I couldn’t be more excited to share this article from Vogue.com:  Makeup Artist Katey Denno’s Guide to Going Green for Spring

I really believe in the brands I recommend in the article, and have actually had the pleasure of getting to know some of the people behind the different product lines, as I always want to know the story-behind-the-story of how they got their start, and what keeps them going.

A HUGE thank you goes to the beautiful and brilliant Catherine Piercy, Beauty Editor at Vogue.

Thanks to photographer Jason Brownrigg for snapping these shots while I was working last week, and to the lovely model McKenzie Raley for sharing the photo with me.

Earlier this week I went over to Christy’s place to do her makeup for the premier of the all-star cast film called ‘Friends With Kids’, featuring her husband, Ed Burns. The last few times I’ve done her makeup we’ve gone with bronze skin and nude lips. Not this time.

Christy’s involvement with all things supporting the advancement of the status of women around the world – particularly through her organization Every Mother Counts (EMC) – is really inspiring to me. We discussed her upcoming trip to India with EMC, the seriously amazing list of singers who’ll be lending their voices to EMC’s newest benefit CD, and when we were deciding which outfit she would be wearing to the premier (I love this navy dress by Stella McCartney that she chose), we started discussing my blog, and tweeting, and Christy (a twitter expert) asked if I’d heard of ‘Rock the Lips‘, a group of women who came together to help empower women all over the world to help each other through the offering of micro loans. I was excited to hear about their mission as well as their suggestion that on International Women’s Day (which is March 8th), all women ‘rock a red lip’ in solidarity. We decided to honor IWD – and this exciting program – a few days early.

I didn’t have my entire lipstick kit with me (you wouldn’t believe how heavy a bag of 50 or 60 lipsticks can be!), but I knew I had a number of my favorite reds. After Christy settled on the dress, I knew the lip that would look the best would have a crisp edge, be as intensely pigmented as possible, and have a slight emollience to it. A well-hydrated, lightly exfoliated lip is of utmost importance when it’s going to be painted a pretty red. I was not the least bit surprised to find Christy’s in perfect condition.  Applying the color in layers and with different textured products, really keeps the lip looking good longer (my grandmother taught me this). The order of the products I used is just as important as the products themselves.

Here we go:

• I hydrated with a very small amount of Dr Haushka’s lip balm from the pot. I pressed the balm into her lips with my fingers and then had her lightly kiss a tissue to remove any excess.
• I filled in her entire lip with Josie Maran’s Magic Marker Lip and Cheek Stain in Flamenco – an intense cherry red
• I outlined her lips with MAC lipliner in Brick and lightly filled in the rest of her lips with the liner and then had her press her lips together a few times to really mash in the color
• I finished the look with Dolce and Gabbana’s moisturizing lipstick in Incognito, which has a hint of orange. I often apply lipsticks with my finger for a softer look, but instead I used a lip brush for a more precise and dense application, full of luster.

Here’s a pic that Vogue.com ran from the after-party. (Ed is much cuter in person than in this picture. Christy, however, looks incredible.)

There’s been a lot of buzz about lip stains over the past few years. I love them for times when I’m not going to be with my client, after our initial hour together, to check that her lipstick hasn’t smudged or faded. You can use them with a lip balm, allowing just their color to show, or layer a lipstick over top for increased intensity of color.

On two separate occasions last week I used a lip stain from Josie Maran called Jitterbug. Both days Julianne was wearing a black top so I thought it would be fun to brighten up the look with a great, vibrant lip color. We loved how it looked so much that we decided to use it again the next day. I love putting hot pink on a pale, pinky-skin-tone’d redhead. Jitterbug is a really intensely bright hot pink, and the beauty blog world was all a-buzz with commentary on how great she looked wearing it.

Using a lip stain requires some prep that you’re likely not used to if you normally wear a lipstick or gloss. These steps are very important, or you’ll lose both the beauty, as well as the effectiveness of the product.

1. Gently exfoliate your lips prior to application. This should be done EVERY day (another post will follow on this because it’s so often overlooked, and really so necessary). The quick and easy way to do this is towards the end of your shower, use a washcloth, a soft toothbrush, or even the pads of your fingers to gently remove the dead, scaly skin that collects on the lips. EVERYONE should do this – men, too.  When I go to get someone ready to walk the red carpet I start our session with a lip exfoliation by handing them an organic baby wipe and having them rub it gently in small circular motions over their lips.
2. Generously apply a NON-PETROLEUM lip balm. This is where I stand on the whole lip balm thing: petroleum and petrolatum do a great job sealing in moisture if it’s there already. However, most of us have dry lips and need to add moisture, rather than just sealing the skin. (Plus, do you know where petroleum comes from? Yuck. That’ll be for another post, as well). Choose a lip balm that’s formulated with shea butter, beeswax, honey, or any other natural oil – anything natural that will absorb and hydrate is what makes sense to me.  Don’t you notice that when you use a lip balm with a petroleum base, you have to reapply just as soon as that slick feeling goes away? Your lips deserve better!
3.  Very important: Once the non-petroleum lip balm has had a few minutes to absorb, kiss the back of your hand, or a tissue (or give it to another set of dry lips via a kiss), and remove any trace of it.
4.  There are two styles (in my opinion) to lip stain application.
   a. For a more natural look: Start staining the center of the lips and then fade towards the edges.
   b. For a more deliberate, constructed look, outline the lips (you can even give yourself a little extra help along the edges if you want a more full look, particularly on the cupids bow and along the top edge) and then fill in the center.
   Be careful to stay within the lines since these pigments really do stain.
5. Finish with a lip balm that you’ll put in your pocket and reapply as needed. You can also choose to use a gloss if you want more shine.
6. Enjoy touch-up free, kissable lips, with color that lasts for hours and hours!

Side note: I like Josie Maran’s lip stain line because the colors are intense, they’re not tested on animals, they’re paraben-free, they’re fragrance-free, and the packaging is mostly recyclable.

Side note #2: If you accidentally get the lip stain coated with lip balm it will clog up the felt tip. If this happens, gently press the tip into a slightly damp, warm wash cloth. It should do the trick.

Side note #3: The only drawback is that the few formulations I’ve tried have dried out within the tube/pen container thing pretty quickly, making them one of those items you use a few times and then return to find it too dried up to use again. Maybe there’s a trick I’m missing to bring them back to life that’s not listed on any website?