is still all about the statement lip, and it can still be your beauty thing, but instead of a vibrant, neon pink (my go-to shade all summer) take it down just a notch with a bold, glossy red (as seen at Gucci), deep purple or fuchsia. If you want to stay on the brighter side – find the right orange shade for you, like the orange-red hue at Jil Sander. Or go really soft with pale, glossy nude and pink lips – seen at Stella McCartney, D&G, Emilio Pucci and Donna Karan.

Spider lashes at Gianfranco Ferre. Image courtesy of ImaxTree.com.

Bring back the mascara
A lot of the bold eye looks for spring and summer focused on bright colours (reds, pinks, yellows), so mascara was often nixed to keep the look clean. But for fall, mascara doesn’t just come back, it came back in a big way. Spider lashes at Gucci and Gianfranco Ferre should make a double coating of mascara (check out 7 of our faves under $10) on your must-do list every morning. If the clumpy look just doesn’t work for you, apply thickening mascara to get a full, lush set of lashes. Read the rest of this entry