Natural Beauty Rules at Balmain

Every girl wishes that she could roll out of bed in the morning, wash her hair, slap on some concealer, and leave the house. However, most women don't believe they look socially acceptable unless they style their hair and slap on a full face of makeup. Consider Balmain's fall 2012 beauty look as your ticket to freedom.

At the designer's runway show for Paris Fashion Week, hairstylist Sam McKnight and makeup artist Tom Pecheux practically handed out permission slips for women across the world to walk out the front door with very minimal effort.

McKnight wanted the hair to remain a bit textured yet totally natural. He simply washed the models' hair with Pantene Pro-V Repair and Protect Shampoo, and, for the most part, he left it at that. Only a few girls with frizzy, dry hair needed a bit of styling wax to create a slightly more polished appearance.

Since the collection was inspired by luxury, Pecheux made it a priority to give the models a clean, flawless face. He concentrated on using strategically placed concealer to hide any imperfections, and finished off by lightly contouring the face and powdering the T-zone to get rid of shine. For models whose brows were bleached at the Milan shows, he added pencil eyeliner and colored mascara to fill in the missing color.

The whole look could be described as natural yet put-together. It's the perfect opportunity to sleep in for those extra ten minutes.

Text Esther Reisberg
Source and Image Style.com

Styling at DSquared Fall 2012

If you're not familiar with dynamic brothers Dean and Dan Caten, then you should know that they are forces to be reckoned with. Their DSquared label has both an outdoorsy look, featuring fur trim and tons of plaid, and a glamour-meets-rock appearance, featuring badass biker jackets, hand-stitched denim, and deconstructed corsets. All of these major identifications make the designers stand out.

While their clothes appeal to fashionistas who want to add the perfect amount of edge to their look, there was just as much effort put into the backstage beauty.

The design team decided to style hair and makeup in a way that referenced the sixties. All of the models were powdered from their contoured cheekbones to their eyelids. Swept across the eyelids was the Blacktrack Fluid Eye Liner Gel from MAC cosmetics, which shaped the top of the lids for a cat-eye effect. The black eye liner was also applied to the bottom of the lids and the brows to create a bushy effect that was seen on every housewife of that era.

On-staff hairstylist Sam McKnight used Pantene Pro-V products, like the Volume Mousse and the Extra Strong Mousse, on damp hair to get an intensified "bump it" look. The models deserved a medal for walking the runway with what probably felt like another head on top of their own. The hairdos looked like the pinned-back beehive from the sixties.

To see what Dean and Dan Caten have been up to, as well as some edgy pictorials, check out their website. On their well-constructed online store, they are offering ready-to-wear outfits, shoes, accessories, perfumes, and items from "Dean & Dan's Closet," where they have hand picked their favorite pieces.

Text Jordan Bossman
Sources DSquared, WWD

Pantene Partners With Olympic Athletes

Celebrity endorsements of beauty products have become as commonplace as seeing a Starbucks pop up along every three blocks, so it comes as no surprise that Pantene is now partnering with Olympic athletes to advertise its products. Though the world's most popular haircare brand has never featured athletes before, its new marketing approach focuses on the importance of healthy beauty.

Pantene has selected eleven female athletes as part of its first international campaign to back the London 2012 Olympic Games. Joining the ranks of famous faces like Eva Mendes and Shay Mitchell will be Olympic competitors Natalie Coughlin, a swimmer for the U.S. team, and Evegeniya Kanaeva, a Russian rhythmic gymnast.

The idea is that these women represent the brand's view that health is beauty in its own right. Pantene representatives believe that the athletes are ideal not just because of their active and healthy lifestyles, but because their hair is left extremely vulnerable during competitions. The haircare products are advertised as strong enough to treat even the most damaged hair. With athletic women as beauty ambassadors, Pantene is advocating health and proving that it can perform just as well as any Olympic champion.

Text Esther Reisberg

Source and Image Business Wire