Pretty 101 and Ponytails with a Point of View at Marc by Marc Jacobs - NYFW Spring 2012

All Photos: Mat Szwajkos for Beauty Blitz

Marc Jacobs has always been inspired by vintage; now after 25 years in the fashion business, his own early designs are iconic in their own right. The same might be said for Guido Palau, a fixture backstage at Marc's shows season after season. This time around, the designer asked Guido to create a look inspired by "Guido in the '90s."

"I think what Marc meant by that was that in the '90s, when you did a ponytail or a knot," at a show like Jil Sander of Helmut Lang, "it couldn't be just a ponytail or messy knot - it had to be an idea. It was always about reinventing a very easy look to look a little more different." And so the look this season - a pulled back, tucked under ponytail with shine at the crown and a matte, spiky texture in the back - was "a complicated way of doing what could be easy…[with] more of a point of view than just a knot."

To create the style, Guido blow dried the hair with Redken Satinwear 02 and applied Glass 01 Smoothing Serum for major shine to the hair at the crown of the head. He pulled the hair into a ponytail, securing with elastic and a (hidden) silver Goody clip, then flipped the tail over and secured with another (visible) clip. A few spritzes of Redken 23 helped mattify and spike out the knot.

Meanwhile, Dick Page, Artistic Director for Shiseido the Makeup, created a look dubbed "Pretty 101": matte skin with flushed cheeks, glossy lids, mascara and a natural pink lip.   

"Any show I do, I like to get my hands on each girl's face," Dick said. "I'm obsessed with animation of the face. So even if they walk out there stone cold like they're going to a funeral, I've seen their faces mobile and moving. They smile, they laugh, they want the color to belong to the structure of the face."

To get the look, Dick used Shiseido Luminizing Satin Face Color in Soft Beam Gold, High Beam White and Tea Rose; Perfect Rouge Lipstick in Roseate, applied with the fingers; and Perfect Mascara on the top and bottom lashes, combed through to prevent clumps. Looking to get on board spring's bold brow trend? Dick likes to use Shiseido Shimmering Cream Eye Color to fill in arches because of its lustrous finish: "I like it when the [eyebrow] hair has a gloss to it."

On nails, Elisa Ferri, Lead Nail Tech for Zoya, used a shade called Olivia: "it's a little pink, it's a little beige, it enhances the natural nail." She finished the nails with a matte topcoat created especially for the show. "The end product is like a velvet seashell."