When I apply makeup I like to think of the all over beauty image and this includes making sure the entire body is perfected from top to toe. I’ve found myself many times on my hands and knees in line up at a show with the enviable job of covering models not so perfect bits. This can range from bruises and scrapes to mosquito bites, not to mention the blisters that come from four weeks of walking in sky scraping two sizes too small heels. Ears and hands need to look even too, nothing spoils an expertly made up face more than a glowing red ear and blue hands!

So I’ve been on the look out for quick fix makeup for the body for years. For me the product needs to be long wearing, easy to apply and as transfer resistant as possible . I’m also obsessed with products that add health and sheen to the skin.

Here are some of my favorites -

Nuxe dry body oil – I’ve been shooting a lot of Lingerie recently and this product works for me as it glosses the skin but is absorbed quickly so won’t stain the clothes. It comes with gold shimmer or a a clear oil, the gold works well in summer. Word of warning, the glass bottle breaks really easily and is not kit friendly!

Air Stocking silk powder spray – This is my heavy duty flawless leg fixer. I love the texture, it blends easily with fingers then dries down to a transfer resistant finish. Great for mannequin perfect legs.

Mac Mineralize powder natural – I discovered this at the winter shows where the models hands were turning purple in the line up. I use a large powder puff to buff on the powder which evens out the skin and gives a satin finish. You can use it all over the body too and use the product wet if you want more coverage.

Hei Poa oil – Technically this is a sun tan oil wit a low spf but I use this as an all over moisturizing oil that dries fast and smells delicious.

Mac face and body foundation – This is one of the most used body fixers in the industry. I like to use the warmer C tones C6, C7 all over the body for the perfect instant honey toned tan.

Working as a makeup artist I often get asked the inevitable ‘What would you do to my face’ question which I’m usually happy to answer except when I’m cornered by a group of girls at 3 am in a shared  club bathroom! . I do love helping my girlfriends out with their makeup mishaps though and have used my best girlfriend as my living Girls world head for years now. Thanks Laura!

One of the most frequent questions I’m asked is how to keep makeup feeling trend based and updated but still wearable. I’ve noticed that there has been a huge movement towards the natural colour palette in the past few years. Gone are the Aqua and citrus brights for the eyes, they’ve been replaced by browns, greys, sage and dark plums.

I’m a big fan of colour but I also realize that it can be quite tricky to get right. Naturals are  more forgiving and tend to blend better as the tones are softer. I’m still in my obsessed by toasted copper brown makeup phase at the moment and created the look below for girls to wear, feel beautiful in and  embrace the new natural trend in makeup.

Here’s how it’s done -

1). I used a sheer foundation in a tone one shade darker than the skin to add a slight sun kissed tone. I sheered it over the skin using my fingers almost as if I were applying moisturizer.

2). Next I tried an Estee Lauder bronzing powder to contour the skin. This was a new formula for me as it came in a bronzing balls pot, I admit I was a little unsure at first as I haven’t seen bronzing balls since the 80’s but they gave the face a beautifully light cinnamon tone as well a slight satin sheen. I used a large powder brush for this as I find a large brush will help avoid a patchy finish.

3). I dabbed a little cream blush in Gladiola by Stila on the apple of the cheeks with my finger tips to keep the natural flush and health in the face.

4). I started the eyes by using a large shading brush (MAC 224) and a soft brown shadow. I circled the entire eye in this shade taking it quite low underneath the lower lash line to open up the eye. Once I had the general outline of the eye a started to define around the lash line with a chocolate brown Kohl pencil. The idea being that the eye shadow goes from a lighter brown at the edge and intensifies the closer you get to the lashes.

5). I used a darker brown eye shadow to deepen the eye lid and pressed this on with a firm shadow brush to build up the intensity.

6). I decided to leave the inner waterline free from pencil as I wanted the eye to be pretty rather than too feline. I did add a set of MAC number 4 lashes to the eyes. These are gorgeous and won’t over power the eye or look false, they are very natural.

7). I wanted to pay attention to the lips and not just slick on some gloss so I defined them with a natural lip liner first then used a lipstick with a slight shimmer. To finish I applied a dab of Toffee toned lip gloss to the centre of the lips to add shine.

The Products -

I have to admit that pink on the eyes can sometimes look a bit off as it can make the eyes look sore, however I love a challenge and wanted to use this beautiful cream colour base from MAC called Pink Shock which I’d been using on the cheeks for a while.

I started by making the skin look super clean and dewy using Laura Mercier Illuminating foundation mixed with a little Strobe cream. This gave the skin a plastic-y shine (is that a real word?!) and continued the shiny finish on the cheeks using a fan brush and a white Fardel pigment.

The Pink Shock cream base works for me as it’s such a cool toned bubblegum shade, It’s really easy to apply too. I used my fingers to build up the colour on the lid then faded out the pink using a fluffly blending brush.  I wanted their to be some definition on the lashes so I used a set of MAC number 4 lashes which naturally fan out and look really natural, I only applied mascara to the root of Sophie’s natural lashes to keep the soft separation.

I wanted to play around with the colour on the lips and wanted them to clash a little with the eye. I use MAC Girl About Town lipstick which has a creamy finish and makes the teeth look brilliant white.

I’ve had a bit of a spring clean of my kit lately and I’ve shelved my bold pigments and glitters and replaced with lots of peachy nudes and pale wheat tones, there’s so much beautiful new makeup around at the moment! Inspired by my freshly edited kit I got together with one of my favorite beauty photographers  Mark Enstone  (www.markenstone.com) and Select new face Rebecca Dixon to play around with the natural side of beauty.

I stumbled across the new Ellis Faas collection whilst in Liberty. Firstly the packaging is amazing … eye shadow in high shine pen shaped applicators, yes please! I also love the ultra wearable tones and the sheerness of the finish.

I’ve also been rediscovering some old favorites again. MAC eye shadow in Era has been around for years and is a perfect biscuit tone to circle the entire eye in.

In the beauty shot I also used an inner eye pencil from a brand called Paris Berlin, I’ve not seen it outside of Paris but it’s available at the IMATS makeup show in London. I like it as it’s not too white which can yellow the eyes but still makes them look bright. I wanted the lips to look full and glossy so used MAC Cremola lip liner to define them first, I think lip liner can look beautiful as long as it’s not too over drawn. Then I filled in the lip using NARS Bambi lipstick.

All work and no play! This is hairdresser Peter Lux and I chilling in Verona before and open air concert we were working on. Hair and makeup can be very tiring!

I worked with Layla Regan and Amanda from MandP models on this beauty shot. We were playing around with textures of black in beauty and styling. I used MAC Carbon all over the lid and up through the brow with Elizabeth Arden smokey eyes pencil in black as the base colour to give it depth.