Makeup Artist–Led Brands Have Entered the Skin Care Chat - Vanity Fair

After leveraging their expertise to create color cosmetics, makeup artists have turned their focus to cleansers and serums—where glowing skin begins.

By Deanna Pai

July 26, 2023

Gucci Westman, seen here with a model, is among those who have parlayed complexion knowledge into skin care products.Courtesy of Gucci Westman.

One evening in Venice this past May, it was Anne Hathaway’s moment to shine—and her makeup artist, Gucci Westman, was responsible for making that happen. In preparing the actor for a Bulgari high jewelry event (Hathaway is a brand ambassador), Westman sought to balance a fresh-faced makeup look with the flashbulb glare of the red carpet. The key products came from her very own toolkit: a multipurpose face serum from her line, Westman Atelier, followed by the new Liquid Super Loaded, a skin illuminator formulated with vitamin C and avocado oil. "I was a little nervous at first because I have not used Liquid Super Loaded under bright lights, but the look turned out so beautiful," she recounts. Hathaway pulled off that glow because it wasn’t just a cosmetic sleight of hand, but the very picture of nourished skin.

A makeup artist’s work, after all, begins long before they apply foundation. Prepping the skin is central, with factors like ingredient sensitivity and humidity and jet lag dehydration to consider. As far as experts go, doctors may offer scientific rigor, but it’s the makeup artists who are invested in the fuller timeline—from before someone sits in their chair to the splashy moment in front of the cameras, even to the after-party and end-of-night face wash. This up-close expertise has led to a rise in skin care formulated by makeup artists, designed to offer a ground-up approach to beauty.

It’s not an entirely new concept. After all, makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury debuted her Magic Cream in 2013, turning what was initially a DIY moisturizer supported by word of mouth (hello, Kate Moss) into a global best-seller. We’ve now reached the next phase, in which those with makeup artist bona fides (Westman, Kirsten Kjaer Weis, Pat McGrath, Lisa Eldridge, and so many more) are bottling up their complexion expertise.

Lisa Eldridge, who added the Skin Enhancing Treatment Cleanser to her range this year, found inspiration in long-used botanical ingredients.

Courtesy of Lisa Eldridge.

The challenges of entering an already crowded category can be daunting. “With makeup, you have everything from nailing the perfect colors and shades, pigment stability, long-wearing formulas, best application delivery systems—the list goes on,” says Eldridge, who has leveraged a longtime role as Lancôme’s global creative director of makeup (and early YouTube stardom) to run her own growing line. “With skin care, it’s all about the effectiveness of the formula to do the job, and the clinically proven results.”

In other words, it’s a completely different playing field. So, why bother?

For Westman, who only recently introduced skin care to her Westman Atelier cosmetics range, the addition was a long time coming—and one that was intensely personal. “Having rosacea was a big catalyst for really being focused on creating a line that would soothe and repair the skin in a real way,” says the makeup artist, whose early work alongside photographers Peter Lindbergh and Annie Leibovitz kicked off a career replete with marquee runway looks, A-list clients, and magazine covers (including last year’s Allure cover featuring Jennifer Aniston). “I have tried everything—every prescription, antibiotics—and nothing ever made a difference,” Westman explains of the impetus to create something herself. Five years in the making, the Skin Activator serum (which features active ingredients like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and peptides) has laid the groundwork for other nourishing products, including the vitamin C-infused highlighter worn by Hathaway.

Gucci Westman expanded the Westman Atelier offerings this spring with the calming Skin Activator serum.

Courtesy of Gucci Westman.

An intimate view of clients’ skin offers its own lessons as well. In her 20 years as a makeup artist—during which she netted hundreds of thousands of YouTube followers and landed creative director roles at Estée Lauder and Guerlain—Violette began to see certain patterns with skin flare-ups. “Whether it is from breakouts, acne, or rosacea, there is some sort of inflammation,” she says. “I was thinking of creating a product that could soothe inflammation right away and really focus on restoring the skin barrier.” That became her Boum-Boum Milk (a flagship product in Violette_FR’s 2021 lineup), which uses botanical ingredients, like squalane and fermented birch sap, to help balance and calm the skin. She followed up that success with a barrier cream, and this spring added a quintet of face serums, which target specific concerns like sun damage and dullness.

