Just hours before the Victoria's Secret Angels hit the catwalk at the Grand Palais in Paris, we went backstage with a mission: Find a beauty hack for everything. From their seemingly-effortless bombshell waves to the XXL lashes, we got the beauty scoop straight from the pros. Here, find the tricks even us mere mortals can take advantage from BTS at the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
Sexy tousled waves may seem like they're no fuss, but when you attempt the look at home you could end up with ringlets. Lead hairstylist Anthony Turner has a simple solution for this: Don't section off the hair. "When you're curling hair, it's kind of standard to take sections so you work from the back all the way up," he explains. "But for a more natural effect, what I'm doing is picking up a random piece of hair, curling it one way, then picking up another piece of hair, curling it another way."
Another tip to achieve the signature Victoria's Secret waves? Not leaving the curling iron on the hair for a long time. "I'm leaving it on for maybe just a second or two so that it's a bend rather than a corkscrew curl."
Lead makeup artist Tom Pecheux called this year's look "glamour with a natural face," keeping the skin as natural as possible with tiny amounts of foundation and concealer. For a subtle sculpt, he opted for a light contour, blush, and highlight. Even the nails were more pared back, simply well-groomed and painted with a soft pink color—Red Carpet Manicure's Candid Moment. But there was a notable exception to the "natural" rule: the eyes...
Before Pecheux adds anything to the eye—yes, even liner or shadow—he paints on a layer of mascara so it has time to dry while he does the rest of the makeup. "By that time, the first layer is definitely dry, so the second layer will dry faster," he says. "And with another layer, you make the lashes more intense. I can also go really close to the roots without being afraid to damage the work on the eyelids."
To create slightly-smudgy cat eyes, Pecheux opted for a gray-brown eyeliner instead of classic black. "Black is very sophisticated and powerful, almost too intense," he explains. "Because the girls are in lingerie, I wanted it be softer."
"There's no point in buying an expensive cream if you don't do a skin massage first," says Pecheux of circulation-boosting face yoga. "The massage is as important as the skin product." To prep the skin, he pushed ultra-lightweight and moisturizing BUTTERelixir oil into the face, especially around the cheekbones, to help it "melt" into the skin.
Skin expert Mimi Luzon helped Angels like Alessandra Ambrosio, Iza Goulart, Sara Sampaio, Elsa Hosk, and Irina Shayk get their glow on with unapologetically-luxe gold leaf face masks. At $300 for a pack three, they don't come cheap but make for excellent selfies, and, more importantly the tiny gold particles penetrate the skin to improve tone, texture, and elasticity.
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