A familiar scenario: You walk into a lounge in your cutest little black dress. You threw on some foundation and mascara while running out the door (15 minutes late if you’re on my schedule). Though the dress is slimming and makes your ass look fab, it contrasts against your post-summer-pale skin, which is practically begging for bronzer. Enter makeup artist stage left. Literally.

New York Girls Style + Beauty threw an invite-only event at Nikki Beach, a surprisingly hot Midtown spot, with New York magazine and Peroni as sponsors. Gracious hostesses greeted me and my +1 at the door of the VIP venue, which was the perfect size for the moderate group of fashionistas, photographers and press. Cabana beds were open for lounging and bottles of Italian brewskies went down like water.

The “New York Girl Style & Beauty” campaign was originally conceived to introduce women to up-and-coming trends. “[It] provides the opportunity to meet a celebrity makeup artist and learn celebrity beauty secrets. It is a forum for girls to experience trends outside the box,” says founder Caroline Rodehau. This evening in particular presented mini-makeovers from top makeup artist Rob Harmon from CBS’s Fashion Rocks Show. Eye shadow, alcohol and A-listers? Sign me up.

I waited for about an hour before my name was called for a consultation. With a smile on my face, I excitedly skipped to the makeup artist’s chair and plopped down as Sephora makeup artist Kelly Fries asked my preference. I delivered my usual joke–tall, dark and handsome–and asked for daytime sophisticated. No need to walk out of this place with smoky eyes and fire-engine red lipstick… it was a school night for crying out loud! Kelly took a few moments to assess my coloring so she could give me the most authentic daytime look. Though I was near the end of the line, I was surprised at how much effort I saw all of the artists putting into creating their looks. As the hours passed, the bar got better looking, and for the first time it wasn’t beer goggles. It was Kelly and company doing what they did best.

To get my daytime sophisticate look (the best I’ve ever looked — and that includes 10th grade homecoming when I weighed 120lbs), try the following: M.A.C. Hush cream color base all over the eyes, Lorac Serenity shadow on the lids, Vincent Longo Brown/Black eye pencil on the inside rim of the eyes and Fresh Supernova black mascara on the lashes.

For those of us who don’t have access to this kind of pampering, Kelly recommends experimenting with trends and embracing a beauty routine that works for your skin, coloring and features. Case in point for New Yorkers: Not everyone can pull off lip liner.

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 29th, 2006 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Events, Cocktails, New York City, Nightclubs, Education, Makeup, Beauty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.