Backstage with butter LONDON at New York Fashion Week Fall 2014

butter LONDON x Creatures of the Wind

Here's a recap of the butter LONDON nailspiration and makeup looks backstage at New York Fashion Week. Katie Jane Hughes, butter LONDON's Global Colour Ambassador, created the nail looks for Creatures of the Wind, Tadashi Shoji, Dannijo, Nicole Miller, Lela Rose, Libertine and ICB x Prabal Gurung and makeup looks for Dannijo and Libertine. 

The Scoop: Fabrics and patterns within the collection had a space-like/psychedelic feel, which was presented down the runway as an evolution of colours – from dark to light.

The Look: Katie used a technique called water marbling to create the nail design, with the agate stones that inspired the Creatures of the Wind A/W ’14 collection as her guide. Each nail (675 in total) was made by hand last night by Katie and her team—with no two nails alike. To achieve the look, Katie poured drops of several Nail Lacquer shades one after another into a bowl of water, creating rings of colour, much like agate. Once the colour had been placed, Katie took an orange wood stick to swirl the colours together, creating a range of patterns. She then dipped the press on nail into the water, letting it sit under the water’s edge just below the pattern she wanted to lift onto the nail. Once removed, the pattern below the surface was transferred to the nail. To add playful variation to the nail look, two different base colours were used: butter LONDON Nail Lacquer in Trallop was used on half of the models nails and Nail Lacquer in Teddy Girl was used on the rest.

Nail Lacquer Colours Used: Yummy Mummy, Diamond Geezer, Posh Bird, Pearly Queen, Billy No Mates

butter LONDON x Tadashi Shoji

The Scoop: The collection was inspired by Moorish architecture and textiles, with a range of deep hues and rich shades.

The Look: Katie applied butter LONDON Nail Foundation to the nails followed by butter LONDON Nail Lacquer in Marbs to create the gold half-moon and tip. She completed the look with butter LODON P.D. Quick Topcoat.

butter LONDON x Dannijo

The Scoop: The collection hinges on the relationship between ballet and boxing and its ability to connect us to the core essence of humanity. BOXERina is about the power of emotion, its role in creating and humanizing our heroes. The collection was presented as a ballet, with dancers from the American Ballet Theatre serving as the models, choreographed by Nicola Curry.

The Makeup Look:
· Skin: concealer around the nose and on blemishes, as needed; the new Hydrating Balm mixed with a highlighter on all high points of the face (pressed onto the middle of the forehead, down the nose, on the top of the lip, across cheek bones and brow bones); butter LONDON Cream Bronzer in Bit Faker (out Summer ’14) on the cheeks

· Eyes: butter LONDON WINK Mascara in Union Jack Black on the lashes, WINK Eye Pencil in Twigged on the bottom lash line and palette of nude powder shadows

· Brows: butter LONDON WINK Mascara in Brown Sugar, groomed upwards

· Lips: the new LIPPY Lip Balms in either Toasted Marshmallow or Nutter (depending on skin tone) mixed with a hint of concealer

· Body: to give the ballerinas a polished and sporty shine, Katie mixed the new butter LONDON Signature Lotion with body oil and applied sparingly on legs, arms, shoulders and décolletage

The Nail Look: Katie applied the new butter LONDON Nail Lacquer in Goss as the base, and then applied Nail Lacquer in Posh Bird at the tips using a makeup sponge.

butter LONDON x Nicole Miller

The Scoop: The collection was inspired by strong women warriors. Predominant colours in the collection included dark plum, light olive, wine, aqua and black paired with muted jewel tones.

The Look: Katie applied butter LONDON Nail Foundation to the nails followed by butter LONDON Nail Lacquer in Union Jack Black. She then matted the look by applying butter LONDON Matte Finish Topcoat. Using a thin striping brush, Katie applied butter LONDON Nail Lacquer in Knees Up – starting at the cuticle and creating a feather or flame like design along the nail. The shiny finish of Knees Up served as the perfect contrast to the matte black lacquer that popped at the tips.

butter LONDON x Lela Rose

The Scoop: The collection was inspired by Ferran Adrià, a Spanish Catalan chef who creates food masterpieces. His dishes are each sketched before created and use a variety of different textures. This inspiration has translated into a collection of whites, gold, silver and black with textures such as pearls, beading and feathers.

The Look: Katie began by applying butter LONDON’s Patent Gel Top & Tails for a chip-free and long lasting wear. She then applied butter LONDON Nail Foundation to the nails followed by a diagonal stripe of butter LONDON Nail Lacquer in Alabaster Gaze (available April 2014). Katie filled in the top-half of the nail with two coats of Alabaster Gaze. She finished the look with butter LONDON Patent Gel Top & Tails to give the nail a cohesive shine and a dab of butter LONDON Handbag Holiday Cuticle Oil.

butter LONDON x Libertine

The Scoop: Libertine’s A/W ‘14 collection was colorful, heavily embellished and showcased a variety of textures—along with the introduction of fur. The Libertine girl is glam, goth and a bit of a party girl who has been digging around in diamonds.

The Makeup Look:

· Skin: prep skin with moisturizer and apply concealer (Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage) around the nose and on blemishes

· Cheeks: contour hollows of the cheek using butter LONDON Cream Bronzer in Bit Faker (available Summer ’14) with a tapered contour brush from Real Techniques

· Eyes: Curl lashes and then apply butter LONDON WINK Mascara in Union Jack Black; using freshly sharpened Union Jack Black Eye Pencil draw out the line of the wing and fill in, then cover the lid up to the crease and blend with a soft brush whilst keeping the wing defined—clean up the wing edges with pointed q-tips and a bit of moisturizer; press Jet Black Shadow from butter LONDON (out Fall/Winter ’14) over the pencil and blend upward toward the brow bone; saturate bottom lash line with butter LONDON Eye Pencil in Alabaster Gaze (out April ’14) then layer the Alabaster Gaze Cream Shadow to create a starlight effect

· Brows: groom upwards using the new butter LONDON Hydrating Balm (rub a mascara wand on the tip of the balm and brush upward)

· Lips: apply the new LIPPY Lip Balm in Teddy Boy to and press in with fingertip to make it matte

The Nail Look: Katie applied butter LONDON Nail Lacquer in The Black Knight to the tips of the press on nails. She then applied butter LONDON Nail Lacquer in Diamond Geezer at the base of the nail to meet up with the black at the tips. Katie used Nail Lacquer in Stardust and the new Nail Lacquer in Anorak, a black, white and silver chunky glitter overcoat (available in March 2014) over the entire nail. While the nails were still wet, Katie completed the look by applying holographic, diamond-shaped glitter to the tip of the nails.

butter LONDON x ICB x Prabal Gurung

The Scoop: The collection was designed for hip, downtown girls. The hair, makeup and nails were inspired by their effortless yet edgy beauty look.

The Look: Katie applied butter LONDON Nail Foundation as a base followed by butter LONDON Nail Lacquer in Union Jack Black. She then used a thin striping brush to create the tweed effect, layering various Nail Lacquer shades onto the nail – both vertically and horizontally. Katie finished the look with butter LONDON’s P.D. Quick Topcoat. Shades used: butter LONDON Nail Lacquer in Billy No Mates, Stag Do, Blagger, British Racing Green and Pearly Queen.

- Kim Weling