Well… Ok, so “date” may be a bit of an overstatement.
But we did have a coffee with Ricky Wilson, Dior’s International Celebrity Makeup Artist in an intimate setting at the Holt’s Cafe in Toronto. Sara of 29Secrets and I were the lucky bloggers at this event, also attended by DR’s lovely PR Executive Darline.
Ricky was in town to attend the Magic of Dior Event at Toronto Holt Renfrew counters, and squeezed in a little bit of time to meet with us and share some of his tricks and ideas… and a few celebrity stories!
An easy-to-talk-to man with a creative gift for makeup and all things beauty, Ricky happily held court over his small audience, and shared with us his predictions for spring and summer 2014.
A Dior devotee, this was his 10th year with the brand! He was happy to share that in the past five years, he has felt that Dior’s head office in France has started to pay closer attention to the North American market, garnering inspiration from us and launching exclusives just for our markets. And who doesn’t love market-exclusive products?
Some secrets from the man
His go-to products from Dior?
He raved about Dior’s new Glow Maximizer and Pore Minimizer, which we had not seen at the time but have since launched as part of Dior’s Spring 2014 Trianon collection. He recently used them on celebrity Aisha Tyler, and raved about the lack of touch-ups needed during breaks of her talk show, The Talk. He loves to use Glow Maximizer all over to provide that healthy glow and boost radiance, while Pore Minimizer diffuses your skin, giving it a “velvety” yet matte finish, without looking dry. While many of us, me included, rush to blot and apply powder to make our faces matte, he finds these new products allow us to use less product and have a glow instead. (Rushing off to wipe that powder off my nose…)
He is also obsessed with Dior’s famed Lipglow, which he uses often on his clients.
Learn to love your imperfections:
While working on Rag and Bone one year, he covered up a model’s dark circles… only to be asked, “where are her dark circles??” Ricky was stunned to discover that this model was hired for her look, including those pesky dark circles… and nervously proceeded to remove her concealer. This experience taught him how beautiful imperfections can be, and today he finds that dark circles lend an air of sophistication.
Biggest trends for this year?
No surprise here, but lots of soft shades, pastels, in floral tones… something that we haven’t necessarily seen in a few years. Deconstructed eyes with washes of pastel colour rather than hard edges, with a pop on the lip in a softly bright pink. He feels nails are following in a matching sense, with soft pastels or pops of bright pink. Where you may have used bronzer, go lightly with a sheer pastel blush. Finally, he finds that we are headed back to more shine: lipgloss is back in a big way! (If you were paying attention, all these gorgeous colours and trends were found in Dior’s Trianon collection for spring!)
An artist tip:
One of my pet peeves has always been applying mascara on others. Ricky offered to share his artist secret with me: gently place your thumb on the eyelid of the eye that you’re applying mascara to, protecting the eyelid while simultaneously positioning the thumb just behind the upper lashes. As the mascara wand is placed at the base of upper lashes and lightly wiggled through and up, your thumb will protect the eyelid from excess mascara, yet allow you to thoroughly coat your client’s lashes. He showed me this tip, then even allowed me an opportunity to practice on him!
It was an honour to hear artist secrets, trends, beauty tips and tricks, as well as some celebrity stories from such a famed artist! Ricky was easy to chat with, completely down-to-earth, and best of all, a total pro! As a parting gift, we received a beauty touch up, and to be honest, I wish I could have stayed in Ricky’s chair for the entire afternoon! Would it really have been too much to ask for an entire glam makeover? 😉
Keep your eyes peeled for any future Dior Celebrity Makeup Artist events because you will not be disappointed!
~xo
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