All their faces have been touched by the hands of Sue Devitt  makeup artist to the stars and top cosmetic forecaster.
Ever since she was a little girl in her native Australia, Sue Devitt has been playing with makeup. She first received recognition in the industry at Nars where for two years, she was creative assistant to Francois Nars.
Devitt is also the youngest makeup artist to be awarded an international product development contract. She was responsible for the creation of the extensive color line for Awake cosmetics.
When she isn’t busy "creating incredible color stories," Sue Devitt turns to her number one passion  being a makeup artist. Her work has been seen on the runways of Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, and even Japanese sensation Akira. Her artistic skill is scattered all over international fashion bibles like Vogue, Allure, Harper’s Bazaar, and Marie Claire. She has worked with renowned fashion photographers such as Michel Comte, Louis Sanchez, Walter Chin, and Tom Munro. Hollywood movie stars like Sandra Bullock, Brooke Shields and Celine Dion rely on Sue Devitt to keep them picture-perfect at their premieres, concerts, and public appearances.
To satisfy her devoted followers, this New York-based makeup artist finally created her own signature line of cosmetics. Just recently, Sue Devitt was in Manila to launch the much-anticipated Sue Devitt Studio Collection at the Beauty Bar in Power Plant, Rockwell.
Like an artist working on a masterpiece, she did Grace Tagle’s makeup. And in between strokes, I squeezed her for some beauty tips and tales.
Young STAR: What makes Sue Devitt Studio stand out from the other makeup artist brands?
Sue Devitt: I’ve had nine years of product development experience. And this is my third brand that I’ve launched in the United States. I launched Nars, then I created Awake then launched it in Japan and in the United States. So I’m used to working with Japanese chemists that really put a lot of emphasis on skin care. And when I was creating Sue Devitt Studio, I realized that there was no makeup artist brand that really considered the formulations to be as critical as the color palette. Because what makeup artists have done for the industry has been fantastic. They’ve adjusted all the colors so they’re right. Like yellow-based foundation is very, very important, nice eyeshadow colors, seasonal trends. But then there’s nothing that’s high-end in the industry in terms of makeup artist brands.
What would you say is the most important thing you learned from Nars?
That’s going back a long time. It wasn’t anything about product development. It was more about application and that was probably creating a beautiful shape of the eye. That was important. What I learned from Awake was working with those very, very experienced chemists that are really detail-oriented when it comes to formulating. So I now incorporate that into my new line which we launched at Barneys in the United States in 2000 and rolled out to Sephora and Nordstrom and now we’re here in the Philippines.
I know for a fact that your line is one of the bestselling brands in Sephora.
That’s right. We are. (Smiling)
So what look are you doing on Grace Tagle?
The Kim Cattrall Emmy look that we did on the Red Carpet Emmy 2002.
What is your latest look all about?
Well, we’re doing very much a Hollywood thing this season. So I’ve done a lot of work with Hollywood stars in the last few weeks like Lara Flynn Boyle. I did Jennifer Lopez for the Golden Globes, Lara Flynn Boyle for the Men in Black II press junket, Jennifer Love Hewitt for Tuxedo with Jackie Chan, I did Emmies with Kim Cattrall, MTV music video awards’ rock chic look of Jennifer Love Hewitt.
I heard you’re leaving again this Friday to do makeup for...
That’s right. Jennifer Love Hewitt. We’re going to be doing her new video again in New York.
What color palettes characterize your fall look?
Lots of deep earthy tones, very neutral, deep browns and bronzes, some beautiful greens, few plum tones. Working with some silver more toward holiday.
What colors would you think best flatter the Filipina?
I love the deep bronzes and golds and really dark browns and maybe some blacks smudged into the corners to make more of a smoky eye. I think that really suits Filipino women very well. They can look fantastic in lavenders, plums and silver because that is in complete contrast with an olive skin tone so that really pops in the face. A customer who’s a little bit more adventurous might want to wear a pinker colored lipstick, then have lavenders and deep sea blues and purples on the eyes. Depends also on the personality, of course.
I noticed you use your eyeshadow brush upward in a slight tapping motion rather than the regular sweeping motion  why is this?
Because you’re more in control in terms of building a shape for the eye. Shaping the eye is really, really important. And it’s creating the right shape for the customer to bring out her eyes to the best possible advantage. That’s really important in creating a look.
How different is it when you stroke the eyeshadow in that position rather than sweeping it?
