Earlier this week I headed along to The Academy of Makeup Scotland to watch a SS16 makeup seminar with top commercial makeup artist Kat McSwein, who is also a tutor at the academy. She took us through how to create a glowy summer makeup look, gave her application tips and tricks and shared her favourite products. I feverishly wrote everything down and captured lots of images to share with you.
It was a gloriously hot and sunny day, so I went with a very casual look for the seminar with clothes that would keep me cool- my navy shirt dress is £17 from Wear All, and I also wore a handy grey back-up cardigan (£19 from Wear All), my trusty black leggings and khaki Converse-style trainers.
First Kat stressed the importance of prepping the skin really well to achieve a glowy look for summer and to keep he makeup on the skin for longer in hot weather. An intense dose of moisture is important before beginning the makeup application. She recommends Weleda Skin Food, or if you would prefer something lighter in texture, Clinique Moisture Surge to stop skin drying out.
Kat says that the key to summer skin is less is more and that you should prep the skin first with lots of thin layers. After applying the dose of moisture, she went on with a facial SPF. She says that flashback is actually not as big a problem as people make out and that it usually comes from people not
powdering properly. She says that you will definitely be fine with SPF 15 or below i.e. not a
dense sunscreen, however in hot countries you should use an SPF 30 that’s lightweight and won’t affect the look of your makeup – she loves the Shu Uemura UV Under Base Mousse for this.
She then used a primer to give the model’s skin a shine, but suggests avoiding the forehead area as you don’t want this area to look shiny. Products she loves for this are Dior Dream Skin, or
the bronzier/more golden Dior Glow Maximiser and Charlotte Tilbury Wonder
Glow. She then went on to prime the t-zone area on the model to help the makeup last longer in this often oily area. She recommends using a very small amount of the Eve Lom Primer and applying it with a brush.
Now it was time to start with the coverage! To get that natural dewy summer skin look we all aim for, she recommends a lightweight coverage such as MAC Face & Body, or the less
oily Dior Diorskin Nude which will still look creamy
with powder on top and you will also be able to buff more on top later in day with this. Kat’s tip is to take the
foundation right up under eye and onto the eye lids.
She then progressed onto concealer and said that the type you want is a highlighting concealer pen like No.7’s Instant Radiance
Concealer- it does all the good things that YSL’s Touche Eclat does (concealing and brightening) but without the flashback issue. She says it’s great for the under eye area, but that you should apply it with your own good concealer brush rather than the brush that comes attached to the pen.
Kat says that cream products last longer in the sun, so using a cream blusher &
highlighter is a good idea. Her favourite is the Stila Convertible Color in Lillium as this shade
suits everyone – I’ve swatched Lillium in a post here. She recommends applying it to the back of your hand first so that you have better control over the amount you apply. For a highlighter she loves to use the Sara Hill Luminizing Sticks & the £4 budget cream highlighter from MUA. The MUA one is shinier and the Sara Hill is more natural, so they are good for using on different areas of the face. She applies Sara Hill to the nose and cupid’s bow, and then MUA to the cheek bones
& brow bones.
She then moved onto the brows and eye makeup. For summer Kat says that it’s all about fuller, thicker, more care-free brows, so just brush the brow hairs and then apply a brow gel to keep them in place. You can go in with a pencil just to add some length to the ends too and she recommends L’oreal for this.
On the eyes, Kat began with a Laura Mercier light bronze metallic cream eye colour on the lid
and blended it out instead of using an actual eyeshadow primer. This acts as a starter colour on the lid and
as something for subsequent powders to grip on to. She then went in with a darker eyeshadow powder- Sara Hill Copper Glaze- and buffed this
into the lid up to brow bone to add depth, and smudged some round the lower
lash line too. She then applied Sara Hill Shimmering Gold on the actual lid only, before dabbing some gold Stila
Metallic Foil onto the middle of the lid for a shimmery pop- this Stila foil product also gives a summery wet look to the eye. She recommends no eyeliner for a summer look, so she just used a mascara – Guerlain’s new Maxi Lash So Volume on the top lashes only for a more natural look.
It’s now time to powder. Kat recommends the Ben Nye Translucent Powder and just patting it on. Highlighted areas though should be set with a powder highlighter such as those from Becca or The Balm’s Mary Lou Manizer as these are ‘creamy’
highlighting powders which will avoid the powdery finish that setting with a
translucent powder would give. Kat then applied a little bit of bronzer by lightly dusting it on- she
recommends using a matte one on the forehead, cheeks and t-zone, and
then a shimmery one on the temples.
Finally, she did the lips by applying Dr PawPaw balm for moisture and then MAC’s Morange lipstick with a lip brush on top. I think it looks great! Will you be trying this summer makeup look out?
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