Did Makeup Artist Kevin Aucoin Use The Same Mascara On New HSN Vendor Martha Stewart and Her Male Craft Expert For One Of His Makeover Books?

Martha Stewart’s “craft guru” Alex Perruzzi, who appeared on her HSN debut Monday, is a nice looking guy. But he was gorgeous as model Linda Evangelista.

Perruzzi was extremely close to Kevin Aucoin, who made the lad up to look exactly like the famous supermodel for one of the makeup magician’s books.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, seriously. It’s just funny to see this young man paired with prim and proper — at least in public, and discounting her jail time — Stewart.

Martha Stewart's right-hand craft guy, Alex Perruzzi, as Linda Evangelista by Kevin Aucoin

And who would expect someone from the trendy, high-fashion world of Aucoin to be demonstrating for home shopping viewers how to make paper decorations?

Aucoin, who passed away in 2002, transformed Perruzzi to look exactly like Evangelista in his book “Face Forward.” Perruzzi is a dead ringer for Linda in the book. We wish we looked that good (we happen to know that Evangelista is a fellow Taurus, by the way).

In that same book, Aucoin made up Stewart to look like Veronica Lake. Martha looks stunning, unrecognizable, a real glamour puss. We don’t know if Stewart met Perruzzi when they were posing for Aucoin.

Martha as Veronica Lake by Kevin Aucoin

Here is a story about Aucoin’s books, which talks about Perruzzi as Evangelista.

And here’s an item about Stewart’s turn on as Veronica.

We expect that Perruzzi will be the one who spends most of his time flying down to St. Petersburg to appear on HSN in the future, not Stewart.

She has a lot on her plate, including a new programming deal with Hallmark Channel.

Martha Stewart’s HSN Debut Is A Lot Less Memorable Than Liza Minnelli’s: It’s A Good Thing

HSN promoted Martha Stewart’s debut on the home shopping network with a lot of fanfare, as it did for Liza Minnelli’s debut.

Luckily for HSN, Martha did a lot better than Liza, who was barely coherent while describing her clothing and jewelry line.

Stewart, clad in an aqua shirt, has HSN’s Today’s Special Monday, a set of paper punches at $40. Years ago Stewart was on QVC, and we saw her several times. She was rather rude and unpleasant to host Kathy Levine.

In contrast, she was very warm and charming with HSN host Callie Northagen at midnight about her crafting products. She ouynthusiastically demonstrated her punches, which have several patents pending.

“I’m having so much fun here,” Stewart told Northagen.

What you can make with the TS

Our favorite quote from fawning Northagen to Stewart: “Martha, you made the glue gun what it is today.” Honey, it ain’t a cure for cancer!

And our favorite Stewart quote: “I was just going to bedazzle my butterfly.” OK, whatever floats your boat.

We guess crafters love Stewart’s kits, which you can use to make cards, frames, package decorations, etc. Since you would more likely see us try to fly to the moon than sit down and do a homemade card, it was hard for us to be enthusiastic about Stewart’s punches, glitter and paper. It’s not our thing. But the products looked good.

We were also introduced to Alex Perruzzi, who Stewart described as “our crafty guru.” He was a pleasant enough young man. We will bet dollars to donuts that following Stewart’s premiere appearances, we’ll be seeing a lot more of Perruzzi on HSN than we will of Stewart.

As Stewart admired one of the cards made with her punches, she told Perruzzi she wanted that card for her birthday, which is coming up. We know all about that Martha: Our niece Sydney has the same birthday as you, Aug. 3.

In her second hour, Stewart talked up her Cricit Cake Martha Stewart edition, which sells for $360.

So Stewart, who is from a town we spent a miserable decade in — Nutley, N.J. — did pretty well whille we were watching.

We Promise Not To Call Her An Ex-Jailbird Again, So Can We Interview Martha Stewart About Her HSN Debut?

Martha, daughter of Nutley, has HSN given you our interview request yet?

HSN Wednesday released the details of Martha Stewart’s July 19 premiere on the home shopping network.

But we’ve got more important matters on our mind. We’re wondering what’s the status of our interview request with Stewart, who hails from a town we lived in for more than a dozen years: Nutley, N.J.

Maybe a week or so ago we got a general press advisory from HSN’s outside PR firm asking if we would like to interview Stewart. This was after we broke a story about her coming to HSN, and referred to her as “an ex-jailbird” in our headline. That was very childish of us, but it is the truth. But she had paid her debt to society.

Anyway, we put in our interview request back then. Still not a peep from HSN.

The press release Wednesday says that “the business impresario and lifestyle icon will bring her expertise to HSN during a special series of shows showcasing Martha Stewart Crafts products.”

Martha, as the press release refers to her, will also be introducing the Cricut Cake Martha Stewart Crafts Edition, a cake decorating machine that you’ll never see in out kitchen. We haven’t even put our oven on since March, which was to cook a DiGiorno frozen pizza that our cheap date didn’t even want to pay for.

Stewart’s new machine, which is co-branded with Cricut Cake and Martha Stewart Crafts brands and has Martha Stewart-designed cartridges, will launch exclusively on HSN.

“Our Martha Stewart Crafts line is so innovative, that we have decided to partner with HSN to provide consumers with a new set of tools that will forever change the way they craft and create,” the icon herself said in a canned statement. “In addition, our new Martha Stewart Crafts Edition Cricut Cake machine will enable home cooks to transform the things they bake into works of art and wonder. I look forward to July 19 when we will present our unique products on HSN.”

Stewart, who once had a line on QVC, will be joined on-air on HSN will be Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia crafting expert Alex Perruzzi, who will help demonstrate the many creative items being presented throughout the day. Key items from the Martha Stewart Crafts line include the Martha Stewart Crafts Punch and Stamp Kit, Large Circle Cutter, a 24-pk Iridescent Glitter Kit, the Scoreboard Kit, Essential Tool Kit, Essential Glitter Kit, and the Essential Punch Kit.

Following Stewart’s debut in July, HSN will continue to offer customers valuable crafting tips and new innovations from her popular Martha Stewart Crafts line throughout the fall.

“We are thrilled to develop a long-term partnership with a lifestyle icon like Martha Stewart who is an inspiration to fans everywhere,” HSN CEO Mindy Grossman said in her canned statement. “We are confident Martha’s innovative products will resonate with a growing number of HSN customers who look to us as a crafting destination.”