Backstage Beauty: Joy Cioci Spring/Summer 2012

Feb 15th, 2012

The flush of being in love often accentuates a woman’s natural beauty—but what about the woman who’s still searching for her amour? At the Joy Cioci Spring/Summer 2012 show the designer’s muse is a free-spirited woman in pursuit of that thing called love—a woman who’s traveled far and wide to find her heart’s connection. “She’s the type of woman who goes on a whim…and is a little bit messy,” hair lead Jessica Gillin of Marie Robinson Salon laughs. “But we also wanted the hair to look a little bit period—from the ’40s—but without appearing too costume-y.” Gillin crafts a faux bob that she softens with face-framing waves sprayed with TIGI Bed Head Rockaholic Groupie Texturizing Spray and brushed-out for a slight “coming undone” feel. “This faux bob is a little longer than it would be in the ’40s, and we’re leaving some pieces out. It’s a little messy, not too perfect”—but indeed perfect for the woman hell-bent on chasing love.

(Credit: Courtesy of NARS Cosmetics)

For the makeup, NARS national makeup artist Uzo allows radiant skin to act as the backdrop for precise, full red lips and blushing cheeks—a look she deems “elegant but tough.” The allure of the design is the skin. “I love beautiful, glowing, three-dimensional skin. Dewy is back!” Uzo proclaims. To achieve the perfect amount of “dew,” she highlights the cheekbones, forehead and temples by pressing NARS Orgasm Illuminator into the skin using her fingers. The twist: “I’m applying the highlighter before the foundation application. We want the glow before we even out the skin,” she says. Uzo perfects her canvas with a light application of NARS Tinted Moisturizers (new for Spring 2012), and hones it even more with not one but two concealers—“one to match the true undertone in your skin and the second to mimic the color of your skin when you get a tan,” she explains. For that true-love-flushed look, Uzo dabs NARS Heat Wave Lipstick on the apples of the cheeks only, and blends. The orange-red lip, a detailed amalgamation of NARS Jungle Red Lipliner Pencil, Heat Wave Lipstick and Red Square Velvet Matte Lip Pencil, mixes textures and finishes for a dimensional effect that Uzo describes as “the perfect, bold red lip that any woman can and should wear. I mean, it’s modern and it’s almost retro-inspired. It makes you wanna wear red lipstick.”

What women will also want to wear: the nails. Graced with the moniker “Lucite Lace,” these stunning clear nail tips feature lace latticework on the nail bed that is at once delicate yet also commanding. “We did a veil on the nail using intricate hand-detail techniques,” describes the manicurist behind the design, CND lead nail tech Candice Manacchio. In short: Manacchio overlays a piece of lace on the nail bed of a clear acrylic tip, then airbrushes white polish overtop for a stenciled effect that she changes from nail to nail by twisting and turning the lace into different patterns. The free-edge is left completely translucent. “The idea is to take traditional lace and modernize it with this Lucite feel. If you look at Joy’s collection, you see a lot of her pieces are veiled with lace or have laser cutouts, and are styled with a lot of Lucite accessories,” Manacchio says. “We wanted to create the same kind of illusion as the clothing by combining all of those elements: the laser cutouts, the lace and the Lucite.” In a word: lovely. —Karie L. Frost