If you’re one of celebrity make-up artist Katie Jane Hughes’ 829,000 Instagram fans, you’ll know just how many beauty products she has at her disposable – the tutorials she records from her New York City apartment reveal cupboard upon cupboard filled with the latest launches, ready to use on her clients like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Ashley Graham and Hailey Bieber. But naturally, there are a few tried and tested favourites that you’ll always find in her makeup bag. From her brow saviours and trusted tools to her skincare must-haves and signature scents, these are the beauty products she uses on repeat.
What’s inside Katie Jane Hughes’ make-up bag?
Brows
When it comes to brows, having a great tweezer is so important – in my opinion, Rubis tweezers are king. If you ever compare a Rubis tweezer head with another one, you’ll see how fine that point is – it’s crazy. I use them to clean up the fuller part of my brow; I like to keep it quite thin to match the length part. Then I’ll add depth and shade to my brows with the Refy Brow Pomade – less is more with that product – before adding in little hair-like strokes with the Nabla Cosmetics Brow Ambition pen. I use two shades to get a more natural dimension and fullness.
Foundations & Concealers
I like skin to look freshy and glowy – the Make Up Forever Reboot foundation is brilliant for that. I also love Dior’s Forever Matte foundation, which has a lovely velvety finish. But if I want to look really glam and put together, I’ll go for Shiseido Synchro Skin Self Refreshing foundation, which is so gorgeous – it gives you full coverage without looking like you’ve got makeup on at all.
When it comes to concealers, Glossier Stretch is something I’ll use forever. It’s more like a tinted moisturiser in a pot rather than a concealer – I use it on a fluffy brush and whip it across the whole face. Then I’ll supplement with more full coverage where I want it, with something like Nars Soft Matte Complete or Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage – that’s been a favourite of mine forever because of the industry, if you’re a make-up artist you have to have it in your kit.
Lips
I use both lip pencils and lipsticks, but if I had to choose a favourite lip category it would be liners for sure – I use them in pretty much every makeup look. They’re quite retro but I love that – I remember being obsessed with my mum’s cousin Irene when I was growing up and she always had this dark liner in contrast to her lip, very frosty lipstick with dark brown lip liner. I thought she was so glam – very Tammy Faye. For me, lip liner just finishes a lip look in the same way mascara finishes an eye look.
My favourite at the moment is the Endless Cacao Lip Liner Pencil by Make Up Forever – it’s so versatile and it gives this contrast to the lip edge which I really like, a kind of 90s shadow. Then I’ll add a really good nude lipstick – one that I’m loving right now and that I think I’ll use for a long time is Givenchy’s Le Rouge Sheer Velvet in Nude Boisé. I like it because you can still see through it and it’s a rare category to find a sheer matte lipstick, because matte usually means full coverage.
Eyes
It seems obvious to say, but a really good mascara is just something I need to have. At the moment I’m using Givenchy Volume Disturbia, which gives you mad lift, hold and definition. My other must-have is a great eyeshadow palette, like the Essential Palette from Vieve Beauty. I can do so many things with it – I can use it as an eyeshadow or use it as an eyeliner.
For liner, get some Mac Fix+ setting spray and an eyeliner brush, like the number 23 brush from my KJH Spectrum kit. Use that and you’ll get the most epic eyeliner formula, because then you can buff it and blend it and make it smoky if you want to.
Skincare
The Tower 28 SOS Mist is my die-hard skincare spray. It’s a beautiful mist for just keeping the skin really clean – Hailey Bieber loves it and it’s great for keeping bacteria off the skin. I’m a big fan of a lovely eye cream – the Ren Brightening Dark Circle Eye Cream is one of my favourites because it’s really glossy and creamy. I would be mindful of how much you’re putting on if you’re going to wear make-up but I use a lot of it at night, or as a treat I’ll use it as a mask for 10 minutes. And I love to use oils in my night-time routine too. The one I’m using at the moment is the Pai Rosehip Oil – I really like the sheen and the finish of it, and the way it feels on the skin.
Tools
I love a good cryo beauty face roller that you can put in the fridge and it gives you a nice zing in the morning – Kitsch has a good one, as does Dermalogica. I also love those Biologique Recherche Cryo Sticks that look like little golf clubs. And of course, I have loads and loads of brushes. I particularly like little ones that I can do detailing with.
My 11-piece KJH for Spectrum kit is a travel version of my full kit. It’s got the perfect small brushes in it that allow you to do your make-up in a really finessed way. The number 8 is everyone’s favourite brush, because it’s the perfect size to get around the nose, the eyes and mouth with a bit of foundation or concealer and you’re done in a matter of seconds.
Scents
I love the nostalgic power scents have – I just bought Philosykos from Diptyque because I was in the store the other day and it reminded me so much of when I was at Space NK, because it was the bestselling fragrance then. It’s so fresh and lovely but not powdery or floral at all. Portrait of a Lady by Frederic Malle is another one that’s very nostalgic for me. I remember sitting next Sandra Bullock’s stylist at an event in LA and she smelt so beautiful, and I was like, ‘What is that perfume?’ And she said it was Portrait of a Lady. Ever since I was like, ‘I have to own that one day’.
I also love a good musky, oudy scent like Debaser from DS & Durga – they make some of my favourite perfumes. In terms of recent fragrances, there’s a scent from Loewe called 7 and it’s the most gorgeous woody, smoky Japanese scent. It’s almost like if Feu du Bois by Diptyque was a fragrance.
