Beauty trends at Macy's

 Nadine Kam photos
Joy Ramos, left, was the mannequin for the day as nine beauty brands worked their magic on her bare skin, from a foundation of skin care, to brows, lashes and full color look, during Macy's Ala Moana's inaugural Beauty Trend Show. Here, she's in the chair with representatives from Lancome.

Macy's hosted it's first Beauty Trend Event July 16 at the Ala Moana Center store, highlighted by something I haven't seen done here before, a start-to-finish makeover, from skin care to color, featuring several beauty brands.

It had to be hard to determine who would do what. Typically, each brand would perform a makeover using all of its own products, but that's not realistic.

I think even the most loyal customers pick and choose the best from each product line, and very few match their skin care to their choice of color brands.

Among skincare products highlighted were:
Clinique City Block Purifying Charcoal Cleansing Gel
SKII Facial Treatment Essence
Clarins Double Serum
Chanl Le Blanc Intensive Spot Treatment and Hydra Flash Balm
Shisedo Ibuki Beauty Sleeping Mask and Ibuki Quick Fix Mist
Origins Plantscription line

Color products featured:
Lancome Le Base Pro and Le Lipstick in "Clear"
Estée Lauder Nude Cushion Stick Double Wear Foundation
Benefit Browvo and Kabrow brow tamers
M.A.C Dazzle Eyes shadow
Urban Decay Vice Lips and makeup setting spray
Bobbi Brown Sunset Pink Collection

I stopped by the Benefit Brow Bar after the show, where nine brow-perfecting products are the most offered by any other brand on the beauty floor.

Beauty spot: Tata Harper shows natural beauty can be effective

Nadine Kam photos
Tata Harper was in town to host a skin-care master class featuring her all-natural line of beauty products.

Beauty expert Tata Harper has been in Hawaii celebrating her birthday, and made a trip to Neiman Marcus July 30 to host a skin-care master class, utilizing the all-natural products handmade on her Vermont farm.

I was running a bit late that morning, but still managed to put a face on, only to find we were starting the session with a good face cleansing. We began with Tata Harper's Nourishing Oil Cleanser, that went on silky smooth and washed off easily with a damp sponge, taking my makeup job with it. To familiarize ourselves with the products, we were also able to try her exfoliating Regenerating Cleanser, detox-oriented Purifying Cleanser, and for sensitive skin and rosacea, Refreshing Cleanser.

There's an idea that's hard to shake, that "natural" cannot be as effective as industrialized ingredients. One of my friends once said that in the war against wrinkles, "Give me chemicals." But in my experience, Tata Harper's products are much more effective than most brands I've tried, that take a more traditional approach to creating skincare products.

A display highlighted the fresh fruit, botanicals and herbs that go into Tata Harper Skincare.

I've interviewed Harper many times, and her origin story is that she began questioning the many household and beauty chemicals we use every day after her father-in-law became sick from cancer. What she learned horrified her, because many of the ingredients used in beauty products are also used in automotive and industrial products. "How can that be beautifying?" she asks, and started studying and learning, changing her family's lifestyle in the process, so that her father-in-law became a cancer survivor.

In speaking to industry chemists, she also learned that, for marketing purposes, most beauty products utilize only one or two active ingredients, whether hyularonic acid or vitamin C. Beyond that ingredient that sells the product, the rest is filler.

Season offers bouquet of rose scents and beauty

Photos courtesy Neiman Marcus
Chantecaille Rose Face Oil ($185).

If you’re thinking flowers for Mother’s Day, remember that flowers wilt, so you may want to add something with a little more permanence to that thought.

Everything’s coming up roses in the beauty department, and here are a few options available at Neiman Marcus, where a Spring Scent Event continues through May 10. During the event, those who make a purchase of $100 or more in Cosmetics or Fragrance will receive an bag filled with beauty samples.

Laura Mercier Infusion de Rose Nourishing Oil ($62) and Infusing de Rose Nourishing Cream ($68).

Fresh Rose Face Mask ($62).

Natura Bisse limited edition Diamond Experience Rose Oil ($65).
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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Feed your skin at Whole Foods

Nadine Kam photos
Juice Beauty regional education manager Rosalind Upson introduces Rose Marie Wilson to some of the brand’s juice- and plant-based skincare products.

