CND
ALU at NYFW – Backstage at Barbie
 As a little girl you belonged to one of two camps. The Barbie lovers and everyone else. I was mos def on the Barbie side of the line. I was even in the fan club and I have the members only tie-front crop top and pink short shorts to prove it. Yes, they sent hoochie-wear to Barbie fans in the 80s.
My collection of Barbie dolls, accessories, etc is beyond ridiculous and it’s all still safely packed away at Mom and Dad’s house. I even had this odd knitting contraption to make my own Barbie tube dresses. My girls were stylin’. I would spend hours pulling out every single Barbie item I owned, making the living room uninhabitable for anyone over the age of ten. Go ahead say it, I was obsessed. I still am actually. Put the name Barbie on something, make it a limited edition and I’ll get in line. When I heard about Stila’s LE Paint Cans Taking it one step further, Mattel invited 50 designers to create looks for a Barbie fashion show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, bringing Barbie to life. Given three eras of Barbie (past, present, future) to work with, the designers conceptualized their vision of Barbie for the catwalk. 50 models and 50 tutu clad little girls strutted down the pink runway yesterday and I was backstage to bring you the nail, beauty and hair scoop. |
Past – Retro red tips with Wildfire Beauty Inspiration – Retro, slightly S&M red lip, contoured skin with classic 50s cat eye Beauty Inspiration – A Sharon Tate vibe with a lighter beige-y pink glossy lip. Very feminine, very pretty. Really clean, shiny glossy skin. A bright pop of cheek color. False doe-eyed lashes. Get The Look – Illuminating Liquid Foundation, Perfecting Concealer, Stay All Day Waterproof Liner, Major Major Lash Concealer, Giggle Lip Vinyl (coming soon), All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer #1 Beauty Inspiration – Butterfly mask as though she’s going to the opera or a fabulous ball in Venice. Colbalt, electric blue, purples, pinks. Feathers, glitters, sequins. Beige glossy lip with a contoured cheek. Wild and crazy for future while retaining that Barbie beauty. Get The Look – While the runway look doesn’t really work in real life, Charlotte feels you can translate it to everyday with a smokey, cobalt blue eye and black eyeliner. Add a beige glossy lip and “it would be heaven.†Try Cobalt Blue Smudge Pot, Storm and Indigo Eye Shadow Pans, Topaz Kajal Liner and Praline Lip glaze Hair – A bun with braids hanging. It’s not about trends, it’s about playing and creating doll hair.
Of all the shows I’m covering this week, Barbie was obviously the one I was most excited to see. With CND‘s creative team working on the nails, I knew they’d come up with something fabulous. Under the past, present, future guise, they created custom tips for each look.
Present – Hot Pop Pink much like the Pantone Barbie Pink Christian Louboutins worn by the models.
Future – Clear lucite tips with a layering combo of Negligee and Serenity for the base which CND Co-Founder Jan Arnold describes as, “so uber uber future.”
Makeup and Hair – Key makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury, Stila Global Director of Education and celebrity makeup artist Sarah Lucero and Orlando Pita from T3 walked us through the inspiration and products for the beauty and hair.
Get The Look – Stila Natural Finish Oil-Free Foundation, Perfecting Concealer, Stila Sun Bronzer Shade 2, Fade Cheek Color, “Stay All Day” Waterproof Liner (coming soon), Major Major Lash Mascara, Lip Vinyl (coming soon) or Strawberry Lip Glaze.
Hair – Classic high ponytail with heavy bangs.
Present
Hair – Valley Of The Dolls. Tease for height and use Orlando Pita Plump Styling Set & Control Hair Spray to create and set the loose curls.
Future
images: All Lacquered Up, The Beauty of Life, Wire Image and Elle.com #NYFW
The ALU Archives – CND Winterfire
 The ALU Archives is a new series focusing on older, beloved shades from the All Lacquered Up stash.
