Nicole Thompson

Ask any beauty editor or makeup artist about the importance of good eyebrows and I can guarantee you they'll all say the same thing: have them professionally shaped at least once in your life, but preferably every few months. If your brow expert is good at what they do (notice my choice of words here — a brow expert is different from a beautician because they specialise in brows), you'll only need to see them every two or three months for a quick shape and possibly trim. It all depends on the length and thickness of your eyebrows. Anyway, I'm getting off track here...

Last night I was lucky enough to meet two of MAC's leading makeup artists — Nicole Thompson and Ocea Ferber — who spoke about MAC's Fall '12 makeup stories and shed some light on this season's must-have brow along the way. Curious? Keep reading after the break.

We love matte lipstick, but it's a drag. Literally. How many times have you gone to apply it straight from the bullet and found it pulls and catches, leaving you with a less-than-perfect application? But last night, MAC's senior artist Nicole Thompson shared a quick and easy tip that makes applying matte lipstick a breeze. Always, always apply with a brush. That's her first tip. But before loading up the brush with product (and we're talking loading, it's gets easier to apply the more product that's on your brush) give it a swipe back and forth over a lip balm. Doing this first makes the brush glide over the lipstick, picking up pigment easier than if you go straight in with the brush. Try MAC Lip Conditioner ($22) which a great staple to have anyway.

Image credit: Koray Birand for Harper’s BAZAAR Turkey February 2012

Chances are you own a makeup brush or two. I'm not even going to tell you how many I own. (Oh, OK then, it's 32.) But when you spend as much time around makeup artists as I do, you learn to realise that makeup brushes perform magic. And they are without a doubt the one product that ALL experts tell you never to scrimp on.

Now think about it, you wouldn't go out and buy yourself an Alexa or a pair of Loubs only to leave them out in the rain, would you? (No, you'd buy them their own little chair and snuggle blanket.) It's the same for brushes; you need to give them lots of TLC so that they know how much you care and return the favour by making you look hot. And what better time than Spring Cleaning season to give them a little zhush and freshen them up?

MAC's senior artist, Nicole Thompson recommends investing in an alcohol-based brush cleanser. Use this after every application as it's a quick and simple way to give the brush a quick freshen up. Try MAC Brush Cleanser ($20). Then once a fortnight, wash your brushes with a pea-sized amount of shampoo and then lay them somewhere cool to dry overnight — Nicole suggests a windowsill. Shop more brush cleansers from Clinique and Napoleon Perdis:

More Clinique...

The key to Bianca Spender's hair and makeup look was a statue, a picture of which she sent to makeup director Nicole Thompson, who then interpreted it into the makeup look for this afternoon's show. Inspired by the curves of the statue, she gave every model a unique curve across the eye area using Wedge and Sumptuous Olive eyeshadows. The eyes were then topped off with a blend of Naked and Vanilla pigments to create a subtle shimmer, before a pop of yellow on the inner eye was applied. Nicole said that the skin was a key element to the look so the MAC team massage essential oils into models' skin to create a subtle sheen before applying Hush Cream Colour Base all over. Lance Blanchette, working for Joico, again drew inspiration from the statue, recreating its different shades in the different textures of the hair — using Joigel Firm Styling Gel in the top section for hard hold and Gloss Wax on the ends for a wet-look feel.

• Makeup: Nicole Thompson for MAC
• Look: Strong, yet delicate
• Colours: Yellow, olive green
• Key products: Wedge and Chrome Yellow shadows, Hush Cream Colour base
• Hair: Lance Blanchett for Joico
• Nails: Not a Gold Bigger, which is part of Justin Bieber's new collection for Nicole by OPI

We walked in on some buff male models being airbrushed by lead makeup artist Nicole Thompson backstage at Nookie. Tough life! She explained that they'd had some stencils especially made to reflect the patterns of the jewellery models would be wearing on the runway and were spray painting the designs onto models arms, legs and hands, giving them a unique look. The makeup palette for the girls featured lots of cream finishes and the vibe was "effortless, but still beautiful." Mane man Marc Armstrong described the "tribal and nomadic" hair as "liveable and doable". All you need is some KMS California Sea Salt Spray and Curl Cream to get that beachy texture. Just what we like to hear!

• Makeup: Nicole Thompson for MAC
• Look: Undone, worn-in, effortlessly beautiful
  
• Colours: Peachy browns
  
• Key products: Mid-tone Sepia and Hush Cream Colour Bases, Freckletone Lipstick
• Hair: Marc Armstrong for KMS California

The Fash Pack headed out to Icebergs at Bondi this afternoon for Kirrily Johnston's Spring/Summer 2011/12 show. Backstage was crazy but we managed to grab five with the hair and makeup teams to talk through the look. The hair was inspired by Kirrily herself with different coloured hair glued into models' scalps to create an "architectual" fringe that was sexily styled over one eye. Makeup-wise, it was all about the lip with a custom-blend terracotta suede-looking lip that was really layered up to stand out against the models' dewy skin.

• Skin prep: Dermalogica
• Makeup: Nicole Thompson for MAC
• Look: Kirrily with power lip
  
• Colours: Cinnamon, terracotta
  
• Hair: Renya Xydis for ghd