The Trick to Instant Red Carpet Skin

I just got off of the phone with the makeup artist who's been responsible for Kate Mara's looks throughout the past nine years,  Coleen Campbell-Olwell.  Believe it or not, after 13 years of creating red carpet looks, this awards season is still giving her the jitters.  The House of Cards actress has Coleen booked today through Sunday for Golden Globes festivities.  Of course she'll be wearing different looks, but the key to perfect makeup all boils down to one thing – perfect skin.  Here, Coleen dishes how she gives her clients red carpet skin – instantly.

"Everybody's skin is different, but dehydration is one of the biggest and most common challenges when doing red carpet makeup," Coleen explains.  "Because my clients are flying a lot and constantly wearing makeup, I need to find products that'll hydrate their skin immediately."

During awards season, about an hour and a half is allotted to hair and makeup.  Yes, that's it. So there's no time for fancy tricks.  When I asked her about facials she said, "I recommend my clients get a facial a week before a big event, but no closer, because you never know if they're going to breakout or peel afterwards."

All of the real magic happens in her chair.   "I didn’t have great skin when I was younger, so I'm very careful about the skincare products I use on my clients and test them out on myself first," she explains.  Leaving no room for reactions, her two go-go's are Orlane Super Moitsturizing Light Cream and Absolute Skin Recovery Care Eye Contour.  "The creme hydrates instantly without being greasy and I find that most eye creams are too rich, but this eye contour is the perfect consistency and gets rid of puffiness."

Of course, the right products create a great base for makeup application and help make the look last all night, but it's the way Coleen applies them, that takes the whole look up a notch. "I use the slip in the moisturizer to massage the skin working outwards, which helps to pull out any excess fluid in the face and reduce puffiness," she explains.  Her regimen is to do three strokes on each side of the forehead, from the side of the nose out to the ear, down the neck and on each side of the chin.

The Exact Products Used to Get Beth Behrs's Look

Whenever there's a red carpet to watch, I stalk makeup artist, Jamie Greenberg's work.  Sure enough, she killed it again last night by giving Two Broke Girls star, Beth Behrs a look like no other.  While I noticed nude lips were dominating the red carpet last night at the People's Choice Awards, she gave Beth a punchy coral pout and it worked.  Here are details from Jamie on exactly what products were used to get Beth's look and behind the scenes pics.

1. Prep the face with Laura Mercier Hydrating Foundation Primer and then apply mark's Got The Goods Multi-Benefit Foundation Lotion SPF 15 all over.

2. Apply mark's Super Conceal Full Coverage Concealer under the eyes, then sweep mark's Touch and Glow Shimmer Cream Cubes across cheekbones.

3. Next, apply mark's Please Hold Eye Primer all over the eye lid and apply mark's On The Dot Smokey Color Compact in navy (bottom right shade) to the outer corners of the eye.

4. Line the top lash line with Avon's SuperShock Gel Eye Liner Pencil in Blackout and the bottom lash line with mark's No Place To Run Longwear Eyeliner in Jet Set.

5. Finish the eyes with three layers of Ardell Natural Individual Lashes and two coats of bareMineral Flawless Definition Waterproof Mascara.

6. Complete the look with mark's Lipclick Full Color Lipstick in Coral Fixation.

Kat Graham & I Talk the Prepping for the Perfect Kiss

Something I purposely left out of my New Year's Eve post was meeting Kat Graham from Vampire Diaries at the Hard Rock Cafe.  Our conversation deserved a post all on it's own. As Nivea's event host, we appropriately got into a conversation about the midnight kiss!  Both with our fiancés about to ring in our wedding year, we all dissected the "perfect" kiss.  From the ball drop to the alter and anytime in between, here's how to prep for that kiss. "Having a crazy red lip or dark lip, may be fun and feel sexy, but when it's all about the kiss, your guy will surely back away," Kat laughed.  Her fiancé was shaking his head, laughing in agreement.  "No guy wants that coming at him," he exclaimed.

This supports a theory I have that men hate red lipstick, which I blogged about in 2012 (see post here), where my fiancé comments, "It's annoying."  The perfect kiss can't be distracting.  You need to lose yourselves in each other and not worry about whether your lip color is going to end up on his face or all over yours.

The solution?  When it's date night, don't do your makeup to impress the girls.  Wear it for him.  Play up your eyes, make sure your lips are moisturized and add a just hint of natural color. "He's been kissing me all night," Kat gushed.  Her pucker up go-to: Nivea Kiss of Cherry Flavored Tinted Lip Care.

BYOB to Prevent Your Hair Color from Fading

Last week I sat in the chair of Kyle White at Oscar Blandi, a celebrity colorist who I recently worked with for New York Live.  As he was going through his tips for making hair color last longer (don't shampoo daily, use a thermal protector, etc), one really stood out – BYOB. No, not booze, brush.  Bring your own brush!   Allow me to explain. The number one problem people who color their hair face is fading.  As a brunette, I can tell you that the orangish shade my hair color turns is not flattering.  Orange isn't even a hair color!  Blondes fade to whitish, which is OK, because platinum blonde is still at least considered a hair color and red heads fade out to a coppery shade, which again, isn't ideal, but at least its in the same color family.  Therefore, if you're a brunette like me, sorry, we have it the worst.

Whenever you dry your hair at home make sure you're using a natural bristle brush.  Metal brushes are our hair's worst enemy.  It comes as no surprise that metal conducts heat, which is why when we use them, our blow outs come out so smooth and are done so quickly.  However, the heat also fades our hair color at a rapid pace while causing damage to our strands.

I visit blow out bars regularly and you know what?  They're all trained to use metal brushes, because they allow the stylist to get the quickest results and turn their chairs over. Whenever you go get your hair done or if you frequent a dry bar type of place like me, BYOB – bring your own brush. Yes, it will take the stylist twice as long to do your hair, but you they won't be frying it or sacrificing your color.  As Kyle said, "Think about that black shirt that fades each time you throw it into the dryer."

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