Pastel pressed flowers on bare, dewy skin, surreal facial prosthetics stirring up the vision of a new kind of alien-like beauty and extreme cat eyes with a twisted, graphic edge: these are just a few of makeup artist Val Garland’s everyday creations. Her work has been seen on the cover of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, W, Allure and many more and she has also served as L’Oreal’s Paris Global Makeup Director as well as a contributing beauty editor for British Vogue. Earlier this season, she released her first ever book, a visually stunning tribute to her muses, techniques and concepts spanning three decades. She consistently creates some of the most intensely alluring looks—using some of the most unconventional materials—that verge on fantasy for designers ranging from Vivienne Westwood to Thom Browne and the late Alexander McQueen, in addition to Lady Gaga during some of her most striking moments and album covers. Her magic touch visually shifts reality and transforms what we know and conventionally think of as “beautiful”.
Essentially, Garland has the kind of job that any beauty lover could only dream of. She travels often, makes her own schedule, and works with some of the most iconic faces of all time on an extremely intimate level. So we decided to chat to the former hairstylist about her career, red lipstick, beauty theories and more.
Was there a specific moment in time when you realized you wanted to become a makeup artist?
I think I more or less fell into makeup. I used to wear a lot of makeup, an awful lot of makeup, and always loved doing makeup. I’d be on the photo shoot doing the hair, and I’d see the makeup artist doing the makeup, and I’d think, ‘oh right, is that how she did that?’ So then I’d go home and whatever I saw the makeup artist doing that day, then I’d try it out on my own face at night. So, I was looking at other people I was working with, but still I wasn’t that interested. The photographers that I worked with they kept all saying ‘Look, you should do the makeup, you know you love makeup.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah I like makeup on myself, but don’t know if I’d be good at doing it on anybody else.’ One day the makeup artist didn’t turn up, and so the photographer sort of said to me, “Look, you’ve got to do the makeup today.” Basically I made the model look like me. Big black circles for her eyes, this was in the early 80s, so it was all new romantic. She probably had a very, very pale face. And a red lip. So that’s how I started out. And I made loads of mistakes, and I think only by making lots of mistakes, do you actually learn. There was no YouTube then, you couldn’t go and do a makeup tutorial. You kind of had to hope what you were doing was the right thing. I was going in on a wing and on a prayer. Apart from seeing a couple of my colleagues doing makeup in Australia, I really just taught myself.
When you mentioned you made a lot of mistakes, what kind of mistakes are you thinking of?
Oh, I probably made the worst mistakes in the world. The makeup you do in the makeup room, you need to go out and see what kind of lights are being used. How is that makeup going to work under a theatrical light or a halogen or is it going to be like a natural light? Is it going to be in shadow? So all of that affects how the makeup can look. I remember one day, doing this makeup on this model in Australia, and I took her out into the studio, she was wearing swimwear, and I think my makeup had sort of stopped at the chin. And because she was being filmed in natural light, you could really see that her face was a different color than her body. Luckily I had people around me that would give me a second chance.
What were you like as a teenager? Did you also wear a lot of makeup back then?
Yes. It was the 70s and I remember going to work, and I’d wear fake eyelashes, two sets on the top, one set on the bottom. It was all about lots and lots of makeup. So, lots of bright pinks and diagonal blush, big, blue eyeshadow. We were all heavily influenced by clubbing. You had Studio 54 in New York, and I can’t even remember what the name of the club was in Perth, Western Australia, where I was in 1979. It was an incredible moment in music. I think for me, the 70s, 80s and 90s for me fashion, the way you wore your hair, the way you did your face, it all had to do with music. It was Siouxsie and the Banshees, it was Lene Lovich. It was Debbie Harry. We wanted to be those girls. We wanted to look like those girls. At one point, I was really so heavily into Culture Club, I did my makeup exactly like Boy George and I even had the dreadlocks to match. It’s almost like dressing up really.
What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in the industry since you started out?
I think we all have to work a lot harder. I can remember doing shoots, maybe in the Caribbean or Mexico or Seychelles, the Maldives, and we’d be there for a week, and we’d do what we called a story. We’d do a shoot. Whereas if you go on location now, you probably going for two or three days and you’re doing three stories. The industry has sped up a lot more. I think everything is so much more accessible now, so I think the mystery and that little bit of magic, it’s all so out there now. You can see everybody’s process. I remember when Nick Knight first turned the camera on me, in the makeup room. I was kind of like, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing in my makeup room? This is my makeup room. No, no cameras. I don’t want you to photograph my process.’ He’s like, ‘Why, people would be really interested.’ And I sort of said, ‘Nick, who the hell is going to want to watch a makeup artist applying makeup? Who’s going to want to watch that?’ This was before the internet. Little did I know. It changed everything.
