Chantelle Baker, celeb makeup artist for L’Oréal Paris, shares her expert tips and tricks to enhance your natural beauty and put your best face forward.
Defining your natural jawline
‘The beauty about makeup is how we can master ways to define and highlight areas of our facial features,’ says go-to celebrity MUA Chantelle Baker. ‘One of my favourite ways to achieve the perfect sculpted look is to begin with a deeper foundation, a few shades darker than your skin tone, and map out the areas you want defined.’
Baker likes to use a smaller tapered brush and run the deeper shade right under the chin all the way along the jaw to the back of your ear. ‘Blending is the key to keeping it looking natural and my tip is to blend down the neck using short downward strokes. The result should be seamless,’ she says. ‘I then use one of my favourite matte bronzers by L’Oréal Paris ‘Back to Bronze’ over the top to set the overall contour and keep it long lasting. Make sure you steer away from products with shimmer or anything too metallic.’
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How to complement your cheekbones
According to Baker, the most effective way to bring life to your cheekbones is to use a blush that complements your skin tone. ‘I absolutely adore the two colours from L’Oréal Paris ‘Life’s a Peach’ and ‘Melon Dollar Baby’,’ she shares. ‘These tones are universally designed to bring out a little glow to your cheeks. I like to use a medium brush and add either of these colours to the apple of the cheek. My guide is to look straight into a mirror and start the application in-line with your pupil and blend right over the apple of your cheek, by starting slow and building the colour to your liking.’
Another simple way of taking this to the next level is to add a little shimmer highlighter on the high points of your cheekbones. Baker loves Glow Mon Amour drops by L’Oréal Paris, using her fingertips to apply. This product is highly pigmented and gives the skin an incredible illuminated finish.
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Achieving a flawless finish
‘I always go back to prep products when trying to achieve that flawless finish,’ says Baker. ‘I am a huge fan of serums and I love to massage them into my skin prior to makeup. A simple way to achieve this is to use the L’Oréal Paris Revitalift Filler Serum and start with a face massage. What I love best about this product is how easily it gets absorbed into your skin and how instantly moisturised you feel. I also love adding a few drops into my foundation for extra glow and hydration. My favourite combo right now is L’Oréal Paris True Match foundation and Revitalift Filler Serum.’
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Highlighting the eyes and brow area
One of the easiest ways to accentuate your eyes is to define them. Mascara was invented to highlight and define the eyes – it can do no wrong!
‘I have been the biggest fan of any L’Oréal Paris mascaras for years, and I select a particular product depending on what finish I’m trying to achieve,’ says Baker. ‘I like to lengthen and define without being too clumpy. My absolute go-to without fail is the Lash Paradise mascara. When applying, look down into a mirror and wiggle the brush right from the roots of your lashes all the way to the end. This achieves maximum coverage and definition.’
Next up: pay attention to your brow area. Brows that are naturally defined frame our face, and it’s important to choose the correct shade and products in order to achieve this.
‘I like to map out the brow shape using a brow pencil and lightly fill in any gaps. The L’Oréal Paris Brow Artist Expert in Cool Brown is the perfect shade for me! I don’t like anything with too much warmth to it and also love the styling brush to groom brows into place. This is one of those handbag essentials,’ says Baker.
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Lip talk
Look for hydrating lip products in a shade close to your natural lip colour to add the illusion of plumper, smoother, younger looking lips. Think pinky nudes and rosy browns with your preference of a matte, satiny, sheer or glossy finish.
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Defying age
Don’t let age define you! As Baker attests, one of the biggest ways to keep youthful is to keep positive and try to laugh and smile as much as possible. ‘We all age, but you can be young at heart forever – smile lines are smile lines for a reason! But when you do want to look and feel fresh, hydrate from the inside out. Look after yourself and spoil yourself from time to time.’ CBM
