Nonie Creme: From Street Kid to Beauty Maven

Nonie Creme: From Street Kid to Beauty Maven

Article Credit: CEW Beauty Insider

Color and trend expert, Nonie Creme, has been a backstage fixture her entire career. She cut her teeth as a session manicurist in London, forging relationships over the years with the world's top fashion designers, photographers, makeup, hair and nail artists. As the Founding Creative Director of Butter London, Nonie was at the helm of product formulation, design and brand development with imaginative techniques, bold graphics and the audacious cheeky humor that made the Butter London range a modern cult classic. Her work in product design and development, color and branding have helped shape the now explosive nail industry, and have made Nonie one-to-watch for seasonal nail and color trends. Here, she shares her start in the beauty biz and the trends she’s seeing for fall. 

I was a troubled kid. I was smart, but I had a chip on my shoulder, and struggled with authority. When I ran away to London in 1994, my parents had enough and cut me off. Talk about tough love.

After a few months, it turned out that my 19-year-old British boyfriend was not going to be a rich and famous rock star. (I know, shocker.) I needed a job, and fast. I had an art degree from a great college…but no one wanted to hire a bratty American kid in Doc Martens. I was alone and scared, and that “shoulder chip” disappeared as I watched my last few pennies drain away.

I have to admit, I’d always really enjoyed painting nails, and it seemed like a fun and easy way to make money, so I went to night school and got certified. Finally, my art education really came into play. I had a natural affinity for color, and could hand-mix nail lacquer shades just by looking at a piece of fabric, a shoe, anything really. People in the fashion and beauty industry loved my “bespoke” nail lacquers, and I started to get calls from top fashion designers asking me to design nail looks for their runway shows and ad campaigns. Editors invited me to weigh in on what I saw happening in beauty and color, and I became a regular expert on the magazine circuit. I used those years to focus on truly understanding the intersection of fashion and beauty, and how color could be used to marry the two. It’s knowledge I used to create the Butter London product range, and now as Founding Creative Director of my next company, Nonie Creme – Colour Prevails, I get the opportunity to use my trend forecasting skills to create new products and colors each season.

So, let’s dive into that!

Fall 2014 is all about the new nude. But before you panic this doesn’t mean you will be wandering around wearing nothing but moisturizer and Chapstick. It’s more about blending and fading certain features, while subtly enhancing others. Features are stained and blurred around the edges, softened and enlarged.

Skin is about invisibility this season. You want it to just…disappear. Using a concealer that truly matches your skin tone, dot and blend in any blemishes, unevenness, dark spots, etc. Then cover everything in sheer matte foundation. Skin should not be a “thing.” There was almost no blush on the runways, but if you feel totally terrified by the concept, run a light bronzer over your whole face with a big, soft brush. No contouring, cheaters!

Next, you’ll want to choose a feature to play with. Eyes? Lips? Brows? Pick just ONE, and go subtle on everything else. For example, if you’re going for a lip, you might want to use a soft pink pearl on your eye lids, a tiny touch of mascara, and a little black eye liner only on your inner waterline, then go for a big, stained berry or wine lip that comes right out to the edge of the lips. Apply lip stain more heavily right in the center of your lips, creating a lust-worthy pout.

Brows are huge in every sense of the word. Let’s blame Cara Delevingne. Personally, I am cursed with patchy brows from my over-plucking punk days, but a little brown pencil, and I’m back in the brow game. Pencil in your brows one shade lighter than you think - strong brows mean Brooke Shields, not Frida Kahlo….Use a clear brow gel to rough up brows and make them “messy.”

Eyes this season are easier than ever to do well. Soft metallics are the order of the day, and although we are talking fall, there is a strong trend for pastels. Try a wash of metallic shadow or powder over your entire eyelid, and around your under-eye as well, then go back in with a good, smudgy black liner and heavily line your upper and inner waterlines. Next, gently rub your eyes, (like you’re tired), and behold your new “I woke up like this” sexy eye. Add a heavy dose of black mascara on upper lashes only.

Whatever you wear this fall, make it feel like you. Add your twist or favorite technique to the mix. Make up should enhance your beauty, not hide your lovely face!

XOXO Nonie Creme

Nail Polish Without The Noxious Fumes, Oh Yeah

Check out Scotch Naturals nail polish -- the line of 30 “intoxicating” colors is eco-friendly and free of the chemicals that cause that 'I’m-getting-an-unwanted-high' nail polish smell. 

Colors like Velvet Kilt, Highland Mist, and Macbeth’s Dream (yes, Scotch really is Scotch) will cost you $14.99 — a small price to pay for the brain cells you’ll save by not inhaling chemical craziness.

Scotch also makes nail polish remover for $11.99, which can be an even worse culprit than the polish itself.

Avril Lavigne Inks Deal With Sally Hansen

While Avril Lavigne is perhaps best known as a singer and songwriter, she is quickly building brands in both the fashion and beauty worlds. The latest: a deal with Coty division Sally Hansen, which had the 27-year-old create a nail collection for its Salon Effects brand.

Launching globally in April, the limited edition collection includes 12 designs of nail polish strips — including tiny skulls and leopard prints, Lavigne’s favorites — which are inspired by Lavigne’s style and music. Each $9.99 kit includes 16 nail-polish strips, a cuticle stick, a mini-file and buffer and instructions for at-home application. 

“This is pretty much the coolest thing, because I also do clothing — I love clothing, nails and fragrance, hair, makeup, all that stuff,” said Lavigne during an exclusive phone interview with WWD Wednesday afternoon. “I was really excited about the Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips — especially since they’re superquick. You clean your nails, peel the strips and apply them, file and go. I’m superfast at it, so it takes me like five minutes to do my nails. And it’s supercool because the designs that I came up with are my personal style and vibe — they’re rock ’n’ roll and fun and bright and colorful. You have sparkles and little stars — they are cute. For me, I’ll be flying on a plane and be like, ‘Sh--, I need to do my nails.’ I can do these on a plane; I’ve done them in the car.

