If you felt like something was missing at the Victoria’s Secret runway show last night, that’s because it was. “Enough with the false lashes,” makeup artist Tom Pecheux declared. “We used to do a lot of fakeness: false lashes, fake tan, blah, blah, blah. This year we kill everything. No more fakeness. You know, these girls are amazing and unique—they don’t want to all look the same,” he told me. That individualistic, less-is-more approach suits Mr. Pecheux just fine; he’s legendary for perfecting the complexion and making skin radiate. “I thought we would work with the skin tone, a bit of bronzer, a bit of blush that we mix together…��� he said, but I wanted the full rundown—the real how-to. And, bless you Tom, I got it. Herewith, his play-by-play recipe for the modern VS face—rhinestone accessories optional.

“You have to start with this— Rodin Olio Lusso. After you wash your face, apply only a few drops, and please your skin. Normally at a fashion show we are in a rush, but at Victoria’s Secret, we start at 10 AM—we have the time to massage the face, to love the face. You have to love your skin. The skin will give it back to you. And I think that is the most amazing product, because it is sensual, natural, it’s great. Then over that, DayWear moisturizer—Estée Lauder—is amazing. Then over that, Idealist. That smoothes the skin and is very helpful to not shine too much. It helps to control your oil. So from there you go to foundation.

So foundation. I’m not going to say one type; I’m going from Estée Lauder to Kett to Victoria’s Secret, depending on the skin tone. They are all pretty good, it really depends on your skin tone. That’s where you have to do your research. Then loose powder—I’m using Shiseido and Kett—and Victoria’s Secret Glitterati for the bronzer. And the way I use it is I mix things—I want to avoid the layer on layer. So I’m grabbing a bit of loose powder on my brush and I’m grabbing a bit of the bronzer and I first squeeze the mix together on the open lid of the bronzer compact. And like that, it will magnify. Because if you just do the loose powder, and after you put on the bronzer, it’s too heavy with two layers of powder. So by doing that, you just make one layer. It’s sort of like an airbrush. And I do that all over the face, and then I use this—the Victoria’s Secret blush in Starlet—and I’m grabbing also a little bit of bronzer and I squeeze the brush again and now you create that kind of bronzy/rosy cheek. Don’t be afraid. And after all that is done, just love your skin again! Touch it: it’s going to help to blend everything. The foundation, the powder, they become all one. I don’t like that word melting, but they kind of all melt together.

And after that, we use a little bit of highlighter—very little because I don’t want too much shimmer. I'm using Victoria’s Secret loose eye shadow actually, in Stardust. I put that on the top of the cheeks and a little bit on the eyelid. Since we’re using an eyeliner, make sure that your eyelid is very well powdered. So try to avoid, when you do all your skin treatment, try to avoid any cream and any oil there. You want to make sure your eyelid is very dry before you put your eyeliner. If not, you will sweat and the eyeliner will transfer. I’m doing a liquid eyeliner—I’m using professional paint—but there is a Victoria’s Secret one that is very nice and not complicated to use. And I do a lot of mascara. And on the lips, I do a lipstick called Whisper and on top of it, I do a lipgloss called Sublime. It’s a base lipstick with a peachy, kissable gloss.”

—as told to ITG

The Victoria's Secret show will air on Tuesday, November 29th at 10/9c, on CBS