Wouldn't you love to know which products the biggest makeup artists in the world use on their own faces? Well, over the past year, we've quizzed the leading beauty experts about their must-have products, tricks of the trade and makeup secrets. From Lou Teasdale to Lisa Eldridge, in our regular Inside My Makeup Bag feature, our favourite makeup artists and trend shapers share all their beauty tips. High street concealers and need-to-know hair saviours? Click on to discover your ultimate grooming shopping list and the most valuable expert advice.
If you've ever admired Sienna Miller's perfectly lined lips, Victoria Beckham's flawless eyeshadow or Anja Rubik's radiant complexion, chances are they were created by international makeup artist Wendy Rowe. Rowe has worked on the world's most famous faces for events, cover shoots and campaigns, and is also Artistic Consultant for Burberry Beauty.
Despite her incredibly busy schedule, which takes her all over the world, Rowe has found the time to share her skin expertise in a new cook book, Eat Beautiful, which contains beauty tips and over 70 simple and delicious recipes specifically created to improve your complexion.
Here, Wendy shares her favourite beauty products, expert makeup tips and her key to feeling beautiful.
Photo: Courtesy of Jem Mitchell/Caren.
Peruse Kay Montano's Instagram or website and you'll see countless famous faces that the international makeup artist has made up impeccably for fashion shoots and events – we're talking Liv Tyler, Kirsten Dunst, Eva Green, Claudia Schiffer and Nicole Kidman. But unlike her peers, Montano's channels are also filled with an array of images celebrating the diverse beauty and talent of lesser known faces.
Montano launched ThandieKay in 2013, with long-term friend and collaborator, actress Thandie Newton, a beauty blog which not only offers makeup tips and tutorials but more importantly, contributes to the necessary conversation about beauty and diversity. The duo met over a decade ago on a shoot for British Vogue, when Thandie felt for the first time that her skin colour was being celebrated with the way in which Kay used and applied products, bringing out a richness and depth to her complexion.
The pair decided to set up a website, offering women a place to be inspired by broader beauty ideals than those we typically see in the media. And boy are we thankful for ThandieKay.
We stole some time with Kay from her busy schedule in order to delve into her makeup bag, talk tricks of the trade and find out about her hero products.
Photo: Via @kaymontano.
Whether it's from her easy-to-follow, engaging beauty tutorials on YouTube, her work with Chanel, Boots No 7 and Lancôme, her debut book Face Paint: The Story of Makeup, or from the countless celebrity faces she's worked on, you've probably heard of Lisa Eldridge. If you haven't, it's time to get acquainted.
Regularly making up the faces of Emma Watson, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Lily Collins, Kate Moss and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Eldridge is the queen of enhancing natural beauty and creating flawless skin. She's also called upon by the biggest brands and publications in fashion to create bold, innovative beauty looks for editorials and campaigns.
We asked the beauty icon (who just so happens to be one of the warmest people in the biz too) to share her tips, tricks and must-have products. Welcome to makeup heaven.
Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images.
YouTube mania has swept the world, making celebrities and gurus out of ordinary people filming vlogs and tutorials from their front rooms. But some time before the new wave of social media influencers and DIY video makers existed, there was Pixiwoo, the makeup artist sister duo who set up their channel way back in 2008. Unlike many of the savvy young girls who have made a massive success from their accessible and non-expert approach to beauty, Sam Chapman is actually a trained makeup artist who was formerly part of the MAC Pro team and has since launched an international line of affordable, cruelty-free makeup brushes which swiftly became cult.
If you're ever in need of quick and easy tips on how to apply your makeup or the best products to use, Sam Chapman and her sister Nicola are your women – the two million other people who subscribe to their channel clearly concur. Word of warning: Earmark at least an hour as you'll be sucked into a beauty black hole before you know it.
We asked Sam, one of the biggest names in the beauty blogging business, to share her makeup routine, go-to products and beauty icons. Notepad at the ready...
