NARS Celebrates The Launch Of 'Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself'

Though I had a cold that made me sound like Demi Moore circa St. Elmo's Fire last night, I hit up a pretty fabulous gala celebrating the launch of Francois Nars' new book, Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself. You know how I define fabulous? When I walk in and see Simon Doonan, on whom I have an active nonsexual crush. That's how. Read on for details of the evening.



The festivities were held at Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in Chelsea, NYC. The epic François Nars was joined by subjects from the book, as well as Martha Stewart, Alexa Chung, Lake Bell, Tinsley Mortimer, Calvin Klein, Anna Sui, Grace Coddington, Carol Alt, Jane Holzer, Shenae Grimes, Erin Fetherston, Amanda Lepore, Richie Rich and Elise Øverland, among others.

The venue was transformed into a beautiful, open gallery-esque setting in order to showcase selected before-and-after portraits from the book, all photographed by François Nars. Animated portrait walls displayed selected subjects’ before-and-after shots, looping a virtual acetate overlay to detail the transformation. Music was courtesy of French DJs Les Jumeaux, a favorite of François’ and the fashion industry, who create the music for Ritz Bar and Montaigne Market in Paris. The NARS boutique in the West Village plays an exclusive music mix created by Les Jumeaux twins Anthony and Adrien.

Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself turns the lens on real women and men of differing ages and ethnicities, bringing together makeup-application instruction and vivid portraits of before and after images with overlaid acetate diagrams. Sort of in the same vein Kevyn Aucoin's epic "Making Faces," (which I refer to as my gateway beauty book), but it avails itself of technological advances to truly show the makeovers. To complement the launch of the book, NARS recently unveiled makeupyourmind.com, a community website where you can recreate looks from the book and upload your images for the chance to win a trip backstage with the brand at New York Fashion Week.

Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself is available on amazon.com.

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