Gretchen Mol’s Hair and Makeup for DC’s Premiere of “An American Affair”

Kathy Aragon — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:21:39 +0000

I had the pleasure of working with Gretchen Mol this week for the Washington D.C. Premiere of her new movie “An American Affair” out tomorrow, the 27th of February.

Gretchen is a classic beauty that has a look reminiscent of the iconic roles she tends to play. She was Bettie Page in HBO’s “The Notorious Bettie Page” and you may recognize her past role as Roxie Hart in Broadway’s “Chicago”. In her new movie she plays a character (a mistress possibly?) that has a relation to JFK in the time leading up to his assassination.

Regardless of the complex characters Gretchen tends to play, Gretchen herself is an amazingly down to earth, talented and beautiful actress as well as proud mother.

For her movie premiere I decided to add some waves into Gretchen’s naturally fine and curly hair. I included her input in the whole process and together we decided on a hair and makeup look that would set the right tone for the evening and would work with her classic Jason Wu dress, whom you may know as the designer of Michelle Obama’s Inaugural Ball gown.

I set her hair in medium sized pin curls while doing her makeup and when we released and lightly finger combed through the curls a form started to take place. I kept more of the formed curls in the front, left the hair pretty loose and carefree on the sides and pinned any extra length up in the back, allowing some of the hair to fall naturally out of the pins.

Hair and Makeup by Kathy Aragon for Gretchen Mol / Image courtesy of WireImage

For Gretchen’s makeup we did a soft neutral shadow with a black wing tipped liner. Her face was given a glow with a slight mix of Face Atelier’s Ultra Foundation mixed with a dab of Face Atelier’s Ultra Sheer foundation. I added a little smudged color under the eye, highlighted the cheekbones and opted for a soft pink over the cheek as she didn’t want to look too dramatic for this event. The lips were just a light sheer pink gloss over her natural rosy pigmented lips (lucky Gretchen!).

Hair and Makeup by Kathy Aragon for Gretchen Mol / Image courtesy of WireImage

I had a great time working with Gretchen and I wish her the best of luck with everything she does! I look forward to seeing more of her work and maybe, one day, we will get to see her in more iconic rolls. Let’s talk Marilyn Monroe!

Here is a video of the Movie Premiere After Party held by Washington Life Magazine.

WLTV World Premiere Screening “An American Affair” from Washington Life Magazine on Vimeo.

Tags: An American Affair, celebrity hair, celebrity makeup, DC Premiere, gretchen mol, hairstylist, Kathy Aragon, makeup artist, red carpet, the notorious bettie page

Inaugural Makeup “How-To”: DC Modern Luxury’s Inaugural Cover

Kathy Aragon — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:32:57 +0000

On my most recent cover shoot for DC Modern Luxury Magazine, we decided a Brigitte Bardot-esque look for someone attending an upcoming Inauguration Ball would work perfectly with the stunning J. Mendel gown she was wearing. I immediately thought that Makeup Forever Cosmetics would fit the bill and the Ball! I wanted to give the skin a flawless look without too much shine while putting all the focus on the eyes.

DC Modern Luxury Cover/ "After Dark" Inaugurla issue. Makeup by me. Photo by Sota Dzine.

Here are the particular products I used for the shoot and how I used them:

I first used Makeup Forever’s HD Invisible Cover Foundation (in shade 115- Ivory) spot touched where needed. Mostly around the nose, under the eyes, and on the cheeks and around mouth. There are dozens of shades to pick from so there is a great chance one will match you exactly.

I then used Makeup Forever’s HD Microfinish Powder just in the T-Zone and only when needed.

Makeup Forever’s Powder Blush in Pearly Peach #153 went on the apples of cheeks.

Makeup Forever’s Eyeshadow in Black Matte was applied over entire lid, extending slightly past eye and blended out to create an almost oval “V’ like shape on the outer corner. I went ahead and brought down some of the shadow to the outer corner of the lower lash line. Blend like the dickens!

I used Makeup Forever’s Kohl Pencil in Black 1 (Deep Black) on the inner rim as well as applying as close as possible to the top and bottom lashes. I used a soft angled brush to soften the lines and followed by more matte shadow to blend.

Makeup Forever’s Smoky Lash Mascara went on in two coats.

I applied Makeup Forever’s Aqua Waterproof Lipliner in 5C on the whole lip for staying power!

Makeup Forever’s Liquid Lip Color in Pearly Pink 5 went mainly on the center of the bottom lip then blended towards the outer corners, as to not make the lips look to wet.

Feel free to click on the products below to be directed to my “stylebook” which will give you instant access to these particular products, further info and prices.

Next: Inaugural “How-to” Hair!

Tags: cover shot, dc makeup artist, dc modern luxury, inaugural makeup, inauguration ball, makeup forever, smokey eyes

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Gretchen Mol’s Hair and Makeup for DC’s Premiere of “An American Affair”

Inaugural Makeup “How-To”: DC Modern Luxury’s Inaugural Cover