Pigment
M.A.C Pigment, £14.68
A ridiculously concentrated loose powder (warning: don’t spill it), MAC Pigment is designed to be blended with nearly any product – even nail polish – to create an infinite amount of options.
Ashley Ward loves using it to customise lip colours, and she often mixes a bit of glittering M.A.C Pigment with Sisley Confort Extreme, £59 to create a shimmering body cream. But it’s her party eye make-up trick that’s most spectacular: ‘Run Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick SPF 15, £17 over your lids in any shape you like, and then use a small, rounded eyeshadow brush to apply the M.A.C Pigment over it. (Use a big powder brush to sweep off any excess.) The powder will adhere smoothly to your lid and last for hours.’
Powder Blush
Revlon Matte Powder Blush, £7.33
It’s going to take more than your basic matte lipstick to get a velvety, pillow-y mouth. Make-up artist Gucci Westman relies on blush to give lips that plush, film star appeal.
‘Lipstick alone can look too, well, lipstick-y,’ she says. ‘But if you apply a powder blush over your lipstick, it gives your lips a pretty, matte finish and even makes them look bigger.’
Westman originally pulled this stunt on a high-profile fashion spread with Keira Knightley, dabbing red powder atop her red lipstick. ‘It gave Keira’s lips the most gorgeous texture and added intensity.’
Cotton Buds
Muji Cotton Buds, £1.95
Make-up artist Ashley Ward, who often works with ELLE (she did our recent Sienna Miller and Courtney Love covers) always shows up on set with her Muji Cotton Buds. The Japanese brand’s swabs are too hard for babies’ ears, but their eraser-like tips are perfect for creating graphic eye make-up looks.
‘After applying your shadow, dip the end of the cotton swab into eye make-up remover. Then draw it through the shadow to create a strict outline in any shape you want,’ says Ward. ‘It’s impossible to get a sharp outline with your fingertip, because it’s rounded.’
Finish by using a clean cotton swab—freshly soaked in eye make-up remover—to ‘erase’ the excess shadow outside of the outline. The result: perfectly shaped eye make-up. (This looks especially striking when using dark or bright shadows.)
Nail Cream
Dior Crème Abricot Nail Cream, £15
One of Dior’s most coveted products just happens to be one of the brand’s least promoted. (You may have to ask your friendly Dior salesperson to fetch the oft-hidden cream from the cabinet.) Though this little gem is technically for nails, its hydrating formula and opaque, peachy hue have artists convinced it’s a dream of a lip colour. Make-up artist Kristofer Buckle uses it on Jennifer Lopez and Lindsay Lohan for that summery, 70s pout.
Face Cream
Feeling inspired? Stock up on some of these make-up artists faves:
Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream, £22
No self-respecting make-up artist would dare be without it. Whipped up in 1930, this skin protectant’s balmy finish blends beautifully with nearly every product you can mix it with, creating a lustrous, high-gloss pigment. Layer it under or over your shadow or blush for that sexy/artsy effect typically reserved for high fashion ads.
Break all the rules
‘By taking an artistic approach to make-up, you’ll get the most unique, flattering effect,’ says Brooke. ‘Think haute couture versus off-the-rack.’
This artistic spirit is in the air among non-professionals, too. The recent proliferation of beauty bloggers and YouTube artists have turned us all into amateur experts, widening our repertoires and pumping us up with confidence. And thank goodness for that. Talent aside, if there’s one attribute that marks the best artists, it’s fearlessness.
In fact, the only thing to be scared of is getting stuck in a make-up rut. ‘The first thing I tell women is to experiment, break all the rules,’ says de Mey. ‘The more you play around with your make-up, the more likely you are to find a look that is beautifully, uniquely you.’ It’s true – how are we ever going to find out that yellow eye shadow makes our eyes look twice as bright or using cream blush on our lips delivers the extra plumpness we’ve always wanted if we don’t think outside the (beauty) box?
With so many great products and an abundance of information at our fingertips, there’s never been a better time to grab your make-up bag, sit in front of the mirror, and have a play. And if it feels a bit like you’re doing a school art project, well done – you’ve nailed it.
Groundhog Day
If every morning feels like Groundhog Day – foundation, mascara, lipstick, repeat – prepare for a massive make-up shake up.
Today, make-up artists and style makers are boldly going where most women haven’t (yet), sweeping gloss over lids, tapping blush onto lips and mixing creams with powders, breaking out of that tired, use-as-directed approach.
‘Think of products as tools,’ says Aaron de Mey, New York-based make-up artist and the artistic director for Lancôme. ‘Don’t take them so literally.’
But it’s a concept that can take some getting used to. Even the most seasoned beauty editors positioned Lancôme’s Color Fever Gloss in Piha Black as an edgy, try-it-if-you-dare shade, but de Mey never intended the coal-coloured gloss to be dangerous. Instead, he casually layers it over brighter lipsticks to add depth and dabs it onto lids to create ‘that glossy, smoky, Greta Garbo look.’
Like de Mey, make-up artist Dick Page rarely takes a product at face value. Though he invents gorgeous colours for Shiseido, he still mixes shadows together to create the sort that you just can’t get in a pot. ‘I like the depth that layering gives,’ he says.
And for this year’s infamous Madonna-meets-Jesus W magazine shoot, it was make-up artist Gina Brooke’s concoction of Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil and cream shadow that was the look Madonna wanted throughout.
But with the world’s most amazing products at their fingertips – and right now, make-up formulations really are more amazing than ever – why are high-profile artists inventing new uses for the make-up they already have?
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