BEHIND THE SCENES OF CRYSTAL CLEAN:
Natasha Lawes: Make Up Artist
July 18th, 2020
By Grace Proctor @grace_proctor_
Natasha Lawes is a Creative Designer and Maker, with 20 years experience working as a hybrid of Beauty Make-up Artist, Body Artist, Prosthetics artist, and concept designer. Natasha tells us more about how Jasmine De Silva’s Crystal Woman was made and the benefits of being an “all round creative”.
“I was always into art, and went to Chelsea Art College with the plan of being a painter, graphic designer or fashion designer. I was then dazzled by the glossy pages of Vogue magazine, and decided to become a make-up artist at the London College of Fashion.
From a young age I was always into making things. I was a BIG Blue Peter fan so always made what they created on the programme. It taught me that you could make literally anything out of anything, and I carry this lesson with me as a costume designer and maker. I love balancing make-up and costume. Shoots are so fun and sociable, but I also get to be in my studio working on costume pieces in my own zone. Some jobs combine even the two.
I enjoy having variety in my career. I love the projects where I have to make a surreal costume, and do the make-up, and do hair as well; It's a full character design!
It is also great when you work with your artists that you really respect and are pleased with what you have produced for them. I really loved working with Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga and AKA Twigs.
Crystal Clean is a commentary on what we think is perfection, and taking it to the extreme. It's seductive, but at the same time it's laced with irony. So many young women and men, especially on instagram, are under so much pressure to be ‘perfect,’ but what is perfection? It's an important message. Trying to reach ‘perfection’ causes anxiety and depression. While some areas of the beauty industry are making an effort to encourage diversity, individuality and the beauty of being yourself, we still have a long way to go.
“I LOVE hyperreal 1950’s retrofuturism: the alienesque visuals, perhaps from the future, a past unknown to us, from a parallel universe, or just the imagination.”
If you are an all-round creative, (a jack of all trades like me) you are at an advantage, as you can turn your creative mind to anything and will always be in work. But, it can also be a disadvantage. You can end up flitting between jobs and not always taking your creativity to its full potential. It’s about balance and focus. It is really cathartic and fulfilling to be able to explore one project and take it as far as it will go.
This month I’m working on werewolf prosthetic make-up for a music video; a project that needs five elaborate, surreal, fantastical costumes that represent the Ego; and another mushroom headdress for an art exhibition. Just another day at the office. Classic Natasha!”
