As a make-up artist, people are forever asking me “is this foundation good?” “What foundation do you use?” “How do you get the flawless skin that you see in the magazines?” first of all, bear in mind that all of your favourite actors/singers/models are extensively airbrushed before their pictures reach the pages of magazines. With that in mind, the good news is that flawless skin can be faked, in real life as well as in photos

I’m going to take you behind the scenes of a recent shoot we did for balance life magazine, where the focus of the article was beautiful, flawless skin.

Of course, beautiful skin is as much about skin care and skin prep as it is about products. The first step is taking care of yourself – eating well, sleeping well, a good skin care routine (the usual suspects). A good cleanser and moisturiser can do wonders for your skin. I could make general recommendations here, but I wont – different things work for different people. Everyone’s skin is different, and finding the right products for you can be a long and painstaking journey, but it is so worth it in the end.

The model for the shoot was Marita (from Nemesis, Manchester) and she made my life incredibly easy – she already had great skin and had cleansed, toned and moisturised the night before the shoot. as far as skin prep for Marita, all I needed to do was moisturise her (I tend to use embryolisse as my moisturiser for shoots – it is fast working, sinks into the skin really quickly and is quite hydrating and light). in other circumstances I might need to quickly exfoliate, moisturise and use a primer – primers can be a great base for makeup to stick to and also to fill in fine lines/wrinkles, and the base will literally glide over it.

Next, I started mixing the foundation. Because Marita had such good skin already and also a few freckles (I love freckles in beauty images) I wanted to use something really light on her. I always keep foundation as light as possible where I can; I’m a firm believer that less is more. For this particular shoot, I used Kevyn Aucoin’s sensual skin enhancer foundation. Anyone who has used or seen this foundation will be sat here reading this, wondering what the hell I’m talking about – this foundation is one of the thickest, most pigmented cream foundations on the market! In fact, when you see it in the flesh, it actually looks like more of a hardcore concealer.

Every make-up artist has their weird and wonderful habits and ways of doing things – personally, I thin down foundations religiously, until there is almost nothing there, and slowly build it up depending on the coverage I want. For this, I use a professional thinner but foundation can be thinned with any good moisturiser (mixing the moisturiser/thinner in with the foundation until you have the consistency you want) – I thin every foundation down, from cream to liquid, but this is purely out of personal preference. Remember, foundations primary purpose is to even out skin tone, not to be layered on to cover all of your blemishes/imperfections (that’s what concealer is for!)

A little trick that I wrote about in the article for balance life is adding a little bit of liquid highlighter into the foundation (a little fingernail sized amount) as well. traditionally, you would use a shimmery liquid, powder or cream highlighter along the top of the cheekbones, the brow bone and anywhere you wanted highlighting – in photos more so than real life, it can give a subtle contouring effect if used in conjunction with blusher or bronzer, but adding a little mixed in with your foundation can really wake up tired and dull skin if done right. It adds a little glow and radiance, but if you use too much it can have the opposite effect and you can end up looking greasy/shiny.

Finding the right foundation match is like instinct to me now, but the tried and tested way if you’re looking for the perfect foundation for your skin tone is to test a little bit of the foundation down the jaw line, and check it in natural light – if the foundation is the correct match, it should almost sink into your skin as if it weren’t there. I also mix every foundation I use – in my kit, I carry maybe 4 or 5 different types/brands of foundation at a time using different ones depending on the look/model, but I only carry 2 or 3 colours in each foundation – a light, a dark and maybe a medium. I mix the shades according to the face, and for yellow/pink skin tones I’ll use yellow/red colour adjustors if it isn’t a perfect match already. This is true for me in real life also. I will buy two shades of my foundation of choice. The process starts with me finding a perfect match for my skin tone, then I’ll buy the same foundation a few shades lighter and then another a few shades darker, and mix them together every day. This is a particularly good idea for me because I wear fake tan, so just after I have it done my skin will obviously be darker – if I haven’t tanned for a while, I can mix a paler shade.

anyway, after the moisturiser, foundation/highlighter (a great example of which is benefit’s high beam), I lightly powdered the t zone using Make Up For Ever HD powder, as under hot studio lights, dewy skin can quickly look greasy. I avoid powdering where I can on photoshoots, but for real life I’d say a high quality non-cakey powder is paramount.

Next came blusher, and for Marita I used NARS orgasm blush – a firm favourite of make-up artists all over, and particularly those here at MAF!

Marita’s eyebrows are shaped, set and filled in using ELF’s clear mascara/brow gel and Smashbox’s brow techs.

On the eyes she has a nude shimmer powder eyeshadow. I used one from my Kevyn Aucoin compact (compact #2 in his range) but as it’s not available in the UK, I thought I’d mention that Bobbi brown makes some amazing nude palettes which are a must have for any make-up bag. then, for liner I wet my liner brush and used a pure black eyeshadow as I didn’t want the really harsh black lines which liquid and gel liners can give for this shoot (although I do love a good gel eyeliner!) and finished it off with two coats of make-up forever’s new mascara, smokey lash.

This is the final result, to see the rest of the article and images, check out a copy of balance life magazine (the October issue)

Thanks to:

Cheryl at Balance Life magazine

Phil Drinkwater photography

Marita Oakes at Nemesis Agency

by Cassie Steward

www.cassiemakeup.com