When you’re doing makeup on models with big personalities, like Kate Moss, does it make a difference in how you approach the look?
Well I think when you’re working on a celebrity, and let’s face it, Kate is a celebrity, you are working to create a look that obviously they will feel empowered by and feel that they look their best self. If I’m doing Kate and she’s going to an event, and I’ll say to Kate, ‘Look, how do you want to look tonight.’ And she’ll just say ‘Well maybe a bit of a flick, make my skin look a bit tan,’ something like that. That’s what is so amazing and professional about Kate, is when I work with Kate as a model, then she will say, ‘What is my character, who am I supposed to be?’ And then she’ll give you her face, because she understands that you’re creating this character. And if that character is wearing no makeup but a slash of red lip, then so be it.
What’s your process like when working with legendary, strongly opinionated designers like Vivienne Westwood or the late Alexander McQueen?
The process is different with every designer. When I used to work with Lee [Alexander McQueen], we’d have an initial meeting a month before the show. And he would sort of lay down a bit of an idea and let us go away and think about it. And then we’d come back, probably, I don’t know, three weeks before the show, and then I would show him some looks I had been working on, under his direction. We would spend a long time working on the show on the makeup and the hair. And then it’ll be set in stone, and then maybe the night before the show, you’d get a phone call, that Lee wants to see your model in full makeup. It might be three in the morning. During the lighting test. He wants to see how it looks under the lights. And you’d go and you’d do it. And sometimes it would be amazing, you’d always have your fingers crossed, another time he might go, ‘No, it’s not working.’ Then you’d have to go and find something else and do it and get to the show, maybe you’re starting at 7:00 AM then you’ve got to show your team. So that can be quite pressurized.
With Vivienne, I’ll walk up the night before, we’ll talk a bit about what the characters are going to be, and then we’ll go away and I’ll have a bit of an idea whether she’s going to be dusty in the attic or carefree spirit at the festival and then I’ll show her some ideas. But invariably, it always happens on the day, and then when we come to rehearsal, during the show then Vivienne will see some of the makeup that’s been done and they’ll be like, ‘Oh I like that, can we have some more of that, or no, I think that might be a bit much.’ You know, it’s definitely a work in process. It can change during through its journey of the show. Sometimes I may start at one sort of point and then, in the makeup, and then I sort of see it on the runway, with the lights, and I’m like, ‘No, we need to make it stronger because these lights are really strong. Or our audience is really close to the models, they can almost touch them, so we need to make sure their skin looks really fresh.’ So you’re always adjusting and analyzing and it’s different for different designers. But one of the things I find I enjoy, and lots of designers that I work with they tell a story. Like when I walk up to Erdem and he has a whole story about who this woman is this season. What’s she’s doing, what’s she’s reading, you know, the music she’s listening to. So you really become the Erdem character. It’s then up to me to find who is that character that is right for Erdem that season. And so each designer is like that. I love that. I love when there’s a story to tell.
In your mind, what are a few of the most iconic looks you’ve created for shows?
Well, of course anything to do with Alexander McQueen was always exciting. I did like the Voss show. That’s the one where all the girls heads are sort of like bandaged and they’ve got sort of Botox beauty, sort of elongated eyes. It’s all sort of soft and muted.
I love what happened at Preen, a few seasons ago, where I did a sort of soft lip sort of like mucky red lip. Thought that looked really good. Another time at Preen we put sort of pressed flowers into the face. That felt very iconic. There was another time at Preen where I covered the girls in freckles. I loved that show.
I also loved the very first Gareth Pugh show that I did, which I think might have been spring/summer 2016, if I remember. But I basically put nylon tights over the girls’ faces and then just painted a character directly onto the tights. And so all the girls became these animated mannequins. And the girls loved it. Because they could be a character. It was more than just doing an actual makeup.
How is it different working with a performer like Lady Gaga?
It’s just like you’re going to work with a celebrity, they will have a certain way that they see themselves. And what you hope to achieve is that you are both in it together to find this great moment or character that the artist wants to be. I remember one of my favorite videos I did with Lady Gaga, was a video called “Alejandro”, and basically it’s just about this beautiful, pure highlighted skin and a red mark. This matte velvet red mark. And I just thought she looked incredibly beautiful in that moment. So that’s one of my favorite looks that I’ve done with her. Although we mustn’t forget the prosthetics, that I did for the “Born This Way” album cover.
