Mirror, Mirror . . . Makeup Helps the Looks of All

A famous TV personality is “too stingy” to pay a makeup man out of her own pocket, so she often looks “less than lovely” on the small screen.

A black superstar wears bronzer and eye makeup to enhance his “too pale” image.

And an actress famed for her great beauty looks like a “a blank canvas” before she puts her makeup on.

Jeff Jones knows about such things. He’s the man that the TV personality, the superstar and the great beauty often call when a face-saving genius is required.

Can Keep Secret

He’s young, talented and he can keep a secret. He will not tell snoopers about the personal foibles of the rich and famous with whom he’s worked. But he will confide that some of the beautiful people wouldn’t look so beautiful if they didn’t have expert help with their facades.

We all knew that, of course. But that doesn’t stop many of us from our secret belief that if only we were taller, thinner, handsomer or prettier we’d be more successful and/or popular than we are.

Hogwash, Jones says. The right clothes can make you look thinner than you are. The right makeup can make you seem pretty or handsome even if your morning mirror says that it just isn’t so.

It’s mostly a matter of grooming and special effects, he asserts.

Jones says that Michael Jackson’s eyes, for example, wouldn’t peer so soulfully from photos if they hadn’t been enhanced with eyeliner and shadow before the shot was snapped. And the singer’s skin, he reports, is usually tinted with bronzer before a photo session.

Jones is not opposed to certain kinds of makeup for men. “Caucasian men, particularly, would look better if they wore a little bronzer on their faces, especially if they highlighted their cheekbones with it,” Jones says.

Morgan Fairchild, with whom Jones has also worked, is “a wonderful person--not at all like the witch she often plays.” It’s true, she’s beautiful, he says. But she is very, very fair. And she has the same problems of all women with her coloring.

“Makeup can be troublesome for these people,” Jones says. “Without it, they look uninteresting and lifeless. With the wrong makeup, they look harsh or older than they are. Fair women should wear foundation almost exactly the same shade as their skin tone,” he advises, with the subtlest shadings at cheeks and eyes.

For Fairchild, he says, he put light brown mascara on a brush, then wiped most of it off before applying to the lashes. Eye shadows, too, were in very light shades of pink and mauve. Her lip color also was kept soft and pastel. When all of these soft tones get together on a fair skin, they have the same punctuating effect as much more pronounced makeup shades have on a more ruddy complexion.

Warm Glow

Jane Fonda, on the other hand, has a healthy, warm glow to her complexion--and blue eyes that look particularly good when enlivened by shadow tones of brown and gold.

In general, Jones says, women who don’t want to look “made up” should use very soft, natural tones to bring out their features. They should throw away the brushes that come with compact blushers “and buy a big, soft, fluffy sable brush instead.” The small brushes that come in the compacts cause blusher to go on unevenly, he says, because one needs too many strokes to apply the blusher and also because the brush quality isn’t the best.

Blush powder should not be applied directly over foundation makeup, Jones advises.

“A woman should first dust her cheeks with translucent powder, then apply the blush.” This causes the blusher to last longer, he says.

Tips for Men

Jones, a fair-haired, fair-skinned native of the San Fernando Valley, has some grooming tips for men, many of whom could look much more commanding with very little effort, Jones says.

“Fair-haired men should have their eyelashes dyed,” he advises. This gives definition and emphasis to eyes and makes lashes look thicker, he says. It’s also natural looking and long lasting. “Once it is done, you can forget about it for months.”

Men with ingrown brows should have them waxed, Jones says, referring especially to those whose brows have grown toward each other so that they meet above the nose. Men with dry skin should wear moisturizer, and those with blemished skin should get regular facials, he believes.

His main complaint about women, he says, is that many have a tendency to hang onto their long hair for too long.

Peggy Fleming and Jane Fonda are his two favorite examples.