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Episode Summary
Two-time Emmy award-winning celebrity makeup artist Melanie Mills is one of Hollywood’s leading makeup and beauty experts, having styled the stars while also creating her own makeup company, Melanie Mills Hollywood. Today, we sat down with Melanie to discuss her journey getting into the makeup industry, how our skin changes as we age, Melanie’s product recommendations, and important makeup don’ts for older skin.
First, we asked Melanie how she first got into the makeup industry. She told us that initially, she had no interest in wearing or doing makeup. Instead, she loved to travel, and even spent a year living in Italy. During her last trip to Italy, Melanie ended up taking a makeup course with a friend and started becoming more interested in the industry. After meeting a union makeup artist and working on her first non-union film set doing the actors’ makeup, she began booking other jobs and slowly made a name for herself as a celebrity makeup artist and eventual CEO of her own makeup company, Melanie Mills Hollywood. Having years of experience working on skin and faces of all ages, Melanie noticed the significant lack of products targeted towards midlife women. They exist but are kept underground and overshadowed by the multitudes of other advertisements for younger demographics. Determined to change the narrative, she coined the term “mature skin” and began collaborating with the founder of Cinna beauty to tour and create more midlife skincare and makeup products. As she’s worked on her own line, Melanie has heard numerous rumors and stereotypes about older skin. The most common ones she’s heard are that you should wear minimal makeup the older you get and that wearing powder makes your skin look older. When asked about those stereotypes, Melanie quickly debunked them, telling us that she believes it’s important to wear more makeup as you and that powder can improve your skin so long as it’s the right amount and the proper shade for your skin tone.
We also spoke to Melanie about what specifically happens to our skin as we age. She explained that as our skin matures, it can change textures, our pores get bigger, and we can either develop drier or combination skin or experience excess sweating, which influences our skincare and makeup routines. We can’t follow the same routines we did when we were younger, but by finding the right products for our skin types and applying them slowly, we can have our skin looking brighter and healthier. For any makeup routine, Melanie said that skincare should always come first. When telling us her own routine, she recommended some of her favorite products: Danessa Myrick’s Beauty Oil and Yummy Glow Skin Serum, HD Skin Booster, and Makeup Forever’s Step 1 Pore Minimizer Primer and Step 1 Primer Color Corrector.
Having so much knowledge on makeup and skincare, Melanie shared with us some of the important steps to avoid when trying to create your own routine. One of the most common mistakes she sees people making is not using the right shade of foundation. Most people will go too light and forget that skin tone can vary on different parts of the body. A lot of people also forget that along with their face, they should be putting foundation on their ears, neck, and chest so that all of the color blends properly. To figure out the best shade match for your skin, rather than trying out foundation on your hand, Melanie recommended using a small patch of skin on your face, for as we age, our hands tend to have different hues. Another makeup mistake Melanie sees is people with hooded eyes not putting on their eyeshadow properly. Hooded eyelids mean less space for makeup, so the best way to apply eyeshadow is to bring it up and use one tone all over, making it easier to blend out. For a smoky eye look, people with hooded eyes can boost their look by focusing on underliner. As we age, our eyes tend to pull out, so using darker shades of liner on our upper lid and water line can help bring them out more. Having the right makeup tools when applying any kind of product is crucial. If the makeup isn’t applied and set properly, it will move around on the face. Melanie suggested using a makeup puff to help the makeup stay put, and for putting on concealer, said that you should put dots under the eye, use a dense eyeshadow brush to blend it out and airbrush it, and then use a translucent loose powder and set it with an eyeshadow brush. However, before you powder, make sure that any creases in the concealer are blended out.
For prepping lips for makeup, Melanie told us that you want to make sure you’re not putting makeup on dry lips, for it can make the product look cracked. She also explained that while it is possible to overline lips, for lips that are thinning with age, using a lipliner in the proper amount and shades can help make lips look fuller. You can even add concealer above the lip liner to make it look better. Putting lip liner all over your lips and adding a creamy lipstick on top can also help thin lips look juicier.
