Runway Report: Nordic Girls at Nicole Miller

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When New York Fashion Week’s fall season hits Manhattan you can almost always count on brisk air and blistery winds, but this year has been one of the chilliest with temps barely reaching the single digits. So when a collection and the beauty behind it mimic a chic Nordic girl who’s been skiing, it all seems quite fitting for the setting.

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Butter London Lead Artist Katie Jane Hughes crafts both the nail and makeup looks for Nicole Miller, opting for cutesy nail art to offset the edgier makeup design. “The nail isn’t too serious,” says Hughes. “She’s badass on her face and then she’s got these cheeky nails.” Hughes whizzes the brush around the neck of the bottle to keep the bristles confined and then places one dot of Butter London in Cotton Buds slightly above the cuticle before painting the entire nail with one layer of Butter London in Splash Out, creating what she deems a “snow globe effect.”

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For the makeup design, Hughes opts for strong, angular, graphic eyeliner with subdued rosy cheeks and lips. “The eyeliner is like a dagger,” she explains. “It’s sharp like a slope, and then the girls have been skiing so they have this flush on their cheeks.” For the eye, Hughes draws a straight, winged-out medium-thick line with Butter London Union Jack Black Eye Pencil and then retraces that line with Butter London Iconolast Infinite Lacquer Liner for a high shine before finishing with two coats of Butter London Double Decker Mascara on the top lashes. “The eyeliner is the epitome of chic,” she says. Hughes next carves out the cheekbones with Butter London BronzerClutch in Sun Baked and then applies Butter London BlushClutch in Simple Sweet to the apples to create a flushed complexion. To finish the look, Hughes mixes Butter London Plush Rush Lipstick in Daring, Provocative and Buzzed, and uses her fingers to lightly dab the mutlihue concoction onto the lip. “The lips are supposed to look stained,” she explains. “You just press the color in until it looks like she’s drank a glass of red wine or eaten some berries.”

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Oribe Lead Stylist Tomo Jidai looks to both modern and ’90s street girls for inspiration for his hair design. “It’s like a girl in a late ’90s Calvin Klein or Helmut Lang ad,” he says. To create the minimal yet strong look, Jidai starts with damp-to-wet hair, parts the models’ locks where they fall naturally and then spritzes on Oribe Foundation Mist. He then applies Oribe Gold Lust Nourishing Hair Oil from mid-section to ends, adds volume when needed with Oribe Grandiose Hair Plumping Mousse, and finishes by blow-drying section by section. “A center part is too forced so we [went with] more of a natural part,” he explains. “[The design] is less about a gimmick and more about being effortless.”

[Images: Courtesy of Butter London; Johanna Siring of MATTE Projects for Oribe]

 

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