Meet The Makeup Queen

When you put Glamour’s 17 international beauty directors together in a room (or, er, on a WhatsApp chain) and ask them to dream big and collaborate on a global beauty shoot for our Powered by Women issue, built by all female creators, a very short wish list of makeup artists comes up. But there was one name at the very top: Val Garland (@thevalgarland, above), the British makeup legend recently named L’Oréal Paris global makeup director—the first woman in the job, by the way. Why Val? According to Glamour editors, “She uses makeup as a never-ending experiment” and is “not afraid to create new trends” or “challenge the idea of beauty.” Her vision is “surreal” and “innovative,” and “her work with color is the coolest!” Oh, and she’s self-taught. In fact, she started out as a hairdresser (one who wore “tons of makeup,” she admits), and then one day, when a makeup artist didn’t show up for a shoot, Garland took over. Since that fateful day she has built a career on her “slightly bonkers” artistry and creativity and has dreamed up some of the most outrageously beautiful Fashion Week looks for Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, and Giambattista Valli—as well as those career-changing prosthetic cheekbones for Lady Gaga on her Born This Way album cover. And while color, texture, and calligraphy feature heavily in her work, we appreciate that the starting point for any look is even-toned, luminous skin. Hear more from Garland directly…

GLAMOUR: Your subjects always have the glowiest skin. What’s your approach?

VAL GARLAND: I spend a lot of time prepping the skin through the layering and massaging of light-texture hydrators. Then my trick is to pat a teeny bit of oil over cheeks for a moist base just before foundation. Once the groundwork is nailed, you can confidently move on to the fun bits.

GLAMOUR: Red lipstick can feel too classic at times. How do you wear it in a modern way?