Foundation that's like an Instagram filter: celeb makeup guru talks trends

05 November 2017 - 00:00 By Nokubonga Thusi

Sir John, makeup artist to celebrity clients such as Beyonce, Naomi Campbell and Joan Smalls, was recently in SA to collaborate with Woolworths' W Beauty brand on the official looks for SA Fashion Week AW18.
He dishes on working with W Beauty, shares the secret to doing a killer smoky eye and tells us which trends will be coming our way:
How did you feel about being asked to collaborate with the W Beauty brand? How does it align with your personal brand?
I like W Beauty and feel that our goals run parallel. They are all about having a sense of integrity and I am all about raising the bar. I don't attach my name to anything that isn't completely at the top of the game.
I also feel like W Beauty gives back to the community - they give back to education and encourage and empower women.
What inspired the official W Beauty looks you created for SA Fashion Week?
The one look is completely romantic - think an English garden party with roses and all those Gucci campaigns that we are seeing at the moment.We wanted the beauty look to be something you can wear with anything. So if you went home and changed your clothes, you don't have to change your makeup.
So we gave the model feverish cheeks with blush, almost like you're running and you came into the house and you're flushed. Then there is no mascara. I didn't use any eyeliner either. In a way, it's intoxicating to see blush with a tiny bit used on the temples, a tiny bit on the lips. This monochromatic approach to makeup is a popular trend.
What are your favourite W Beauty products?
The mascara is pretty amazing, the one with the fibres [W Eyes Fibre Lash Mascara, R130].
I also really like their moisture-rich lipstick [W Lips Hydro Lipstick, R130].
Then they have a mattifying foundation that's like a mousse foundation [W Face Mousse Foundation SPF15, R240], so if you have oily skin or it's humid, that's your jam.
The smoky eye is one of your signatures. How do we recreate the Sir John smoky eye?
Do your eyes first, then do your makeup.
Start with an eye kohl first. Smudge it all over the lid and under the bottom and smoke it out. Blend, blend, blend with a brush that has no product on it, so you're blending into invisible nothingness. This will give you the most beautiful fade job, which you can't always get with powder. Then tap your powder on to give you the most beautiful gradation of colour.After you're done with that, take a cotton bud soaked with a bit of water-based makeup remover and take away anything that fell down. 
Lastly, go in with concealer and foundation and you will have the most beautiful smoky eye.
Your predictions for future beauty trends?
People are so selfie- and Instagram-obsessed that we are no longer able to separate real from fake, so I think that a future trend will be products that create optical illusions. So basically anything that can get you closer to a real-life Photoshop, like a blurring foundation that has a filtering effect or a mattifying primer...

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