Before the Blancheur Spring Summer 2016 Show, I also had the opportunity to interview MAC MUA, Shahrum Md Nor about the make-up for the show. Always a pleasure chatting with Shahrum as he has many tips and he’s very detailed with his answers. I’ve learnt a lot of MAC techniques from him.

How many models are you doing make-up for today?

4 models.

What are the essentials for the make-up today?

We need to make sure skin looks very radiant, fresh and healthy. The foundation finishing is as if the models have nothing on their skin like baby skin finishing. It’s about perfecting the skin texture to give it a 3D effect, it’s about placement and highlighting, not contouring. Strobing techniques emphasise highlighting.

Is it easy for someone at home to achieve this look?

If you are used to highlighting, this look is easy to achieve. The person has to be highly skilled in this kind of finishing.

What’s fashion show make-up about?

A MUA must understand the concept of fashion show make-up. It’s not just about flawless skin, contouring and highlighting. We use a lot of techniques, a lot of blending. We have to know the texture of each model’s skin – whether she has acne, open pores. With open pores, we can’t do a lot of highlighting otherwise it will make the pores more obvious. Finishing is all about perfecting the skin and placement of texture on the skin. We play with a few textures on the skin so that when the models walk under the lights, you will see a lot of detail.

What is the most important part of this kind of make-up?

The most important part is the base, if foundation is not perfect, everything else is not right. Foundation must be solid and perfect.

How do you ensure the make-up doesn’t melt under the lights?

We use a beauty blender, it’s easier to use than a brush. For highlighting, we use hands rather than a brush as heat from the hand gives more reflect. With the beauty blender, the more you blend, the more it plumps up skin. There is no cakey or patchy effect.