On to the Runway! This is what we were really waiting for – Toronto’s own makeup-artist-turned-NextTopModel-celeb-turned-fashion-designer…Jay Manuel!!! This collection is called “Jay Manuel ATTITUDE” and will be available at Sears. Also, check out his fun blog here.

His show started WAY past scheduled time. Perhaps just to create drama, and perhaps to be fashionably late, or perhaps, because entirely new flooring was laid down. This time, shiny black. So new and shiny, that the plastic surface need to be peeled from it after everyone was seated, just before the show began.

Hair and makeup rocked!!! Hair was 40’s finger-wave styled, modernized with loads of bobby pins. Makeup was very dramatic – a drag-esque take on 40’s. Blocked brows penciled in to be very thin, high cheekbones, heavy foundation, smokey eyes and bold lips.

These two photos courtesy of http://www.fashionjunkii.com/:

Jay’s modest 2-second appearance  was surprising.  We thought/hoped he’d come out and be a bit more grandiose a la Jay’s normal working it style, maybe give us some cheeky attitude, but it was literally a quick humble smile, wave, and goodbye.

Jay’s larger-than-life backdrop remained until Runway area was cleared.

On a side note, super disappointing: some of our friends got to go backstage and meet him. Apparently he was pretty rude. They gushed “we LOVED your show!”. He granted them a photo but other than that didn’t acknowledge a word they said or otherwise demonstrate grace.

Jay, say it isn’t so – you can’t be one of those celebs! =(

Next up, David Dixon. Here’s his backdrop:

He did an interesting thing where he featured one model wearing one signature item from each of his past collections, accompanied by various interesting photo montages, or poems, and dramatic music. Our video and photos were super blurry so we won’t post those.

Here’s the actual collection for this show for Fall/Winter 2011 called “Escape to Jakarta”.

A bit hard to see because the background colour was a very bright orange light that didn’t come out well on camera. But here it is anyway in case interested:

Here’s are two stills courtesy of Sweetspot:

Here’s a Blackberry video of his show close:

On our way out, we bumped into one of the pretty models from his show. She’s in the first picture above (in the black/grey/red/white long dress). Loved to see the makeup close-up, and the braiding. This was the same look for all the models in his show.

We adore the continued braiding trend in hair, but mostly it’s the luscious lipstick that sets our hearts a-flutter. Remember when we talked about this trend a while back?

Yours in Fashionista-ing,

Candace & The BlushFX Team

Had beautiful high ceilings, lots of natural lights, textured soft yellow brick walls; and was decorated with beautiful floor to ceiling sheer curtains with huge glamorous chandeliers everywhere.

Loved this crazy anime-like, very different from a lot of what everyone else was wearing which was mostly chic black or white.

There was lots of fun stuff like free Peroni beer, free L’Oreal hair and makeup makeovers:

And getting to pose with 4 live heavily airbrushed Ken dolls. The hilarious part was that they were smiling their California smiles all night would greet everyone with “Hey Doll! You look KENtastic!!!”

We were there to see fashion shows by Comrags, Jay Manuel, and David Dixon. Here is what the runway looked like as people were trying to find their seats:

And then when most people had been seated:

Note the white runway above. More on that next post in contrast with Jay Manuel’s show floor flooring.

Here’s the backdrop to the Comrags show, setting the tone of their show:

Hair is 40’s inspired but soft, wavy, loose, often tucked into messy bobs; and makeup is very soft, natural, earthy but somewhat defined. From The Toronto Sun:

Finale with all the models:

Robin Kay was sitting right across us. As president of the Fashion Design Council of Canada (FDCC), she’s an international ambassador for Canada’s fashion industry. She leads the FDCC in the organization of L’Oréal Fashion Week in Toronto so she can be seen at pretty much every show. You might also recognize her from Project Runway Canada where she was a guest judge. She’s the one wearing sunglasses and very S & M bondage looking stockings (or tape??? Lol).

Here’s what the press area looks like. After each show, the press run to this area and quickly write review/critique articles, blogs, post photos, etc.

Stay tuned for Part 2, next post.

Yours in Thoughts of Taped Stockings ‘n Swanky Events,
Candace & The BlushFX Team

This is also known as “the hair show”. The ABA is an organization that represents most of the hair and nail industry. The ABA show takes place once a year in Toronto (and also elsewhere in Canada). It features lots of stuff like demonstrations on new hair trends and products; educational seminars; and creative competitions. It’s a great place for us to see what’s happening in hair trends, and talk to like-minded people about how to better serve our clients – you!

Unfortunately you only get to attend the show if you are working in the industry. So if don’t, then this is for you! Please enjoy some peeks of the magic we saw through our lenses. Here we go!

