Last night marked British Fashion Council's 2017 The Fashion Awards, a very splendid affair (that's British, right?) where Adwoa Aboah was named Model Of The Year. Congrats, Adwoa! That British Vogue cover alone probably clinched it. And while the world applauded her, Team ITG's Anna Jube hopped on the phone with Celia Burton, the hand behind Adwoa's beauty look for the evening. Read below for all the products she used to create it. Maybe try it on yourself for your next holiday party? Thank you, Celia!
"Adwoa has the most beautiful skin that’s decorated with freckles, so you don’t particularly want to cover it up too much. Tonight, she sat in GlamGlow's SuperMud Clearing Treatment Mask before I cleansed her face using Bioderma's gentle micellar water. That usually calms any redness. Then we used Dr. Hauschka's Rose Day Cream—it's a lovely rich, yummy moisturizer, perfect for under makeup. This process is almost as important as concealer or foundation, because it makes it so much easier to me to use less makeup overall.
After that, I used Nars Optimal Brightening Concentrate underneath as a brightening primer. I actually did the eyes first in case we would have to redo the skin at all after—but I'll come back to those. On her skin I used Revlon ColorStay Foundation, which is quite rich, so you can just use a tiny bit and then blend it out with your fingers. Then I applied a bit of Sisley Sun Glow Gel to the cheeks and highlighted with Glossier Haloscope in Topaz on her cheekbones and on her Cupid’s Bow. I finished the skin with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish powder.
Adwoa called me on the way to say that Stephen Jones had made her a turban, and I immediately thought of Diana Ross in Mahogany. Diana Ross always had a delicate wash of color on her eyes in this film... Adwoa’s got a similar shaped eye, so I thought we should use color in this very ‘70s way while still keeping it modern. I used an old YSL palette of mine in Surrealiste, which is a collection of purples and one lime green. I primed with Nars Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, and then applied a purple from the palette and blended it right out and upwards, into the brow bone, just skimming the base of the eyebrow. I then got out one of Charlotte Tilbury’s Luxury Eyeshadow Palettes called The Glamour Muse that has a dark purple-y grey which was perfect to gently define the upper and lower lash line. We didn’t want to go too graphic, steering clear from any heavy or hard lines, keeping it really soft, light and blended. To lift the eye, I ‘cut’ into the shadow on the outer corner with a bit of makeup remover on a cotton bud, dragging it out and up. The result is that it’s blended on top, but with a really clean line underneath. I then patted a little Shiseido Shimmering Eye Cream in Purple Dawn in the center of Adwoa’s eyelid, and finally popped a little bit more Topaz Haloscope on the top of the brow bone as well so that the light really caught it. We used Revlon Mega Multiplier on the lashes. This mascara has a lovely big fluffy brush, but it doesn't have too much product on it, so you can coat and lengthen the lashes while keeping them looking natural. On her brows I used Glossier Boy Brow in Clear, because she’s got bleached eyebrows at the moment and this just keeps them in place. I finished off with Glossier Birthday Balm on her lips, which smells delicious and has that lovely, glittery, something-without-being-anything effect.
Adwoa left adorned in some amazing jewelry by Solange Azagury-Partridge—two bright pop rings that look like layered, lacquered colors piled on top of each other, almost like rock formations. Oh—and she's wearing a Michael Halpern dress that is brilliantly leggy, so I went to town making her legs super glossy and golden using my favourite Evolve Satin Leg Gloss. It's organic, hand made in the UK and it smells divine.
It’s so funny when you send someone off after you’ve done their makeup. They disappear into a car, you pack up and leave and almost immediately forget what you just did. Then you see pictures like the ones of Adwoa tonight and you have a fist pump moment. We nailed it! She’s got one of those timeless faces. I think she really deserves this award.”
—Celia Burton
Photos via Celia Burton and Getty Images.
Craving more British content? Here's a beauty tour of London.
