The Makeup Hot Seat Q & A

Today I would like you to meet Julie from Julie Bres Makeup.  Julie is one of our talented New Zealand makeup artists who has been working in the industry for over 10 years now. She does a lot of work with film/TV, fashion shows, as well as many beautiful brides.

So I fired a few questions to Julie in regards to makeup and here is what she has to say!  I should say it’s good to see her Irish humor coming through in the answers!

1. How did your love of makeup begin?

My 1st memory of loving makeup was when I was 6, my mum got a free lipstick with a magazine that she bought and she let me keep it.  I wore it on my lips, eyes and even blended it into my cheeks and even my cat got some of it to glam her up!

My mum didn’t like makeup nor have much make up at all.  So when she would go for dinner or a night out with my dad I would insist on “doing her up” with her bare essential make up bits and pieces.  By the time I was 9 she never did her own makeup – it was always my job on a Saturday evening to get her looking lovely. That feeling of making someone else feel beautiful just with a few flicks of mascara or lippy got me hooked.

2. How important is a good skin care routine?  And what is yours?

If you feel like your skin is glowing, you don’t feel like you need much else, right? So yes, skin care goes hand in hand with makeup.  I cannot tell you how many people I’ve put make up on whether it’s a wedding, a tv show or a fashion shoot and they’ve come to me with dry or oily or irritates skin that they havent dealt with and an hour alter its flaking off and looking a bit sad for everyone.

The makeup products sit better on healthier skin, and last longer throughout the day.  Just plain and simple.  I don’t go overboard – cleansing wipes are a godsend (thank you super genius whoever invented them) or a gentle cleanser; Micellar water is wonderful and a nice toner before bed time sets us up well for the next day.

I love the Trilogy range, it’s a kiwi brand, I trust it on myself and use it in my main kit for my clients too.  I also use it a lot on talent on set and it has something for every skin type with a price tag to suit every budget.  In NZ a high SPF in your daytime moisturiser really is necessary on ALL skin types – not just pasty Irish folk like me.

So I’m never ever with out at least a SPF 30 on my face, winter, summer or indoors!  Aircon dries you out.  Neutrogena, Dermalogica and Arbonne have great new lotions and potions for skin aswell which I’ve just bought and haven’t had the time to use properly.

This summer I’m being ardent in keeping my breakouts to a minimum by looking after my skin better.  We all fall asleep sometimes with our makeup still on – it’s not laziness it’s just busy-ness, but I’ve left my new facial wipes by my bed and it’s working.  I’m using them!

3. What is your favourite go to makeup product?

Can’t go wrong with a decent lip balm.  Whether it’s Carmes, Blistex, Vaseline or a tinted Chapstik…fresh healthy lips look just great.

4. Can you share any tips for beginners that are getting into makeup (like myself)?

Don’t get conned into buying super expensive makeup that is a flash in a pan. Avoid YouTube tutorials!!! Pleeeease! If it’s a dress up party and helps you achieve a Cleopatra look, well that’s great!

But seriously…steer clear of 97% of them – unless it’s a blogger who is YOUR age and your cup of tea.  They are the bain of a makeup artists life, yes they can make themselves look like a Kardashian but have they worked on anyone else but themselves and have they walked around in that look from 8:30am until 5:30pm? I doubt it!!!

Avoid drawing comparisons with your look to anyone else.  “Be yourself…everyone else is taken” (best quote ever by Oscar Wilde).

5. I’m a busy mum like many others, who are short on time, what’s a quick makeup look that we can throw together?

My golden trick is – A good dash of tinted moisturiser (with SPF!!) a nice flick of mascara and a touch of lippy; be it just a lip balm or a nice strong colour.  That should take about 90 seconds.

BUT…If you have a rare 3-4 minutes to get ready you could add a swish of blush or bronzer across your cheek apples and temples, a warm sliver of eyeshadow across the lid followed by a quick brown/black/grey liner in the outer eye line going slightly into your lower lash line (crescent moon shape) for a nice hint of definition and then race out the door!

6. As each year passes, makeup trends come and go, what trend do you think might stick around for a bit?

I think a bold lip has always been a makeup look that’s persevered throughout the ages.  In the 1920’s there was the partly blocked out edges of the biba look, and the 1950’s  brought round the stunning red lip of the Hollywood starlets which still endures to this day. I love how lots of folks are experimenting with strong, bright and even ombre (blended) colours on the lips.

7. What’s your makeup pet peeve?

Foundation that clearly DOES NOT match/suit the person’s skin tone that stops at the jaw line! Eeeek!

Nothing wrong with looking paler/more tanned than your natural self at all.  But blend…blend….then BLEND some more!

Makeup on-screen certainly doesn’t end at the jaw line, its brought right down the neck, often slightly into the hairline or behind the ears depending on the character/models outfit.

8. Lastly, what’s your favourite makeup decade?

For me, it’s probably the 1960’s, the thick kohl eyeliner was becoming a daily staple and women were becoming more daring with their sense of style, adding pale lips and beauty marks to set them apart from their perhaps slightly plainer (sorry!) mothers of the 1930/1940’s.

Thank you Julie x

You can find the link to Julie’s Facebook page here:  Julie Bres Makeup

Hope you enjoyed this Q & A series, I will have another artist share her thoughts next week!

Ronell x