What a line-up to get in, but we didn’t even feel it because it was a sea of the most beautiful hair in one place, EVER, seriously. All kinds of imaginative colours and cuts – from retro chic to super funky or punky and everything in between!

Check out some of these colours and ‘dos, coveting the white ‘do in particular:

We got through just in time to catch ABA’s guest celebrity speaker Tabatha Coffey, TV host and star of “Tabatha’s Salon Takeover”. The auditorium was filled to capacity, and then some. This was the view from where we were standing, and there was a sea of people behind us as well.

She was exactly as she is on TV. If you haven’t seen the show, she can be described as a no-nonsense, brutally honest, straight-talking, funny, informative – a heady mix of glam with slight crassness and addictive Aussie accent.

Shortly after her talk, Tabatha had a book-signing meet ‘n greet with her fans. Note the long line of fans:

We walked by over an hour later and the line was just as long, new fans kept joining in. Here’s Tabatha with a fan:

Next up, watched some very cool, energetic demos from a few hair companies on upcoming trends, here are some captures…

Showing us the new trend in men’s hair for this season @American Crew:

Anime and new cutting techniques @Rusk:

From chic to funky @Matrix:

Bold colour and beautiful extensions @Wella:

Avant-Garde @L’Oreal:

Next up…competitions for Elegant Evening Makeup Competition and Evening Long Hair Elegance Competition. The Hairstyle competition was phenomenal in its intricacy, creativity, speed and perfection – photos here and here.

We were sad when the show closed, we wanted more, more, more!

But we did get to stock up on some new pro tools and even got a few small freebies on the way out (Moroccan Oil and L’Oreal hairspray, anyone?).

Wishing you all a great hair day!

Candace & The BlushFX Team

Check out the intricate bun, a bit hard to tell here but they are thin chunks of hair wrapped:

Wouldn’t it be fab to go to an event with your hair done like this???

You can see 4 of the lovelies here, and what the table set up was like for the hairstylists too:

Beauticious, n’est-ce pas? This is the finished top of a picture we showed above:

Here’s another view of the near-final look in progress:

Looking medieval and fairy-tale like:

Another pretty wrapped updo:

Loving all the different types of rolls on her head, avec jewels:

This mermaid knows she looks chic:

Two models in view here, but also check out the hairstylists awesome hair and skunk chunk:

Next post: about the show…check back soon!

Candace & The BlushFX Team

Hairstylist hopefuls came from different salons, and were each given 30 minutes to execute their creations from start to finish. Judges walked around and checked models’ hair with fine tooth combs (literally) to ensure hair had not been pre-treated. Each of the stylists were up against some pretty tough competition. All of the looks were jawdroppingly fantastic – incredibly avant-garde, creative, intricate, inspirational and well-executed. We weren’t able to stay to find out who won, but we were really rooting for all of them anyway=)

We like this hairstylist’s great hair colours and ‘do:

Gotta love the red and orange:

Looking pretty anime!:

Beautiful pink folds and makeup, and two red-heads watching:

Intricate braiding begins:

And twisting:

Insanity:

Looking like a take on Flamenco dancer hair:

Check out the hair roll in the front:

Ooh la la, wondering what divine look this will turn out to be???

Stay tuned, more pictures coming in part 2!

Candace & The BlushFX Team

As much as we also adore the gloss that J.Lo made famous (and yes we are a little obsessed with her) there is just something about lipstick that is…transformative, feminine, luscious, and just so darned glamorous in that femme fatale way.

So naturally we were ecstatic when we first saw the release of this gorgeous Vanesssa Paradis Rouge Coco ad for Chanel. It has the glam of old-school lipstick, but with a fresh modern take.

And from what we can see, although Vanessa looks fantastic, this photo is not overly photoshopped / airbrushed either, which has a giant stamp of approval from us.

She was chosen to represent the Peter Philip’s reformulated Rouge Coco lipstick because “it’s a lipstick for all women who understand that seduction comes from a few simple, shy gestures. And Vanessa is both childish and seductive, personifying perfectly boldness and power of emotion.”

We think the choice was perfect, and the timing is so right. As fresh and lovely as gloss can be, there’s nothing quite like the satisfying feel of wearing a pigmented lipstick. We bet our brides will be asking for this more and more in 2011!

Although this ad campaign has been out for a bit, we’ve only started our blog recently so haven’t had a chance to sing praises online until now. Yahooooo!

Candace & The BlushFX Team

First thing in the morning, Carmen was vibrant and upbeat, keeping the bridal party enthused and energized.  As the morning progressed and it came closer and closer to wedding hour, the bride started getting a little bit of pre-wedding nerves. Carmen pulled her aside and got her exercising – lunges, squats and more. When the breathless bride returned to my chair, she was entirely changed: laughing, relaxed and literally glowing. That’s just a little bit of the magic that is Carmen - if only she could be there to start everyone’s day, what a blissful place it would be!

