With everyone wanting to look like someone else nowadays (and subsequently, looking somewhat samey), it was refreshing to hear that the inspiration for Saorise Ronan's Baftas look was, in fact, Saorise Ronan.
'In this circus, there's a thousand references – so my reference is her,' Ronan's long-term make-up artist Karen Alder told Bazaar. 'To just look like her and capture her as her.' All hail.
The result was this enhanced but effortless beauty look; fresh glowy skin with romantic touches of pink. (Basically, the opposite of heavy Insta-glam make-up.)
'I can't stand seeing all these girls walking down the street looking like they've got sideburns of contour,' Alder told us. Ergo she's all about 'flipping the contouring' right now.
'I want to show that you can bring structure to the face without contouring.' And here's exactly how:
The Base
Her base make-up of choice for Ronan was the Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet foundation, which she used as a concealer rather than foundation. Why? 'I want to keep her looking young and so you could see her skin,' she explained.
No masks here. Also, because 'if you put highlighter over the foundation, it kills the ping!' she adds. Her theory is that if you can properly achieve a sharpness of the cheekbones with highlighter, 'then you don't have to do all that shading underneath'. Hence, 'flipping the contouring'...
Her highlighter of choice was the much-loved Glossier Haloscope in Quartz, which Alder says, 'really does sharpen the bones and give a stunning fresh glow in all the right places'. She enhanced the cheeks with Glossier's gel-cream Cloud Paint in Puff and finished with the tiniest dusting of By Terry's Hyaluronic Hydra Powder – which 'puts everything into soft focus for the cameras'. Nice to know.
The Brows
In addition to highlight, Alder believes your brows ('the coat hangers to your face') give structure that contouring can't. She used Glossier's Boy Brow in Clear and Brown. 'I love using two colours, the Clear allowed me to form little carefree tufts in all the right places and where I wanted to add a bit more drama I used the Brown.' The effect was full, beautifully groomed brows with natural-looking separation.
The Eyes
'Pinks and rusty burgundy really brings out the blue of Saoirse's eyes', Alder says, and she first used the Chanel Les 4 Ombres Multi-effect Quadra Eyeshadow in #272 to create a seamless, effortless wash of colour. 'With a wet brush, I swirled the soft pink and silver in a painterly way around her eyes and then crushed a little of the waterproof Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof eyeliner in #928 along the lash line.' The make-up artist finished with the By Terry Lash-Expert Twist Brush Mascara. 'I put the thinnest coat on', she explained, adding that 'we didn't take the mascara right down to the base of the lashes because it can close the eyes – if you start a little further away it opens them and gives a carefree, natural look.'
The Lips
Alder reached for the same product used on Ronan's cheeks for her lips, to tie the look together. 'I used Cloud Paint in Puff as a base stain for Saorise's lips,' which she packed in the actress' clutch bag for touch-ups, though we doubt it would fade fast. The seamless, sheer and buildable formula actually makes for the perfect lip product because you can finger paint it with ease (no mirror necessary) and it doesn't dry out. Try it tonight.
