On the Red Carpet: Laura Benanti

Who gets to be gorgeous, talented and have a great personality? An old friend of mine used to say you get one or maybe two but not all three – she said the gods just don’t allow it. Which seems fair enough. But I recently had the opportunity to work with Tony Award winning Laura Benanti and I can tell you right now she is as kind as she is beautiful. And winning Tonys doesn’t happen unless you’re exceptionally talented, and guess what - she has all three.

This fall, Laura stars in the new NBC show Go On with Friends' Matthew Perry. 

When she first arrived to NYC, Laura was cast as an understudy for the Broadway role of Maria in The Sound of Music - a show she would go on to star in. From there she went on to many roles and became one of Broadway's brightest stars, picking up awards and accolades all along the way. After learning I was in the presence of Maria I couldn’t help but hum My Favorite Things (really corny I know, but I actually wasn't thinking about it) as I did her makeup - and Laura and hairstylist Kristan Serafino joined right along with me. Then off she went to the red carpet looking glowing and beautiful.

Makeup Tips for Laura's Red Carpet Look Laura wanted natural makeup so I stuck with warm nude and earth tones and added small touches of brightness to keep it fresh and glowing.

Laura Up Close

Moisturize before applying makeup. I used a light moisturizer and Origins GenZing eye cream. Moisturizing helps smooth on foundation so it looks soft and natural. Because her skin is already so smooth and even, I used foundation sparingly and only to create a "palette" for color. To make sure it lasted throughout the night, I set the makeup with a sheer face powder and the under eye concealer powder from Laura Mercier's Undercover Pot.

Highlight eyes with a touch of light shimmer. I used Matisse Elite Star Dust Powder on just the inner corners to draw attention to her eyes. If we were creating a dramatic look I would use shimmer more liberally, but using it just as an accent is perfect to keep it soft and natural.

Warm the face with a bronzer. I used a bronzer in place of a blush on cheeks, around the sides of face and on the forehead area. Again, to keep it natural, it's important to blend any bronzer well.

Add soft color to lips. Laura is wearing coral shoes - I didn't mean to match her lips to them, but now that I'm looking at the images I kind of did! Matching lips and shoes is, of course, in no way important or necessary, but keeping lip color in the warmer tones helps blend the warmer eye and cheek color together.

Look for Laura this Fall,  Tuesdays at 9pm (EST)!

Go On NBC

Hair by Kristan Serafino, Makeup by Robyn Tamura

Laura Benanti & The Sound of Music

I recently met a rabid fan of Broadway musicals (his name is Francois). I’ve never seen anything like it. His walls are papered with playbills starting from the 70s and he’s seen every Broadway show you can think of. When I told him I sometimes work with Laura Benanti he looked like he was going to faint. He then went on to name everything she’s ever been in, raved about her Tony winning performance in Gypsy and even knew exactly what she's doing now. Unlike Francois, I am not a fan of musicals. It makes me uncomfortable when someone is about to say something but instead suddenly starts to sing. And everything is so dramatic – I don’t know, maybe that kind of public display of emotion is a little too free for the Japanese in me (not to generalize about Japanese people, but it’s a culture more known for personal restraint, not wild free emotion). However, for me there is one exception – The Sound of Music. This may be because I saw it when I was so young, learned and know all the songs and still vividly remember the Von Trapp family singing and escaping into those beautiful mountains. I don’t know. If you ask me to watch a musical I will say no. But if you look in one of my cabinets right now you’ll find a boxed set of The Sound of Music.

A number of years ago Laura played the role of Maria in The Sound of Music on Broadway. When I found that out I peppered her with questions because I couldn’t help myself. She told me how she got into it and what it was like. And she told me the story about how nervous she was when Julie Andrews came to watch her. If you don’t know, Julie Andrews is the original Maria from the movie but has since lost her ability to sing. Afterward she told Laura that she never thought she’d hear herself sing again – until she heard Laura sing. Ever since, I’ve wanted to hear her sing but…well, you know, musicals.

I found out that tonight she will be Elsa Schraeder in NBC’s live performance of The Sound of Music. So I can’t wait to hear her sing. The Daily Beast has an article called, "Laura Benanti is about to be One of Your Favorite Things."

These are some photos of Laura when I did her makeup for fashion week. I’ve meant to post them but I just never got around to it. When I saw her on TV I remembered, and since she’s going to be performing tonight I’m posting them just for her. And Francois, of course.