MARC JACOBS ~ BACKSTAGE BEAUTY

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“You know those old women in the street who are a little bit eccentric? There’s always one living next to you. They put too much blush on and they don’t do their eyeliner quite well, but it looks fabulous at the end. That’s what the idea was,” explained the makeup artist Francois Nars backstage at the Marc Jacobs show. This translated to a black eyeliner Nars is releasing this fall called Via Venetto applied with a downward curve (“the opposite of Audrey Hepburn’s look,” explained Nars) and Nars Lokum Cream Blush applied low, near the mouth. “I think it looks like a grandmother who put lipstick on her cheeks,” said Nars with a laugh. The hairstylist Guido Palau gave this aging glamour girl a Croydon facelift, creating what he called “a dominatrix ponytail” using Redken Blow Away, a gel for blow-drying, and Shine Flash for serious gloss (models wore berets made of PVC by the milliner Stephen Jones secured with black chin straps). Nails were painted a shiny peach Jacobs chose from the polish brand Zoya. “Marc is very hands-on,” said the manicurist Elisa Ferri, pun unintended. “He has an amazing eye.”