I recently had the pleasure of painting the already beautiful face of Vanessa Haywood. I was expecting attitude and diva-esque demands from the star of the science fiction thriller District 9 but instead found myself having a good chat and a giggle with this blonde bombshell.

As you can see, we went for a smouldery, sexy yet sophisticated look. I used MAC‘s Studio Fix fluid to give her a porcelain finish beneath the harsh studio lights, MAC‘s moisture-blend concealer to blur any “imperfections” and cream blush to give her cheeks additional glow. Her classic smokey eye was created with the help of the ultimate smudge  kohl pencil in “smolder” and grey and silver pigments, and her lips were lined with “subculture” lip pencil and filled with “lightning” limited edition gloss.

Vanessa is an amazing cyclist and has been sponsored by KTM. Once we had finished shooting these beauty shots, Rob shot this promotional pic of the sporty lady in action.

Photographer: Robert Miller

Model: Vanessa Haywood

Hair and Make-Up Artist: Samantha Laura Kaye

Shot at Snap Studios 2010

Kass is one of the best swimsuit photographers in our pretty city, so I wanted to make the most of this little test shoot we did for Claudi. I picked gold as my theme and accent, working with various hues and levels of reflection in the make-up. First I smoothed her skin with MAC’s Studio Finish Foundation. Then I contoured her face with a combination of Mac’s Sculpt and Shape powders, MAC’s loose Golden Bronze shimmer powder and Mineralise Skinfinish in Shimpagne and Shooting Star. I started on Claudi’s eyes by applying a thin layer of Guerlain Ombre Eclat Eye Shadow Primer - (which happens to be the BEST eye-primer I have ever laid my hands on) and then I shaded a traditional beauty eye using pigments for shimmer and MAC’s eye-shadows in “beauty marked”, “bronze” and “espresso“. I lined her eyes with” smoulder” eye kohl, smudged them with MAC’s #219 pencil brush and then applied MAC’s #36 lash. I lined her lips with “subculture” lip pencil and then filled them with MAC’s “gold shimmer” lipstick and topped them off with “wet wild and wonderful” lip-gloss which I customized by blending with a white gold pigment.

I let her hair do its own thing, simply enhancing the shine a little with OSIS “magic” serum.

Photographer: Kass Photography

Model: Claudi

Hair and Make-up Artist: Samantha Laura Kaye

Location: Cape Town

For those of you who weren’t at the opening and have not yet seen it, get yourself over to Salon 91 on Kloof Street and check out the Tretchikoff & Me exhibition of vintage Tretchikoff prints, juxtaposed against the contemporary responses (ceramic, printmaking and photographic) of local South African artists. Niklas Zimmer is the featured photographer, and I painted the beautiful ladies he featured in his photographs using a combination of MAC and Chanel concealers and oil-based Kryolan face-paints. I achieved the “water droplets” with tubes of Mac’s clear lipglass. Far more impressive in real life – I suggest you take a wander down Kloof Street and have a look for yourself.

Our Team consisted of:

Photographer: Niklas Zimmer

Lighting Design: Yotam Sandak

Stylist: Bella Knemeyer

Hair and Make-up Artist: Samantha Laura Kaye

Assistant : Penny Youngleson.

Models wish to remain anonymous.

Shot on the roof of the Grand Daddy Hotel, this is one of my favorite of the fashion series Nena and Sean and I created one unsuspecting Spring Sunday.  I love seeing Cape Town city behind her, that tiny patch of blue in the corner, and how everything except for Nena is slightly out of focus.

Make-Up: MAC: Skin: Studio Fix Fluid, studio finish concealer, Prep ‘n Prime transparent finishing powder. Cheeks: “Buff” - matte blush for under the cheekbone and “Pretty Indulgent” - silvery shimmer for a cheek highlight. Eyes: “Blackground” Paint Pot, topped with “Cinderfella” Mineralize eye-shadow (limited edition – similar to “black tied” eye-shadow) and “carbon” (matt) eye-shadow. Lashes were coated with “Zoomblack” mascara and then MAC’s #47 lash for an extreme effect. Finally I lined her water-line with “Fascinating” eye-kohl. Lips were coated with “Explicit” lipgass.

Hair: Hair was sprayed with water, combed back and the Loreal’s “Crystal Wax” was applied to the roots and again combed back.

