I'll admit - I am a sucker for the Oscars red carpet. I'm the girl captivated in front of the TV watching arrivals to see what everyone is wearing. And because I'm investing so much time, I expect all the ladies to look their loveliest! That means it's not just the designer dresses and extravagant jewels I'm paying attention to - but hair and makeup too!
MAC is the official makeup backstage at the Academy Awards and we went straight to Oscars Makeup Artist Barbara Fonte (who will be touching up nominees and presenters) to predict the MAKEUP trends on the carpet. "We have sultry eyes which are the smoky eyes and then we have old Hollywood which is more of a clean eyeliner with a shimmer on the eye and red lips."
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To get the sexy eye (perfect for Penelope Cruz), "you want dimension with the smoky look. So you use variations of different colors of gray." Use a light gray in the center and then blend it with a deeper gray on the outer corners. Use black eyeliner to thickly and dramatically line the eye. Balance this out with a natural pink for the blush and nude tones for the lips, like MAC's Viva Glam soft lip gloss.
Anne Hathaway's bold features are complimented by the glamorous old Hollywood look. Barbara breaks down this trend into four steps. "You would use a black liquid eyeliner, extending it past the corner of the eye. Use strip lashes, very important. A very clean base with a little shimmer on the cheekbone and red lips with a little gold gloss in the center."
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As for hair, Celebrity Hairstylist Adam Campbell of Beverly Hills' Neil George Salon (who has worked with Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson) expects more natural looks on Sunday. "People still want to feel sexy and glamorous but it's going to be a little bit more relaxed."
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Wearing the hair half-up and half-down is the perfect way to achieve this effect. After blow-drying the hair with a volumizer, use a curling iron. Since the look shouldn't be too polished, use your hands to "rough up the curls a little bit, give it a little bit of that natural beachy texture."
Finally pull back a small section up top and secure with bobby pins. And for extra glamour (necessary for the Oscars, of course!) use a sparkly pin.
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