Elizabeth Banks

My wonderful European make-up artist Karen Adler got me looking all fancy for The Hunger Games premiers in London and Berlin. She’s amazing! She wrote a blog for eco-age.com with details all about the products and techniques she used and I wanted to share it with you all.

Beauty Maestro and Make-Up Artist Karen Adler:
Having worked with Elizabeth for the W premier years ago, I was incredibly excited to get the glam call to work with her again for the London and Berlin premiers of the Hunger Games!  What a whirlwind, two cities, two looks, two girls and Darth Vader! Knowing absolutely nothing about the movie, I was completely blown away by the crowds that surrounded the red carpet, it was unbelievable - they were going crazy!

And not surprisingly, the film (which I was lucky enough to see) was brilliant, the crowds were right – unless I’m working on the next one, you may well see me joining them for the next installment!  From a professional point of view, the make-up, hair and styling were insane and must have been so much fun to create - such visually exciting chaos! I would have loved to have the chance to play / help on that!

Elizabeth, like the true pro that she is, took the whole thing in her stride and simply glided down the red carpet.  I loved both the looks created and was quietly over the moon about the reaction to how fantastic she looked to, my favourite quote being “glossy waves and perfect skin” Music to my ears.  So here’s the lo-down on the looks we created, first stop London and the stunning dress by Bill Blass!

LONDON

Elizabeth and the gang had just arrived from LA where all the cast had already been glittering on the carpet – let the challenge begin!  I loved the yellow dress and wanted to reflect the feel of it with a modern, fresh and relaxed look by keeping the hair and make-up minimal – as if I hadn’t even been there!

My all-time favourite hair brand is Kevin Murphy, introduced to me by Kylie years ago, it’s sulphate and paraben free, not tested on animals and also makes huge efforts to be as green as possible – perfect!  Firstly, I blasted some Fresh Hair through the roots which is a fantastic trick as it creates natural volume and also brightens the blonde a little.

Then I roughly parted the hair with my fingers down the centre, being careful not to ‘de-volumize’, and with my trusty curling wand at the ready, roughly took 3 inch sections and waved the hair, wrapping it round my finger and clipping into the direction I wanted the curls to fall.  Some sections up, some down, some bigger, some smaller, all over the place really!  Then leave for 20 minutes while the curls cool down and after that release the hair from the clips and loosen with your fingers. For some extra hold, again I always sprinkle a little of Kevin Murphy's powder puff around the crown!

After this all you have to do is style to suit, leaving tendrils out that suit your face shape, twist hair into a bun at the nape of the neck and then pin into place with large pongee.  And there we have it an easy relaxed modern up do, fit for the red carpet!

The make-up was kept really simple and fresh, focusing on a healthy glow and lovely lashes, Elizabeth is extremely lucky and she has flawless skin so all I had to use was a little bit of tinted moisturizer to even out the skin tone and a touch of illuminosity to brighten. I used beccas luminous skin colour in olive, it’s so easy to use and also has a very useful spf 25.

For the contouring I used their dual bronzer and highlighter bronzer, it’s really smooth and perfect for sculpting the face.  This too is paraben and talc free and I love the fact it has a dual purpose therefore saving on packaging!

A few crafty individual lashes by Ardell were popped on the outer edges of the lashes, followed by several thin coats of mascara to create that lovely flutter.

Bare Minerals provided the wonder blush that was so natural in ballet pink and followed by  some of my favourite gloss  by Buxom  called 'leslie,’ a simple everyday gloss that plumps to perfect!

BERLIN

One day off for myself but not Elizabeth and cast, they nipped down the red carpet for the Paris Premier then we were reunited in Berlin were Elizabeth chose this beauty of a dress by Elli Saab.

We went for these beautiful glossy waves, taking the iconic Grace Kelly as inspiration, old Hollywood glamour with a little twist, love it!  Having even less time to do this than London, we amazed ourselves and managed to turn the whole look around in 40 minutes – a personal record!

For this look the first thing to do is pop in your parting in the desired place for your face shape, then take 2 inch sections and barrel curl with your tongs, this is where Wam's revolving curling tongs really come into their own, as all the work is done for you.

Another little tip for this is to alternate the curls going under and over, as when this is brushed out it gives a fantastic wave. As before, clip each curl and allow to cool. Once fixed, brush through into the desired shape with something like a mason and person brush, the soft bristles really help enhance the wave and shine, letting the waves just fall perfectly!

Do a light misting with Aveda's non aerosol, Brilliant spray to bring a lovely gloss to the waves – an essential in my makeup bag, a true wonder product!) . Then lock the look down with Hairspray.

Now for the make-up which we did in ten minutes flat!  A quick base was whizzed on, using Chanel’s Vital Lumiere, it does so many things in one hit, giving porcelain coverage and luminosity all at once!

Eyebrows were strengthened by defining the brows with a mink brow pencil and brushed beautifully into place, a little quirk l always loved about Grace's eyebrows, never a hair out of place!  For a light contouring over the eyes, I used a wash of Bare Minerals prime time primer shadow in iced chocolate, this is a genius find as it is once again baddie free and so quick and easy to use and really long lasting - it was my saviour that day and really made Elizabeth’s eye’s pop.  Admittedly I had already popped on a couple of individual lashes earlier that morning so skipped that fiddly little job,- not great when you’re on a deadline - but refreshed them with an extra couple of thin layers of mascara. I patted a little bit of Burberrys fresh glow along the cheekbones and to the hairline, I absolutely love this product as it really does what it says and also diffuses any fine lines….

I then finished up with another new little find of mine,  Kroma Organic Lip gloss in meringue…Its 100% organic and really lasts, I love this colour and have to admit to it being resident in my bag since finding!
And there we are - Green Carpet ready!

Have you tried any of these products? Which are your favorite?

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