Gary Cockerill
Gary Cockerill started his career painting the faces of mannequins but these days he's busy doing the make up for the stars with clients such as Rachel Hunter and Katie Price regularly calling for his expert hand.
Gary's recently been busy giving expert advice to the nation as as part of the Disaronno Style Squad, however he still found time to give Female First some exclusive make up tips:
On a First Date........”Regarding the first date I think a lot of people they try to hard, you know they think because they are going on a date they will put a bit more on which I think is a bad thing anyway unless you really know what you're doing. “
“ I don't think you really need to go mad and sometimes I think it can be off putting to a man to go on a date with someone with too much make up on. Sometimes I see a woman who's got this really caked face and I think 'oh my god' it's really scary.”
I think people like to experiment but they don't actually practice. They want to experiment but leave it until the actual date which I think can be disaster so I always recommend that people experiment first. I'm all for experimentation- everyone should look at their make up bag and throw out old things and invest in new products because there are so many fantastic things out on the market at the moment that you can have so much fun by experimenting and trying new things.”
The Natural Look...... “Some people can look fabulous when they come back off their holiday and all they need is a bit of lip gloss and mascara and that's it really whereas other people who may have a different skin tone, maybe with a pink tint in their skin tone, will have to work it a little bit hard. So I think that the best way is to invest in a good tinted moisturiser or get a really nice light reflective liquid foundation and use it really minimally.”
“Then find a really nice bronzer or a really nice blush which suits your complexion. Go for apricot tones rather than pink because they will just make you look to blushed and too flushed. Get a really nice bronze that's got a shimmer in it. Lancome do some fab bronzers, Mac to some great ones and so do Urban Decay.”
“And eyeshadow wise- a good tip I think is not to spend too much time on the eyes. Just brush a bit of bronzer over the lid and on the temples, on the cheeks and a little bit on the end of the nose because that really just warms the face. Then just put a little bit of mascara on and lip gloss and that's it really for a natural look.”
“I think you need to look at what's out there and make sure what you buy is right for your skin tone and think about contours when you're doing something that looks natural. Although it can look natural and feel natural you are still putting make up on.”
On Buying Foundation........”When you go to buy a foundation make sure you get a bit of daylight away from the counter in the shop. Don't look at it under fluorescent light because it always looks really different. Also make sure that you match the skin tone exactly with the foundation.”
On This Season's Trends........ “Anything goes in make up at the moment. Make up is very much in keeping with what's on the runway and the main designers are always gonna dictate what that is but as a make up artist myself I don't think there should be any rules. I think you should just go with what you feel comfortable.”
“Spring/summer everything was quite colourful- we had a bit of metallic out there too. I think as it goes into autumn/winter we will tend to go back to a more smoky eye and more muted colour tones.”
“And maybe as we get nearer to Christmas you can dress it up a bit and get a bit of sparkle on. Urban Decay and Hard Candy do some amazing sparkle eye shadow and eye liners. People always say to me what's going to be this seasons big thing and you can follow the catwalk but ultimately you've got to go with what suits you. Get out there and buy lots of little products and test them out and go with whatever you feel comfortable with.”
On Make Up Bag Essentials......... “Well I love the Christian Dior Show Mascara. It's just a really great mascara. It really builds the lashes up and it's really intense. Laura Murphy and Estee Lauder have got some great bronzers out- because hopefully we are going to have a bit more summer so hopefully we can still achieve the summer look for at least another month.”
“I've got bits from every make up brand that there is out there If you're looking for something lightweight I love the Mac Studio Mist foundations. They are great. They are spray foundations so if you want to be really daring then try it. It's so easy to do. That gives you a flawless but not too heavy look.”
On Beauty Regimes.......”Some of the biggest celebrities I work with don't do any skincare routine and they've got the most amazing skin but then you get people who swear by this skin routine and they think they have to do that to sustain a youthful look. I would always say you should have some form of skincare routine but whether that's a daily thing, a weekly thing or what.”
“ I think that exfloiants are really good but I don't think you should go mad when you exfoliate. Face masks can be fabulous. There's some really good collagen face masks that you can buy at the moment. Matrix do a really great one. They do the eye patches which are fabulous. They are collagen enhancing and you put them on your eyes and relax while you're getting ready and they boost the eyes.”
“ There should be some sort of skincare routine. Obviously you should always wash your make up off- don't go to bet with your make up on because it's not going to do your skin any good. Always cleanse and tone and definitely moisturise. I wouldn't say you should use a certain moisturiser. You should always change your moisturiser every 3 to 6 months because it will work for you for a while then it might stop working and you could come out in spots. And that is because it gets too built up on the skin. It's like shampoos it's always good to change shampoos every 6 months or whatever too.”
On His Favourite Celebrity Clients......”If I'm going to do a really natural look I love working with Rachel Hunter because she's got great skin and a fabulous smile and you can just put a lick of gloss on Rachel and she just looks fabulous. If I'm going to be doing something more dramatic then obviously Katie Price.”
"There's two different persona's with Katie- there's Jordan and there's Katie so you can have a lot of fun with Kate. She's very open too and not like a lot of other people who you can work with who say I want this look. Katie will say 'come on then Gary I want to experiment.' Which is really good. And the good thing about Katie is she doesn't mind looking really natural because she's beautiful anyway and she knows she can get away with natural and then if she wants to do something a bit sexy we can go for it and it will look great. There are lots of different people that I work with and I could say different things about all of them but they are my favourite.”
Gary Cockerill is currently part of the Disaronno Style Squad at mysinglefriend.com which is offers make up and style advice live until the end of August. Disaronno Amaretto is available from supermarkets/off licenses nationwide’
Caz Moss- Female First
my blog
Gary Cockerill started his career painting the faces of mannequins but these days he's busy doing the make up for the stars with clients such as Rachel Hunter and Katie Price regularly calling for his expert hand.
Gary's recently been busy giving expert advice to the nation as as part of the Disaronno Style Squad, however he still found time to give Female First some exclusive make up tips:
On a First Date........”Regarding the first date I think a lot of people they try to hard, you know they think because they are going on a date they will put a bit more on which I think is a bad thing anyway unless you really know what you're doing. “
“ I don't think you really need to go mad and sometimes I think it can be off putting to a man to go on a date with someone with too much make up on. Sometimes I see a woman who's got this really caked face and I think 'oh my god' it's really scary.”
I think people like to experiment but they don't actually practice. They want to experiment but leave it until the actual date which I think can be disaster so I always recommend that people experiment first. I'm all for experimentation- everyone should look at their make up bag and throw out old things and invest in new products because there are so many fantastic things out on the market at the moment that you can have so much fun by experimenting and trying new things.”
The Natural Look...... “Some people can look fabulous when they come back off their holiday and all they need is a bit of lip gloss and mascara and that's it really whereas other people who may have a different skin tone, maybe with a pink tint in their skin tone, will have to work it a little bit hard. So I think that the best way is to invest in a good tinted moisturiser or get a really nice light reflective liquid foundation and use it really minimally.”
“Then find a really nice bronzer or a really nice blush which suits your complexion. Go for apricot tones rather than pink because they will just make you look to blushed and too flushed. Get a really nice bronze that's got a shimmer in it. Lancome do some fab bronzers, Mac to some great ones and so do Urban Decay.”