Here’s a shot of me doing her makeup:

I found out that Carmen is a fitness expert who teaches group fitness; is a personal trainer; and created programs such as “Cardio Erotica” and co-created “Burst!” in an effort to help women achieve self-acceptance and strength. She’s been on Breakfast Television and won acclaim. Read more about her on our affililiates blog, on www.carmenpuyo.com and also www.burstnow.com.

Her belief is that “Sexy is not a look. It’s an attitude” . We couldn’t agree more Carmen, you embody both of these to us, what an inspiration!

If you know a bride to be, you might want to throw her a Cario Erotica Stagette Party…or…if you are a bride to be, contact her to learn more about her Bridal Party bootcamp to get ready for your big day!

Candace & The BlushFX Team

Here’s a sample of a display story we captured. Loving…the suspended mannequin, dress made of dripped candle, and chandelier covered in same…

this beautiful huge hairpiece on left made of thick yarn (that kind of looks like a glam mop of hair)…

…and this chic red display, with the best part being the mini tufted couch on bottom right corner, which we are coveting!

Candace & The BlushFX Team

Kandee unleashed the sweet tooth with her cupcakes and we just had to go have more sweets!

We had our hearts set on eating the famous “Crack Pie’ from the Momofuku Milk Bar in East Village, Manhattan.

The Crack Pie did not disappoint. It is described as a pie with “oat crust and gooey buttery filling”. But it’s an insanely delightly combination of 6 kinds of sugar that had our palates swooning. This is what it looks like:

We also tried their unique soft-serve offerings: “Cereal Milk” and “Ants on a Log”. Cereal milk was creamy and comforting. Ants on a Log? What can we say…it was a “try it once” flavour: celery, peanut butter and…raisins! Well…er…it tasted exactly like those three foods combined into a soft-serve.  This was the “Cereal Milk” one:

They also make interesting cookies, cakes, truffles. And you’ll note they package slices of these cakes in ready-to-go eco-looking boxes on the bottom of fridge:

And although we didn’t have time to try this, they serve interesting sandwiches…croissant with blue cheese and kimchee anyone?

Candace & The BlushFX team

What makes her unique however, is her personality. She shares all of her life stories with her fans and comes through a lot of hardship with a great attitude, inspiring people to keep trying, keep smiling, to stay focused – not only to follow any potential makeup dreams but also anything else one wants to do in life.

The Glaminar Bootcamp consisted of a glorious full-day session in Times Square in New York. We were greeted with huge Kandee posters and balloons:

friendly helpers, her super sweet mom, and given a (yay) big silver surprise bag full of goodies…what a treat!

She also had a table full of deelish cupcakes. We enjoyed the Red Velvets ones…scrumptious! We only remembered to take the photo when most of them had been eaten but here’s what they looked like:

Unfortunately we forgot to take a picture of what was inside but the fabulous surprise treat bag contained this and more:

• iSmell Soap (organic and wrapped in zebra print!)
• Dome-shaped Crown brush
• Urban Decay eye shadow and liner
• Various samples of Exuberance products (organic creams and more)
• Samples of Beauty So Clean makeup sanitizer
• Lip tar (gloss) from OCC
• Glaminar bracelet

Cute and pregnant Kandee started by sharing with us some of her experiences working with celebrities, on-set (film, tv, etc) makeup artist etiquette, working with bridal clientele, importance of contracts, and providing feedback on some of her favourite products.  It’s very reassuring to know that she does not get paid to promote products, so everything she recommends really are just her favourites from experience. She did several beautiful makeup applications and showed us many tips along the way, all while taking questions and answering everything everyone wanted to know.

Finally – her favourite part – she did several very generous giveaways of some of her favourite products. She, while currently pregnant (she calls her baby-to-be her “cupcake”, so fitting) has spent countless hours securing these products from her favourite companies for the Glaminar giveaways. We could hardly believe it as she gave away all the items on the left-side of this table (naturally covered in zebra, her favourite animal print).

Some of the great giveaways included: Zuca bags, Beauty So Clean sets, NYX make-up kits and make-up, Z palettes (naturally in zebra and cheetah print!), Dinair Airbrush system, Model in a Bottle setting spray, and (drumroll….) what we have been coveting for a long, long time…the Vanity Girl mirror!

This is Kandee joyously giving away the goodies – the table is almost empty now!

She shared with us several very moving personal stories about herself and some previous Glaminar attendees that had us moved and in tears. We finished the day feeling more knowledgeable and inspired, and part of something so magical. This was an unforgettable experience for everyone – from novice to pro.

On a sidenote, although stunning in photos and videos, she is incredibly beautiful in person – we don’t know if we have ever seen someone so gorgeous in person before!

Candace & The BlushFX team