It’s not every day that a celebrity makeup artist offers to transform your face - so when the PR team at Elizabeth Arden invited me for summer makeover with Joseph Hernandez - I jumped at the chance. After all, Joseph has made up some of the most beautiful faces in the world. He's worked with Catherine Zeta Jones - and a host of other stars including Cate Blanchett, Helen Mirren , Kate Moss and Claudia Schiffer to name but a few.
Vogue magazine has called him "the man behind the faces". But what would he do with mine?
He was in Dublin last weekend to promote the new ‘Desert Rose’ collection by Elizabeth Arden, so I hot-footed in down to Arnotts for one-to one session with the man himself. The timing could not have been better, it had been at least two years since I changed my products and I felt it was time to just get a few tips on application and colours to give me that 'glow' that the girls in makeup ads always have.
“Why are you wearing such heavy make-up?” he asked, the minute I sat myself down at the glossy red and white counter. “You have wonderful skin, you should show it off!” he added, raising his hands up to heaven like a preacher. “It’s the biggest beauty mistake women make,” he went on. “So many women wear foundation that it too heavy or too dark - it adds ten years to the face and makes them look like a little Red Indian. If you want to get a husband or a boyfriend don’t wear dark foundation – men hate it!”
“What other mistakes do women make?” I asked, suddenly desperate to know where I’d been going wrong all these years. “Too much foundation under the eyes,” he announced “It only makes your eyes puffy and forms creases making you look years older. The only thing that you should use under your eyes is a lightweight concealer. Too many women wear stage make-up for day, when they should be doing a natural look. For summer, foundation needs to be ultra feminine, sheer and glowing.”
Seconds later, Joseph started to cleanse my face, removing a thick layer of foundation, blush and mascara. When he was finished, I caught my reflection in the glassy counter top and nearly died of shock; I looked so washed out and pale under the glare of the neon lights. I sat and prayed that no one I knew would bump into me (ex boyfriends always seem to make an appearance at times like these).
Next, he moisturised my face with Presage, one of the star products from the range (Britney Spears is a fan). Joseph then applied Flawless finish mousse, which was a big change from the heavy mask of foundation I had come to rely on. “That’s a lot better,” he smiled, once he’d applied it. I was astonished. It hardly looked as if I was wearing any make-up at all, yet my skin seemed to glow and any imperfections had miraculously vanished.
After that, he dusted a mineral bronzer onto the apples of my cheeks and forehead, to give my skin a sun kissed glow. Next, Joseph set to work on my eyes, adding a wash of golden shimmer to the lid. After that, he enhanced the natural shape of my brow by using an eyebrow brush and powder “ This is a much nicer way to enhance the brow,” he said “It’s so much better than wearing those awful drawn on eyebrows that are in fashion today. Whoever invented the Scouse brow should be shot down!”
My makeover was finished with a slick of peach lip gloss and a little Eight Hour cream dabbed across my cheeks to give my skin a healthy glow. The result? I am amazed, the look is so fresh and natural and I don’t look as if I’m wearing very much make-up at all. It just goes to show that, when it comes to summer beauty, less really is more.
