THE EXPERT
MARCH 15.2013
by AIMEE BLAUT
Packing for trips can be daunting so when I caught up with Megan McIntyre, the Beauty Editor at Refinery29 while in Paris, I had to find out what she brought in her beauty bag. In her sunny Saint-Germain hotel we talked French babes and Paris packing tips. See all of her travel essentials below!
Do you have a packing strategy?
“I’m a god-awful packer — the type of girl that adds four different pairs of shoes for an eventuality, rather than condensing and being practical. Same goes for my beauty products, which is why I grab everything I think I’ll need, then I lay it all out and force myself to cut that in half. That little trick has saved me so much travel anxiety and excess weight fees, I can’t even count. I also look for multi-tasking products that I can use for multiple things, which again helps save precious space. And finally, I hoard those little sample sizes you get at the beauty counters — those things are gold when you are traveling and don’t want to waste space on a giant tub of cream or a tube of cleanser.”
What’s in your makeup bag?
“Dr. Jart+ Black Label Detox BB Beauty Balm,Perricone MD No Concealer Concealer,Yves Saint Laurent Dare To Glow Luminizer in Tempting Gold, Tom Ford Lipsticks, Fresh Soy Face Cleanser, Kevin Murphy Young.Again Immortelle Infused Treatment Oil, Mila Moursi Lifting Serum and Refining Lotion, Chanel Crayon Sourcils Sculpting Eyebrow Pencil, Ilia Beauty Tinted Lip Conditioner”
Do you prep your skin before flying?
“I have highly reactive skin, which for me means that I will board a plane with a clear, glowing, dare I say dewy visage, but when I deplane my skin will be dry and you can almost guarantee there’s an angry blemish forming beneath the surface. To help counteract this, I slather my body in a super-rich body lotion (right now I’m into Sans Baobab Regenerative Body Cream and Neal’s Yard Remedies Bee Lovely Body Lotion). I wash my face with a Skyn Iceland Glacial Cleansing Cloth while I’m at the gate to get rid of all the surface dirt and oil, then I apply a lightweight moisturizer like Radical Skin Care Anti-Aging Restorative Moisturizer — I like this one because it gives lots of moisture, but it has a gel consistency that sinks right into the skin, so it doesn’t feel super-heavy or greasy. On the plane, I make sure I have my Tatcha Dewy Skin Mist to help revive my skin and give it a quick hydrating boost. I also stow away some of the cleansing wipes, to freshen up when I arrive at my destination, and Eve Lom’sDynaspot to dab on any below-the-surface blemishes and stop them before they can turn into a full-blown pimple.”
Favorite trend you’ve noticed on the Parisian babes?
“Effortless is the word that comes to mind. They just look like they woke up with their hair tousled just so, and their makeup smudged sexily. I think they must come out of the womb like that. It’s humbling.”
-Thanks Megan!
Photos by: Aimee Blaut in Paris
Tags: Beauty Bag, Makeup Bag, Megan McIntyre, Packing, Paris, Refinery29, Travel Tips
THE EXPERT
FEBRUARY 12.2013
by AIMEE BLAUT
"I went to art school in Finland and wanted a job where I could travel. So I decided to pick up hair and makeup. Working with hair is like sculpting and doing makeup is like painting. I moved to Stockholm and applied to work with Björn Axén, probably the best salon in Sweden. Björn said that I could take five models and film my styling then come in for an interview. So here I am this little girl from Finland walking around Kungsträdgården trying to find some models, I didn’t know anybody in Stockholm (laughs). So I dragged some girls down and did my video. The next day I went to see Björn and I got the job and got into his creative team. It’s been great fun we did all the shows in New York and I was working with the royal family.
In 1989 Björn and I were in Paris for the couture shows and I met Kim Robinson who was an Australian running salons in Hong Kong. We had dinner and he invited me to come work with him. I thought about it for a while and eventually called Kim and decided to go. First it was hard but after one year it got a lot better. In Scandinavia you demand respect but in Asia you have to earn your respect so that was a very interesting journey. I worked with a team in Hong Kong for hair and set up my own makeup practice. Eventually I left Le Salon and Kim Robinson and worked a lot with the magazines. I eventually opened my own which I later sold to Elle Hong Kong when I moved back to Sweden.
(some of Maria’s favorite products)
I teach makeup to people and I teach in a different way. A lot of brands have a very scheduled process of how to wash the brushes and do things from light to dark; then I come in and am like ‘okay we are going to break all these rules! Anyone who went to a classic school is going to hate me but people who want to try something else, enjoy the ride!’ I do a lot of patchwork and work mainly with my fingers when I can. I work the best when it’s hands on and I can touch and feel things.
Since I don’t wear much makeup if I want to do something more dramatic I’ll wear red lipstick. So from time to time I throw on a red lip and put on my Tom Ford glasses.”– To see more images and learn about Maria’s daily beauty routine click here to read here.
Photos by: Aimee Blaut in Stockholm
Tags: Björn Axén, Giorgio Armani, Kim Robinson, Lancôme, Le Salon, Makeup.com, MARIA BOSTRÖM, Shu Uemura, Stockholm, Stockholm beauty, Sweden, Tom Ford
THE EXPERT
JANUARY 14.2013
by AIMEE BLAUT
"I have a beauty blog called Fifty Scents that I do with Rodeo, a fashion magazine here in Sweden. It’s mostly about perfumes and I try to write in the tone of a big sister. I’m one of the oldest writers on that site, it’s a young trendy group of bloggers. I’ve been around, I’ve seen it before, so I’m hardly very impressed. Someone recently called me the grand old lady of Rodeo (laughs). I also write for a number of other Swedish magazines and have a novel coming out on Valentine’s Day inspired by the time my therapist put me on a relationship ban.
I always wanted to be a journalist but I never applied to school for it because I assumed I never would get in, which is really weird. So I started out the hard way and at sixteen I called up a magazine here in Stockholm and asked if I could come and learn, which would never happen today and I basically worked my way up. I started writing about film and TV and then moved into beauty. I was nervous transitioning into beauty writing for a number of reasons the personal one is I was scared I wouldn’t be able to walk outside without makeup on and fear that someone would look at my skin and wonder why I was writing about this.
Not many people focus on perfumes and there’s not a lot of people who know how to write about them either. It is a personal experience and it’s esoteric but that doesn’t mean that you need to do what the PR people do or the marketing department. Perfumes are always pitched as ‘for the self secure urban woman’. It doesn’t tell you anything about the actual scent. I write about fragrance in a way that is an experience. I don’t have a particularly good nose but I have good associations.”
Caroline’s Top Three Scents:
“Guerlain, Jicky is such a nice old vintage smell. It’s elegant in a way that you don’t find a lot of perfumes are today.
Tom Ford, Violet Blonde is sensual, and I do see a blonde woman with dark red lips when I smell it. I’ve always wanted to be one of those women secretly but never was (laughs).
Balenciaga, Paris, which I am wearing today is my everyday go to. It’s so light and it has Violet in it. A lot of times I think of perfumes in terms of colors and I tend to like purple perfumes.”
For more pictures and to read Caroline’s full beauty routine click here.
Photos by: Aimee Blaut
Tags: Balenciaga, Caroline Hainer, Fifty Scents, Guerlain, Rodeo, Rodeo Magazine, Tom Ford
