Is your face HD ready?

Nov 26 2009 by Dawn Collinson, Liverpool Daily Post

With High Definition TV, the camera never lies – but Dawn Collinson discovers your make-up can

IN THE world of beauty, less is very rarely more – but, since the High Definition revolution, it’s now true of TV make-up.

With new technology four times sharper than old Standard Definition, every facial feature has real-life clarity, which means not only do blemishes show up more, so does the heavily applied foundation which was once used to cover them.

So what is the answer to perfect skin now that we’re seeing everyone, celebrities and all, as if they were standing in our living rooms?

Louise Connor has been manager of the make-up department at Sky+HD since its launch three years ago. Before that, she worked for the channel as a make-up artist and freelanced in the TV and film industry.

It’s her job to oversee a team of 25 who make presenters camera-ready for programmes. Those she works on include Sky News, where she has the challenge of Eamonn Holmes, Sky Sports and the newly launched Live from Studio Five show hosted by Ian Wright, Melinda Messenger and former Apprentice contestant Kate Walsh.

No-one ever goes in front of the lens make-up free, she says, but the increasing use of HD has meant a significant change in techniques and time spent on each person.

“What we’ve found with HD is we use less product because it’s like looking at things in real life so it shows absolutely everything,” she explains. “That is the misunderstanding most people have because they think you would need to apply more make-up to cover what you don’t want to see, but that isn’t the case.

“What you actually need is cleverer application, so you can still cover what you want to cover, but without it looking as if someone is wearing lots of make-up. That’s especially the case on guys, because it’s very visible in HD if they’ve got lots of make-up on. To be honest, you can see it in SD sometimes, but in HD it’s really badly noticeable.”

To cope with the change, Louise applies foundation with an airbrush, instead of sponges or brushes.

“Because you need to create a really flawless finish on the skin without it looking made-up, we use an airbrush which is made up of a compressor and an airbrush gun. It’s like a little spray which covers the skin in a very fine mist of foundation.

“We always start with that to get the base correct and then we work from there, but unlike with regular make-up we conceal first.

“With HD, once you’ve applied the airbrush base, you don’t want to touch it too much so it stays flawless. The products are designed to be left alone really, so the concealer goes on first.

“We then apply blusher over the top, which can also be airbrushed, and finally the eye and lip products.”

Louise says foundation has been the biggest change since the advent of HD. Water-based or silicon-based products are now used because they give a more natural flexible finish.

“But, for us, the hardest part is time because it does take longer. You just have to take that extra bit of time and care because even a tiny speck of eyeshadow powder on the cheek will show up.

“On average, a woman’s hair and make-up used to take 30 minutes for SD, but now it’s more like 40 minutes. The whole make-up is done at the beginning of a programme and then we check our presenters every hour so we can reduce any shininess.”

Obviously most people will never be seen in HD on a TV or movie screen, but Louise says that doesn’t mean everyone can’t achieve a camera-perfect look at home.

Many of the products that she and her team use are available on the high street.

“Clinique particularly do an airbrush concealer which is brilliant,” she says. “And the mascaras that we use are Max Factor Masterpiece. It’s important to use a good mascara which you comb through because they can appear very cloggy in HD.

“Similarly, anything too glittery or too shimmery doesn’t work at all, so we’ve had to tone down lip glosses. We use a product from Mac called Lip Gelle which has more of a matt finish and doesn’t have a shimmer in it.”

High Definition can be unforgiving, Louise admits, but most people are still pleasantly surprised when they see themselves in it.

“A lot of people think it’s going to be too stark, but in fact it highlights certain colours, like reds, blues and greens, so if someone’s got blue eyes then they look much stronger and really beautiful. It’s hard work but it’s actually a very flattering medium.”

FOR more information on Sky+HD, visit: www.sky.com/hd

dawn.collinson