It is no secret that the makeup women use can be composed of harmful chemicals and additives that do more damage than good. Celebrity makeup artist Kirsten Kjaer Weis created a makeup line that uses green ingredients, while preserving quality performance.
At Citrine Natural Beauty Bar’s Night of Organic Beauty on June 17, showcased her makeup expertise that she has used while working with Angelina Jolie, Heidi Klum, Christy Turlington and other A-list stars. Guests got to learn how to achieve two wearable looks that are perfect for day and night.
The day look was a natural look that Weis described as being “you but enhance.” The night look taught guests how to build color and create the famous smoky eye look.
For both looks, Weis stressed how essential it is to start off with moisturizer, giving the foundation something to hold onto. To fill in the eyebrows, she recommended applying eye shadow with a slanted brush. Next, Weis applied crème blush to the highest spots on the face to “replicate where you heat up” and gave the tip to apply it in a circular motion.
For the day look, Weis began with a light shade of eye shadow saying from that you can always build color, but with the daytime look you want to remain more natural. For the smokey eye in the night look, Weis started with applying a light color to the whole eye and then added darker colors getting lighter and lighter as you move “in” on the lid. To create depth and enhance the smoky eye, she applied eye shadow to the crease of the eye.
Weis also educated women about the benefits of organic makeup and presented her line by demonstrating two different looks using her own line of certified organic makeup, Kjaer Weis.
Weis had multiple first-hand experiences witnessing the short-term effects “conventional” makeup products have on the women.
“Time and time again people pinpoint that they breakout from that, or get runny eyes from this,” she said. This made her think, “if these products are causing short-term effects like breakouts and rashes, then what would the long-term effects look like?”
After experimenting with natural alternatives, Weis discovered that many of the organic makeup products available did not achieve the same results as traditional chemical-laden products. Weis set out to create a high-quality performance cosmetic product that is created from high-quality, natural and organic ingredients.
It was essential for Weis to obtain a formula that uses only natural ingredients without compromising performance. She wanted to replicate the glow that silicones in traditional makeup has by using natural materials, like oils, water and waxes.
This line is the “closest you will get to a handmade product,” she says. Working with natural-origin raw materials, not man-made chemicals, makes it possible for formulas to easily change in color and consistency from batch to batch. She compares the process to the wine industry; wines from the same vineyard change in taste every vintage. However, unlike wine, it is essential that every batch of makeup remains uniform in color, consistency and texture. To maintain this uniformity, Weis personally inspects each new batch.
“One thing I am really proud of is a narrowing down of the expectable margin” of flux between batches, she said.
The last step was creating a presentation for the product that stayed true to the line’s balance between glamor and its green roots. To reduce waste, the makeup compacts were designed to be refillable. Refill pans are available in paper cartons that are fully recyclable.
The crème-based products are certified organic; meaning 95 percent of the product is plant-based organic and the ingredients were made under supervised farming. The eye shadows are considered certified natural because they contain bamboo, which is grown in the wild and not overseen on a farm. Weis’ “super clean” products provide nourishing properties that synthetic makeup cannot replicate. The line currently offers foundations, blushes, lip stains, eye shadows, mascara and brushes.
