I went to school in Connecticut.
Suffice it to say that this fall’s super-smoked eyes, dark lips, and generally
goth-toned makeup don’t exactly fall within my comfort zone. So when my editor
challenges me to take a few of these looks public, I cringe. But like any good
beauty writer would, I stock up on eyeliner and begin an exhaustive review of
the finer points of eyeshadow smudging.
First stop: the experts. Magda Ogbe, a makeup stylist who reps
NARS all over, including in Boston,
explains that goth comes back in some form or another every autumn. “It’s a
fall thing that I think you can’t deny,” she tells me. “Fall is always bold,
and goth makeup is always bold, so it goes hand in hand. And we have this crazy
madness going on with the Twilight movie.” When I
consult Boston-based makeup artist Michelle Clark, she puts it perfectly: “I
think the whole trend comes from that seventies big hair … meets eyeliner of
the eighties … meets new London
goth.” Distilled into the season’s beauty collections, it’s “punk meets glam, I
guess. Meets vampire? If that makes any sense.” But what makes the look modern
this year is experimentation with, unexpectedly enough, some more colorful
shadows. The trick is keeping your foundation as sheer and natural as possible
to avoid product overload. Lips, however, are up to the individual, with beauty
brands showing more conceptual blacks as well as translucent, wine-colored
stains.
My new look debuts at my cousin’s going-away dinner — attended
by, of all people, my lovely little Italian grandfather. In an attempt to look
semi-polished, I spend my morning at the Loft Salon + Day Spa in the chair of
mani-pedi guru Valerie Chiaradia. Instead of going jet black (so Lauren Conrad,
so
last year), she helps me settle on a deep espresso instead, which she says
complements my skin tone.
Back wielding a makeup brush in front of my bathroom mirror, I
find myself gravitating to the season’s deep purple hues. I shade my lids
thickly with Shu Uemura’s Primal Color Stick ($30) in “Night Maroon,” blending
with bronze and scrawling over my lashline with an inky eggplant liner. Black
lipstick conjures up too many tortured 14-year-old memories; instead, I thank
the beauty gods for this fall’s array of dark yet sheer shades: Lipstick
Queen’s Chinatown Glossy Pencil ($20) in “Mystery” quickly becomes a
frontrunner, but I’m also a fan of “Fast Ride,” a wearable burgundy by NARS
($24). Ogbe seconds my emotion, citing the latter as the perfectly approachable
manifestation of the trend.
In the end, I’m not sure my family is ready for my new look, my
mother commenting that I look more “done” than usual, the rest of the family
only eyeing me quietly. Undeterred, I just chalk it up to the ’burbs. Clark does caution against overdoing the look in the real
world — i.e., anywhere but the runway. She urges, “Decide what your focus is:
if [you want] this smoldering, dirty, gritty eye, then that’s what you do … and
then go for a really seductive nude lip.” The reverse also applies: paint on a
deep, matte lip, but keep the rest of the look clean with just a coat of
mascara and impeccable skin.
Back to civilization later that evening, the boy and I head out
for drinks in Davis Square.
With nothing to lose, I go bold. I trade purple for deep navy, layering on
Urban Decay’s super-pigmented “Frigid,” a blue-black shade, and “Ruthless,” a
shimmery taupe, and smudging the brand’s Ink for Eyes Cream Eyeliner ($22) at
the base of my lashes. To finish off the look, I experiment with Urban Decay’s
lipsticks ($22), so appropriately dark and twisted, with tiny swords plunged
into the top of each case. My attempts to go undercover are totally blown when
we run into a gaggle of his former colleagues almost immediately — but, just as
I begin my disclaimer about the story I’m working on, one interrupts me to gush
over how “fantastic” I look. I clamp my mouth shut and accept the compliment. Mission accomplished.
WHERE TO BUY
NARS: Barneys (Copley Place, 100 Huntington Avenue, Boston,
617.385.3300)
Shu Uemura: Shu Uemura (130 Newbury Street, Boston, 617.247.3500)
Lipstick Queen: The Beauty Mark (33 Charles Street, Boston, 617.720.1555)
Urban Decay: Sephora (Prudential Center, 800 Boylston Street, Boston, 617.262.4200)
Manicures and pedicures by Valerie Chiaradia: The
Loft Salon + Day Spa (207 Newbury Street,
4th Floor, Boston,
617.536.5638)
