In our
new video series, Beauty Icons,
makeup artist Kayleen McAdams—whose client list includes Lily Collins,
Jessica Biel, Olivia Wilde, Kat Dennings, and, yes, her sister
Rachel—breaks down iconic looks, both past and present, step by step.
When asked about her own beauty signature, she said, “I feel like most
makeup artists say they like to do eyes, but I love to do lips—I have
big lips, so I love a big pop of color. Being a makeup artist is often
like being the cobbler’s children who don’t have shoes: I don’t
generally wear a ton of makeup on a day-to-day basis, so I just put on
some powder, a little mascara, and pop on a lipstick and I’m ready.” Her
go-to shade at the moment:
CK One Color Shine Lipstick in Rockin (a sheer lavender), and for night she slicks on
Tarte Glamazon Pure Performance 12-Hour Lipstick in Playful
(a matte purple) underneath. In her earlier days, however, a simple
Bonne Bell brown liner—a coveted product in Canada—was her object of
affection. “I remember we went to New York City on some kind of a class
trip, and I bought this specific [shade] that I saw in
Teen
magazine, it was called Pecan Brown. It really was the best brown
eyeliner. I would wear that all the time—it was one of my signature
things because I have blue eyes so it would go really well. I had that
eyeliner until I moved about a year ago and finally got rid of it. I’m a
bit of a makeup hoarder.” And in the making of our tutorials, it was
also a liner look that she surprisingly enjoyed the most: “I loved the
Brigitte Bardot eye because I don’t do a big eye on myself a lot. I
guess I should take my own advice, because I always thought a big eye
doesn’t really work for me, but then I did it and I was like, ‘It
does work for me.’
