Tess Daley’s makeup artist shares her beauty secrets

Makeup artist to the stars, Aimee Adams, reveals the best looks for the season – including how to impress this Halloween

What’s it like doing Tess’ makeup on Strictly?
‘I have been painting her face for nearly 25 years. We’re good friends and it’s never like work when we are together. She’s a dream to make up.’

What is your favourite look for Tess?
‘My favourite look for Tess is a glowing bronze goddess, J Lo-inspired look. I always think this suits her best. Sometimes we add a bright orangey red lip or occasionally a very smoky eye but I always think that the glowing bronzy look suits her.’

How does doing makeup on Strictly differ to doing makeup for any other celebrity?
‘It’s quite a long day! Normally when I work with celebrities I don’t tend to stick around for a very long time and it is an in-and-out kind of situation. I will beautify them and then send them on their way in many circumstances. Strictly is so much fun, though. We are like a big family who actually quite enjoy hanging out together all day.’

What other celebrities have you done the makeup for?
‘I’ve made up so many celebrities as I’ve been doing makeup for 30 years. I’ve worked with people like Madonna, Alesha Dixon, Dannii Minogue, Pixie Lott, Helen Mirren, Sienna Miller, Little Mix, Sarah Ferguson and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Elle Macpherson and Yasmin Le Bon – just to name a few!’

What’s the secret to an effortless makeup look?
‘Making the woman look naturally stunning. That doesn’t mean it is has to be a natural makeup, it can actually be very strong. It’s just bringing out your best features.

I’m not a massive fan of the Instagram-style of makeup – very contoured with heavy metallic highlighter, false eyelashes and painted-on heavy brows. I’m hoping this look is over with soon. I find it very boring and you would never see it on an A-list celebrity, going down the catwalk, or anywhere in a proper fashion shoot.’

What are the best makeup products around, in your opinion?
‘I have so many favourite products to use. It is important to get the skin finish right, so I like a natural-looking foundation – but one that still has coverage. So I use Makeup Forever Ultra HD foundation. I also use Melanie Mills Hollywood Gleam Face & Body Radiance in ‘Peach Deluxe’ to give that glowing airbrushed finish to the body. I’ve been using a lot of IT Cosmetics recently and love their entire line, especially Super Hero mascara.

When it comes to eyes and lips I tend to change it up quite a lot and I use a variety of brands from Primark right through to more high-end cosmetics like Marc Jacobs. I also love Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes for their gorgeous pigments.’

Any other beauty tips for the season?
‘Metallics are very big this season in clothing and in makeup. I love adding high-shine gloss and dashes of metallic to a makeup. Melanie Mills Hollywood also does a gorgeous little glow collection of four pots of shine called Gleam Radiant Dust in the Hollywood Film Festival Glow Collection that lets you ‘glow like a red carpet star’. It’s great to use on the eyes and over lipstick or anywhere on the face or body.’

Do you have any suggestions for how to pull off the Halloween makeup look?
‘Think outside the box and use products where they’re not meant to be. Use black eye-pencil as lipstick. Use red lipstick as blood smears. Use a fine-pointed eyeliner brush to paint on any sharp black lines that you need or use an eyeliner felt-tip pen around your face for skeleton eyes or cat’s whiskers. Just get creative. Definitely check out the Strictly Halloween episode coming up this weekend. Our Bafta-winning makeup team are amazing and may just inspire you.’