Burberry Global Beauty Director Isamaya Ffrench shares tips on how to use the new Glow Palette to accentuate Asian facial features.
Make-up artist and Dazed Beauty co-founder Isamaya Ffrench joined Burberry Beauty this spring as the new global beauty director, and her first campaign is being released this fall. One of the key products is the Essentials Glow Palette, a three-in-one face palette combining creamy and powdery formulas that is said to instantly sculpt, colour and highlight. Since most of our readers have Asian features, we asked Ffrench for some specific application tips.
eG: What is the Essentials Glow Palette? What makes it a Fall/Winter 2020 must-have?
F: The Glow Palette is kind of everything you need to perfect and enhance your face. After you apply your foundation, it is there to brighten, contour, colour and add definition. It’s your everyday multi-use face palette.
eG: Most Asians have yellow undertones, but aspire for radiant paleness with peachy/rosy tones. Can the Glow Palette help them achieve that?
F: You may want to use a colour corrector as a first step. It can be viewed as part of the preparation and foundation part of your makeup. The Glow Palette I would suggest for most Asian women would be the “01 fair to light medium”. It has three different tones of pink pearl tones for blush and highlight, and can be used to counter any yellowness or sallowness by adding warmth and radiance, especially around the cheeks and temples.
eG: Asians tend to have less prominent facial features. Can the Glow Palette give us higher cheekbones and nose bridges?
F: The two lighter pinks would be perfect for the apples of the cheeks and slightly higher up on the cheekbones. The fairest shade, which is a white pearlescent tone, would work well for highlights for the bridge of the nose and/or the brow bones.
eG: What about contouring?
F: This can be up for a debate as I know some ladies love contouring and some hate it. Contouring can be helpful not just to create cheekbones and structure, but also to create a more rounded profile. If you have a very square jaw, you can use shading in a clever way to try to move the shadow from the hard jawline upward to shave off the harshness. As for the nose, there are two contouring tones, a darker creamy tone and a lighter taupe that is semi-shimmery. Depending on your skin tone, you can use one of them on its own, or blend them as a two-step process to shape the sides of the nose.
eG: How should we apply it for a natural daytime look?
F: Soft brushes are nice to apply with as the product is buildable, and you don’t want to go in too strong too quickly. Sweep on the colour carefully and perfectly so that it can be added gradually. A longer-haired kabuki brush, or anything with a soft flexible feeling is ideal for blush and highlight as these brushes make for a delicate application.
eG: How about for an evening/going-out look?
F: You can use the palette on your eyes even though it is billed as a face palette. A smoky eyeshadow look can be created with the taupe shade. You can apply with a finger or a brush to smoke out the eyelids. Because it is the same colour tone as your face, it looks really natural. Then, you can put one of the highlighters on the lid and/or the corner of the eyes for a great brightening effect. And with the big mirror in the compact, it is handy to keep in your purse for an easy day-to-night transformation.
eG: Can I use it if I have oily skin?
F: Generally there are certain areas of your face that could be greasier, such as around the nose or on the T-zone, and you should avoid putting glow products there anyway. Highlighters are generally meant to be used on the top of cheekbone, cupid’s bow and the nose bridge. The great thing about this palette is that the highlighters are powders, so even if your skin is oilier, the product won’t move, unlike cream-based products that may move as you sweat or get greasier. That being said, the pearls in this product are so fine, it has the gentle glow of a cream-based product. It will always go on super sheer, glowy and clean
