GET THE LOOK: ON SET WITH SMYTHE PRE-FALL
The beauty behind the brief, and every product that built the face.
There is a particular kind of quiet tension that happens on a fashion set just before the first shot. The lighting is dialled in. The clothes are pressed and waiting. And I am still working.
That is where I live: in those last few minutes before the camera clicks, when the face has to say everything the clothing hasn't said yet.
This season, I had the pleasure of working with Smythe. Andrea Lenczner and Christie Smythe are the powerhouse women behind one of Canada's most iconic fashion brands - female-founded, globally recognized, and possessed of the most refined eye for detail in the business. Twenty years of perfecting the blazer. Twenty years of understanding exactly how a woman wants to feel when she walks into a room. If you know, you know.
The brief was clean, powerful, and specifically feminine. Noortje, our model, wore a navy double-breasted jacket that asked for a face with presence - not heavy makeup, but skin that could hold its own against that kind of tailoring.
I understand the assignment. I always do.
Every product I reach for on a Smythe shoot - skincare, makeup, hair - is toxin-free. Always. Goes without saying.
See the Lookbook and Shop Smythe Pre-Fall 2026 here.
THE SKIN
Everything starts with skincare, because it always does.
For a fashion campaign, the skin has one job: to look as healthy and luminous as possible to the camera. That requires preparation most people never see. I think about it on every single job.
Noortje had arrived from Europe. Jet lag, an early call time, the particular depletion that comes from living between flights and shoots. We had our work cut out for us. Before a single brush touched her face, the goal was simple: breathe the life back in.
Here is what I used. And what you can use too, if your skin needs instant resuscitation:
Muck - Balancing Oil Cleanser
A genuinely clean canvas is a must before anything else can happen. Non-negotiable. And this is the one.
Vintage Noon — Vacation Skin / Redness Recovery Overnight Mask + Moisturizer
Used here as a pre-makeup treatment, not just for sleep. It settles the skin and restores what travel strips away.
Three Ships Brighter Days Eye Mask
Permanent fixture on my kit. Noortje's under-eye area went from jet-lagged to campaign-ready in the time it took me to set up my brushes.
Muck Skincare Retinoic Nutrient Serum layered with Mimar Ultra Hydrating Serum
This combination is what creates the lit-from-within quality that no highlighter can replicate. You have to earn it at the skincare step.
Muck Skincare Nourishing Lip Balm
On early, long before any colour. (The step most people skip. Don't skip it.)
TBC Reusable Organic Cotton Mini Face Pads
On my kit for every job I do. Clean application, washable, zero waste. You'll see them in every BTS shot I've ever posted.
I always remove the makeup at the end of the day as carefully as I applied it. I always offer. I always send my models off with a good face mask and proper hydration, because most of them are stepping off set and onto another flight. Every model I have ever worked with has noticed. And remembered.
Find everything above in The Summer Shop.
The Makeup
THE BASE
The goal is never to cover. It is to reveal.
For Noortje's complexion, I used the Ogee Hydraganics Complexion Perfecting Tinted Serum in Aspen 1.00W - a skin-first formula that photographs beautifully without any weight. Layered with Ogee Sculpted Complexion Sticks in Banyan 2.75W and Palmetto 2.80N for warmth and depth.
The sculpting came from Ogee Hydraganics Sculpted Face Sticks in Copper and Amber, this is where a face finds its architecture. Not through heavy contouring, but through understanding how the right tones placed with intention create lift, structure, and the sense that this face simply belongs in the frame.
Blended with Rêphr brushes on a stainless steel mixing palette.
(Use code BEAUTYCONFIDANTE15 at Ogee for 15% off.)
THE GLOW
Victoria Beckham Beauty Reflect Highlighter Stick: Pearl across the high points of the face. The kind of luminosity that reads on camera as healthy skin, not product. There is a difference, and it is everything.
Westman Atelier Lit Up Highlight Stick in Brûlée on the cheekbones, warm, champagne, dimensional.
Westman Atelier Face Trace Contour Stick in Biscuit to sculpt. Westman Atelier Baby Cheeks Blush Stick in Petal for a soft rose flush blended upward from the apples. Warm skin, not pink. Always.
THE BROWS AND EYES
Strong, full, natural brows, enhanced with the NYX Professional Makeup Micro Brow Pencil in Espresso, short light strokes brushed through until the pencil disappeared and only the brow remained. That is always the goal.
No mascara. (I know. Stay with me.) When the skin is this present and the face this sculpted, mascara shifts the entire register. The lash line was softly defined with 19/99 Precision Colour Pencil in Barna, barely there, but anchoring everything.
THE LIP
Glossier Ultralip in a mauve-brown tone. Not glossy. Healthy, soft, proportional. The kind of lip that photographs well and looks even better in person. Which is the only kind worth doing.
THE HAIR
Dark hair pulled back clean and deliberate. TO112 Ultimate Hair Cream, a Red by Kiss Edge Brush for the hairline, TO112 Strong Hold Hairspray to set it and leave it exactly where it needed to be.
The hairstyle that lets you focus on the face.
ALL PRODUCTS USED ON SET
Available in The Summer Shop:
Also used on set:
Ogee Hydraganics Complexion Perfecting Tinted Serum — Aspen 1.00W (BEAUTYCONFIDANTE15 for 15% off)
Ogee Sculpted Complexion Stick — Banyan 2.75W / Palmetto 2.80N
Ogee Hydraganics Sculpted Face Stick — Copper / Amber
Victoria Beckham Beauty Pearl Illuminating Brick
Westman Atelier Face Trace Contour Stick — Biscuit
Westman Atelier Baby Cheeks Blush Stick — Petal
Westman Atelier Lit Up Highlight Stick — Brûlée
19/99 Precision Colour Pencil — Barna
Glossier Ultralip
NYX Professional Makeup Micro Brow Pencil — Espresso
Rêphr Brushes
Red by Kiss Edge Brush
THE DREAM TEAM
Client @smythebrand
Model @noortjehaak
Photo @kaylaroccaphoto
Stylist @rita.liefhebber
Video @thejacobsauve
Photo Assistant @noelaraquel
Digital Tech @eric_brazier
Production @mmarrella @sonyaweisberg
This is the approach behind every look I create. If you want to learn the method:
Get on the List for the Next Masterclass →
THE BEAUTY CONFIDANTE
