WHO WHAT WEAR
When Tara Crugnale needs a bohochic fix, she’ll head down to Locke Street, pop into Natalie Sexton’s shop, Sexton in the City, and say, “Natalie, I need a kimono.”
And Natalie always delivers.
It’s a staple in Crugnale’s wardrobe, the kimono. As a Hamiltonbased makeup artist who goes by the name Lipstick Quick, and manager of a M.A.C. Cosmetics store in Guelph, Crugnale says she tends to wear a lot of black. A lot.
As a matter of fact, half her closet consists of black dresses, tights, oversized sweaters and wide-legged pants. It’s what happens when wearing black clothing is a requirement for your job. But a fabulous kimono? Now, there’s a piece that brings out her style personality, which she describes as “boho with a pop of glam.”
“I’ll put a blush shoe or a blush jacket or I love rose gold … those are my signature colours,” says Crugnale of the other ways she’s spiced up an all-black outfit. “I like very natural, neutral, monochromatic type tones. I’m a minimalist. I mean, I might look a little bland sometimes, but my colour palettes aren’t eccentric. I’ll maybe put a bold lip, like I’ll wear a red lip or a hot pink lip.”
Crugnale, 39, and a mom to two boys under 10, found her calling when she was just a little girl, applying makeup to her Barbie dolls.
As she got older and started practising on friends in high school, she discovered something important about herself: when she’s focused on creating a look, when she’s immersed in her art, she is not anxious.
And that’s a big deal for someone who has struggled with Generalized Anxiety Disorder since she was a kid.
“It takes me out of my mind,” says Crugnale, who also manages her condition with exercise, meditation, yoga and healthy eating.
“’Cause I’m not thinking about whatever I’m thinking about, I’m focused on my client. Or I’m focused on creating something. Making people feel good makes me feel so much better — I love helping people, I love seeing how people feel after I’ve created that vision that they want me to do.”
Despite Crugnale’s love affair with makeup, her own makeup style tends to be more natural than overdone, her outfits more flowy than fitted.
And when wearing black is not a requirement or an option, Crugnale says she gravitates to either her signature pink or another neutral tone like the ivory sleeveless jumpsuit from Aritzia she wears here under a black floral kimono from Sexton in the City.
She accessorizes her look with blush pink Valentino Garavani Rockstud Pointy Toe Pumps and rose gold rings, a tiny heart pendant and matching stud earrings, all from Hamilton-based Modern Love Jewelry.
Most eye catching piece:
If it’s not my lips — because that’s usually what I focus on — I’d maybe “Because I wear black so much, if someone challenges me … I will go to the extreme. Once I wore a hot pink dress to a wedding and my husband was like, oh my god,” says Crugnale, who wears a Sexton in the City kimono over a sleeveless jumpsuit from Aritzia with Valentino pumps. say my rings. I’m always wearing rings. Sometimes all of my fingers have rings, sometimes two of them … because I use my hands and I talk with my hands a lot, so I think it’s rings.
Quirkiest wardrobe item:
I asked my kids what they thought, and they’re like, Mommy, your pyjamas. Because I’m always cold, I have an array of pyjamas. I have fuzzy pyjamas, character pyjamas, long nighties … but I love my pyjamas. I like being cosy.
Wardrobe must have:
Dresses. I love dresses ... I love long, flowy, backless, very boho-y … I’m not a jeans girl. I wear them but I wear dresses … I have floral, I have patterned, different materials. Some of them are silky, some are cotton.
Best purchase:
Probably these Valentino (Garavani Rockstud Pointy Toe Pump). I have three pair of Valentinos, all different shades: black, blush and then a matte black. I love them … I don’t indulge in a lot, but these are comfortable, they look great, they go with dresses, pants, jeans.
Regrets buying: Loves to shop at: Splurges on:
I buy (wool) scarves because I see people in scarves and I say, I’m going to rock a scarf. And then I try and it’s so not me … I don’t like things covering my face, I don’t like things tight around my neck … I buy them and I give them to my friends.
It depends on what I’m shopping for, so obviously black (clothes), I shop at Aritzia because they just have nice business-but-casual-dressy. I shop for all my boho-y style clothes at Sexton in the City. I like to shop local. I wear a lot of yoga, I shop at OM on Locke Street … I like places where I can get something (OK, other than Aritzia) that not everybody is going to have.
Ridding her closet of:
Faded black clothes. Because I love to hold on to things. I’ll get a piece that I love but it’s so faded, it’s almost grey and ... we can’t wear faded black (at work). Shoes. But this year I splurged on my first Louis Vuitton purse in Italy. I said, I’m going to Italy, if I don’t find a pair of Valentinos that aren’t the same (as the Rockstud Pointy Toe Pump), I’m getting a purse. It’s not really flashy, it’s actually got pink in it. It’s just a clutch and it has a strip of blush pink down the centre and it’s got a gold chain. It’s just really pretty and really simple.
Beauty item she can’t live without:
I have two: skin care because without good skin, no makeup can look good … and then lipstick. Diorsnow (face cream) and I like it because it actually helped to get rid of some sun damage that I had … I’ll use that probably eight months out of the year and I won’t cheat on it. I don’t leave my house without lipstick.
And I love MAC, don’t get me wrong, but there are quite a few new brands that have been out like Tom Ford … I’m not a lipstick snob. I’m always on the hunt for the perfect lipstick.