Three items you’ll always find in Cat Smith’s makeup kit
Image via @catsmithmakeup / instagram
words by Lara Daly
Top three.
I’m a notoriously nosy person when it comes to beauty products. I want to know whether you double cleanse at night, how often you wash your hair and exactly what you’re using. I want to know if there’s some special facial tool or pair of tweezers that have (hyperbole warranted) changed your life. I want to know what curl definer you use and which lip balm you swear by.
Want to snoop inside the beauty regimes of other creatives? Head here.
In short, I adore products. This is why I’ve asked some of our favourite Australian beauty experts to share the ‘top three’ products they can’t live without. The scope is broad – it can genuinely be anything, as long as they’re the three they value the most.
Joining us this week is Australian makeup artist, Cat Smith. As someone who has followed Cat’s work for years, it makes sense that she describes her approach to beauty as delicate and minimalist. “I love creating beautiful, natural skin. I prefer to enhance someone’s natural features and add pops of colour or shading, rather than adding a ton of products or changing their appearance drastically,” she says.
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Cat has been experimenting with makeup from a young age and by the time she was a teenager, she decided to pursue it professionally. “I’ve always been creative but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I graduated from high school. A friend suggested getting into makeup and the rest was history!”
About 10 years ago, while working backstage at New York Fashion Week, Cat met the legendary Aussie makeup artist, Thomas de Kluyver, and the pair hit it off. “He asked if I was coming to Milan as he wanted me on the team for the Gucci show. I wasn’t but I booked flights that night and that was my start of doing the European show circuit,” Cat explains.
Aside from working on fashion campaigns and editorial shoots locally (including for Fashion Journal), Cat’s a regular at Paris Fashion Week, lending her skills to the makeup teams for the likes of Miu Miu, Chloe and Valentino earlier this year. Curious to know about her all-time favourite products, we asked Cat to share three items you’ll always find her kit.
Product one: Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation
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I’ve been using Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk foundation for as long as I can remember, it’s the best multi-tasking foundation on the planet and the mini size is perfect for makeup artists. I recommend it to so many clients!
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Product two: Nars Light Reflecting Setting Spray
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Mecca generously sent me the Nars Light Reflecting Setting Spray to test. I have since reordered it because I fell in love, it’s the perfect finishing touch when you want a lasting, natural and luminous finish on the skin. I use it on most shoots.
Get it here.
Product three: K-set Wet Set Micro Mist Spray Bottle
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Anyone that knows me and my makeup kit knows my love of K-set. My current obsession is Wet Set, it’s the cutest little water spray bottle. As a makeup artist that also does hair, I’m always trying to minimise the amount of products I carry around. This doubles as a water spray for hair and to mist bodies on location, and it also comes in a two-pack so you can keep one in your kit and one in your location bag. Genius!
Get it here.
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