Rachel Zoe has made a tradition of celebrating the beginning of fashion month by showing her collection in LA. She chose to unveil Spring 2019 during a seated dinner at the Hotel Bel Air on September 4, with 150 close friends and industry insiders in attendance. Amongst the guests was Jessica Alba, long time friend of Zoe and Co-Founder of Honest Beauty, who arrived early to pop backstage and check out the look created exclusively with her makeup line.
Zoe tapped makeup artist Monika Blunder to concoct a sophisticated, romantic look to pair with the collection’s St. Tropez-inspired palette of peaches and pinks. Blunder, who specializes in natural makeup, chose Honest Beauty because of its lightweight, easy-to-blend formulas that are available in a range of mauve and dusty-rose hues. The fact that the organic line is also affordable — all of the items used for this look can be found at Target — was an added bonus for both Zoe and Blunder.
“Great style should be available to everyone, I’m often the most inspired by people who put looks together on a tight budget,” says Zoe, who swears by Honest Company’s clean formulas and rarely leaves home without the line’s hand sanitizer.
I got Monika’s tips for creating the look, which centered around a mauve eye with flushed cheeks, paired with undone, air-dried hair adorned with the occasional fishtail braid.
Here’s how you can recreate it at home.
Step 1
To prepare your skin, start with a few spritzes of a hydrating mist and a light facial massage, then bust out your favorite jade or rose quartz roller, or simply use your palms to boost lymphatic drainage. Next, groom brows then buff foundation into your skin. Blunder keeps her application light by using a cream formula and a fluffy brush. Conceal blemishes by concentrating the same formula using a small brush. As few people rarely match the exact shades of any makeup brand, Blunder recommends scooping up the two shades that fit you best and blending accordingly.
Step 2
For a grown-up alternative to a vibrant purple, Blunder created a soft mauve lid using a blend of the top two middle shades in Honest Beauty's "Get It Together" palette. Begin by dusting the pale mauve across your entire lid, then build definition by sweeping the darker mauve shade into the socket and under your lower lash line.
Step 3
Instead of lining the eye, Blunder prefers to use a kohl pencil in a painting motion to build volume at the base of the upper lashes. Different from tight-lining, this technique intensifies pigment on the lower half of the lash and creates the illusion of a fuller fringe. She then curls lashes and recommends applying a lash primer before finishing with a few coats of mascara.
Step 4
For cheeks, Blunder favors a light contour using a darker shade of foundation or a shimmer-free bronzer. Sweep under the cheekbones, across the top of the forehead and along the chin. Next, pat a wash of cream blush onto the apples of the cheeks and blend using a flat brush.
Step 5
In keeping with the rest of the unstudied look, Blunder eschews lipstick in favor of a matte crayon. Apply the pigment to the center of your pout, then feather it towards the corner of your lips with your ring finger for a freshly bitten effect. This imperfect approach lends itself brilliantly to touch-ups (sans mirror) throughout the day.
Step 6
Finally, seal everything with a light dusting of setting powder so as to maintain your impossibly fresh face for the rest of the day.
Editors note: The previous version of this article incorrectly suggested utilizing the cheek tint on eyelids.
