When I started out as a makeup artist there were three things I felt I should master as soon as possible, the red lip, the smokey eye and the perfect black eye liner.
Liner for me is the ultimate classic eye makeup, it can be playfully kicked up at the corners, worn in and sexy or straight and tough looking but always makes a statement about the wearer. Getting your liner right however is a whole other subject as many of my girlfriends will agree. Here’s are my top tips and products to help you get the liner you want.

1. Make sure that your liner brush is in good condition, you won’t get a sharp line if your brush bristles are bent.
2. Tip your head backwards when looking in the mirror, this will expose your eye lid and make it easier to draw your line.
3. Choose your texture. Some people feel more comfortable with a gel or a liquid but don’t be scared to map out your liner in pencil first.
4. Keep some cotton buds handy. I love using the Muji mini cotton buds for correcting any mistakes. They are really precise and can sharpen the edge of liner that’s started to get out of control.
5. For a totally jet black lash line use an eye kohl on the upper  rim of your eye lid. MAC’s Graphblack is perfect for this as it stays put for hours.
6. I love Elizabeth Arden’s smokey eye pencil in black as it’s really soft but dry so won’t smudge too much, it’s great for sketching out a rough line.
7. I’m really in to using my Guerlain liquid liner at the moment as it has the perfect brush for creating a super fine liner thats not too over powering.
8. To make your liner really stand out set it against a beautifully creamy base.

My Liner inspirations …

This is still a real liner moment for me courtesy of Charlotte Tilbury for Louis Vuitton.

Anita Eckberg in La Dolce Vita. This liner is referenced so much backstage at the shows and I love the strength of the angle.

Blumarine – A softer take on a sharp shape. To get this black coffee eye start with a black eye Kohl inside the waterline then shape your flicks using a black gel liner and an angled brush. Soften the whole look by blending a rich brown shadow over the liner.

Jeremy Scott . This look starts with a classic 50’s flick in a liquid line with the rest of the lines following this as a guide. Use a pencil first to get your outline then when your happy with the shape go over it with a liquid or gel liner. Iv’e  got round to seeing the movie and alough I felt I was watching a feature length Gucci advert I adored every minute of it! Julie Anne Moore’s makeuo stole the show… I’m a sucker for an exaggerated 60’s eye liner!

So I’ve decided to stray from my usual upload of pictures with simple quotes to venture in to something I feel more passionate about and that is beauty trend. Last season I took part in over 20 shows at fashion week in Paris and London and was really taken by summers new take on the tan.

Gone were the oiled and bronzed beauties of Miami beach and the city chis girls of NYC didn’t get a mention either as designers took inspiration from the Sahara desert. I find that skin texture changes so much with each season and this season skin has a matte but healthy look. Imagine a tan that is picked up naturally as if you were walking along the beach rather than baking on the sun lounger. I’m a bit of a bronzer junkie and I’m always looking for new products for my kit. At the moment I’m using a mixture of Nars bronzer in Laguna which a client of mine introduced me too and an (annoyingly) discontinued Tom Ford for Estee Lauder bronzer. I find that Flat toned powders with little red pigment give the most flattering look on the skin and keep everything Sepia toned.

I really like this shot of the Sahara. It has all of the key tones for my makeup palette for the season, I find that yellow sand shades are quite hard to find in eye shadow forms so have been mixing a lot of my own shades with creams which sit on the skin beautifully.

Creating this tan for the shows was tricky as we needed to give the girls an all over deep honey tone without looking too over done. My favorite product was MAC face and body in C6 which looks like real skin. I find it best applied with your hands and massaged in just like a moisturizer.

The secret to this desert tan is keeping your skin demi matte (not shiny and not dry looking) definitely use powder where needed ie around the nose and forehead but leave your cheeks natural.

I love the shot from Italian Vogue as her skin looks really tanned but sitll healthy.

Another shot from Itaian Vogue.

I worked on the Balmain show last season and Tom Peauchaux wanted  the girls to look healthy and beachy but not contrived, almost like nomadic surfer girls. I loved his reference for the show. We created the look by using a toasted brown cream shadow around the eye which made the whites of the eye really bright. The skin was made a honey tone with face and body in C5 or C6 and we slightly masked the natural lip colour with MAC Siss lipstick. The girls looked effortlessly cool.