Backstage beauty: Arthur Mendonça takes Liz Taylor’s Cleopatra underwater
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Is there a better inspiration than Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra? We thought not, until Arthur Mendonça set the vision for beauty at his Spring 2012 show: Cleopatra emerging from water. Eddie Malter, official makeup artist for L’Oreal Paris, used H.I.P. High Intensity Pigment Eyeshadow Duos “224” and “207,” blending layers of blue, turquoise, and silver to achieve the effect of water reflecting on the face—a look certainly worthy of modern Egyptian goddesses. Brows were left natural and lips subtle, done in a beige Infallible Le Rouge lip colour (“814”) and covered with gloss.
Even glossier, however, was the hair; Eric Del Monaco, official hair artist and colourist of L’Oreal Paris, styled it in sections, applying water and Studio Line Special FX Radical Gel in layers. “We kept it nice and neat, so the hair doesn’t wave when walking down the runway,” he explained. To ensure this straight look, hair was pulled from the temple into a hidden ponytail, neatly secured behind the sleek tresses.
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