Heidi Klum’s Make-Up Artist Spills Her Secrets
Linda Hay has always known what she was doing. When she worked with us at Dolly 30 years ago, she was already at the top of her game. Then she moved to New York, where she established herself as the go-to make-up artist for the likes of Heidi Klum, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Lopez and Annette Bening. Here, Carlotta Moye catches up with her old friend and colleague via Zoom in New York during lockdown and pumps her for make-up tips (and just a little gossip).
CARLOTTA How are you going?
LINDA Hey, how are you? I opened my make-up kit in preparation for this interview and realised it’s the first time I’ve opened it since March 8. It’s a long time that I haven’t worked. I haven’t taken that amount of time off since I was 20.
C You’re usually jetting off somewhere around the world – there’s only so much you can do around the house, right?
L I’ve painted the ceiling, I’ve painted the stairwell, I’ve been making pots – now I’m breaking pots because there’s just too many bloody pots. I’m running out of shelf space.
C We did some great trips working together way back when. We were a bunch of kids let loose together.
L Remember when we did the shoot in Santorini? I’d never had a kamikaze cocktail before…
C So many fun days. And then you went to New York – you just packed up and went.
L There was no thought involved, it just felt exactly like the right thing to do. I came for a two-week holiday, started looking for an agent and secured somebody. I went back to Sydney, packed up, and that was it.
C So, I wanted to know how you look after skin – your own and your clients?
L Personally I get a rash from just about everything so I’m always a little cautious about what I try on myself and in turn on my clients. My clients generally have their own skincare regimes. Julianne Moore will only use oils on her skin – whenever I go to see her, she already has oils on. That works for her skin, I can’t do that for a lot of people. Annette Bening, Jessica Lange, Heidi – they all have their own favourite products.
C What’s a good way to pick a foundation colour that’s good for your skin?
L I don’t think there’s ever one exact shade for you; your skin tone changes through the seasons. I don’t use a lot of foundation myself but I’ll always have two different colour concealers, because your skin tone does vary. At the moment I’m using Beautycounter – it’s a completely natural product and it’s very good – and I also love YSL’s Touche Eclat. I put two dabs on my hand and mix them to get the exact colour I need.
C What about eyes? A lot of make-up artists use eye drops to get a better look.
L I’m careful with eye drops. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to restrict the blood flow to your eyes. I use it if the eyes are red. Sometimes Heidi and I work long hours so if by the 12-hour mark her eyes are starting to get red, we’ll use eye drops but it’s not automatic.
C You guys have been working together for how long now?
L We keep wondering about this – maybe 18 years? We started working together at Victoria’s Secret, we were part of the VS family and became very good friends, seeing more of each other than we did of our families and friends! We were really tight. We travelled around the world – we’d go to Ibiza and St Barts in the Caribbean every December. As her career began moving in another direction, she needed make-up when she was going to a red carpet event. One thing led to another and then she had one TV show, then two TV shows, now she has five TV shows. I thank my lucky stars we met. She’s a Gemini, I’m a Gemini, we get bored really fast and say to each other, “What do we do now?” We like to play.
C Beauty today can be confusing. I go into those big beauty stores and have to Google all the products to find out what they are.
L There is so much choice now, which is amazing and a lot of women love that, but for me it really is about the basics – your favourite moisturiser and a good light foundation.
C You can buy moisturisers that are $300 a jar, and another product may be $20 a jar, but the science behind it is just as good.
L I don’t think it’s necessary to buy expensive creams. I’m happy to go to a pharmacy and buy Neutrogena. Do you know what I still use, 40 years on? Sorbolene cream. Whenever I have anyone coming over to the States, I always ask them, “Bring me some sorb”. I suffered from eczema on my face for the longest time, and a dermatologist told me, “Stop using everything – just go get some sorbolene cream and you’ll be right.” And I was.
Interview_ Carlotta Moye
Photo_ Supplied