At Whole Foods, customers are awakening to the idea that what you slather on your body is as important as the food you ingest, so borrowing a page from major fashion and beauty retailers, the business we tend to think of as a super health food market recently launched a Beauty Week Event March 19 to 22 to call attention to its Whole Body department.

The event focused on introducing personal care products made from naturally derived ingredients, as well as raising awareness of its weekly 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday DIY classes in making such basic items as lip, face and body scrubs, and food-based masks.

Said Whole Body Associate Team Leader Tiffany Jones, "Skin is the largest organ and what goes on skin, goes inside. But not many people think about that."

With a background in the mainstream beauty industry, Jones said the idea of naturally derived beauty products did not always appeal to her. "I thought of it as hippie stuff," she said.

There's been an assumption that organic, naturally derived beauty products are not as effective as possibly synthetic counterparts, and I have friends who have blurted with conviction, "I need chemicals!"

Holly and Ashley Harding of Bubble Shack Hawaii were there to talk about their soaps and Bungalow Woof line of pooch and people body washes.

Bubble Shack soaps include lilikoi, gardenia and pikake scents.

I do try a lot of different products and my results have convinced me that organic, plant-based products  can be just as potent, if not even more powerful than those containing manmade ingredients. Fruit acids do a good job of sloughing off debris and dead skin, and among the brands featured during Beauty Week was Juice Beauty, a skincare and color line based on fruit and botanical ingredients.

For typical Whole Foods customers, who care about what they ingest, it isn't much of a leap to take the next step and make similar choices about what they put on their bodies. Jones said a lot of customers are new parents who want to start their kids on track to a healthy life.

Many chemicals used in the beauty industry have been shown to contribute to cancers, hormonal disruptions, headaches, allergies, nervous system disruption, fatigue and more adverse reactions.

To protect consumers, the European Union has banned more than 1,300 chemicals from cosmetic products. To compare, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned only 10.

Based on its own research, Whole Foods has identified 400 ingredients they consider unacceptable, including parabens, polypropylene and polyethylene glycols, sodium lauryl and laureth sulfates.

Jones said that at a minimum, bath, body and skincare lines carried by Whole Foods contain no artificial preservatives, colors and fragrances, and no parabens. In addition, premium lines contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients, "Customers looking for those premium products can feel comfortable that they will find products that work and are good for them," Jones said.

Among the most popular brands are John Masters and Andalou, and about a dozen Hawaii brands are featured, including Honey Girl honey-based skincare products, Bubble Shack soaps, and Puna Noni skincare products featuring noni-based soaps, body wash, shampoos and hand and body lotions.

"Times are changing and as customers are becoming more aware, more companies are changing their products to be organic and performance based.”

During Thursday Throwdown! events 5 to 7 p.m. weekly at Whole Foods stores, you can find D.I.Y. workshops for making beauty products. If you can’t make it, you can still find recipes and a display area featuring ingredients for making products such items as lip, face and body scrubs and honey masks.

Some of those ingredients include bath salts, dried rose bud petals and lavender flowers.

Whole Foods carries nearly a dozen local product lines, including Puna Noni’s line of noni-fruit based skincare, soaps, shampoo and conditioner.

Honey Girl Organics is another local skincare line, made with organic raw honey and beeswax with naturally occurring propolis, pollen and royal jelly blended with purified water and organic extra virgin olive oil.
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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Beauty Spot: M.A.C unveils Heirloom Mix

Nadine Kam photos
M.A.C cosmetics introduced its Holiday “Heirloom Mix” collection during an event that took place at Ala Moana Center’s Centerstage Dec. 5 and 6.

M.A.C Cosmetics presented a dazzling mix of performance and makeup artistry during an event that took place Dec. 5 and 6 at Ala Moana Center.

The M.A.C Pro Ala Moana team was there with visiting Director of Makeup Artistry Gregory Arlt, who shared some of his tips for holiday radiance.

The Heirloom Mix Collection is all about sophisticated hues for face, eyes, nails and lips, with a touch of sparkle and glitter. And while Arlt said, “I love glitter,” he added, “It doesn’t have to be extreme to be effective.”


iPhone video snippet

A touch of sparkling lip gloss over dramatic red lipstick is a perfect holiday look that can be worn by anyone, and he called a sensual red lipstick “the little black dress of makeup. It looks beautiful and men love it.”

Even so, as he travels from coast to coast, he finds many women shy away from such a bold statement.

“If you’re afraid of red, start with something lighter, like a stain or sheer red lipgloss.”