Inspired by all the celebrity red nails I’ve been seeing this past week, I picked through boxes of red polish only to discover a forgotten CND treasure, Winterfire. It came into my life via a MUA swap and sadly it’s been discontinued. I’m hoping that by proclaiming my love for it publicly, CND might consider bringing it back as they revamp their line. Note: CND scaled back their core collection to 40 shades last year and will begin the process of launching new shades later this year. |
Winterfire is a glorious cherry shade, peppered with red micro-glitter that is suspended under the surface. Similar to a jelly finish polish. And the formula, oh my word, the formula. It’s been way too long since I’ve worn a CND polish and it’s like I completely forgot how absolutely fantastic the application is. Smooth as butter. BUTTAH I say!
Now I know people like to complain about the drying time with CND polishes but if you’re willing to wait, it’s SO worth it. I’ve actually had good luck using CND Air Dry. It works like shrink wrap to dry and seal the nail.
Since Winterfire is a discontinued shade, your best bet for scoring a bottle is online. I found two websites carrying it, BuyNail.com ($3) and GoddessOnline.net ($4.92), though I can’t vouch for the reputation of either site.
The Nail Files – Behind the Scenes at NYFW with CND – Part 3
In the third and final installment of our Nail Files journey with CND, we’ll be looking at custom blending. Or to you MUA nail board girls, the art of the Frankenpolish. If you missed the previous two segments, be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2.
Custom blending is what intrigued me the most during my visit with CND Education Ambassadors Kristina Baume and Shelena Robinson at their production suite. Figuring out the perfect combination of colors to precisely match a swatch of fabric or Pantone shade is such an art form. Having a keen eye for color and a vivid imagination is key. Plus it just sounds like a lot of fun.
The process reminds me of mixing finger paints as a kid, learning about the color wheel and how yellow and blue make green. Of course for Kristina and Shelena, creating an ideal hue is serious work and they have time constraints to adhere to. So the pressure is intense even with all the tools they have on hand; a Pantone guide, various lighting options (fluorescent, incandescent and daylight) and a flow chart containing all the CND shades (including international exclusives).
What amazed me most is all the colors that go into the blends. Colors you wouldn’t even imagine. Like neon or orange in a soft gray. Glow-in-the-dark purple in a deep blue. Shimmer in a creme.
According to Kristina, a lot of times when a shimmer or micro-glitter polish is used in a blend, it doesn’t result in a sparkly shade. A shimmer based polish adds reflectiveness, depth and shine to the final hue. That even if a shade appears shimmery in the bottle, it can dry with a creme finish. This is the reason they present color options to designers on the nail and not in the bottle. The sparkle can be deceptive.
 Get The Look – Nordic Grey Creme from Costello Tagliapietra F/W ’08
Mix 1/2 bottle Retro White with 22 drops Black Platinum, 10 drops Voodoo and 8 drops Hot Pop Blue. Note: I only used 4 drops of Hot Pop Blue and substituted Color Club Black for Voodoo. CND does not recommend mixing brands so blend at your own risk. |
 Get The Look – Heather Grey at Catherine Malandrino F/W ’08Mix 1/2 bottle of Nordic Grey Creme (above) with 1/2 bottle of G’listen Adding G’listen to the blend creates a warmer, slightly shimmery gray. |
 Get The Look – Custom Blue at Karen Walker F/W ’08
Mix 1/2 bottle Blue Blood with 1/2 bottle Studio 54 Note: Blue Blood is discontinued but can still be found on eBay until CND decides to bring it back. PLEASE Bring It Back!! |
 While I don’t have an exact recipe for the shimmery violet gray shown at the Twinkle F/W ’08 show, it certainly has the most diverse color combination I’ve seen yet.
A mix of Voodoo, Hot Pop Yellow, Kumquat Dahlia, G’listen, Rock Royalty, Blue Nirvana |
| Finally, one of CND’s Spring collection shades is a custom blend used during NYFW for Spring/Summer 09
Get The Look – Fill a CND bottle with Retro White up to the bottom of the C. Add Voodoo to the top of the C plus 6 drops NFS, 6 drops Hotski to Tchotchke and 6 drops Hot Pop Blue. Note: NFS is another discontinued color but you can find it on Goddess Within and eBay. The result – a gorgeous cool toned, medium grey creme. |
Bringing you this series about CND at NYFW has been so much fun. I hope you have enjoyed it. I want to thank CND, Kristina Baume and Shelena Robinson for granting me such amazing access and taking the time to share their passion with all of us. In closing, I’ll leave you with a quote from Kristina that really sums up why I am so fanatical about nails. “Nails are not just nails, they’re accessories.”
