May 24th, 2011-NARS Cosmetics, Inc. celebrated the launch of Founder & Creative Director François Nars’ newest beauty book Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself at Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Theater in New York City.

L to R: François Nars, Grace Coddington the creative director of American Vogue magazine, fashion designer Calvin Klein

François Nars was joined by subjects from the book, as well as Martha Stewart, Alexa Chung, Lake Bell, Tinsley Mortimer, Calvin Klein, Anna Sui, Patti Wilson, Simon Doonan, Grace Coddington, Fern Mallis, Louis Desazars, Carol Alt, Jane Holzer, Shenae Grimes, Becka Diamond, Sarah Sophie Flicker, Erin Fetherston, Byrdie Bell, Topaz Page-Green, Zani Gugelmann, Lily Rabe, Amanda Lepore, Mick Rock, Richie Rich…

Elise Øverland, Keenan Singh, Eddie Borgo, Mickey Boardman, Bonnie Morrison, June Ambrose, Kate Young, Eric Thal, Tao Okamoto, Alana Zimmer, Ginta Lapina, Britt Maren, Jeremy Kost, Linda Vojtova, Jamie Wise, Tenessee Thomas, Thom Filicia, Andrew Bevan, Mandy Coon, and French DJs Les Jumeaux.

L to R: Alexa Chung and François Nars

L to R: François Nars and Martha Stewart

L to R: François Nars and Tinsley Mortimer

L to R: fashion designer Anna Sui and François Nars

French DJs Les Jumeaux

In addition, NARS created the beauty looks for Alexa Chung, Tinsley Mortimer, Becka Diamond, Sarah Sophie Flicker, Topaz Page-Green, and Lily Rabe.

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet was transformed into a beautiful, open gallery-esque setting in order to showcase selected before-and-after portraits from the book, all photographed by François Nars. Animated portrait walls displayed selected subjects’ before-and-after shots, looping a virtual acetate overlay to detail the transformation. Music was courtesy of French DJs Les Jumeaux, a favorite of François’ and the fashion industry, who create the music for Ritz Bar and Montaigne Market in Paris. The NARS boutique in the West Village plays an exclusive music mix created by Les Jumeaux twins Anthony and Adrien.

Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself, the ultimate beauty manual, turns the lens on real women and men of differing ages and ethnicities, bringing together makeup-application instruction and vivid portraits of “before” and “after” images with overlaid acetate diagrams. To complement the launch of the book, NARS recently unveiled www.makeupyourmind.com, a community website that encourages fans (you) of the brand to recreate looks from the book and upload their images for the chance to win a trip backstage with the brand at New York Fashion Week.

NARS Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself Launch Party

IMAGE CREDIT: © 2011 DAVID X PRUTTING & NEIL RASMUS/BFANYC.COM