Well, you don’t see any lines. You see it’s just nice and smoky, it’s perfect. If I just sweep it, I’d be creating a shape. And I don’t like to do that.
So what about for small-eyed women with no eyelid creases, will this technique work as well?
Oh, it’s fantastic because when you blend like this, her eyes look a lot larger. And if I were to put a crease there, it would be distracting if I were to look at her face. I’d be looking at her crease rather than her eye color. And I always try to prevent that because I always want my makeup techniques and all the products that I created to enhance a woman’s beauty rather than to be sitting on the face.
What for you would be the quickest way to get an instant glow?
Immediately, your foundation. You have to choose the right foundation, something that is very high in good quality ingredients because you can see it in the finish. That’s important. Then I would do some mascara, a cheek gel and a lip gloss at the very minimum. That’s what you can do to look beautiful just running out the door at no time. That’s a five-minute makeup.
What if you just came from work and you need that quick beauty fix for that night out?
I have a product called the Eye Intensifier Pencil. It’s a deeply-pigmented pencil and has a beautiful ingredient called Nylon 12 that makes it go on so smoothly like this. Nylon 12 helps with the application and helps hold and it’s flexible so it never creases or smudges. It gives elasticity in your product so it just really moves with you. And you can just add that on at the end of the day and it gives you more drama and more excitement in your makeup look. It’s a really great product that can take you from day to evening.
It’s incredible. Usually every single time we do a makeup at the counter, we use the Eye Intensifier Pencil and everyone’s happy with it.
So would you say that’s your bestselling product?
One of our bestselling products. I think the foundations, especially the Triple Seaweed-Based Foundation, the treatment foundation, are just a runaway success for us. Then the mascara, one of the best mascaras on the market in the United States, which just sold out in incredible numbers. Then the foundation was voted as one of the top 10 in the industry by Vogue magazine. InStyle magazine voted us as best new brand for 2001, like every category we won. We’ve got some really great products that are very unique to the brand.
I noticed that your eyeshadows and blushes have unique names. How did you think of them?
Well, with the Eye Intensifier Pencils for example, I think they’re very African shades, very deep, dark, mysterious African-type colors. So I called them Kilimanjaro, Pointe-noire, Tanzania, Kenya, Victoria Falls, Kalahari, all those African-type names. With the eyeshadows, I was very inspired by the Australian landscape and very rich, deep earth tones. So I called them Ayers, Flinders Ranges, Lonely Splendor, Dreamtime Legend, Majestic Crown, Ancestral Journey, Ancient Plateau. Very Australian landscape and aboriginal dream time names. For the lip glosses for example, for the sheer lip glosses, they’re very bright and vibrant, very summery colors. I was very inspired by the Hamptons, Fire Island, Lilipond, Georgica, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard. Like the beach resorts on the east coast of the United States. So it just kinda depends on where I am at that time.
So what next beauty product are you naming after the Philippines?
Well, I actually have a competition here for the girls at the Beauty Bar and we’re gonna decide on an eyeshadow color and call it Manila!
Your brushes are lovely. The periwinkle blue handles make them more attractive.
They’re all handmade in Paris. The thing with brushes is that they’re absolutely critical to your application. You can buy a cheap brush and have to replace it in two years’ time. And it also won’t give you the proper result that you need from your makeup. My thought process on brushes is that you invest once in a really great set of brushes that can last you an entire lifetime. All of the brushes are designed by me, all the shapes. So they really do the job. I use only five brushes. You’ll see a lot of makeup artists who have maybe 10 of them. And you don’t even need them. I only work with these five. So I know women are gonna need only five.
I also noticed that your powder brush is smaller than the blush brush. Normally, a powder brush would be bigger.
It doesn’t make any sense to have a big powder brush because you need to get into the crevices around the nose, under the chin, under the eyes. So with a big brush, it’s not a professional approach. You can’t possibly do it with that brush. I’m used to working with a camera like an inch from the face, and any bit of shine shows. Professionals don’t use large powder brushes. It’s a fallacy. It doesn’t work because it doesn’t do the job.
So what are your other secrets to making those Hollywood stars picture-perfect?
I’ve got a very special product that Meg Ryan and Kim Catrall call the Magic Wand. And that is this product here, it’s a concealer. It’s called the Bermuda Triangle. I designed it as under eye concealer. I haven’t used it on the model because I do that as the last touch.
