This radiantly beautiful woman is the most amazing crossover Latina actress and singing sensation, Genesis Rodriguez. She’s GORGEOUS and the image of her on the right, with that super cute and genuine smile, is how she looks in person 95% of the time – smile central. With such a positive and loving disposition, she’s easily one of my favorite clients. I’ve seen her treat the hotel bellman with the same high level of respect and gratitude for his services, as she does her mother. It’s inspiring and impressive.

All of that aside, she’s also one of those faces a makeup artist wants really badly in her portfolio. She’s got a look that’s just so versatile, with such great features, and she really does glow from the inside out.

I ran into her in the airport recently and she told me she was excited about adding another date to the premier schedule of the film Tusk, in which she stars. When I got to her house to get her ready she adorably told me and her hairstylist that she wanted to go for a slightly Brigitte Bardot look, but would be open to whatever we thought. Gregory Russell, a master of hair, whipped her long silky brown strands into a cool low messy twist/bun thing with a bump at the crown, and I closed my eyes, daydreamed for a minute about the perfect look for the dress and hair, and then let my thoughts flow through my hands. We were all so happy with the end result!

Here’s what I used to give her the perfect look to glow her way into the cooler temps and richer tones of the fall:

On her skin:

Skin was toned with a few sprays of Jenette Be Happy toning mist

5 drops of Yuli facial oil was massaged into her skin, including the delicate skin on her neck.

I slightly evened out her complexion using Vapour Organic Beauty cream foundation

Under eye concealer from Mineral Fusion created a perfect canvas.

On her cheeks:

A cream cheek color called Courtesan from Vapour Organic Beauty was swirled onto the apples of her cheeks, atop a thorough application of Desired Glow, from Kjaer Weis.

On her brows:

I created the shape using Eco Brow dark brown gel and then made them even more lush using a bit of brow powder from W3LL People
On her eyes:

Since we’d discussed a Bardot look, I knew I wanted a black flick of a liner, plus a defined crease. Instead of the typical black or gray, however, I wanted the warmth of copper to be the backdrop for some serious lashes. I buffed a bit of  ‘Luminous Copper’ from W3LL People, into the crease of her eye, and a light bit of it, mixed with a shimmery gray, ‘Zen’, from Alima Pure, under her bottom lash line. (shimmery gray only went under her bottom lashes).

I knew we needed some serious black liner with serious staying power that I haven’t yet found in the world of all naturals, so I turned to two of my favorites: Stilla liquid liner with a felt tip, and Makeup Forever gel liner.

On her Lips:

This is where I’ve learned as a makeup artist that I can never expect what I do to a face will read as I’ve done it in photographs. The lipstick blend I created for Genesis to complement the rich Hughes of grey, green, and purple in her dress, was a deep reddish mulberry – and wound up looking like a bright red. Go figure!

I used: Burt’s Bees new lip crayon in Napa Vinyard, mixed with two Ilia Beauty lipsticks –‘Ink Pot’ (so sorry – ink pot might’ve been a limited edition!) and ‘Arabian Knights’.