Lianna Albrizio, Assistant Editor09.13.23
For Elyse Reneau, executive director, global beauty, at Too Faced Cosmetics, there’s no such thing as being “too much.”
“If I’m too much, then maybe you’re not enough,” she says half-jokingly in between working meticulously on a model’s makeup for Alice and Olivia’s 2024 New York Fashion Week (NYFW) show held in downtown Manhattan on Sept. 9. “This is for the excessive, over-the-top person to make yourself look powerful.”
Alice and Olivia’s NYFW show, distinguished guests of which included Nicky Hilton.
Dressed in a pink jumpsuit adorned with silver stars, glittery white sneakers and ribbons cascading in her long ponytail, Reneau was the head makeup artist for the third year for
This year’s show was a drastic change from last season’s Andy Warhol-Americana motif, as 1960s glamor took center stage. A nod to Breakfast at Tiffany’s author Trudy Capote’s swans, which piqued the interest of Alice and Olivia’s CEO and Creative Director Stacey Bendet, Reneau gave models double-winged cat eyes to create the illusion of large, doe eyes over shimmery, effervescent eyeshadow.
“It’s serving a little bit of clean energy. I’m feeling a little bit Cleopatra, too,” Reneau mused while studying a model.
Reneau also drew a plump, defined “revenge lip,” which she describes a bold red or nude married with lip stick, lip gloss and liner that the wearer puts on as an emblem of self-empowerment over validation seeking.
Pink is Power
Indeed, summoning girl power is what Too Faced Cosmetics has been symbolic of since its inception a quarter of a century ago.
Too Faced was founded by Too Faced Cosmetics Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson in Irvine, CA in 1998. In 2016, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. acquired the brand for roughly $1.45 billion. Tara Simon assumed the role of global brand president of Too Faced in July 2022. She joined the brand in 2020 and has since successfully launched Too Faced in new channels of distribution in North America, including at Ulta Beauty at Target, where it ranks among the top four brands in sales since opening and in Sephora at Kohl’s, where it is the No. 2-ranked brand.
Barbie’ movie, people know that pink is power and that girlhood is powerful and you can be as feminine as you want and it doesn’t make you weaker.”
“What I love most about the Too Faced brand is that it’s super girly and beautiful, but with products that really perform,” said Reneau. “It’s products that I’m really proud to take out of my bag because they look so pretty and girly. When I was growing up, ‘girly’ wasn’t seen as the most powerful, and I think now especially with the ‘
Too Faced Cosmetics is easily distinguishable on shelves at Sephora with its pink and gold packaging. Its Lip Injection Plumping Gloss, Better Than Sex Mascara and Cheek Popper Blushing Highlighter are among its best-sellers.
Keeping in line with its love of joy-inducing nostalgia, the brand recently teamed with Pop Tarts to create two palettes designed after the Brown Sugar and Strawberry Frosted breakfast treats. The palettes contain toasted colors of shimmery and matte browns and pinks that match the Pop Tart colors and even smell like them to mimic the pleasantness in makeup application.
“Chocolate is a powerful antioxidant,” said Reneau. “We use real cocoa powder. It’s good for your skin. We’re always looking at ingredients to make you smile, to make you feel like you’re a kid again, because it’s so rare you get to feel like that when you’re an adult.”
She continued, “We’re very nostalgic. Remember your first lip gloss you ever tried and it had a scent to it and it just made you feel so excited and it made you smile?”
Alice and Olivia’s models rocked ‘60s makeup looks with chignons, ponytails and updos embellished with crystals, pearls and ribbons from Matthew Curtis as the lead hairstylist with help from Sola Salons Beauty Professionals stylists hailing from all over the US.
Hair was styled using Living Proof products, including Dry Volume and Texture Spray, No Frizz Smooth Styling Serum and Living Proof Style Lab Flex Hair Spray.
For the show, models were decked out in black leather, white feathers, large floral prints, red satin gowns, ruffles, stripes, feathers, sequins, thigh-high boots and layered pearls and lots of dainty ribbons – spring 2024’s hottest accessory.
Reneau said Too Faced’s pairing with Alice and Olivia was apropos given both their love of having fun with style and self-expression.
“Neither of us takes each other so seriously,” remarked Reneau of Too Faced’s third-year partnership with Alice and Olivia. “We’re all about having fun with products that really perform. You’ll see the fun playful fabrics she does it’s very joyful and it’s something we’re really cognitive of when we’re making makeup at Too Faced. We were founded back in 1998 when everything was kind of black packaging and very serious and just want to do something that smelled good that made you feel good that’s really fun and feminine.”
The Runway Look at Alice and Olivia NYFW ‘23
Reneau highlighted the apples of the cheeks with Hangover 3-in-1 Replenishing Primer and Setting Spray. She then followed that up with Born This Way Flawless Coverage Natural Finish Foundation to blur pores and even out texture. She then followed up with Born This Way Super Coverage Multi-Use Concealer and Moon Crush Highlighter and Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer to sculpt and define cheekbones.
After brushing brows with Fluff and Hold Laminating Brow Wax, Reneau used Killer Liner 36-Hour Waterproof Gel Eyeliner Pencil in “Cashmere” as a base to brighten. She applied Glistening Glow from the Born This Way “Natural Nudes” Eye Shadow Palette and then “Blast Off” from the Cosmic Crush Eyeshadow Palette as eyeliner to create the double cat eye wing, which was extended on the top and bottom.
Using the Better Than Sex Easy Glide Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Black, she created false undereye lashes (think Twiggy). Reneau also tapped Better Than Sex Foreplay Mascara Primer and Better Than Sex Volumizing Mascara. As a finishing touch, she used Glistening Glow to create a white, inner corner highlight.
Born This Way Ethereal Setting Powder and Makeup Insurance Setting Spray locked in the look.
To create the revenge Lip, Reneau used nude and red. She slightly over lined the cupid’s bow with a nude liner two shades deeper than lipstick using the Lip Injection Extreme Lip Shaper in Puffy Nude and Cocoa Bold lipstick in “Hot Chocolate.” For the red look, she used Lady Bold Cream Lipstick and Lady Bold Waterproof Longwear Lip Liner both in shade Lady Bold.
“We all have two faces, the one we wake up with and the one that we put on—and it doesn’t make you a two-faced person,” explained Reneau. “It just means we’re never just one thing. And the thing about makeup that’s so cool is that you can literally change yourself every single day and become whoever you want to be.”