Deconstructed beehives and luminous skin dial up the romance for Fall:Mikael D backstage beauty

As runway light bounced off intricate embroidery at the Mikael D Fall 2014 show, the skin gleamed just the same. M.A.C senior artist Jane McKay drew inspiration from the opulence of Baroque textures and designed a fresh-yet-glamorous look. Radiance was an important element in the makeup: “It’s all about the play of light bouncing off the skin,” said Ricky Boudreau, M.A.C senior cosmetics trainer, who lead the team backstage.

Models’ skin was moisturized with Strobe Cream and kept lustrous with a light application of Mineralize Moisture Foundation and Concealer. Boudreau softly sculpted the cheeks with Sculpt Powder and added an additional hit of illumination with an iridescent loose powder—“Silver Dusk”—applied around the eye, from brow to cheekbone. Brows were simply groomed with Brow Set in “Clear.” Finally, eyelids were drenched in bronzed gold tones and intensified with a set of MAC #33 lashes and multiple coats of mascara. Boudreau pressed a layer of “Half & Half” lipstick into the lips with his fingers for a neutral pout.

Over at the hair station, lead stylist Paul Pereira was bringing hair to new heights with a modern twist on an iconic ’60s style: the beehive. After seeing the ornate Mikael D garments, Pereira decided that he wanted to “embrace the high glamour, but in a more relaxed way.” Using the Session Label line by Schwarzkopf OSIS+, he prepped models’ strands with Sea Salt Spray to give an initial grit and hold. To create a strong base, hot rollers were placed in a small back section just underneath the crown; those curls were then teased and tucked into a roll. Plenty of disheveled texture was added by backcombing several sections with a tail comb. These sections were swept over the “rolled” base, and the beehive took form. Pereira continuously worked with Extra Hold Hairspray to mould the shape and achieve more volume. To polish off the messy height, the front section of hair was elegantly smoothed to one side and secured behind the ear.

The nails—long and oval—were just as elegant, yet understated. The team from Sparks Salon used OPI gel polishes in “Alpine Snow” and “Did You Ear About Van Gogh?” to create a white crescent moon shape and a nude base, respectively. A dainty crystal gem adorned the middle of each crescent to play up the designer’s couture-like creations.

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Beauty Fix: Why you should try a dry conditioner, how to combat reoccurring dark spots and more

Every week our Beauty Fix columnist takes on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more. Have a beauty question we haven’t answered? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

Can you suggest a travel-friendly foundation? I’ve had a few spills in the past that have turned me off liquid makeup altogether.
There’s nothing quite like a makeup bag covered in a coveted product to kick-start a vacation! If you’re often taking your foundation on the go, explore cream formulas that come in a compact format, like Armani Maestro Fusion Compact ($68, at Holt Renfrew). This lightweight foundation is comprised of a blend of dry oils and waxes that meld with your skin for natural, luminous finish. It can also be layered for higher coverage or concealing needs and comes with a handy brush applicator included in the compact for this very purpose. Bonus: The packaging isn’t glass, so you’re in the clear if you decide to toss it in your bag on the go, making it incredibly travel friendly.

As someone with a vibrant dye job, I depend on dry shampoo to help me skip as many washes as possible. But what can I use to smooth my dry ends?
How did we ever live in a world before dry shampoo! While it’s highly effective in helping you avoid the daily wash/blow dry cycle by targeting oily roots, it doesn’t quite cut it when it comes to helping smooth and hydrate the rest of your hair. Fortunately, dry shampoo has a counterpart: dry conditioner. While the effect isn’t quite the same as applying a deep conditioning mask or treatment to your ends, a few spritzes of Pureology Fresh Approach Dry Condition ($24, at salons) brushed through the length of your hair will smooth frizz, add shine, control static and condition ends. Even better, hair colour is protected with an antifade complex of antioxidants and minerals, helping you maintain the integrity of your hair colour.

Lip gloss often leaves me with flaky lips. What can I use for a similar look without the dryness?
While your lips certainly look the opposite of flaky when covered in a gloss, like anything you put on your lips, it’s what’s inside that counts. Newer glossy formulations have involved less stickiness and more hydrating lipid bases, like L’Oréal Color Riche Extraordinaire Lip Colour ($12, well.ca). This formula consists of oil-enriched pigments that create a much more comfortable wear on the lips, as well as intense colour and tremendous shine. With 16 shades to choose from, you’re bound to end up grabbing all your staple colours in this noteworthy formula.