For Kjaer Weis, whose makeup line is rooted in clean ingredients and early-to-market sustainable packaging, a holistic approach to beauty comes naturally. “It makes sense to offer our customers a routine which starts earlier on in the process,” the makeup artist says of her recent focus on the skin. In addition to staples like cleanser and toner, the brand now includes two treatment products. The Beautiful Hydration Serum pairs hyaluronic acid and polyglutamic acid for thorough hydration, and The Beautiful Night Potion gently resurfaces skin overnight; both aim to deliver luminous, supple skin, complementing Kjaer Weis’s signature light touch with makeup. “Many brands separate themselves as either color or skin care—yet for us, the anchor sits in the quality of ingredients.”

Kristin Kjaer Weis has leaned into skin care, with a lineup that includes Kjaer Weis’s Beautiful Night Potion.

Courtesy of Kristin Kjaer Weis.

The expansion into skin care is not without its risks. For one, it’s a serious investment of time and money. Eldridge, who first trained as an aesthetician before shifting gears to makeup, has been developing the formulas for her newly launched Seamless Skincare line since early 2019. Two of the key products—the Skin and Makeup Enhancing Mist and Skin Enhancing Treatment Cleanser—were designed with makeup in mind, helping to set and subsequently remove it. “I have what can best be described as a slow brand,” Eldridge says. Violette recalls a similar pace, with Boum-Boum Milk three years in the making: “I self-funded everything at the beginning.”

That up-front cost can be a financial barrier to even the most successful makeup artist*–*run lines, especially those helmed by people of color. “Many BIPOC-founded brands are underfunded and do not have adequate resources needed to support a skin care–focused beauty line,” says Danessa Myricks, whose namesake range counts fans like Aurora James, Yara Shahidi, and Ciara. She limited her debut skin offering to the Beauty Oil, billed as an intuitive way for people to hydrate before applying foundation. Myricks points to the Fifteen Percent Pledge (James’s nonprofit, which recently launched a grant initiative) and Sephora’s Accelerate Program—both of which she has personally benefited from—as organizations looking to support such growth. They offer “substantive aid in helping many BIPOC beauty brands scale, expand their product offering, and navigate the beauty industry landscape at large,” Myricks says.

Danessa Myricks, with the Beauty Oil she created for her namesake range.

Courtesy of Danessa Myricks.

Another challenge? Skin care can be a hard sell—not only because the shelves are already spilling with more cleansers, serums, and moisturizers than one can keep track of, but also because there may be some skepticism around the formulation chops of a makeup artist. After all, their work exists in the realm of immediate, temporary results. Maintaining skin health, however, takes time, and even the most effective products require weeks of consistent use to yield noticeable effects.

Westman, for her part, had initially set out to create a line of skin care products, not makeup, and peers steered her away. “Bobbi Brown advised me that that was a silly idea—I’m known for makeup and that’s what I needed to do,” she says. “In hindsight, of course, she was absolutely right.” Violette tapped her connection to Caroline Wachsmuth, an expert who specializes in certified organic skin care, and leaned on clean-beauty cosmetic chemist Luc Jugla. That brain trust has been key: “I have this genius person who is so aware of everything, like the right way to work and what’s best for your skin,” she says of Jugla’s expertise. “He is kind of my magician.”

Violette, whose online presence helped fuel her brand Violette_FR, has dipped into targeted treatments with the Supérlatif Serum Set.

Courtesy of Violette.

Despite the additional work, the payoff often proves to be worth the investment. Eldridge, for instance, owns the intellectual property of her formulas, which she says is unheard of among small brands. “The process takes a lot longer,” she says, “but for me, it’s more rewarding, and I’m happier with the results.” She brings up the star ingredient at the heart of her new cleansing balm. “I came across a piece of research on the quillaja tree, which is the world’s most concentrated source of natural saponins,” she says, referring to the molecules that lather in water and assist with gentle cleansing. (The name is derived from Latin sapon, which means soap.) Eldridge first encountered the tree when writing her book, Face Paint, which traces the history of cosmetics from their role in ancient Egypt through the founding of 20th-century brands like Estée Lauder.

Ultimately, entering the skin care space has proven to be a way to serve innate creativity and fill gaps that only makeup artists can identify. “I’m leaning into how far we can push innovation in a hybrid discussion,” says Myricks of the growing category of crossover formulas, such as her brand’s Yummy Skin Serum Skin Tint, which contains ceramides to help fortify the skin barrier, as well as antioxidant-rich cactus extract. “What doesn’t exist that I can bring to the forefront?”

It helps that makeup artists tend to be uniquely discerning, not to mention conscious of the existing deluge of products on the market. Although Violette already has plans for expansion through 2026, she is committed to measured growth. “It has to come to you. Like we say in French, en évidence, or something like, ‘Oh, duh, I was waiting for this all my life,’” she says. As Westman simply puts it: “We don’t need a lot of products—just the right ones.”