Most of all, he said, don’t be afraid to try new looks and trends as they emerge. “Just remember it’s makeup; it comes off.”

Eric Faamusili photos / For M.A.C Cosmetics
Dancers wore color from the Heirloom Mix collection during their performances throughout the event.

An overview of the stage setup and throng that gathered for the spectacle.

The vision.

A sampling of some of the glittering products from the collection:

 Quite literally, Heirloom Mix glitter, in “Amethyst,” $23.

Heirloom Mix pressed powder highlighter in “Victorian Plum,” $21.

Heirloom Mix Cremesheen Glass lipgloss in “Courting Chic,” $22.


To view more from the collection, visit http://www.maccosmetics.com.

Beauty Spot: Ross Burton's favorite things

Nadine Kam photo
Makeup artist Ross Burton's favorite things have a way of becoming Oprah's favorite things as well. He'll be presenting master classes at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. May 28 at Nordstrom.

A woman I just met asked me for some cosmetic advice because she feels she needs a total makeover. Well, her timing is perfect, because there's no shortage of makeup and skin experts in town for the Nordstrom Cosmetic Trend Event taking place in-store May 28.

I was able to catch up with some of them early, including Hylton Lea of ReVive Skincare, George Smart of Osmotics, and Ross Burton, whose favorite things often become Oprah Winfrey's favorite things because she relies on her makeup artist's advice.

Prior to working with Oprah, he was the artistic director for Lancome Paris, accustomed to working for a single brand. His work has intensified as he's now inundated with product from every brand imaginable and says it's his duty to "vet, test and try" products before he can recommend them to Winfrey.

One of his favorite things that has also become hers is the Clarisonic brush, which helps to cleanse and exfoliate.

His favorite things tend to be multi-use products, like YSL's Touche Eclat pens, which can be used as an eyeshadow base, mask skin imperfections, cover dark circles under the eyes and highlight the eyes.

Other favorite products:

NARS Illuminators: Can be applied directly to the skin or added to any moisturizer to add a sheer, natural glow to skin.

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine: Lip color that combines the best attributes of a lipstick and gloss, adding sheer color to lips, with a transparency that allows one's own skin color to show through, for an individualized color effect. It's really beautiful.

Bobbi Brown bronzers: in multicolors to suit any skin tone, to highlight and contour.

Going back to the woman in need of a makeover. A lot of times, it's a matter of keeping up with trends, whether in hairstyle or use of color cosmetics. Burton said many women get stuck in a rut. "They keep using products that don't work for them anymore because they felt most beautiful when they were using it." It's pretty obvious when you see 40-year-old women with hair and styles and makeup styles that were last "in" when they were in high school.

The three tips he dispenses all the time are:

1. Organize: Clean out your drawers and shoe boxes; discard cosmetics that don't work and keep what does work.

2. Take your cues from fashion: Just as you update your wardrobe with a new belt, shoe or handbag, update your cosmetic wardrobe with a new lipstick, blush and eyeshadow in the latest colors and formulations, and learn to use them in contemporary ways. For instance, as skincare has improved, foundation has become light and sheer, often no more than an SPF-tinted moisturizer that allows you to see skin, not makeup.

3. Do your research: Keep up with the latest beauty blogs and magazines, which seasonally offer their own hot lists of products that work.

As to whether proximity to Oprah is putting Burton on a path to having his own OWN television show, he plays it coy, only saying only time will tell, but adding, "Makeover shows are always popular."

Beauty Spot: Osmotics

George Smart, national director of education for Osmotics, shows the device used for the LED treatment used in conjunction with the company's products. He's 40 and his skin is amazing. After battling rosacea most of his life, he said Osmotics' Blue Copper is what started him on the path of skin healing.

Francine Porter, creator of Osmotics Cosmeceuticals, is revolutionizing the way skincare is sold by bringing esthetics to the sales floor with the introduction of LED red-light Therapy used in conjunction with Osmotics products.

This is the wave of the future, just as performing makeovers on the sales floor might have been a novel idea 50 years ago but is commonplace today.

While the Nordstrom Cosmetic Trend Event is going on May 28, you may be able to catch George Smart, national director of education for Osmotics at the counter performing the LED Therapy, which will continue to be available on a permanent basis, by appointment.

