Make-up artist Val Garland has worked with designers from YSL and Givenchy to Chloe and Christian Dior.
"I wanted a face for the woman I dress," the late Yves St Laurent once declared, before creating La Beauté, a make-up line inspired by his fashion house designs.
Over the years, YSL Beauté made quite a few bold and iconic statements that became bestsellers: the shocking fuchsia lipstick of 1979 and Touche Éclat, the indispensable pen brush highlighter invented in 1992. (One Touche Éclat is sold all over the world every 10 seconds.)
Thirty years on, the signature gold-robed products are still going strong. "Gold was very special to Yves St Laurent. He gave each of his models a gold trinket once they had walked down the runway," says Val Garland, YSL's artistic advisor.
Garland was in Dubai to celebrate the 30th anniversary of YSL Beauté recently, and presented YSL's Lights of Africa collection which she has created. A slew of dramatic colours, this one is not for the faint hearted. The limited edition African Eye Palette features a quartet of shades, going from beige to burnt orange.
Of her role, she says: "Being the artistic advisor to YSL involves collaborating with the team and being part of the brand's creative force. I also do a lot of research and development. I work together with the design team to come up with a make-up collection, based on my interpretation of future trends. Then I take it to the lab and get them to work on the palettes I've liked. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it does not."
'Dubai is so exciting'
One of the big league of stylists and make-up artists, Garland is a familiar behind-the-scenes presence at many top couture shows. "A big part of my job is also being make-up artist. I travel the world, doing make-up, and getting swollen ankles," she laughingly adds.
Preparation for the make-up that is to be worn on the catwalk, she says, starts a couple of months before the show. There are several rounds of discussion. Once the season starts, Garland's life is a whirligig of travel between London, Milan, New York and Paris. "I spend just about four days in each place. Dubai is so new, and so exciting — it's like walking though a James Bond movie. You get the feeling that anything can happen here."
On the eve of the show, Garland and her team are often designing the look until late in the night. Next morning, they start early for a show in the evening. Hair and make-up can take hours, and it's easy to see why.
Garland is a perfectionist, whose favourite accessory is a magnifying glass that she whips out to check how the make-up is sitting. "It gives me more control when I am designing a look," she says.
She is also a brush virtuose. Unlike other make-up artists, Garland doesn't use her fingers, but a selection of pencils and brushes. She explains her partiality to brushes: "I like the painterly feeling of brushes, where each stroke seems individual and unique."
Big sellers
"Any shade of orange is a big seller this summer," Garland said at the start of her make-up session, sweeping the eyelids of the model with this bright eye-popping hue. "Or even an acqua or a peacock blue eyeshadow, with green mascara. This season you could be wearing neutral coloured clothes, but there is a shot of colour somewhere. It's the same story for make up — definitely inspired by the early '80s."
Garland grew up in the UK, than emigrated to Australia. She worked as a hair colourist, before deciding to become a make-up artist. "Being a make-up artist was decided for me. I resisted it for a long time, but eventually gave in to suggestions from my friends and photographers that I should be a make-up artist."
In 1994, she moved back to London where she has worked on various projects: from catwalk shows to celebrity shoots with Kate Moss, as well as collaborating on publications such as Vogue, Dazed & Confused, i-D and Visionaire.
"The most exciting part of the journey has been the culmination of my dream: to design and develop products."
The YSL fragrance and cosmetics lines are available at Harvey Nichols.
Val Garland'sYSL Must Haves
Touche Eclat
YSL Mascara Volume Effect Faux Cils
Golden Gloss No.13
Rouge Pure Shine Natural Honey No.27
YSL Perfect Touch Foundation Pink Beige
Collector's Item
The limited edition Soleil D'Afrique complexion powder was introduced to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of YSL Beauté. The black beechwood tribal pendant with a clipped-on leather fringe, holds the Golden Sun powder, that suits all skin tones.