“I’m a really visual person; I like creating, and I love to have fun with colors,” she continued. “I think this offers self-expression, and it’s a really smart, versatile way to show your style. I think my fans will really like it, because it’s easy and simple and fun.”

“Avril is a pop music icon, but she has also become a fashion inspiration, known worldwide for her edgy, yet feminine style,” said Steve Mormoris, senior vice president of global marketing for Coty Beauty. “We believe this new collection will appeal to Avril fans and trendsetters alike.” Added Annette Devita, vice president of marketing for Sally Hansen: “She appeals to a younger generation of girls, which makes her a perfect fit for Salon Effects.”

While Devita declined to comment on the collection’s projected sales, industry sources estimated that the limited edition collection would do about $7 million at retail in its time on counter. In the U.S., it will be available in about 25,000 mass market doors. Print advertising will launch in May fashion, beauty and lifestyle magazines, and the lineup will also be promoted via social media, including Lavigne’s Facebook fan page, which has 28.5 million fans, and her Twitter feed, which boasts nearly 3.7 million followers. “I love to use social media to talk about the things I’m doing and connect with the fans,” Lavigne said. “I want to let them all know about this, and tell them to check it out.”

Lavigne isn’t new to the beauty game: She has also created three women’s fragrances with Procter & Gamble Prestige Products: Black Star, Forbidden Rose and Wild Rose. All are sold globally; in the U.S., they are available at Kohl’s. 

In fact, Lavigne said she enjoys the beauty category so much that she could see entering additional categories — although she noted no deals are imminent. “I think it would be cool to do hair color,” said Lavigne, who enjoys adding bright-hued streaks to her blonde hair.

Lavigne’s Abbey Dawn fashion line, founded in 2008, is also growing — both in the U.S., where it is sold at Kohl’s, and globally. “Spring 2012 is a full lifestyle collection — we have footwear, eyewear, swimwear, bags and men’s clothing [as well as women’s clothing],” said Lavigne. “Having the nails is great because it kind of completes it all.”

She acknowledged that there’s a lot on her plate, but said she believes that each project ties into her larger message of encouraging others to express themselves. “Obviously I’m here because of my music, and obviously I’m designing clothing, but fashion is a really big part of what I do,” she said. “So to be doing nails, visually, it totally goes in with everything — my personal style. It all is related.”

The entertainer also now runs the Avril Lavigne Foundation, which does work with sick and disabled children. This past year, Lavigne worked with Easter Seals to create the Avril Lavigne Rockstar Club at Easter Seals, a program to inspire, create and support recreation programs for kids with disabilities. Lavigne noted that her foundation’s mission is summed up in the acronym ROCKS — respect, opportunity, choices, knowledge and strength. “I’ve had the chance to do a lot of charity work over the years, and I wanted to take [my involvement] to the next level with my own foundation,” she noted. “Getting involved with kids that are sick and disabled was close to my heart. I look forward to doing more to help people out.”

As far as her primary career — music — goes, Lavigne is wrapping up her Black Star tour supporting her “Goodbye Lullaby” album with an Asian leg in early February. She then will turn her full attention to her new studio album. Lavigne kept mum about the song topics, but noted that she’s “pretty far into” the recording process. “It’s turning out to be a fun record,” she said. 

She turned animated, however, when she discussed working again with Antonio “L.A.” Reid, who signed Lavigne to her first record contract, at Arista. She has just moved labels to Epic Records, which Reid now heads up.

“L.A. Reid is the man,” she said with emphasis. “My experience was he signed me, he believed in me, he got me. He always gave me my freedom to be who I was, to make the type of record I wanted to. On my first album, I was so young — I was 16 when I was making it. Everyone figured that people would write songs for me, and I was like, ‘No, I want to write my own music.’ It was so different from anything that was out there. L.A. was like, ‘She’s onto something. Just let her do her thing.’ So it was great. Later on down the road we got separated when he moved to another record company, and other people came in and took over. It was difficult for me, especially on my last record, working with all these random people that really didn’t even understand me at the record company. And now I get to be back with him, and it’s exciting again. I’m totally reinspired. When you’re writing and creating, you can’t have these businesspeople come in and try to be all business. [L.A.] finds a balance between business and creative, and he’s really good at not making it weird or interfering in the creative process.”

All in all, said Lavigne, she’s excited to face the future. “There are a lot of major changes going on in my career. There’s a lot of fresh energy around me,” she said.


From WWD, by Julie Naughton

Hard Candy Pops into Wal-Mart

It's official. Hard Candy has found a new cozy home at Wal-Mart. You may recall that the uber-edgy brand was originally launched in 1995 as a line of car-paint inspired nail polishes by young USC pre-med student-turned-entrepreneur Dineh Mohajer, who decided to mix her own polish to match her platform sandals. Hard Candy reached mega stardom when Alicia Silverstone donned 'Sky' (light blue) during her guest appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman. The brand was sold to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in 1999 and was sold again to Falic Fashion Group three years later.

More recently, Falic inked a deal with NuWorld Beauty, marketers of the mary-kateandashley beauty line at Wal-Mart. From there, steps toward entry into Wal-Mart began. The new line encompasses 261 items including shimmer lip glosses, baked eye shadow duos, glitter liquid eyeliner, volumizing mascara and eyeliner pencils that double as hair sticks. Pricing is about $7 an item. The line will debut in 3,000 Wal-Mart doors come September.