A treatment that might cost $200 at a esthetic or medi-spa will be free with a $75 purchase from Osmotics, or $75 without purchase. Consider it a lift with purchase instead of a gift with purchase.

Porter started the company because she was frustrated by the empty claims of many cosmetic brands, and wanted scientific proof of products' effectiveness. She began working with university medical centers, basing its treatments on clinically validated tests, and licensing technologies that produce results.

Smart said he suffered from rosacea throughout his life, unable to find any product that worked until he discovered Osmotics Blue Copper 5.

Although most people might use Osmotics for anti-aging purposes, others like Smart, seek it for relief from rosacea or other skin conditions such as excema, psoriasis, or who are going through chemo or radiation.

Some of the most popular items from the line include:

"Crease-Less": A needle-less Botox alternative, with patented peptides that help prevent expression lines and creases.

"Eye Surgery": An under-eye rejuvenator to help reduce dark circles, puffy eye bags and smooth crepey eyelids.

Necollete: Targets signs of aging and sun damage on the neck, chest and décoletté.

Miu Miu in the eyes of female filmmakers

Miu Miu photos
Audrey Marnay in Miu Miu in Zoe Cassavetes' "The Powder Room."

The feminine love affair with Miu Miu is explored in "The Miu Miu Womens' Tales," a series of short movies directed by international female filmmakers. The first video, "The Powder Room" by Zoe Cassavetes, is being featured on miumiu.com, where you can also watch backstage footage and interviews with the actors and director.

"The Powder Room" is set in London’s posh Claridges hotel, where Cassavetes uses the romantic codes of the powder room to mirror the beauty and luxury of the Miu Miu brand, as a place where women can, if just for a moment, escape the universe of men.

The video stars Audrey Marnay, with models Caroline de Maigret, Line Gost and Sophie Vlaming also entering the
dream-like setting.

While showcasing Miu Miu clothing and accessories, each film will be as individual as each director’s particular cinematic point of view.

Holiday at Trump, Part II

Nadine Kam photos
Haley Pancipanci, whose mother is stylist Crystal Pancipanci, was the youngest guest at a Sephora event and spa open house at the Spa at Trump Dec. 7. Both mother and daughter signed up for fresh manicures.


Sephora and the Spa at Trump teamed up for a holiday beauty event at the Trump International Hotel Waikiki Dec. 7, with the offer of makeup touchups, nail polish changes, mini facials and quick shoulder massages.

I could probably use a masseuse working at my desk eight hours a day due to the occupational hazard of persistent typing fatique. I'm so used to my shoulders and that arm muscle near the elbow aching that I think that's all that's wrong, but principal massage therapist Christiane Coty's strong hands told me otherwise. The pains go all the way down my spine, though the shoulder pains usually distract from them. Good to know.

In the manicure room, I was admiring the chocolate brown color stylist Crystal Pancipanci was getting, but guests were able to sign up for the mini services in advance, and all were booked.

In the makeup room, Stila makeup artist Starr Gentry was sharing the brand's latest holiday products, including its fantastic Color Wheel eyeshadow palette with a pro artist lookbook showing the many looks that can be achieved with the $38 37-color palette. It includes a trio of rosy colors that can do double-duty on cheeks.

Many of us were drawn to tubes of glitter eye liner, available in multiple colors, which Sephora staffers used to apply sparkling cat eyes, perfect for the party season ahead!

Stila makeup artist Starr Gentry was helping Sephora with makeup application. She's sharing some of Stila's new holiday products with Helena Barahal, whose daughter Olivia is in the background.

Starr was showing Stila's big (at about 8-by-8 inches) new holiday Color Wheel Eyeshadow Palette. Thirty-six wet/dry colors for $38. With rosy colors that can also double as cheek color, it may be the only palette you'll need for a long time. It comes with a booklet, left, of eye looks created by Stila's makeup artists, using every color.

Faye Ross, of Stella Honolulu, showed me her four-ways earrings. You can see how the entire earring at upper left, breaks down into the three other pieces shown. It's one way to get four looks out of one approximately $58 pair of earrings. To date, the Spa at Trump is the only place that carries them, and she said they'll be available in Monterey, Calif., before they hit the mainstream in Hawaii. The piece at the far right is an add-on accessory.

Tiare Thomas, left, with Tiffany Below.

Guests Tiana and Nobuhide Torii.

Party guests in red and black, from left, Reine Ah Moo, Anya Rozova and Kyle Kagamida.