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| Photography by Lucas Seidenfaden |
She can make up a face in less than six minutes (and that’s including smoky eyes). Her secret? “I know what the products do, what they mean, how to put them on. It’s like painting by numbers”. So when Lan Nguyen, head make-up artist backstage at VFS, gives out tips for speedy morning rituals, I’d advise you to listen up. Here, she shares
her Spring Summer 2012 make-up bag essentials from The Body Shop and explains how to get the best from each product.
Radiant Highlighter – This has been so popular backstage. It gives a really dewy look with very little effort, and works across a range of skin tones. You can use it all over your face for a really fresh and pearlescent look, and it creates a really natural shadow with a need for bronzing and cheek colours.
Liquid Eyeliner – This has a really soft and blendable brush, which means that you can create a whole smoky eye with one product. It’s easy to draw with, and easy to clean off as well. This is one of the secret Body Shop products that no one knows about. I’ve been using it since I was 11, but I discovered it for myself!
Eye Shimmer – This works really well in conjunction with the Liquid Liner. They change colour as you blend them in, and become almost metallic. If you work really quickly with them you can create an incredible range of tones and effects. We actually used the Eye Shimmers to create the make-up looks for A La Disposition, and it looked really strong on the catwalk.
Lightening Touch – Put a few dots around your eye and blend in with a brush. The colours are very good – not too pink, not too yellow. It works really well from day to day, as it treats skin really softly.
Extra Virgin Minerals Compact Foundation – This works really well for evening, as it gives a slightly more coverage but still glides onto the skin. The Virgin Minerals range contains extra virgin olive oil so offers a professional matte finish. If you have slightly more porous skin, this work really well in conjunction with a primer.
Baked-To-Last Blush – These are two tone, the peach gives a little more of a kick. It’s all about how you use your brush with this product – lay it across the top so you get the subtle light dark effect contoured onto your skin. It makes the make-up process so much quicker.
Honey Bronze Shimmering Dry Oil – A fairly new product that’s been getting a lot of attention. It just adds a subtle tint and a hint of shimmer, isn’t too heavy and doesn’t rub off on your clothes (always important at the shows!) It’s a great alternative to bronzer, and can be used on the face and the body.
Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder – This doesn’t contain any glitter, so has a delicate but matte finish and blends into your natural skin tone. We’ve also been using this backstage for contouring on the face.
Natural Lip Roll On – Rollerball application that’s great for using over lipstick. Keeps lips soft and is made with all natural ingredients. I’d recommend this for Winter too!
Text: Victoria Loomes