Episode 31: The Supermodel Glam

Every makeup artist has an era that shaped them. Mine is the nineties. Karen Mulder, Cindy Crawford, Yasmin Le Bon, Naomi, Christy Turlington on the wall, Versace in his heyday, girls stomping down the runway doing a lot of their own makeup between shows. That’s the world I grew up in, and it’s the world I brought into the studio for Episode 31 of Makeup Live.

My model was Nikki Marcy, who genuinely has that straight-off-a-nineties-Cosmopolitan-cover bone structure. The brief: one look, full supermodel glam, neutrals throughout. And at the centre of it, a quiet claim that carried the whole session. The 703 My Smooth & Perfect handled the entire complexion without me reaching for a second brush.

Here’s how the look came together.

Prepping the skin

Before any product touched the face, I exfoliated with the Paula’s Choice 2% PHA Liquid Exfoliant, followed by the All Even Eye Cream around the eye area and a light layer of the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial moisturiser to let everything settle and bounce back. On the lips I used a treatment balm I picked up in Japan called Oh Baby. Lightweight, silky, not petroleum-based, and it plumps the lips properly before any colour goes near them.

The lashes were already on before the live started. I chose a wispy, separated, fairly natural set, the kind that gives an open eye with a soft corner rather than taking the whole lid over. In the nineties references, lashes were never the main event. The blending on a nineties eye is subtle and delicate, so a heavy dramatic lash would have fought against everything that came after.

Brows before base, a first for me

Someone suggested doing the brow before the rest of the face, and I gave it a go on air. When you think nineties supermodel, you think brows. Long, arched, lifted, with real presence. Not the pencil-thin over-plucked arch of one end of the decade, but the elongated, slightly fierce shape that opens up the corner of the eye and makes everything you do afterwards read as more lifted.

I started with the Rare Beauty Brow Pencil in Cool Brown to lay down depth and shape, then went over it with a cool-toned brown-and-grey mix from a Makeup by Mario palette using the MYKITCO 401 - MY GROOMED BROW. The technique is about ignoring where the natural brow wants to take you. Start at the outer arch, lift and elongate rather than bringing the brow down, and use the pencil first for depth before laying eyeshadow over the top for a softer, more opaque finish. Any stray hairs outside the new shape got concealed away, or pressed down with a touch of glue stick first if needed.

A lot of that brow philosophy goes back to my years assisting Charlotte Tilbury on shows. Long, lifted, slightly fierce, opening up the corner of the eye so everything you do afterwards reads as more lifted. Once I was happy with the shape, I set it with BrowAid’s Brow Tox, my go-to for a long time because it doesn’t flake or go crunchy.

The complexion: one brush, the whole face

This is where Episode 31 made its point.

I reached for the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer, because what would the nineties be without a nod to Kevyn Aucoin, whose books on structure and contouring shaped a generation of artists before anyone had even heard the word “baking.” The Sensual Skin Enhancer is foundation and concealer in one rich, creamy pot. The coverage is enormous, but it stays malleable. You can play with it on the skin for ages before it sets, which is exactly what you want when you’re sculpting.

And then the brush that did everything: the 703 - MY SMOOTH & PERFECT .

I used the flat angled side for a full foundation pass across the skin, priming the brush with a touch of leftover moisturiser to get that creamy, real-skin finish. Then I flipped to the rounded fingertip side for concealing, mixing shades SX03 and SX09 to balance the warmer and cooler tones across Nikki’s complexion. Under the eyes, I placed the product deliberately bright, a modern nod to how those runway girls were seriously bright under the eye, without going full nineties theatrical.

Still the same brush. I flipped the 703 - MY SMOOTH & PERFECT upside down and let the fibres find Nikki’s cheekbone naturally, bouncing a cool taupe cream colour fluid from Hindash along the edge to sculpt the face. Definition without a hard line, just a little bounce up against the cheekbone that gave instant structure.

Foundation. Concealing. Sculpting. One brush, start to finish. As I said on air: in a pinch, this is the only brush you’d need. It’s the only brush I take on holiday.

One thing worth flagging: the Sensual Skin Enhancer is stunning on well-prepped or naturally hydrated skin, but it isn’t the most forgiving on drier or more textured skin. I was honest about that on the live. If the eye area is dehydrated, reach for a different concealer. But when you can use it, use it.

