Photos/Interview: Carmen Marc Valvo Spring Summer 2012 New York Fashion Week Backstage Beauty

September 13, 2011

Makeup: Romero Jennings for MAC

Nails: OPI

The Look: Sleek and elegant All American

Romero Jennings for M.A.C. explained that Carmen Marc Valvo really knows his demographic, and this collection is “tailored for everyone.” In order to get this “Democratic American” look, he made the lip really pop, but explained that this is a day to evening color that you “freshen up before you go out.” To get this long lasting and wearable lip color, he used both a lip pencil and a new lip color called Scarlet Ibis (check out how beautifully creamy matte it is — or in MAC speak, this is an Amplified texture). “The foundation too is wearable and called the Match Master Foundation,” he says (this hits shelves fall 2011). “It matches the skin on its own and it becomes a second skin.”

Jennings used light mascara on the models; “Basically, it’s the way a normal girl would wear her mascara in the daytime; you have two seconds to put it on, and that’s all the pop you need.” Since Carmen Marc Valvo wanted the pieces to be interchangeable, the makeup stays true for all looks. “She could put on jeans and a tee shirt and go out at night with this look,” says Jennings.

The hair was done by one of my all time favorite hair gurus, Ted Gibson. “This is probably the 9th or 10th season I’ve worked with Carmen,” he says, “and we figured the woman this season is “All American –sexy –but she’s still American. So I thought very very straight hair, and very shiny smooth.” The Tommy Hilfiger reference came up during the course of Gibson’s discussions with Carmen Marc Valvo but also Peggy Lipton from Mod Squad in the 1970’s when “every girl in America was ironing her hair to get that look.”