What can I do about reoccurring dark spots?
Dark spots—or hyperpigmentation—have different stages of maturation. You may be used to addressing hyperpigmentation that you see on the immediate surface of your skin (dubbed the established stage) with the use of brightening skincare. However, as time passes, hyperpigmentation that was underlying (in the nascent stage) emerges, and it needs to be treated too. And, to further complicate things, uneven pigmentation can also be in a recurrent stage—which is tricky to treat with traditional products. In order to say goodbye to reoccurring dark spots, you need to target all three stages. Try La Roche-Posay Pigmentclar Serum ($59, at Shoppers Drug Mart), which is ideal for daily use. This product uses lipo-hydroxy acid to break down the areas of concentrated melanin for a more even skin tone without irritating skin and works to eradicate hyperpigmentation in all its stages.

I’m noticing an area of thinning hair near the crown of my head. No amount of teasing or styling is helping me out. What can I use to keep hair from looking so sparse?
Thinning hair can be due to a number of factors, such as stress, hormones or over-processing hair, but ultimately, it’s unsettling to see hair thin out in any given area on your head. Hair is made of keratin, so using a product with keratin fibres is an excellent place to start. Toppik Hair Building Fibres ($28, at Shoppers Drug Mart) is a quick way to thicken the appearance of hair—no wait times necessary! Simply dispense the fibres onto the sparse area and pat into place: they cling to your existing hair due to a natural static charge, drastically increasing the appearance and volume of your hair. The fibres come in four shades that can be mixed in order to properly match your hair colour for the most seamless look. Bonus: this product will stay in place through perspiration, wind and rain.

Xiao Nan Yu: The National Ballet’s prima ballerina reprises her debut role in Onegin

When it comes to encapsulating the pathos and fervour of a melodrama like Onegin, based on Alexander Pushkin’s novel Eugene Onegin, experience can be your best weapon. Just ask Xiao Nan Yu (a.k.a. Nan), a dancer for The National Ballet of Canada who first took on the role of Onegin’s Tatiana at age 22, just before climbing the ranks of the company to become a principal.

“It was a fast promotion,” she says before diving into a rehearsal. “I felt pressure to live up to their standards and questioned whether I did enough to deserve it.” Years of critical acclaim later, the 36-year-old is reprising her cherished Tatiana role this month (March 19-23) opposite McGee Maddox at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.

“I love that Onegin is a story ballet,” says Yu of the transition her character makes from a young country girl enamoured with an aristocrat to a sophisticated woman torn between two men. The quixotic journey is precisely reflected in Tatiana’s Santo Loquasto-designed attire—a wardrobe that includes loose-fitting nightdresses and lavish red- and gold-beaded gowns. “The costumes make you feel her transformation,” Yu says.

Like her character, she is no stranger to personal evolution. “My state of mind is very different,” she says, thinking back to when she first played Tatiana. Now a mother of two daughters (aged two and nine), Yu says she views Onegin in an entirely different light.

“Now I understand the sacrifice Tatiana makes when [she’s forced to] choose between love and responsibilities. We don’t really live for ourselves, because we have so many people that surround us that we care so much about.”

Born in China, Yu began taking dance lessons at four. By eight, she was living at a ballet boarding school. “I was so homesick, I cried every time my parents visited and asked them to take me home.” At 17, she was recruited by Canada’s National Ballet School and packed her bags without knowing a word of English.

Yu’s story reads like a ballet world fairy tale with a Black Swan edge. Her packed schedule typically includes six hours of training three days a week, another three hours two days a week, yoga and running once a week and Pilates twice a week. “You’re tired, your body is hurting, your joints are aching. You take a day off and you lose six hours of training, and that can delay the time it takes for you to go on stage,” she explains. This perpetual ticking clock was exaggerated during her pregnancies. “It was scary. I was so fit and then slowly I saw my arms [getting bigger] and my belly coming out.” She took class until a month before the births, returned to work two months post-labour and was back on stage after six months.

“We have dancers who just joined the company who are 18 or 19. There are always going to be people who are younger, prettier or have more potential than you,” she says. “You have to believe that you have something that another person can’t replace.” While Karen Kain danced into her 40s, Yu says she’ll hang up her pointe shoes when the joys of dancing no longer outweigh the sacrifices: “You need passion to carry you through the pain.” Both on and off stage, hers is palpable.