Essence threw a party in NYC yesterday for Tyra Banks, its February cover girl. Some of her former ANTM contestants (of color) were on hand to toast their one-time mentor, along with Idris Elba (who DJed), Jay Manuel (of course), and Sam Fine (remember our interview with him last year?), and others. Pics after the jump.

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• Da Brat needs to make sure the next person she smashes in the face with a rum bottle isn't so litigious. [EUR]

• Sam Fine, makeup artist to the black stars, blogs! [SFB]

• Jada Pinkett-Smith steps behind the camera to direct The Human Contract. [SP]

• Isiah Thomas should cease and desist from sharing juicy secrets with Stephon Marbury from now on. [NYDN]

• Shut up, Shar. [People]

It's kind of hard to recommend makeup for the very wide range of skin tones black women possess, but Sam Fine was kind enough to tell me a little bit about some of his favorite products and brands, after I was done grilling him about the glamorous life of a celebrity makeup artist.

You may be surprised by how inexpensive some of his picks are. As Sam says, "Just because it's expensive doesn't mean it's going to do the job."

A few of his faves after the jump.

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It was the era of the Supermodel — you know, when they all went by their first and last names but certainly didn't need to — think Naomi, Christy, Linda — and claimed they didn't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.

New York Fashion Week shows were more glamorous (read: they weren't sponsored by Olympus or Mercedes Benz and were held in lofts, clubs, and restaurants instead of tents). And Sam Fine was behind the scenes — at Geoffrey Bean, Fernando Sanchez, Tracy Reese, Todd Oldham, Isaac Mizrahi, etc. — giving the models faces to match their designer looks or rushing from show to show with Naomi and Tyra.

It was the first half of the '90s when Sam Fine both assisted the late Kevyn Aucoin and worked the shows on his own. Those were the good ol' days… that he doesn't really want to go back to.

"It's a fun gig, but I leave it to the young at heart and the ones that really love fashion," he told Stereohyped.

And it's not like being a celebrity makeup artist, which is the the job Sam Fine graduated to when he left the fashion show world, is any less glamorous. Or that much different.

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