spotlight on

when art meets make-up

Make-up: Hiromi Ueda. Images: Drew Vickers. Words: Grace Gargini

From fantastical makeovers to agenda-setting transformations, the role of the make-up artist is more creatively charged than ever before. In collaboration with leading Photographer Drew Vickers and Make-up Artist Hiromi Ueda (her versatile work has featured in the likes of Vogue, AnOther and Love, to name a few), we explore the true artistry of make-up and ask what’s next for the beauty creatives of today.

spotlight on

WHEN ART MEETS MAKE-UP

Make-up: Hiromi Ueda. Images: Drew Vickers. Words: Grace Gargini

The face has become a canvas for some of today’s most celebrated make-up artists, whose transformative skills reveal that beauty’s relationship with the worlds of art and design is perhaps closer than you might think. These days, runway make-up looks can garner as much press as the clothes the models are wearing, and make-up artists draw on unexpected influences to create their most artistic looks, as with Hiromi Ueda, who takes her inspiration straight from gallery walls.

Many of my looks are inspired by the mood of a painting in the National Gallery, or a colour combination I see in smaller galleries that I work into my sketches.

– Hiromi Ueda

MAC foundation / Laura Mercier concealer / Tom Ford eye quad (Pretty Baby) / MAC mascara / Pat Mcgrath Labs LuxeTrance lipstick (Major Red) / MAC Clear Lipglass

Skin as before / Dior Nude Skin Luminizer / Anastasia Beverly Hills brows / MAC mascara / Tom Ford eye-shadow (Infrared) / Pat Mcgrath Labs lipstick (Obsessed!) / NARS lip pencil (Red Square) / Dior Lip

There is no truer display of make-up at its most artistic than the attention-grabbing creations found at Fashion Week. From eccentric head-to-toe rhinestones, feathers, flowers (you name it) to the ‘barely-there’ skin-focused looks that require undetectable precision – this is where future beauty trends are born. But, in reality, many of us won’t be wearing a four-step gothic eye and blue lip look to work, so how do these avant-garde runway looks translate into our everyday? It’s all about taking one element from a particular look and mixing that into your routine, says Hiromi.

If something from the fashion runways has caught your eye, use a particular colour or texture from the look and apply it in a pared-down way. That way, your make-up looks fresh and modern while still keeping it appropriate for the real world.

– Hiromi Ueda

Skin as before / Benefit eyeliner (Blue) / Tom Ford eye-defining pen / Illamasqua eye shadow (Burst) (coming soon)

With this in mind, Hiromi advises identifying a trend or area to focus on and then go from there. If you opt for bold lips (we’re very much enjoying a glam ‘80s gloss right now), keep the skin simple and eyes low-key. If your focus is on the eyes, try a single wash of colour that you wouldn’t ordinarily wear all over the eyelid.

Left: As before / Right: Skin, as before / Tom Ford eye-defining pen / MAC eyeshadows (Flame-boyant) / Tom Ford eye quad (Honeymoon & Suspicion)

Of course, your choice of product and tools are key. To quote the make-up master Kevyn Aucoin: “No matter how artistic a person is, without quality tools and products even a genius like Michelangelo would not have been able to paint the Sistine Chapel.” Luckily for us, the textures, shades and technologies of today are more sophisticated and inclusive than ever before, so it’s about buying smart rather than in excess.

But in this fast-paced, increasingly digitised world, is the value of true make-up artistry being diluted? People are now more informed than ever before thanks to social media and the millions of hauls, reviews and tutorials on YouTube. For Hiromi, these developments can only be seen as a positive thing for the beauty community: “Social media has had such an impact on the beauty industry. The minute you post something, it goes all over the world. Growing up, I remember reading about how to apply make-up in the magazines; now it’s so easy to find information and techniques online, instantly.”

I find the beauty community on social media fascinating. People spend hours at home creating a look, just to post an image. It’s an entirely new reason to wear make-up.

– Hiromi Ueda

Skin as before / NARS bronzer / MAC Studio Fix contour / Tom Ford Shade & Illuminate / Anastasia Beverly Hills brows / Tom Ford Eye Colour Quad

Skin as before / NARS eye shadow (Hardwired, Ecstasy, Lunar) / GUCCI lipstick (504) / Dior Skin Nude Luminizer

With the pressures of creating online-first, fast-paced content – not to mention the rising trend of AR in the beauty sphere – we can’t help but question what lies ahead for the industry, and the creatives that work within it. Even the most artful of make-up artists is now challenged with a speed of production to rival that of Mr Warhol (while keeping up the high glamour, à la the Studio 54 set, naturally). Hiromi explains: “When I first started out, we used to have days to develop looks but now we are developing and executing all in the same day. I have to be innovative, on the spot. What’s amazing now is that you get to see the work in real-time as most photographers shoot digitally so I can make changes instantly – and the work gets published faster so it feels fresh and relevant.”

The new AR technology in stores is a lot of fun. It doesn’t replace physically trying a product and seeing how it feels and looks in person, but it’s a great way to try something you wouldn’t ordinarily pick up.

– Hiromi Ueda

Make-up artists’ ability to adapt to dramatic changes in the industry always seems to come back to the artistry itself – but with a need to be more agile and creative than ever before. Thankfully, this is how some of the most exciting and boundary-breaking work begins, as make-up artists take on new mediums and ways of working to create their next masterpieces.