9 Secrets We Learned From The Kardashian-Jenners Make-Up Artist
Meet the 20-year-old responsible for Instagram’s most-liked selfies
Ariel Tejada is responsible for Instagram’s most-liked selfies. Kim Kardashian’s airbrushed pic with Amber Rose after Kanye-gate? That was #makeupbyariel. Kylie’s poreless Puma campaign face? #makeupbyariel back at it with the perfect skin. Kendall’s red carpet glow? You guessed it.
“I jumped from zero to 100 so quickly,” the 20-year-old makeup artist says. Since graduating from high school a mere two years ago, Tejada went from practicing glam on his cousin in New York to reaching out to any photographer and model who would listen.
“I would hype myself up saying, ‘I’m the greatest make-up artist ever.’ Because of the way I spoke of myself and the way I saw myself, people started seeing me that way. And so, I started getting work through that,” says Tejada, whose first high-profile client was Lilly Ghalichi from Bravo’s Shahs of Sunset.
Everything changed when Kylie Jenner slid into his DMs.
“She asked me if I was available to do her makeup. I freaked out. I was like, ‘Oh my God, she DM’d me like 14 minutes ago. I’m late. She’s not going to reply!'” Tejada says. Kylie did reply, and Tejada immediately booked a flight to LA. “I showed up, we worked together and she never let me go after that. Kylie really changed my life.”
Tejada now lives in West Hollywood and works with the whole family. “Every day, I wake up to the most beautiful women in the world,” he says. “It’s incredible.”
Here, Tejada breaks down his tips for the perfect glow, impeccable skin, and, of course, bombshell lips.
EMOLLIENT MOISTURISER IS MY SECRET WEAPON
A huge part of any flawless foundation application starts with skin products. I literally live for a really good emollient moisturiser. I like the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Moisturiser — that’s a good one for underneath makeup.
INVEST IN EYE CREAM
A good eye cream is important because you never want your concealer to settle into fine lines. I like the Tatcha Revitalising Eye Cream. At night, you should always put on a really thick eye cream to keep everything hydrated because, throughout the night, you lose a lot of your moisture so you want the cream to sit there and soak in.
CONTOURING DOESN’T HAVE TO BE COMPLICATED
If you want the highlight and contour look, you should go for a concealer that’s one to two shades lighter than your skin tone in the centre of your face to balance out the lighting. And for contour, pick a foundation that’s one or two shades darker. Makeup is all about layering. I like using cream foundations. Tom Ford has really, really great cream foundations, and it can be sheered out to almost nothing or you can build it to a nice coverage.
ILLUMINATE EVERYTHING
I love a good glow. Recently, that’s what I’ve been addicted to: making the skin look really fresh and glowy, yet still glam. I like using a liquid or cream highlighter underneath the powder — on top of the foundation, but before setting it. For cream, I like BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal. I put that on the high points of the cheek, bridge of the nose, right at the centre of the chin, Cupid’s bow, and I just press it in and blend it. Once you set your makeup in place, you can go in with a powder glow just to emphasise the glow that you have already put on. And I like using Anastasia Beverly Hills So Hollywood.
EYSHADOW CAN RESHAPE YOUR EYES
If you want to give your eyes a more almond shape you can go ahead and darken the outer corners of the eyelid. If you want to give it a more rounded shape you round out the colors along your eye shape. Bronzey, warm-brown eyeshadows are kind of my signature look. It’s pretty universal, you can never go wrong with natural colors.
WHEN IN DOUBT, ADD LASHES
There’s a lash for every look. I am a huge fan of Lilly Lashes. I helped Lilly Ghalichi design the collection, and one of my favorites is called Paris. It’s a wispy lash and I really love a good wispy lash because it just gives a good, natural fluttery look to the eye. If you just put some mascara over it, you can intensify it or you can leave it as is. It’s a very universal lash.
FAKE THE LOOK OF FULLER LIPS
Over-lining the slightest bit on your lip and filling in the entire lip with lip liner will give you longevity with whatever lipstick you put over it.
PLAY WITH TEXTURE
I love gloss. Kylie just came out with her glosses, and I’m obsessed with them. I think everyone needs to go buy them. A good gloss livens up your look. The skin can sometimes be a little matte and if you want to bring some life to the overall look, then using a gloss will do that for you.
LOCK IN YOUR LOOK WITH FINISHING SPRAY
Definitely mist your face with a good setting spray to sink in the makeup when you’re done. I use Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist at the very end, and it just gives a really nice glow to the skin. It doesn’t make the makeup look powdery, it just looks like skin.
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Via Harper’s Bazaar US