Going Behind the Scenes: A Makeup Artist’s Take on a Magazine Fashion Shoot

Have you ever been curious about what goes on behind the scenes at a fashion shoot? Well you’re about to find out! I recently had the honor to be the makeup artist for the winter issue of Scene Magazine, a women’s style magazine based in northern California, and I’m going to take you behind the closed doors to get a peek on all the fun that was had!

The day started at 9AM where the hair and makeup team immediately got started on beautifying our two lovely models, Brooke and Gina, from Ford Models. Meanwhile, our talented photographer got to work on setting up the lights in the studio while the stylists were in a separate room getting all the looks together.

Before I went to work, I made sure to discuss the desired makeup look, a bold smoky eye, with the editor-in-chief, Katharine Fong, and the contributing fashion and beauty editor, Donna Kato. I also ran over to the styling room to see what ensembles the models would be wearing so I could have a complete vision of the entire look. Once I had that, I was ready to go! I did Gina’s makeup while the two hairstylists, Karie and Shayne from Aveda at Santana Row, styled Brooke’s hair and then we switched models. It probably took about an hour and a half to get them ready.

Then the models headed over to the styling room to get dressed in their first looks. I loved hanging out in this room! Donna and her team did an amazing job of pulling the wardrobe for this shoot. There were racks and racks of gorgeous, luxurious clothes and tables of drool-worthy shoes, handbags, jewelry, and other accessories.

Because this shoot would support two fashion spreads (Timeless Chic and The LBD Primer), we had a lot of looks (over ten!) to shoot so everyone had to be on their toes to keep everything moving in order to be done by 5PM.

As the makeup artist, I had the luxury of having the models to myself in the morning. But after the initial application, I had to make sure to work with the rest of the team to take care of any touch ups or makeup changes. Basically, you don’t want to hold anything up. If one model’s shooting, it’s probably a good time to touch up the other one if she is dressed in her next look and waiting to shoot. Here I quickly swap out Gina’s smoky eye for a more neutral look.

This next picture really captures the multi-tasking that goes on at a shoot. The hair stylists work on changing the hair styles of each model while the stylists get them prepped for their next look. These guys are amazing! I loved how quickly the hair stylists were able to turn out different hairstyles for each look and the stylists were so talented in assembling perfect looks from head to toe. I immediately wanted to go shopping afterward!

Styling assistant, Janet, uses clips to give this beautiful gray trench coat a more fitted look on model, Brooke. I don’t recommend doing this at home 😉

Finally, the photographer, Stephanie Grace Lim, gets to shoot! I think you can tell by the buns and the flowers that Stephanie has a cool and creative vibe in addition to being a very talented photographer. She came up with a fun idea of incorporating branches with bird accents that really complimented the winter feel of the shoot.

And talk about being ready for anything, she made sure to sport her knee pads so she can comfortably capture any shot!

It was so fun to watch the actual shoot and all of us were squeeing (it’s a word, right???) at how amazing each look was turning out.

Here Stephanie lets me take a peek at the images already shot. It’s helpful for me to see how my work is looking on the camera so I have a better idea if I need to make any adjustments or not.

Everything went smoothly and we were able to finish on time with tons of great images! The team printed out some of the favorites for them to review. They already look great even untouched 🙂

As you can tell, all of the images were shot against a white background. Stephanie then used her awesome editing skills to create a wintry blue background with the addition of some sleek branch shadow effects.

Whenever I work on photo shoots, I am always anxious to see the final edited images. The waiting is my least favorite part of a shoot 🙂 The issue was published about two months after we shot and I was thrilled to see the finished product!

Cover:

One of the fashion spreads:

And here’s a funny outtake that wasn’t included in the issue but that I love all the same:

All in all, it was a great experience being able to spend the day surrounded by so much creative energy. I loved working with this talented team and it was a treat to see all of our hard work come together in a beautiful finished product.

You can see the complete issue here. If you live in northern California, print issues are available now. Take a look at all the featured winter fashions — they are gorgeous looks!

Behind the scenes pictures by Janet Kim Paik and Audrey Mendoza

Scene Magazine Credits
Editor-in-Chief: Katharine Fong
Contributing Fashion and Beauty Editor: Donna Kato
Photographer: Stephanie Grace Lim
Designer: Becky Hall Lucero
Hair: Karie Bennett and Shayne Thurston, Aveda Atelier SalonSpa, Santana Row
Makeup: Audrey Mendoza
Styling assistance: Janet Kim Paik
Models: Brooke London and Gina, Ford Models