Setting and sculpting the skin

To set, I chose the Laura Mercier Setting Powder in Rose rather than the classic translucent, specifically to add brightness rather than just locking things down. I applied it with the MYKITCO Galore powder puffs, made with Japanese velvet so you’re pressing powder into the skin rather than dragging it, for that soft blurred finish.

For the deeper contour I reached for an Etude House contour palette, a cool-toned Korean formula on the fairer side of bronzing that sat perfectly in the nineties world. I buffed it in with the MYKITCO 171 - MY CLASSIC CONTOUR, a staple in my kit since the brand started ten years ago, for an airbrushed powder finish. The tone was deliberately cool, almost grey-taupe, because those iconic nineties show images were shot under hard, blue-toned tungsten lighting, and the contouring had to be cooler and heavier to read under those lights. That cooler undertone is a big part of what makes this look read as nineties rather than modern.

Blush was a cool-toned pink from Kevyn Aucoin, placed more on the apple of the cheek than up on the temple. That lower placement is a small but important detail. It instantly reads more nineties than the high, lifted blush placement we’re used to seeing now.

The eyes: sculpted, not heavy

The temptation with any decade throwback is to go bigger than the references actually show. Nineties eyes were sculpted, yes, but soft rather than heavy. I started by laying a lighter shade from the Makeup by Mario palette across the lid with the MYKITCO 226 - MY TAPERED BLENDER, neutralising the lid first so that everything I built on top enhanced the natural shape of the eye rather than fighting it. A highlight along the brow arch with the MYKITCO 201 - MY SMOOTHING SHADOW followed, framing the brow work I’d already done.

For the sculpting, I reached for two new mineralised eyeshadow bases from Saie, Panna Cotta and Cannoli, blended with the MYKITCO 240 - MY FLUFFY CREASE . It’s small enough to give definition on a smaller or hooded eye without swallowing the lid, and dense enough to sculpt with a little pressure. I set myself a challenge on air to get through the whole eye with zero fallout and no touch-ups, and it came down to loading the brush properly and matching it to the right product.

The deeper shade, Cannoli, went into the outer corner and along the lower lash line with the MYKITCO 251 - MY SOFT SMUDGE, with a deliberate gap of light left between the upper and lower lid rather than blending it all into one block. Then the 253 - MY PRECISE SMUDGE, tiny and exact, lifted the inner corner with a bone shade for brightness without turning it into an eyeliner flick. That little detail, that gap of lightness, is what keeps the nineties eye looking sculpted rather than heavy.

The lip: cool, not warm

I lined with the Makeup by Mario Ultra Suede Lip Liner in Smoky Pink, a grey-toned pink, deliberately cooler than the warm toffees and peaches I’d normally reach for. That cooler undertone sat in the same world as the cool blush and cool contour, keeping the whole look anchored in the nineties rather than drifting modern. A quick tip from the session: ask your model to smile while you line. It stretches the lip and gives you a smooth, even surface to work on.

Colour on top was the Armani lipstick in shade 102, a soft nude applied with the MYKITCO 504 - MY BLURRED LIP. This brush blends liner and lipstick together rather than laying colour on top. That’s how you get a soft, pushed-in finish instead of a heavy, painted-on lip.

From the chat: your questions answered

Is it better to apply moisturiser with your hands or a brush?

Personal preference. Hands are lovely for getting to know a client’s bone structure and for a bit of facial massage if someone’s tired or you’re working with them for the first time. A clean synthetic brush works just as well and won’t absorb your product. It comes down to the moment and the client in front of you.

How do you speed up a routine that’s running two to three hours?

Set-up is everything: tools within reach, double-ended brushes doing double duty. But the real fix is practice under pressure. Put a timer on yourself doing a test run with a friend, and try to shave it down in stages rather than going fast for the first time in front of a paying client. Stress travels through the brush, so sort it out in rehearsal, not on the job.

How do you get that bright, brightened under-eye?

It’s a layering technique, not one product. Start with proper concealing at the base (the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer, in this case), set with a brightening powder rather than a flat translucent (the Laura Mercier Rose), then press it in with a velvety finishing sponge for that blurred effect.

Is it common to use eyeshadow palettes on brows?

Always has been for me. Some of my favourite brow colours are eyeshadows. I’ve had a MAC quad with Brun, Omega and a couple of others in my kit since I started out.

Want more on working with mature skin?

Head back to Episode 30, session two of three, where I go through my full approach on my mum’s skin. Different considerations, same principles.