MUA Kate Lee Breaks Down the Makeup for Eve Hewson’s Cover Look

This time around, we’re introducing you to makeup artist Kate Lee, the mastermind behind the makeup looks for Byrdie’s latest issue—The Holiday Issue—featuring Eve Hewson. Below, join us in taking a peek behind the curtain.

The Breakdown

On the inspiration and products for the first makeup look…

Hewson is such a classic beauty—one who looks right at home in a French twist and red lip. Because of that, we wanted to do an alternative spin on holiday. We did bombshell hair (look at those gorgeous, shiny curls), but paired them with Y2K-inspired sunglasses, glossy skin, and a lip ring.

Kate Lee: “Much of the products I used were by CHANEL. Particularly the base, which was a combination of CHANEL Les beiges Fresh-Water Tint and Baume Essentiel in Moonlight Kiss. For the first look, we did clean, fresh skin with bright highlights. Eve wore a lip ring, and I focused on defining her brows and her beauty mark.

And the second…

The main inspiration for this look was the silver foil. It ended up coming together a bit like snow, or frost on a cold morning. We had the makeup match—silver shimmer on silver shimmer—and showed off all the glorious dimension in Hewson’s face. She’s stunning.

Kate Lee: “We were going for an ice queen vibe. I used a silver-y shadow, NEEN Pretty Shady in Glow, on the lids and crept that out to the high cheekbones. I used Victoria Beckham’s Contour Stylus to define the cheekbones and added the Baume Essentiel to add dimension. I used a strip lash, cut into small portions, on the outer corners of the lash line to lengthen. Brows were freshly brushed into place and I used gloss on the lips.”

Finally, the cover look…

A new take on tinsel, we kept the skin clean and fashioned a cat-eye from a piece of silver foil. Each look was meant to focus on a different “classic” holiday adornment, and balance it with something less traditional.

Kate Lee: “I added a very fine silver foil, like tinsel, in a straight line above the [eye] socket line, which gave us an alternative cat eye. I borrowed the foils from Kimmie Kyees, the manicurist on set. They are designed for nail art, but came in handy for the final look.”