Post-Processing, Beauty, Retouching

Photography Desiree Mattsson Model Charli Howard for Pat McGrath Labs

The $532.43 billion dollar Beauty industry is competing with the $2.4 trillion dollar Fashion industry in exposure, interest and accessibility by now. As usual, beauty products are defining beauty - how glossy, slick, smokey, dark, bright, colourful, concealed, highlighted or contoured you look. As well as this, post-processing and retouching in beauty photography is inventing a beauty look also with its technologically applied, post-processed veneers to the skin and contours of the face especially.

Post-processing is a digital process of editing the data captured by the camera while taking the photograph to enhance the image. Previously, in 1992, the verb 'to photoshop' was assimilated into the language when it was added to the English dictionary, describing post-processing and retouching in photography. Retouching was a perfecting process pioneered in the 1860s. Digital retouching, which improves the photograph's appearance, utilizes photo editing software using a number of tools including blurring brushes, colour replacement tools, and clone stamps.

Most people still do not realize the futuristic look of retouched beauty photography is not real. Or else it doesn't matter. There doesn't seem to be any issues with achievability either. A similar evolution in beauty happened in the 1950s with Richard Avedon's 'Dovima With Elephants', dress by Dior, Harper's Bazaar, August 1955, or in Irving Penn's Vogue photographs. Beauty photographer Desiree Mattsson's exquisite and technologically crafted beauty photography, most notably for Pat McGrath's Labs makeup line, see above, is post-Vogue in the success of its effects and it totally surpasses any previous history of beauty photography. As well as defining the look of beauty today, using various media, the Beauty industry with all of its beauty products, the lipstick, the concealer, the mascara, the eyeshadow, will actively reproduce the look of digital, post-processed, retouched beauty photography, in its own products too, advancing, as it progresses, the technology at our fingertips. Evolutionary cosmetics, evolutionary beauty - a useful dimension of glamour.

A Happy Christmas...Vogue Italia September 1999 Issue

Photography Paolo Roversi Model Stella Tennant Makeup Pat McGrath Hair Eugene Souleiman

Italian photographer Paolo Roversi illuminates beauty from darkness in this photograph. The effect is painterly. The incredible makeup, a colourful smudge, bears the imprint of the hand of renowned backstage makeup artist Pat McGrath, and Eugene Souleiman completes the concept with the invention of a felt cap for the head.

Have a very Happy Christmas this year and Best Wishes for 2019!

Versace Autumn/Winter 2018 Makeup Pat McGrath, Hair by Guido Palau

Versace Autumn/Winter 2018 Makeup Pat McGrath, Hair by Guido Palau

It's not that an experiment ended in makeup this season, Autumn/Winter 2018, at Versace. With a neutral and nude look, Pat McGrath creates a new and natural beauty. Brows are groomed lightly above carefully defined eyes. There is little colour in the face. Highlighter is used, not on the cheekbones, but on the inner eyes and on the cupid's bow to define and brighten instead. Lip colour is subtle. Hair by Guido Palau is sleek, centre parted, and tucked neatly behind the ears. It's tonged at the ends for a "bend" in the hair. This beauty enhances an interesting, tailored collection by Versace Autumn/Winter 2018. I like the 'rhinestone' gold studs in the collars of the shirts against the tartan. The overall look is completely pristine.

American Vogue June 1973 Photographer Richard Avedon, Model Lauren Hutton

American Vogue June 1973 Photographer Richard Avedon, Model Lauren Hutton

Archive: Dior Makeup 1968, Makeup Artist Serge Lutens

French makeup artist Serge Lutens was employed in 1967 by the House of Dior to develop their beauty line, their makeup. Having worked previously with photographers Guy Bourdin and Richard Avedon, Lutens was already at the cutting edge. The photograph above is a beauty shot, a close-up, the makeup by Dior, 1968. The yellow makeup, full of pigment, on the model's face is immediately eye-catching and the dot of yellow under the lip draws the eye also. The band on the model's head is a net, it's tight, beautifying and so yellow as well. This model looks blonde.The look is futuristic, as if demonstrating a kind of beauty that doesn't yet exist. The mascara is so Sixties, it's hyper elongating and really stands out. What colour is the lip, a glossy orange peach on a pale, pale face?

