A luminous face, metallic eye and intricate, twisted hair complimented the foiled and sheer dresses by Amanda Lew Kee at her Fall 2011 LG Fashion Week presentation. While the flashy fabrics were definitely eye catching, the long silver nails flickering from the models fingers were consistently pulling our attention.

Hair

We're not going to lie to you, this hair look is not an easy one. We saw many a skilled L'Oréal hairstylist stop and start over again when doing the twists on the top of the head.

First, a triangle section covering the top of the skull was divided (think of the bottom two corners of the triangle lining up with the outer-edge of the brows and the third point centred at the back of the head). The rest of the hair was pulled into a low bun. Sounds easy enough, right? Here's where it got hard: getting those twists just right. To prep, hair was spritzed with water until damp, and divided into five sections that began at the side part the triangle created and to the back of the head to the point. Each section was pulled forward towards the face as it was twisted and then, once fully coiled, pulled back. Lead hair artist Eric Del Monaco walked between stations making sure these twists looked just right, and often getting them tight enough meant the stylists had to go back and re-twist over again. Once the five twists were done they were merged into one at the back and then twisted around the bun.


From the back, the twist looked like a tornado touching down, while the top sections were a welcome alternative to the tiny French braids-craze that started three years ago and led to some still lingering plait-fatigue.

Makeup and Nails

Last fashion week Amanda Lew Kee sent models down runways with blue lips, and she's often seen sporting the shade at events, but for this presentation orange, but just a touch was the shade of choice. To create more of a "luminous face" Eddie Malter, the artistic director for LG Fashion Week, applied foundation with a slightly damp sponge to thin it out. Over top he dusted a translucent powder. Eyes were first done in a medium brown: starting from the lash line the shadow was pushed up and into the lid with a brush so colour was most intense at the lash and got more faded towards the crease. Next the orangey-bronze shade included in L'Oréal Paris HIP Bright Shadow Duo in Flare was smudged along the lash line and under the eye. The inside of the eye was given a brush of a pearly shadow to brighten.

Those long, glittering slivers on nails were done by Minx* backstage, and all models wore the same print Longevity. While nails looked silver reflecting back the runway lights, close up there was a mix of many colours, almost like the rainbow effect of a  hologram, and a print of circles similar to those found on many Chinese fabrics.

Runway


*Two images of models with nails to face, provided by Minx and photographed by Karim Olen