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Renee Zellweger’s make-up artist, 'the queen of gadgets', talks award-season skin prep

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

From Harper's BAZAAR

“There is no product that can simulate or replace a radiant inner glow,” Dana Hamel, celebrity make-up artist and holistic anti-ageing expert, tells Bazaar. This is why, when working with Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger this awards season, she focused “on creating healthy, clear skin as opposed to just slathering on shimmers and glow sticks”.

Indeed, Hamel’s signature “dewy, fresh and clean” skin is the result of a multi-pronged approach. Below, she breaks down the process, from her holistic practices to products.

Diet and lifestyle

We’ve all heard it before, but she’ll say it again: “A healthy diet, proper hydration inside and out, exercise and sleep are all essential for good skin.” Hamel believes your skin can mirror of your health, “so if you don’t take care of the inside, it reflects poorly outside”.

Diet-wise she tells her clients–Zellweger included–that “drinking beauty tonics and smoothies everyday with coconut water, greens, and beauty herbs help nourish the skin from the inside”.

But beauty, for her, goes even deeper. “I do suggest and follow a lot of Ayurveda practices, like oil pulling, yoga, and meditation,” she says. “Stress is the ultimate cause of ageing and disease, so you need to find something to control it. Mediation for me is the answer, and I take adaptogen herbs like ashwagandha that help your body manage stress. I also recommend intermittent fasting and using infrared saunas for healthy digestion and detoxification.”

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

Skin treatments and tools

In the run up to a big event – the Oscars being the ultimate example – Hamel endorses a hydrating facial. “One of my absolute favourites is the HydraFacial,” she says. “It gently removes dead skin and infuses the skin with hyaluronic acid. You instantly get that red carpet glow.”

Sloughing off redundant skin is vital, she adds. “Exfoliation is so important. So many people do not exfoliate enough. If you don’t remove those nasty dead skin cells, your products cannot penetrate through them and absorb into the skin. Then, you're left feeling like no matter how much you moisturise, you're not seeing results.”

After studying Ayurveda she became fascinated with oils, she explains, adding: “I use them regularly as a part of Renee’s skincare regimen”. The actress also got a preview of Hamel's own skincare range, which she is launching later this year. “I have been using a lot of my products on Renee for the past couple of years while I prepared to go to market.”

Hamel is also the “queen of gadgets”, using them to further prep her clients’ complexions for make-up.

“My best find yet is a device that I got Renee hooked on, it's an atomiser that mists hyaluronic acid onto the face called SkinUp. It's my secret weapon for keeping skin fresh and dewy all day long.”

She also uses a Kansa wand with an Ayurvedic facial oil to massage the skin. “I learned this technique when I was studying in India, she explains. “A Kansa wand is a facial massage device made of wood and Kansa metal designed to balance doshas, chakras, and the skin’s pH level – it's Ayurveda’s answer to jade rollers and gua sha.” She says it stimulates circulation and helps to drain any built-up toxins in the lymph nodes. “Both physical massage and lymphatic drainage brings fresh oxygen to the thespian, which helps give that glow we love.”

Products: from skincare to make-up

Hamel describes Zellweger’s beauty look as “elegant, clean, and dewy,” and when it comes to perfecting her base she adds “a touch of facial oil to her foundation to sheer it out, and help me get that glow.”

For a fresh flush on the cheeks, Hamel is mourning the loss of her “absolute favourite” blusher from Tarte. “They discontinued it and I was devastated!” she says, adding that she'd “also be nowhere without all my gorgeous Pat McGrath palettes – I used them on Renee for the Oscars”.

Key for Hamel as make-up artist, however, is a light touch. “More does not make you look better or younger,” she attests. “It’s very disturbing to see all these women trying to change their face and hide under a mask of make-up. All that foundation and powder also doesn’t wear well throughout the day, so unless you’re 20, it eventually starts to settle into the cracks.”

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