Some experts advise we should put concealer before foundation. What is it really?
It’s supposed to be foundation first. Well, with my line, it’s foundation first. Because if the foundation is of such excellent quality, once you apply it, it takes away about 85 percent of all your skin problems. So then, you only really need a concealer to target any tiny little areas that need concealing. And that’s usually under the eye, and that’s what Bermuda Triangle does  it makes dark circles mysteriously disappear!
Some mascaras boast a special curved brush, while some mascaras focus on a special formulation that lengthens. For you, what would it be?
Volumizing and curling. I mean, everyone wants thicker lashes, not necessarily longer lashes. Those with long lashes don’t need them lengthened because they’re gonna look like spiders. You want them thickened so they look fatter and fuller, and make your eyes look sexy and glamorous. If you concentrate on your product more than your packaging, you’re always going to win the race. Because at the end of the day, you put packaging back in your purse and you’re wearing the product. So as a professional, I can tell you there’s absolutely no value in having a great package if you don’t have a great product.
Now you’re doing her lips. Any tips you can share?
This is a buffing technique. What I do is I line the lips, and then I do a series of feathery strokes more vertical again because it gives a really nice base. Then I blend that in with the brush. What I’m doing is adding a pink sheer Nantucket lip gloss to give moisture. And the lip glosses have essential oils in them so they’re really great! I actually wear them to bed! So overnight my lips really become hydrated.
Really? Many women use petroleum jelly for the lips.
That doesn’t moisturize. That just sits on top ’coz it doesn’t penetrate. It provides instant relief, it feels good but it doesn’t do the job. Because it’s like a barrier. When you put it on your hand and put water, it just goes right off.
What would be your most memorable celebrity beauty moment?
I don’t have favorites of course. I think of the diversity of working with, for example, Courtney Love on top of a mountain at the Sundance Film Festival where she snowboarded down the mountain. And then something like Brooke Shields’ wedding, just the most beautiful moment in Palm Beach, Florida where she was on the edge of the water and she looked back and she was just the most exquisite-looking creature. But then again, I’ve had a lot of great fun like Jennifer Lopez for the Academy Awards this year, for example. She looked like a goddess by the time we were done. Everybody’s different. Like Jennifer Love Hewitt promoting the Jackie Chan movie Tuxedo was a lot of fun. It’s hard to say because I love all my clients, I’m very selective about who I work with. And every moment is great because you make them so good by the time they walk out the door. We really prepare them not only physically but also emotionally to do a really good job because they feel so confident. And that’s very rewarding for me.
What would you advise for someone who bought foundation  it looked good in the store but when she got home, realized it wasn’t her shade at all?
She should be shopping at the Beauty Bar! Where they have really excellent customer service and the girls are really well-trained!
So what would be the best way to choose foundation?
Check it along the jawline. It’s better. ’Coz what you need to do is make the colors consistent with your body color as possible and neck shade because that’s where you’re going to see any demarcation line right along the jawline. So I usually check right there. I think it’s really important. Take it into the natural daylight too. Don’t be afraid to try it in the store and then walk outside and have a look in a compact in the daylight. That’s always a good trick.We also have product samples. We have foundation samples so customers can actually go home with the product and try it. I also always encourage the girls to take it off, at least a section of the face. Because you can’t blend over someone else’s foundation. That wouldn’t be an accurate read.
Most girls go into the bathroom in groups. What’s the quickest way to get glammed up when making that quick trip to the bathroom?
I think a lipstick or Eye Intensifier Pencil. Really just makes a day to glamour evening. Also with our model, we wouldn’t be able to get that really sharp eye. You can see it’s not heavy. Her eyes are just like, wow! You wouldn’t even know what it is. It’s the Eye Intensifier Pencil.
What’s the biggest makeup myth for you?
Applying foundation with a sponge. Because when you apply with a sponge, first of all your foundation soaks into the sponge. It doesn’t go onto your face so you’re wasting a lot of product right there. Secondly, applying with your fingertips, you just get a better, smoother application.
What’s next for Sue Devitt?
Every season we add new products. What I’m excited about developing is skin care. ’Coz we’re starting to get a real demand for that based on our treatment foundations, like the lip gloss treatments with essential oils, the Nylon 12 in the Eye Intensifier Pencil and the lip liners. Customers know I deliver very high-end products in high quality. So now they want skin care. So I have to get real busy and start developing that when I get back!