Essential Summer 2018 Beauty - Sun Protection Factor - Wear Your SPF

A Summer beauty routine is incomplete without the addition of essential protection for your skin from strong, harmful UVA and UBV sun rays. UBV rays cause sunburn. UVA rays penetrate the epidermis more deeply, reaching into the dermis, the skin's thickest layer, where most skin cancers occur. Both UVA and UBV sun rays cause premature ageing of the skin - dryness, wrinkles, age spots. Prolonged ultraviolet exposure may also cause cataracts and eye cancer, so shield your eyes as well. SPF or Sun Protection Factor is a measure of how well a sunscreen protects you from sunburn. Applying a SPF cream, oil or lotion with UVA/UBV filters is completely essential and it is essential all year round. A 'broad-spectrum' or 'full-spectrum' sunscreen protects from both UVA and UBV damage. Only sunscreens with a value of  SPF 15 or higher can claim to reduce the risk of skin cancer and premature ageing.

My go-to SPF, for the glow it gives my skin, is P20 by Dutch company Riemann. It's an oil containing alcohol so rub between the palms to evaporate the alcohol and then apply. P20 is recommended for wear under a moisturiser or make-up so it is suitable for the face. Stocked at Superdrug, £17.99 for 100ml. P20 is highly waterproof.

Or have you tried UV Water, the next generation SPF? Garnier, SPF experts since 1935, have just launched Ambre Solaire UV Water Clear Sun Cream Spray, £8 for 150ml. A 'biphasic' formula, it protects from UVA/UBV, and hydrates with Aloe Vera water. Water resistant, this UV Water Spray feels velvety and gives a softness and a glow to the skin. It contains alcohol but it's refreshing and applies just like water. Shake vigorously as instructed and spread this liquid cream SPF with a rotating movement all over the body. Do not spray directly onto the face - rub between the palms first and then apply, avoiding the delicate eye area. Enjoy your Summer. Wear your SPF! - DC

Where An Orange Eyebrow Meets Yellow Eye Shadow - Maison Margiela Autumn/Winter 2017-2018

 Maison Margiela Autumn/Winter 2017-2018 Makeup Pat McGrath 

The season’s beauty looks for Autumn/Winter 2017-18 are many and include minimalist makeup with a bare, neutral look as seen at Alexander McQueen. To highlight a glowing complexion, makeup artists reflect light and use liquid foundation for an almost wet finish at Burberry. The statement lip is there at Gucci. At Yves Saint Laurent and Armani, the smoky eye is back. Elsewhere, oversized lashes and a graphic use of eyeliner exaggerate a new eye.

For Maison Margiela Autumn/Winter 2017-2018 RTW (Ready-To-Wear) collection, renowned backstage makeup artist Pat McGrath takes birds of paradise as her inspiration. Eugene Souleiman, creates hair which is parted, slicked down and then brushed at the ends. Taking a nude lip and a natural complexion, Pat McGrath creates a graphic cat’s eye in super colours which show pigments in makeup and beauty reaching new creative heights, where an orange eyebrow meets yellow eye shadow - DC
 

The Fitzpatrick Scale or how to choose your SPF (Sun Protection Factor)

TheFitzpatrick Scale or how to choose your SPF (Sun Protection Factor)

                                                       

The Fitzpatrick Scale (also Fitzpatrick skin typing test or Fitzpatrick phototyping scale) is a numerical classification schema for human skin color. It was developed in 1975 by Thomas B. Fitzpatrick, MD, of Harvard Medical School, as a way to estimate the response of different types of skin to ultraviolet (UV) light.

The Fitzpatrick Scale or how to identify your SPF (Sun Protection Factor) strength. SPF 30, the one I use, is for Type 2 skin, fair but tanned needing effective protection. Find your skin type for essential all year round skincare, especially during the Summer months - DC