It’s no wonder that Jennifer Aniston has been a hair and beauty icon throughout the years, she has none other than Gucci Westman by her side ensuring that the latter part of that duo (the makeup), is on point all the time.
While the makeup maven was in Australia to promote her new line of products, marie claire Australia sat down with Westman, who now has her own line of beauty products, Westman Atelier, to talk about how she perfects Aniston’s healthy glow.
“A lot of the products I’ve made have been inspired in one way or another by all the women I’ve worked with consistently,” she explains. “You know, Jennifer Aniston has been my girl since 2001, I think, or 2000 even.”
For those who need a little context, Westman and Aniston first started their working relationship during height of Aniston’s Y2K ‘it girl’ era, with the makeup mogul responsible for the Friends alumni’s noughties makeup looks that made her a style icon. So yes, Westman really knows what she is talking about.
Even Westman admits that it’s been an enduring and important relationship. “That’s a long time, and, of course, I know how to make her feel beautiful. I feel that I know what makes a lot of women feel beautiful.”
It was this intention that has gone into her Westman Atelier collection, creating products in a simple, curated line up that women could understand and know how to easily and effectively create the looks they wants.
For Aniston, though, Westman says it all starts with the skin.
Jennifer Aniston’s exact makeup routine, according to her makeup artist
“It’s kind of simple,” Westman admits. “I start with, for example, the [Vital Skincare Complexion] drops and then I would go and use a Beauty Butter Bronzer.”
“I do a bronzer like I’m changing her skin tone. I’m warming it up like a child would get bronzed,” she says, explaining to apply the bronzer where the sun would naturally hit.
By the ‘drops’, Westman is referring to her new Vital Skincare Complexion Drops, which have just launched in MECCA, so Australians can get their hot little hands on them.
“They are my pride and joy,” she explains.
It took a while for Westman Atelier to complete the formulation without silicones (if you didn’t already know, the brand follows a clean approach to beauty with an extensive ingredient blacklist).
“It was something I wanted to do from the get go but I couldn’t create that slip and luxurious texture and performance without silicones at that time,” she said. “I had to wait until there were more alternative ingredients that would allow me to do it.”
Westman Atelier Vital Skincare Complexion Drops 30mL, $113.00, MECCA
Westman was determined to create a product unlike anyone else, refusing to show her formulators an ‘example’ of what she wanted. “It’s hard to do it that way,” she says. “I worked directly with the chemist and the formulator and told them my dreams and hopes for this product and they kept asking, ‘could they not please have something similar’, and I said, ‘No I don’t want to copy anything I want this to be really my own’.”
She admits that formulating without silicones is “a nightmare”, but that it was important to her to find innovative alternatives.
“It’s skincare that does makeup, the amount of active ingredients that are included in the right levels and the right combination is amazing. It’s a serum that does your makeup,” she says.
Perfecting the Aniston cheekbone
“I make her quite tan using our Face Trace Contour Stick in ‘Truffle’ and the [Body Butter] bronzer. I use little by little. I add and I add, until it’s the right amount and then I add a pop of colour to the cheeks,” she says.
Her go-to colours are a peachy shade like ‘Minette’, or a bright fuschia shade like ‘Poppet’. “[It] just gives a pop of colour so it feels dimension and not just one tone,” she says.
“Then I’ll go in if I want to add a highlight and a contour,” Westman adds.
Finishing that glowy look
Not even Jennifer Aniston can go without a touch of concealing. Generally, Westman will do this with a foundation stick.
“Then, I powder where I need to with a pressed skincare powder. So, I just know that I’m layering beautiful skincare products on top of each other, and nothing is going to feel cakey. It’s going to feel vibrant and alive. That’s my philosophy around her skin,” she explains.
Adding a bit of playfulness
While Jennifer Aniston is known for her natural, glowy base, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love to play around with colour.
“Of course you have fun with your eye makeup and your lips,” Westman explains. “But the skin really needs to be alive. It’s not always the same finish, it’s different all the time, but as long as it looks like skin and amplified, as opposed to cosmetic feeling.”
And there you have it – the step-by-step tips to perfect Jennifer Aniston’s makeup look, straight from Gucci Westman herself.
