FSHN: How did you start your career?
CL: After I graduated as valedictorian from L’école Forum Makeup Paris in 1998, I started up (for about a year and half) working in makeup for the famous American cosmetics brand Bobbi Brown at Galleries Lafayette Hausmann, which sealed my first experience with the general public and the world of department stores. This led to amazing encounters that eventually exposed me to different things, such as fashion, fashion shows, and French high-class hairdressing. After that, I spent eleven years in professional makeup training at a reputable Parisian school. Finally, I began freelance work in 2010 by joining, among others, the team of Brigitte Louis, and turned to audio-visual production, event management, training, and corrective makeup.
FSHN: How do you handle the stress of a star in the mirror?
CL: After I graduated as valedictorian from L’école Forum Makeup Paris in 1998, I started up (for about a year and half) working in makeup for the famous American cosmetics brand Bobbi Brown at Galleries Lafayette Hausmann, which sealed my first experience with the general public and the world of department stores. This led to amazing encounters that eventually exposed me to different things, such as fashion, fashion shows, and French high-class hairdressing. After that, I spent eleven years in professional makeup training at a reputable Parisian school. Finally, I began freelance work in 2010 by joining, among others, the team of Brigitte Louis, and turned to audio-visual production, event management, training, and corrective makeup.
FSHN: What are the trends of summer 2014?
CL: The trends for summer of 2014, according to fashion week, will still include nude tones, glowing looks, and other natural looks. But, the color block persists with eye shadows and ultra enhanced lips, full of pep and sometimes neon! When it comes to the foundation, we focus more on reshness and healthy complexions through “contouring,” which is a makeup that highlights facial volumes; in particular, the curved cheekbones. If Alexander Wang or Calvin Klein simply highlight the natural shape of the cheeks, Anteprima, Donna Karan, and Dolce & Gabbana focus more on ultra marked cheekbones, almost bulging, which give character to the face! Roses or coral colors go really nicely on cheekbones! Then, there is the finished end eyebrow, which has to be very heavy like Cara Delevingne or Natalia Vodianova. And if they do not have enough presence, we will add more shadow from the bottom line. With Dior and Castelbajac, the eyebrows are highlighted by an unexpected touch of gold, which we also find in Dries Van Noten on the parting of the hair as well as some particles on the eyelashes. To the eye, pastels are applied to the eyelids creating an illusion of a white halo. Flat colors are applied, accompanied by a red matte lipstick for Altuzarra or nude lips at Ralph Lauren. More floral colors, pink, and mauve for others! The eyeliner is back and more graphic than ever for Marc Jacobs, lining the outer and inner corner of the eyes’ waterline. At St. Laurent, the eyeliner is applied very thickly; at Stella McCartney, eyeliner is very brown and is extended on the outer corners. Finally, all these looks have one thing in common: punchy lips—mouths with intense colors, especially bright sparkling pink and fluorescent orange. There are exceptions: Helmut Lang remains faithful to matte dark red and John Galliano sticks to fuchsia pink lips and a bit more product!
FSHN: You also work in corrective makeup with Roche Posay. What is your job?
CL: Over the last four years, I have given a slightly different meaning to my work by focusing on what is called “corrective makeup.” This professional experience has turned into a real life experience that is so humanly gratifying and professionally rewarding! To this day, I am a member of the Aqualibre, a non-profit association. With the support from dermatologists, The Societe Thermale La Roche Posay, and Roche Posay Laboratories, Aqualibre opened the first corrective makeup shop in France inside a spa in 1993. My job at Aqualibre is to ensure accountability of the corrective makeup shop in the spa station (Societe Thermale). In collaboration with Sabine Bresse, twice a month, we organize a conference for the spa visitors who suffer from various conditions of dermatitis, such as Eczema, psoriasis, and Ictyose. Likewise, we are there for people with more or less severe lesions, such as residuals of burns (sequalae), scars, and more recently, people with cancer. Together, we cover such topics as how to change the way that we carry ourselves; learning how to look better; how to appreciate ourselves better; how to choose the right products; what dermo-cosmetics are; and the presentation of skin care and makeup products of La Roche Posay. We offer tips and tricks for daily makeup. Our mission is to help people regain their image that has been already altered and learn to own it, accept it, to revalue one’s self in order to rebuild self-esteem and maximize the chances of healing by avoiding denial and selrejection! It is important for us to encourage self-makeup by just applying appropri- ate and effective techniques to improve the quality of life of those who suffer.
FSHN: What is the difference between “corrective makeup” and “classic makeup”?
CL: Nowadays, in terms of process, “classic makeup” and “corrective makeup” have one common job: valuing a face to reveal its beauty no matter how much baggage it’s carrying. It is a powerful way to bring out the beauty of the face and forget the “ugliness.” The difference, rather, relies on the requirements that are related to the delicate nature of the skin. As we mentioned previously, corrective makeup is intended to take care of people whose skin has been scarred or injured for various reasons. Thus, contrary to classic makeup, corrective makeup imposes the use of skin care and makeup products for dermatological purposes. Speaking of dermocosmetics, products of La Roche Posay are part of this category as well. They are exclusively sold in pharmacies and they are products that have high skin tolerance. They have been developed with a very sophisticated technology that allows them to be applied to all delicate and sensitive skins, but also to intolerant and allergic skin types as well.
FSHN: You also do makeup tutorials on the Internet. Where can we find them?
CL: Yes, indeed! You can find tutorials, protocols of applications, advice, and makeup tips specifically for delicate skin at laroche-posay.com. For those who want personalized advice, you can find me on my website: les-ateliers-du-miroir.com.