Photo: Instagram / Hera Singapore

Did you know that purple mascara can actually brighten up your face? Or that there is a specific way to use a cushion foundation so that you get the best natural finish? If you didn’t, you might want to read on.

 

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On a recent trip to Korea for Hera Seoul Fashion Week FW’18, we met with Hera’s Chief Makeup Artist — Jason Lee Jin Su. If the name rings a bell, you’ve probably caught him on TV as a Makeup mentor for season 2 to 4 of Project Runway Korea or the popular Korean programme Get it Beauty. The makeup artist, who so happens to also be the backstage makeup director at Seoul Fashion Week, gave us some insightful tips on apply makeup in order to achieve a longer-lasting effect and a soft natural look. Here are some beauty tips and tricks that we’ve picked up from him:

1. Don’t skip the skincare prior to applying makeup

Jason always uses Hera’s Cell Essence on the models while prepping their faces prior to applying makeup backstage at Seoul Fashion Week. As one of the brand’s star products, this lightweight, watery-textured essence aims to hydrate and tone the skin and is said to better facilitate the absorption of other skincare products applied after. Jason likes to start by using the textured cotton pads which come along with essence to gently sweep and pat the pad along the model’s face, following the natural lines and contours. This helps remove a buildup of dead skin cells and dirt on the face to allow for a cleaner and smoother base for makeup application thereafter.

Another product to try: Hera’s Rosy Satin Cream

Apply Hera’s new product, the Rosy Satin Cream, as a makeup base. You’ll want to apply this before your makeup as it contains ingredients such as Achillea (which facilitates the normal shedding of dead skin cells), elasticity-supporting peptide (to help revive saggy skin over time) and rose essential oil for moisturising effects. What all these ingredients does for you is to “fill the surface of the skin and any uneven texture underneath the skin” to smooth the base out (or so it claims). So that, you’ll have an easier time applying foundation on a surface that’s even compared to flakier dull skin.

2. The ‘better’ way to use cushion foundations

 

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According to Jason, you should always start applying cushion foundations by patting on a thicker consistency on your cheekbones before using what’s left on the puff for the rest of the face. Supposedly, this helps create a natural coverage. How so? The logic behind this is that we should always apply makeup to the face based upon the thickness of the supporting tissue.

Give a heavier application of foundation on the thicker areas of the face (such as the cheeks, nostrils, upper lip, chin, and jaw) where more coverage may be required because the skin structure can better support a more opaque finish and go easy with the rest of your face so that your foundation doesn’t wind up looking too thick and cakey as a whole. (Did you know you were supposed to do that? We didn’t!)

To ensure that your foundation stays on longer, make sure you’re applying enough pressure on your face as well; use three fingers for optimal tension on the puff and pat the product into your face in a circular motion.

Product to try: Hera Black Cushion

If you like a semi-matte finish, try this one out for a change. It gives a buildable coverage, and contains a textured glow powder with transparent amino acids which helps to brighten up your skin tone.
 

3. Your fingers are great as makeup applicators

 

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Jason likes to use his fingers to softly dab on lip gloss on the lips for a soft and natural look. It gives the lips a faded tint of colour (you know, that “just bitten” effect) which is said to give a more youthful and innocent appearance. The gloss also adds dimension to the lips, giving it a plump look. You can also slowly layer on more lip gloss if you would like more colour payoff.

Product to try: Hera x Edith Carron lip box

Hera’s Spring 2018 makeup collection features the vibrant and tongue-in-cheek illustrations of Berlin artist Edith Carron on its packaging. Here we have the lip set which includes 3 very wearable shades of lip gloss in pink, coral and a metallic nude pink.

4. Purple mascara (yes, you heard that right. Purple) will complement Asian skin tones

 

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The colour purple will best complement the yellow undertones in Asian skin. Though the idea of purple mascara can seem rather daunting, it can be surprisingly wearable. What’s more, the Pantone colour of the year is Ultraviolet — so who’s to say that purple mascara won’t be the next biggest makeup trend of the year?

Product to try: Hera x Edith Carron rich curling mascara in purple

When Jason applied this product on the model, we honestly could not tell at first glance that her lashes were purple. It looked perfectly natural, as she would have with a regular black mascara. Upon closer inspection did we spot the tint of dark violet. Our verdict? It looked flattering against her skin, and it definitely wasn’t too OTT. We don’t know about you, but we’ll definitely give purple mascara a go.