Then and Now: How I Saw Makeup

I have a love/hate relationship with makeup. I love well-applied, pretty makeup, but I’m not a fan of caked on, contoured makeup. One of my all-time favorite shoots was a six-page spread in American Vogue with the model Tatjana Patitz, shot by Wayne Maser with Andrea Johnson (the beauty editor at the time). Since I was a freelance artist at the time, this shoot was a really big deal.

I started with a soft natural look – now known as nude – then tried a brightened up orange-brown and went from there. What I was, and still am, most smitten with is Tatjana’s skin. The foundation was strategically applied to even out her skin, but not visibly. It’s a look that is more modern today than it was then.

I also still adore the Allure cover with Brigitte Hall. Her freckles are everything! Again, it’s the no-foundation foundation look. The foundation is covering just what it has to, but still sheer where it can be. I love the stained cheeks and lips as well as the defined but natural eye and softly filled in brows.

To me, this makeup is not the easiest to teach others to do – but it’s totally organic for me (and truthfully how I still do makeup). And it’s something that is still missing in today’s makeup market.