NY Fashion Week Nail Watch – Thakoon
To compliment Thakoon’s sexy, provocative collection for Spring 2009, CND created what I think is the coolest nail look of the season. A reverse moon manicure. Totally funky, unique and innovative. Would you expect anything less from CND? They certainly know how to put a twist on traditional nail styles.
The CND team took the 20s-style moon manicure and flipped it on its ear with a black moon on a nude base. For those that are unfamiliar, the moon manicure was originally created in the 1920s by a manicurist at MGM studios as a twist on the French manicure. A traditional moon manicure leaves your lunula (that white half moon at the base of your nail) bare or white and the rest of the nail dark and vampy.
Get the look: Reverse Moon Manicure
For advice on how to recreate this style, I went straight to the expert, CND Education Ambassador Roxanne Valinoti. Here’s her 5-step technique:
- Coat the nail with “Stickey” base coat.
- Apply 2 coats of “Serenity” enamel.
- Use a small detail brush, or the corner or the enamel brush with “Voodoo” to outline the half moon at the cuticle of the nail.
- Use the detail brush dipped in enamel, or the enamel brush lightly dotting in enamel to fill in half moon for full coverage. Be careful not to apply to much enamel.
- Let dry for 3-5 minutes before applying “Airdry” topcoat.
The Nail Files – Behind the Scenes at NYFW with CND – Part 2
Previously on the Nail Files, we looked at CND’s involvement in New York Fashion Week. The planning, prep and history. In this installment we’ll go in depth, talking about custom tips including the labor intensive design/production process and how to take these looks from the runway to the real world.
With no formal training in art, let alone nail art, it is the pure genius and creativity of CND Education Ambassadors Kristina Baume and Shelena Robinson that bring these amazing creations to life. Each season, the CND team meets with the designers to discuss their concept, inspiration and desired nail look. When custom tips are requested, it is up to Kristina and Shelena to take take those ideas back to the production suite and create multiple nail looks to present.
With a 1920s theme to inspire them, some of the concepts presented to Kimora Lee Simmons for her Baby Phat and KLS collections included black on black, textural designs (see right) and meticulously detailed stained glass tips (below right).
Get the look: Shiny Black on Matte Black. Apply two coats of CND Voodoo and one coat of matte top coat, CND Ridge Out or use gray side of nail buffer on dry CND Speedy. Use a thin nail art brush to apply CND Shiney in desired pattern.
The intricate designs on the stained glass nails took up to six hours to create. For just ONE nail. Though once chosen, the process is fine tuned to make production easier. After all, they have to create eighteen tips for each model to make sure the on site artists can find the right fit. No wonder they pull all-nighters.
The look Kimora chose – black, Swarovski encrusted, almond shaped tips that took ten hours to create. Though the image really doesn’t do them justice. In person, the reflectiveness and shine are captivating.
At The Blondes, the theme was the movie Legend. You know, the magical fantasy film from the 80s starring Tom Cruise (when he was still drool-worthy) and Mia Sara (Ferris Bueller’s girlfriend).
Examples of some of the extremely inventive designs CND presented include a unicorn horn, animal skins, fur, jewels, even a mini Lord of Darkness (pictured right).
Get the look: Distressed Leather. Apply two coats of gold lacquer as a base color. Dilute an Amber polish with a bit of acetone and use a sea sponge to apply it on top.
Get the Look: Leather-like Texture. Apply two coats of Voodoo. While tacky, press balled cellophane wrap gently onto the surface. Apply a thin layer of top coat after the polish has completely dried.
In the end, the designers chose glittery, blingtastic, jeweled tips to accompany their designs (see right). Pairing a different nail tip with each model.
Get the look – Jeweled & Glittery. Jeweled – apply small nail art stones along the smile line (between the pink & white part of the nail) or apply 1-2 stones at the tip. Glittery – ice tips in glitter polish or apply a thin layer as a wash. Try CND VIP Status, Pulse, Last Call or Disco Ball.
In Part 3 of this journey, I’ll show you some of the gorgeous custom blend polishes made just for the runway. You won’t believe the colors they use to get just the right look. You’ll find out how they’re made and how to re-create them at home.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
