Interview: Jo Leversuch on her career, London Fashion Week & her make-up pet peeves

Jo Leversuch with our beauty editor Megan Goodwin

Jo Leversuch with our beauty editor Megan Goodwin

Our beauty editor, Megan Goodwin, chats with make-up artist Jo Leversuch to talk make-up tips, the beauty industry, London Fashion Week and of course had her do her make-up!

You’ve just returned from London Fashion Week (LFW), tell me about what you got up to while you were there:

“I attended the Friday of London Fashion Week, I was there doing make-up looks for the Ong Oag Pairam show, he’s a Brighton based fashion designer, and his clothes consisted of metallic, pony skin, wool, fur and velvets, it was a real mixture of 70s, the make-up was very natural but with a statement bright lip and green eyes. Working back stage is great, I was very lucky to work with the designer and celebrity make-up artist, Ariane Poole, she supplies the makeup so she is the creator and will work in unison alongside the designer to create the look for the models, and then the team comes in and the make-up artists and hair dressers create the look. All the models within the runway line up have the same look, generally that’s what you do. You can take a look at it on Vogue’s website and he’s also been picked as the next designer to look out for.”

You’ve talked about the 70s style making its way back into make-up looks, is this the main trend for SS15?

“The natural healthy glow look is really in, Marc Jacobs is really famous for using no make-up at all. So the catwalk shows are really verging on that ‘no make-up, make-up look’. For colours, purple is a really strong colour for this season, you do often find that the smoky eye look does tend to creep in over the summer, but instead of using a black or brown, use purple or green instead.”

How did you know you wanted to become a make-up artists?

“I started 22 years ago, previously working as a financial advisor, I was in Edinburgh at the time and just woke up and thought; “I want to do make-up”. I started working for Lancôme, which was still owned by Lancôme then, now it’s owned by L’Oreal, and had in-house traditional training. I was previously a fashion buyer, then met Ariane Poole, I went on to work with the likes of Daniel Sander, and I have been freelance for just over four years now, it was really like a calling. I knew I didn’t want to do stage make-up, I wanted to stick with fashion and beauty.”

Megan make up

What’s the most dramatic make-up look you’ve ever done?

“Most of my work is for editorial and magazine, so the most dramatic look I’ve done would be black lipstick and black eyes; very avant-garde drama. I did a 16th century look with white face paint over rosy cheeks with gold hearts on the cheek bones, it was very theatrical but based for a magazine, so it still had to be suitable.”

What’s your favourite make-up look to do?

“My personal preference would be smoky eyes. Actually the natural make-up is very hard to apply because on camera you need to make the model look like she actually doesn’t have any make-up on.”

What your biggest makeup pet peeve?

“The wrong colour foundation, I will spend more time getting the skin base and colour correcting skin than eye make-up, it’s paramount that your skin has to be as flawless as it can be.”

What’s the biggest highlight of your career so far and what are your plans for the future?

“Definitely London Fashion Week, and seeing my work on the cover of magazines in the future. That for me is like oh my god, that’s me, that’s my work, it’s so exciting. I’ve got more magazine work coming up in the future, as I write for magazines also, as well as going back to London Fashion Week in September to see all the SS16 shows. I have some big shoots coming up too, and front cover work but I won’t know the exact details until I get the phone call from the designers.”

Follow Jo on Instagram: @joleversuch.Visit her website: www.makeupbyjo.co.uk

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