At a time when many of the most famous makeup artists and beauty influencers are preoccupied with the Kardashian kontouring effect, strobing and Instagram-approved notions of female prettiness, Isamaya Ffrench is a breath of fresh, rebel air in the industry. The extraordinarily talented makeup artist and illustrator, whose clients include Ashley Williams, Hermes, Chanel, Selfridges, Vogue Italia and LOVE, is revered for her subversion of beauty norms and exploration of unusual ideas such as Lego faces at Agi & Sam AW15 and her sellotaped lips at Junya Watanabe SS15.
Add to that the fact that Ffrench was appointed YSL Beauté's UK makeup ambassador at the tender age of 25 last year, and it's no wonder she's often cited as one of London's most promising young creatives. Following a course specialising in 3D design at Chelsea College of Arts, Ffrench then studied product and industrial design at Central Saint Martins but her interest in makeup and its transformative qualities was in fact first explored during a teenage job painting children's faces at kids' parties.
Last month Isamaya teamed up with east London hotspot Bistrotheque to create a menu of culinary cosmetics which were presented at a star-studded six-course meal. We caught up with the beauty polymath to delve into her makeup bag and find out her favourite products and secret tips.
Photo: Isamaya Ffrench
Topshop has been our wardrobe saviour since our teenage years. It's most girls' high-street go-to, offering our every sartorial need as the one-stop destination for all things fast fashion. And since 2010 it has also been the answer to our beauty prayers, providing our makeup bags with high-quality product at low prices, all wrapped up in beautiful packaging.
Speaking of makeup bags, whose better to delve into than Hannah Murray's, the globetrotting makeup artist who has worked for everyone from Vogue Paris to i-D, Estée Lauder and Calvin Klein, as well as somehow finding the time to be Topshop's beauty consultant, making up the biggest faces in fashion for both shows and campaigns. Phew. We caught up with Hannah to find out her tips and tricks of the trade, and her most trusted items in her kit of dreams.
Hairstylist and makeup queen Lou Teasdale is the woman behind the locks of four (formerly five) of the most famous guys in the world, namely One Direction. After working on X Factor for five years, Lou left the show to become the band's official groomer – cue legions of loyal fans signing up for Loumania thanks to her constant close proximity to Harry Styles and his hair, and more importantly, her colourful and creative approach to beauty.
Last year Teasdale released her debut book The Craft, a beauty bible which features 25 DIY looks, and on moments off from working with the famous four on tour, shares short beauty tutorials on Snapchat to her dedicated followers (she has over two million on Insta). Teasdale has also worked on shoots with some of the world's biggest photographers including Patrick Demarchelier and Juergen Teller, and this year took Louis Tomlinson's younger sister Lottie under her beauty wing as her equally glamorous assistant – their selfie game is so strong.
We caught up with the grooming guru to find out her best beauty secrets, must-have makeup products and how she keeps her hair in tip-top condition.
Chances are you might already be one of the 500,000 people who follow WAH Nails' colourful Instagram, but if you haven't scrolled through the account, we strongly advise you do for the ultimate nail art-inspo and images of founder Sharmadean Reid and her equally inspiring group of friends and fellow creatives.
Reid has been making waves in London for over 10 years, since setting up a zine during her time at Central Saint Martins and assisting stylists like Nicola Formichetti. Fast-forward to now and the multi-talented 31-year-old entrepreneur runs WAH World in Hackney, has products stocked internationally in Boots, three books under her belt, and regularly gives inspiring talks on her career trajectory and on womanhood. Oh, and she also received an MBE in June for the Queen’s birthday honours.
The nail-art queen, business guru and general boss let us see inside her makeup bag and shares her best beauty tricks and tips from past and present.
You've probably seen Georgina Graham's work on the beauty and fashion pages of magazines including Vogue (Paris, China, Japan, UK, Germany, Australia and Russia FYI), The Gentlewoman, i-D and Vanity Fair. Or on the famous faces she's made up, ranging from Sophia Loren and Naomi Campbell, to Chloë Grace Moretz and Dree Hemingway.
Here, the international makeup artist lets us peer into her sacred beauty kit to find out all her must-have products, and shares her secret tips and tricks of the trade.
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