Glow getter

Fueled by every summer campaign out in the market today (check out the story on Carmina Villarroel on Page I-4), girls have been hunting for bronzer in droves. The question “Will this make me look dark enough?” is on everyone’s lips. Some have resorted to tanning beds to fake a glow. (If we have to tell you by now that tanning beds are just as dangerous — if not more — than toasting under the sun sans sunblock, then you haven’t been reading YStyle. Just so you get it, tanning beds: bad, sunblock: very good.)

Acquiring a natural-looking tan doesn’t always mean skin tone so dark only your eyes and teeth become distinguishable with the lights out. Model Aja Madson, who came to the shoot with a light tint (the kind most of us city folk acquire during short walks to lunch under the scorching sun) to her inherently fair skin, needed only a little assistance in the glow department.

Japanese makeup artist Kazuyuki Ogawa turned to Barbarella, the icon-making role of Jane Fonda that transformed her from ingénue circa Barefoot in the Park into a bombshell of Brigitte Bardot proportions, for inspiration. The lush, tawny-skinned vixen in the Dino De Laurentiis production was a model for every golden girl wannabe, with a natural blush on her cheeks and a light tan — so light that some of Fonda’s freckles shone through — on her skin.

If dusky complexions feel unnatural — or, as in most cases, are too labor-intensive to fake (think of all the global concerns you could solve in the time it takes to slather self-tanner all over your body every day!) — then Ogawa’s solution for a sun-kissed visage is the answer to an insta-summer glow. 

Shiseido’s Multi-Shade Enhancer provides a luminous glow without an overpoweringly tan effect. Corporate slaves who can go a whole day without getting a taste of the sun can still sample the tinted powders. The Multi-Shade Enhancer comes in two variants. Terra Cotta glow, comprised of shades ranging from gold to an intense mahogany, has rich, earthy colors ideal for bronzed skin. Sunset Glow suits a fairer countenance with its spectrum of pale roseate and taupe  hues. The lighter tones can easily function as highlighters while the darker shades can be applied as blush or contouring powder.

According to Dick Page, Shiseido The Makeup’s new artistic director, the cosmetic collection for spring-summer is all about pastel palettes and shimmering shades. “Makeup is a bit like art. But the face is not a blank canvas. It’s alive with dimension and energy. What you add to is it part of the fun. Part of the joy,” says Page. “The products for spring-summer express that joy — translucent powders that seem like liquid, the pureness of color, the extraordinary textures.”

Ogawa, who trained at the Shiseido Academy of Beauty and Fashion (SABFA) in Tokyo, translated that same optimism and effortless cool into this YStyle beauty editorial. “Barbarella was all about bareness,” he intones (we assume that’s what he said, we were at the mercy of his Japanese-speaking translator). For the shoot, he gave Aja a nude lip, keeping all the tones muted. He kept the eyes light, lids with barely any coverage, allowing the model’s clear complexion to shine through. Finishing with a dusting of blush and golden highlights around the face, Ogawa created a look that’s simple and effortless to reproduce on a daily basis. “It’s more flattering to look natural,” says Ogawa, who informed us at the shoot that Japanese women often shied from superdark makeup on the face (particularly those in the bronzing department) for fear of darkening skin due to unwanted pigments or blemishes.

Duplicating Aja’s look is as simple as applying the right concealer or color corrector in the right areas (around the eyes and on dark spots), dabbing a lightweight foundation and brightening the complexion with a highlighter and glow enhancer, like Shiseido’s, for a finishing touch.

“It’s not about complicated techniques,” concludes Page. “How you wear it, that’s up to you.”