Finally, we asked Melanie about the controversy surrounding the use of makeup wipes to remove makeup. She emphasized that while makeup wipes can be used for a quick fix, they should not be used as the primary way to take off makeup. Instead, you should be using a cleanser or exfoliator to properly remove makeup.
Melanie Mills
Founder Melanie Mills is a two-time Emmy award-winning celebrity makeup artist. Melanie Mills is one of Hollywood’s leading makeup and beauty experts. Five Guild Awards, multiple Emmy and Guild award nominations, on camera beauty expert and author of “Glitter & Glam”.
Melanie has worked on multiple hit shows and films and is most known for her work as department head makeup for Dancing with The Stars. On the set of Dancing with The Stars, Melanie found herself battling bad and overused sunless spray tans. Melanie had never even heard of sunless tanning before the show.
The pro dancers were obsessed as tans make skin and the body look more toned. The pro girls were using sunless tanning products from all around the world, these products paired with using them too often resulted in dried out and discolored skin. With the new age of HD TV, one of a kind handmade costumes and a hit show that showed a lot of skin on National television – let’s just say the body makeup was stressful.
Because what was available on the market wasn’t working for Melanie’s needs, she started mixing up her own formulas testing them on the girls on the live shows.
When Melanie finally hit the mark, the pro girls said “Melanie you did it! We are GLEAMING!” That is how the name of the product “Gleam” was born! Once she saw it was hot and in demand, she collaborated with top cosmetic labs to develop the now cult favorite Gleam Face & Body Radiance’s with expansion to the current lineup.
Melanie has been hands-on and refined her products to be industry leading. In 2011 Gleam by Melanie Mills launched. In 2014 it was rebranded to Melanie Mills Hollywood.
In this episode, we discuss…
- [0:01] Introduction
- [0:35] Guest Introduction
- [4:40] Start of Interview
- [5:23] Melanie’s Makeup Journey
- [7:46] How to Prep Mature Skin
- [12:55] Changes in Mature Skin
- [16:50] Melanie’s Product Recommendations
- [24:32] Makeup Don’ts in Midlife
- [33:51] Lip Tips
- [36:04] Should You Use Makeup Wipes?
- [38:29] Closing Thoughts
- [39:44] Outro
Useful Resources:
Melanie Mills Hollywood’s Website I [https://melaniemillshollywood.com/]
Melanie Mills Hollywood’s Facebook I [https://www.facebook.com/MelanieMillsHollywoodOfficial]
Melanie Mills Hollywood’s Instagram I [https://www.instagram.com/gleam_melaniemillshollywood/]
Melanie Mills Hollywood’s YouTube Channel I [https://www.youtube.com/user/gleambodyradiance]
Melanie Mills Hollywood’s TikTok I [https://www.tiktok.com/@melaniemillshollywood?lang=en]
Melanie Mills Hollywood’s Pinterest I [https://www.pinterest.com/MMHHollywood/]
Melanie Mills’ Eventbrite I [https://www.eventbrite.com/o/melanie-mills-29272806247]
Melanie Mills’ LinkedIn I [https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-mills-b8b85545/]
Melanie’s Recommended Products:
Danessa Myrick’s Beauty Oil I [https://danessamyricksbeauty.com/products/beauty-oil?_pos=1&_sid=3361d0584&_ss=r]
Danessa Myrick’s Yummy Glow Skin Serum I [https://danessamyricksbeauty.com/products/yummy-skin-glow-serum-main-squeeze?_pos=3&_sid=5425f8e5d&_ss=r]
Makeup Forever Ultra HD Skin Booster I [https://www.makeupforever.com/id/en/face/primer/ultra-hd-skin-booster-MI000027000.html]
Makeup Forever’s Step 1 Pore Minimizer Primer I [https://www.makeupforever.com/id/en/face/primer/step-1-primer-pore-minimizer-MI000022801.html]
Makeup Forever’s Step 1 Primer Color Corrector I [https://www.makeupforever.com/id/en/face/primer/step-1-primer-color-corrector-MI000022803.html]
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