Ballerina buns are a summer hairstyle staple—and they're particularly popular this season, thanks to a plethora of bun-loving Hollywood stars (see Jessica Alba, Kate Bosworth, and Vanessa Hudgens, to name a few). But for a brighter, more fun-loving take on this trend don't be afraid to think outside the box as Zac Posen and hairstylist Odile Gilbert did for Posen's spring 2010 show. Once pulling strands into high ponytails, Gilbert intertwined natural hair with a neon-bright strip of faux extensions in one of several colors (blue, green, pink, or yellow) and pinned into a chignon. "The extensions are like a ribbon woven through the bun," says Gilbert of the do, which is as suitable for strutting the runway as it is for frolicking at a music festival (see more summer music festival hair options here).
For complementary makeup, look no further than Stéphane Marais' shimmering eyes and blushed cheeks. "I wanted to create a fresh, sparkling woman," says the makeup guru, who eschewed the vibrant variety of Posen's collection and Gilbert's hairstyles in favor of one singular hue: pink. "At first, Zac wanted to have lots of colors in the makeup, but we decided to make pink the focus—like ballerinas' rosy cheeks after they've been training for hours," says Marais, adding that the pared down color keeps the face from becoming "too `carnival' or `showgirl'." Describing the makeup as "Jean Shrimpton meets Degas," Marais gave models Shrimpton's eyes and a ballerina-esque Degas flush. Adding a slightly darker taupe color in the crease as Shrimpton did in the 1960s, Marais lavished upper and lower lashes with mascara, minus Shrimpton's falsies ("The lashes already stand out because the surrounding eye shadow is so light and shimmering"). After dabbing a sheer cream base and gel luminizer over skin, Marais swept blush up to the temples "like a watercolor painting."
