STYLE / SPRING BEAUTY : BEST FACES FORWARD : Presto Change-O
Early on, they were drawn to their profession by a love of art, a fascination with the process of transformation, even the aroma of a beauty salon. Now six Los Angeles makeup artists polish the faces of those oh-so-gorgeous ones who pose for magazines, appear in commercials and decorate the movie screen. Making an actor or model more beautiful is usually easy. But what happens when they’re challenged with their own less-than-perfect features?
I’ve always been attracted to the metamorphosis of beauty--it never ceases to amaze me,” says Tena Bernard, who personally wears very little makeup (“You get kind of burned out on it”).
Come a special occasion, however, and Bernard transforms. Her moisturizer is Chanel’s Oil-Free Skin Recovery Lotion, followed by a yellow-toned concealer--”a lot of concealers add pink, which looks unnatural”--then MAC Studio Colour Sheer Foundation applied with a makeup sponge. She adds yellow highlights beneath her eyes and down the center of her nose to enhance the shallow bridge. She prefers Bobbi Brown face powders because the tones are warm enough for black skin without turning orange.
Her eyebrows are thin, so she plucks them only to create a clean line. She applies Prescriptives Eye-shadow Multiples from the yellow-orange line with a fine brush, using a light hand and a brown shade to sculpt rather than paint the brow. She highlights her eyes with a beige shade, then coats her lids with a camel-colored Bobbi Brown shadow. Throughout, she tests the colors repeatedly on the back of her hand.
On her hair, she uses a mild relaxer, a reddish-brown rinse and Artec shampoo for color-treated hair. She keeps it short--”I like tousled hair that looks like it just fell into place.”
The 31-year-old holds a degree in merchandising from Louisiana State University but prefers makeup to retailing: “I heard an inspirational speech saying that the way to be happy was to find something you enjoy doing and make money at it. For me, makeup was it.”
