Facing The Music

Posted July 30, 200717 yr

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'Facing The Music'

Story Suzanne Wangmann, July 29 2007.

Sunday Magazine in the Sunday Telegraph Sydney

Page: 29-30

'They belt out their songs onstage, walk the red carpet, do the photoshoots, press events, TV interviews, video clips and DVD's, and sometimes they even make an informal appearance at a restaurant - when all they want is a quiet dinner with their bloke. No matter where they go, the pop and rock starlets of this world have a fan or a flashbulb in their face.

Creators of their own style, they influence beauty and fashion trends around the world and have done so for decades, whether it was Dusty Springfield's beehive, Diana Ross' Supremes bob, Debbie Harry's smoky eyes and mischievous lips, Olivia-Newton John's 'Lets Get Physical' body wave, Cyndi Lauper's eyeshadow, Chrissie Hynde's eyeliner or Madonna's myriad style changes.

If you've been lucky enough to catch Christina Aguilera on her current Australian tour, you'd have seen the 26 year old singer burst onto stage with a very different look from her last tour. Gone were the dead-straight hair, the designer tatty-jeans and the dirty dancing, replaced by a glamourous, ultra platinum 'old Hollywood' look. Feminine glamour is in, be it the retro styling of Aguilera or Gwen Stefani; the long voluminous hair and Parisian-style gowns of Beyonce, or pretty power from Pink. More 'rock princesses' than 'rock chicks,' they're healthy looking, gorgeous and made up to perfection.

On the European leg of Pink's ironically titled 'I'm Not Dead' tour, she sang her way through 20 countries in 90 days, not to mention 35 dates in Australia (the most any female performer has done here). Yet, despite gruelling tour schedules, when these performers are out in public, you never see a dark circle or pale, washed out complexion. When Pink made an appearance at the MTV Australian Video Awards in Sydney after doing five concerts in a row, she dazzled. So what is her secret?

Her make-up artist, Yvette Beebe, who's also spent time on tour with Cher, Janet Jackson and Belinda Carlisle, says Pink (whose real name is Alicia Moore) looks after herself. "Alicia knows how to take care of herself. She eats healthily (she's a vegetarian), she works out - even before the show - and she gets a lot of rest. There's a lot of travelling, but there are a lot of people around her supporting her, too."

When push comes to shove, though, we're all human, and Beebe has her special tricks that keep Pink looking all aglow. " I always do foundation first, then M.A.C. has a concealer palette in Medium that has three different shades, and I usually use the pinky one,' she explains.

"A lot of people conceal the whole area under the eyes, but that just enhances the circles even more. You just want to put it on the darker part. Then I use a little gold 'pop' - gold cream eyeshadow - right on the inside corners of the eyes, near the tear duct. If you look at magazine pictures, you'll see that - on Beyonce, you really notice it - but a little dab of lightness will take away the darkness and set the eyes apart. It's a really nice little trick that everyone can do."

Another trick of the trade that makes many of these women look great is the use of self tanners, body bronzers and luminisers. Always lightly tanned and glowing, they look as if they're on permanent holidays. Aguilera's make up artist Stephen Sollitto, says there's a very good reason for it. "The lights are so bright that anyone not putting on a darker shade of glimmer on the body looks washed out. Regular skin on camera, or under strong lights, just doesn't look like regular skin. With a little bit of bronze shimmer, though it looks like healthy skin," he says.

Maybe you wouldn't go grocery shopping in it, but if you're going to a big event, I think every woman should accourt ofr her legs, arms and chest. Don't just do your face and leave your legs chalky. Even if you're dark enough not to put bronzer on, do moisturise them."

Solitto adds that Aguilera never actually goes in the sun. " She has beautiful, beautiful skin and it will stay that way. Bronzing is her version of getting a tan without all the bad effects, such as skin cancer."

The all-time favourite self-tanning product in the Aguilera camp is Au Courant, the original Baywatch bronzing product.

"It's one of the best products out there," says Sollitto. "It's green-based, so it comes out looking like your skin - not orange as many tanners do. It also comes out of the bottle dark, so you can see where you are putting it. Then it becomes darker on the skin over time."

For stage shows and appearances, he blends the different shades of Aguilera's face and body with M.A.C. Face and Body Foundation in C5, so that they're uniform. Pink also gets the bronzer treatment but of the wash-off variety and with a load of luminiser, or 'shimmer dust.' Beebe, who has her own successful range in the US, uses one of her own, called Soft Glow. "[Make up artist] Gina Brooke used that for Madonna on her Re-Invention tour in 2004," she says. "It's a great one for collarbones and shoulders, and you can use it on the temples and cheekbones as well."

Aside from such necessities for stage and screen, for downright style - the lipstick, the eye make-up, the hairstyle - it's often a case of the star herself deciding how it's going to be. Sollitto first started working with Aguilera in 2000. "At first, I always tried to guide her back to what was trendy. Then I just went with it and let her be who she was, and it was a great learning experience for me," he says.

"She's very hands-on with her whole album, the concept, she writes all her songs, she knows what she wants. Definitely we'll collaborate, and she'll ask me if this colour is right, but she's very adventurous with make -up. You can suggest something totally off the wall and she'll be like, 'Yep I love that.' But she knows what she wants."

It was the title of Aguilera's latest album, Back to Basics, that got Sollitto and her thinking of Hollywood. The pair are great mates and even shared a house in LA two years ago. The Hollywood they were thinking of was the Monroe period. They've updated the look a little, says Solitto, with a more vibrant red on Aguilera's lips, a smoky effect under the eyes and, rather than the cat eyelashes, a more rounded shape that gives her an almost baby doll look.

According to Beebe, Pink's priority is to look like herself. "She doesn't like it too crazy or too smoky for the shows, so it doesn't melt all over the place - and so it still looks like her. She's so playful with the audience; so engaging with her fans that she's one of them. She still wants to portray that it's her and not some 'Miss Diva.'"

For all that, the look has definitely softened, with prettier make-up and softer hair. " I love her soft," admits Beebe. "She's already so strong - with her energy and who she is - and you don't need to accentuate that. It's already there. So i just like to bring out her own beauty, her own feminine side."

Onstage, Pink wears a full face of make-up; on her most recent tour, it was courtesy of M.A.C. Cosmetics, which also provided cosmetics for her back-up singers and dancers, and did the same for Christina Aguilera. At all other times, Pink's make-up, including the foundation is kept to a minimum.

"I always say, 'Enhance who you are, don't cover it up,'" says Beebe. " The thing about foundation is to never, never, never, cover your whole face with unless you're doing a show or a photoshoot. Just cover up where you're a little red, where you're just a bit dark under the eyes, just where you need it. Don't cover your skin - show it off."

"With Pink, people ask me, 'So you're the one responsible?' I say, "Responsible for what?' 'For making Pink so beautiful.' But I think I just enhance a woman's own beauty - for whoever I am working with. With wrinkles or pores, I just do a light powder. You want people to say, 'Oh you're beautiful.' Not 'Nice foundation, nice eye liner.'"

Beebe's take on the whole make up game is not to follow trends for the sake of it, whether it's the thickness of your eyebrows or the colour on your cheeks. Rather keep it simple, keep it like you.

One particular winning trick of Beebe's is how you apply eyeliner. Rather than a heavy line across the top lashes, she uses a pencil to fill in the actual lash line, filling in the little gaps between each lash.

"Don't go on top of your eyelashes - it makes the eye look heavier," she says. " If you fill in between your lashes, you don't even need mascara. Do the gold pop in the corner of your eyes, put on your lip gloss and you're out the door."

Rock-star make up? That's the easy version