Photographer: Sean Laurenz

Photographer’s Assistant: Nick Raper

Model: Nena Hugo from Trigger

Stylist: Nena Hugo

Hair and Make-Up: Samantha Laura Kaye

Shot in Cape Town, at the Grand Daddy Hotel in 2009

Cape Town’s “Southern Ink Xposure” tattoo convention brought an assortment of alternative inked models to the mother city, and we all know that there’s nothing quite so inspiring to photographers as a uniquely beautiful girl. Southern Ink Xposure was painfully timed to compete with the birthday weekend of yours truly, so alas there was not much model grabbing and photo taking on my behalf, but luckily one or two of the beauties stayed behind, and I was given the opportunity to work with a suicide girl and official suicide girl photographer. Lumo Suicide (the name of this particular Suicide Girl) asked me to curl her hair and make her look a mix of classically beautiful and interesting. The pink heart is obviously not present on the purchased set.

Photographer: TaLamia Photography

Model: Lumo Suicide

Hair and Make-up Artist: Samantha Laura Kaye

Pro Tip: To get the structure behind these curls I lightly finger-combed “Grip” Mousse  (from the OSIS range by Schwarzkopf ) through her hair, then slowly, section by section made tight GHD curls. While the curls were hot, as soon as I released them from the iron, I rolled them neatly into a tight curl and pinned them with a grip clip and some tissue (to prevent tension marks where the clips grip). I then added hairspray, left the curls for around 45 min, and then took them down and combed away any stray hairs. Finally I used the Loreal “Play Ball” shine serum (which is a spray!) to bring out the texture and colour.

Pro Tip: What makes this photograph for me is Chantelle’s skin. There are a variety of tricks I used to make Chantelle’s skin glow this way,  read on and I will share them with you.

1) Hydrate. Luba is a photographer who chooses models who do not smoke, drink coffee 24 hours before the shoot and who drink a lot of water. However this is not always enough. Make sure you use a good moisturiser prior to you make-up application, and whenever the skin looks or feel thirsty spray it with a fine water mist – I like to use the body shop’s “vitamin C spray” or MAC’s Fix+ spray – both have a lovely smell and have no negative effects on the make-up.

2) Use a primer or illuminator under the foundation. Personally I am not a fan of spreading primer all over the face as I feel it adds an unnecessary layer and with make-up, unless it’s for stage, I prefer thick over thin. So instead of using a primer I strategically blend MAC’s “strobe cream” along the cheekbones, cupid’s bow and between the eyes – if you can afford it, Chanel’s illuminating primer is even better!

3) Use a sheer glossy foundation and powder only when necessary. I love MAC’s “face and body” foundation. It is water based, looks and feels like skin, and is powder free. If you want the skin to look really glowy or plastic you can use MAC’s “studio sculpt” (gel based) foundation. As always, apply with a foundation brush, and then buff into the skin, in circular movements, with a duo fiber brush such as MAC’s #188 brush. Powder with a sheer powder such as MAC’s prep and prime finishing powder or PMU’s finishing powder, using a small compact brush. Powder only the areas that are creating hotspots with the lights and go light with the powder.

4) Contour with a light bronzer, around the edges of the face and under the chin. No one’s face is naturally one flat colour, your model’s should not be either.

5) Create shadow’s with neutral eye-shadows to give depth to the eye.

6)Use a lip liner to really define the lips. Definition and definite shapes are what ground shiny glossy skin taking them into the land of sophistication.

Photographer: Luba V Nel

Model: Chantelle Kruger

Make-Up: Samantha Laura Kaye

Location: Cape Town

Date: 2009

Make-Up: MAC: Skin: Studio Fix Fluid, studio finish concealer, Prep ‘n Prime transparent finishing powder. Cheeks: “Buff” - matte blush for under the cheekbone and “Pretty Indulgent” - silvery shimmer for a cheek highlight. Eyes: “Blackground” Paint Pot, topped with “Cinderfella” Mineralize eye-shadow (limited edition – similar to “black tied” eye-shadow) and “carbon” (matt) eye-shadow. Lashes were coated with “Zoomblack” mascara and then MAC’s #47 lash for an extreme effect. Finally I lined her water-line with “Fascinating” eye-kohl. Lips were coated with “Explicit” lipgass and lined with “Stripdown” lip pencil.

Hair: Hair was sprayed with hairspray for texture, and then braided into a loose side-plait.

Photographer: Sean Laurenz

Photographer’s Assistant: Nick Raper

Model: Nena Hugo from Trigger

Stylist: Nena Hugo

Hair and Make-Up: Samantha Laura Kaye

Shot in Cape Town, at the Grand Daddy Hotel in 2009

Model: Robyn Hobson

Make-up and Hair Artist: Samantha Laura Kaye

Location: Snap Studios

Shot for Pix Magazine in 2009.