Do you believe in makeup trends?
I believe in makeup moments. I don’t believe in makeup trends. I think that us as individuals today, men and women, I feel that we are very confident in who we are and how we tell our story and what our voice is. I think you are your own editor, you are your own trend. So if you want to wear blue eyeshadow, you can wear blue eyeshadow. If you want to do an instabrow and a cut crease, own it. It’s yours. If you want to be completely natural, maybe do a little bit of smudgeable red on your lip, great, own it. We make the trends. As individuals. I think you can’t say, ‘It’s all about blue this season. Everybody’s going to be wearing blue eye makeup.’ Well are they? Are they really? We might be pushing it. We might be pushing it in beauty editorial. But is it really because you look out on the street, I don’t think so. There might be that girl with the great blue eyeshadow, but then there’s the girl that only ever wears yellow. And then there’s the other girl, or boy, that only ever does a sparse liner. No, I think we’ve gone beyond trends. Which I think is quite exciting. It means we’re not being dictated to.
What is conventional makeup to you and does it bore you?
Conventional makeup to me is wanting to look like everybody else. So if that means that you have to have these high maintenance eyebrows, a cut crease, and tons of foundation, that you sort of press on, sponge on, press on.. when everybody wants to look exactly the same, I find that conventional and a bit utterly boring. Why do you want to look like everybody else? That’s sort of like dumbing down. I’d rather be an individual.
Do you think there are any rules when it comes to makeup?
Absolutely not. Okay, the one rule is, does it work? Do you believe it? Does it look good? I mean if you’re going to stop your makeup at your chin and it’s a different color on your face to what it is on your body, it’s not a good look. I think you do have to make sure you do have the right color of foundation. And with the technology of beauty products today, that is not impossible. There is a color for almost everybody. So I think that’s a great thing. That would be the only rule that I would want to adhere to. Choose the right foundation. Everything else is, as long as it looks good, and you believe it, then it works. People sometimes say, ‘Oh, you can’t do an eye and a lip.’ Why can’t you? Of course you can. Somebody said to me the other day, ‘Oh, you know, women of a certain age, when you get older, you should wear less makeup’ Well I completely disagree with that. You should wear whatever you want to wear. Why should we fade into the background just because we’re mature? I don’t think so. Not in my world.
Do you still wear a lot of makeup personally?
I do. But I do it in a different way. Where in the ’80s I was painting pictures on my face, drawing funny patterns, now it’s more refined. My eyebrows are hardly there because I shaved them off in ’70s. So I do draw my brows back in. I do like to define my eye. I’m mad about mascara. I wear tons of mascara. When I have to do a presentation, I’ll usually put on some fake eyelashes. I think makeup is a tool, it’s our armor, it’s how we face the day. I think every woman can benefit from some makeup. Some days I might just put on a BB cream and go out for a run. I love a red lip. For me, I don’t do the same makeup every day. I change it up, because I just get bored. Sometimes it’s a smoky eye. It’s always a red lip. It’s either no lip or a red lip for me. I like a smoky eye, I like a liner, so I’ll change that around. I like to wear gray, I like to wear navy, blue is no longer good for me. I would look like Widow Twankey with blue eyeshadow. I would wear a navy eyeliner. I’ve got lots of navy eyeliner.
If you had to describe your own aesthetic, what would you say it is?
Bonkers.
I would say it’s spontaneous. Because each day is different. For me it’s a constant changing workplace. So, it’s never the same every day.
Do you consider this your dream job?
Yes. I get to work with some incredible talent. Not just the artist and the celebrities that I work with, to my colleagues, the photographers, fashion directors, hair dressers, nail technicians. I meet incredible people, I work in some incredible locations. Two days ago I was in Nice. Tomorrow I’ll be in Greece. Five days after that I’m going to be in China. Five days after that I’m going to be in Moscow. And then five days after that I’m going to be in Poland. Now that sounds like an interesting, interesting moment, if not somewhat tiring! You know, I love it. I’ve always loved it.
Do you have any advice for anyone, any young person who wants to go into this field and do what you do?
I think my advice is want it, be hungry, believe that you can do it, because only when you believe in yourself, can you then make other people believe in you. You have to really want it. It’s a tough job out there. And you have to have something that somebody else doesn’t have. You have to be more than just a makeup artist. Your skill is like 30% of the job. It’s everything else that you bring to it, your personality, how you work with team, that’s all very important. But ultimately you’ve gotta believe. And you’ve gotta want it.
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