Katie Jane Hughes is bringing real skin back, and isn't afraid to get up close and personal.
The Instagram-famous makeup artist, who works with a slew of high profile names such as Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Ashley Graham and Emmy Rossum, is celebrated for her attention to great skincare, the joys of hydration and a realness that shuns the need to slather on a makeup mask each day - unless you want to, of course.
Katie brought her real skin philosophy to Dublin for Brown Thomas's Style Summit, giving a masterclass in her own makeup style on 22 September. We caught up with her afterwards to learn all about where this forward-thinking technique came from.
There are a few key phrases that will reveal someone as a Katie Jane Hughes acolyte: "juicy skin", "glass skin" and "Weleda Skin Food". Such a person can also be spotted based on their use of colour (bold, elegantly clashing primary colours or soft romantic neutrals), their eyeshadow-earring combination or blurred lipstick lines and naturally textured skin.
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Essentially, though, what Katie inspires is a bold, fresh and uninhibited approach to makeup, something that could be seen in the crowds of fans gathered at her event. Katie herself spotted a few stunners.
"I noticed this girl who was working in the fashion department in Brown Thomas and she had this beautiful skin, a gorgeous wash of orange eyeshadow and no mascara and that to me is, like, so beyond and so fashion. I was like, oh my god, that is so cool. It takes balls to not wear mascara."
Katie's own approach to makeup comes from a gutsy place, as she recalls watching her mum apply her stage makeup before heading out to do a show as a singer. "It was really [me] watching my mum put her red lipstick on and her black mascara, her bronzer and it was sort of ingrained in me from when I was a very little child."
The theatrical and the brave are lasting influences, as she says at the core of her love for makeup are the greats of the trade, makeup magicians like Kevyn Aucoin who showed the "transformative nature" of the medium.
When it comes to her own style, however, she knows what she gravitates towards: "Just something that’s got a really funky colour combination, that’s bright and cheery and happy but always with a vintage twist. I’m always inspired by vintage makeup but not like 20’s vintage. More like 70’s, disco era."
How would she describe her look? "Fresh and expressive with texture and playful colour."
There are some Katie Jane staples that her followers will know and love: the pink eye/red lip combo, a smoky wing in a metallic or shimmer, playful, finger paint-like dots of colour on the eyes. Incredibly, she never lets them get stale - they're a trademark, iconic, a "KJH look".
Katie got her foot in the door by working in Space NK in London, a luxury beauty store specialising in stellar skincare and incredible makeup. While wanting to do fashion editorial work, she assisted makeup artists she "respected and wanted to be like" until eventually going solo. Using Instagram as a platform for her work, like so many others, she leveraged her talent, knowledge and handy tips to make a career that's going from strength to strength.
Being Insta-famous is a strange thing, she admits, saying "Instagram now is such this weird little beast where you gain more momentum at different times. It’s such a bigger thing now whereas it used to be about just the photo. Now it’s about so many other elements".
She's openly curious about it, at one point even asking her followers what made a particular image the most-liked one on her account. "I think the analytical side of Instagram is so fascinating, like what is it that makes people engage with a photograph?" she says. "From a scientific standpoint, not from a standpoint like "I want all my photos to do that well".
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If there's a secret to continuing a career on Instagram, she says, it's that "you really have to stay true to what it is people came to you for". Despite having a love of fashion, Katie wouldn't always put up an outfit photo as it's not what people came to see. "People want to see makeup on a face, they want to see cool colour, cool textures and that kind of thing."
She admits, however, that living by that theory can be restrictive, but her attitude is as relaxed as her skin is glassy: "If I love a photo I’m going to post it because I want to post it. At the end of the day, people are following you, not your skill. The core followers are there to follow you, they’re there because they love you and they want to follow you because they’re inspired by you."
This runs through her advice for aspiring makeup artists, too: "Whatever you’re posting has to be inspiring to you first and foremost. If it’s not inspiring to you, it’s not going to inspire anyone else."
A cursory glance at her Instagram account will show you a typical day in the life of Katie Jane: morning skincare and beauty regime, meetings, meetings, events, meetings, walking the streets of New York and meetings. Often she'll be on location working on a shoot, or during awards season holed up in hotels buffing beautiful faces.
This is what she loves the most about her job: "Just being with different people every day on set, or inspiring people to do something different with their makeup every day." She's devoted to experimenting with makeup and encourages people to do the same. After all, it washes off.
You'll often see Katie just playing with makeup on Instagram, picking up random products she likes the look of and trying them out. It's an altogether more realistic portrayal of how actual people use makeup - exploratively, eagerly, excitedly, and with varying results. There are no edited videos on her feed, no maniacally planned looks or coordinated grid patterns. Katie is just a girl playing with makeup, and loving it.
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This is how her now-trademark look developed, she feels, saying "normally I just like to have fun with it and see what develops and normally what develops is something fun and pretty and expressive". Renowned for her use of colour, she admits that it's colour combinations that inspire her the most in makeup.
"I’ll be on a street and I’ll see two colours on a pavement flag, or I’ll see neon graffiti on some cool grey slate and that’ll inspire me because of the contrast of the shades."
When your phone is your "agent, manager and everything else", as Katie says hers is, it can only be like living inside your office 24/7. She's been open about sharing her struggles with anxiety online, encouraging others to do the same, but how do you take a break from work when it's right there in your pocket at all times?
"I feel like I perpetually need to take a digital detox. It’s definitely something I need to get better at myself especially for my husband, because he definitely gets the brunt of it. My New Year’s Resolution is definitely to have a full day off my phone once a week or at least only use Instagram when I’m posting as opposed to when I’m not. I sit there and scroll too much. Just to be more intentional about when I use it and why."
There are a number of staples that anyone wanting to get the Katie Jane Hughes look needs to have. Weleda Skin Food, an intensive all-purpose skin salve, is essential and something Katie calls a "lifelong product". She rubs a dab onto the high points of her face under her makeup, creating hydration and shimmer that looks more natural than highlighter.
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When it comes to foundations, she says that "a really good foundation is something that I think every woman needs to figure out for herself". However, she points to Armani Luminous Silk foundation as one that seems to work for every skin type and shade, based on her experience.
Finally, everyone needs more glow in their lives, and Katie recommends the Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate palette, as well as the Dior Glow Face Palette, a stunning quad of Neopolitan ice cream-coloured shimmers that can be mixed and matched for different looks.
As for what she saw of Irish beauty trends, she loved us, we can rejoice! "I definitely felt like the Irish girl or makeup wearer is so makeup savvy and I think they’re like an elevated glam, which I thought was really cool", she says. "I feel like the Irish girl wears a good amount of makeup but makes it look elegant and chic."
Katie Jane Hughes was part of Brown Thomas's Style Summit, which is still going on and has plenty of fabulous guests yet to come. Find tickets on Eventbrite now.
