30 Before And After Pics Of Women Who Got Hollywood-Like Transformations From This Makeup Artist
Makeup artist Lena Motinova treats all of her clients the same. It doesn't matter what neighborhood they live in, how "respectable" their job is, or who they're friends with. Everyone who wants to visit her salon is welcomed to do so.
The same applies to Motinova's Instagram account. Whether she is transforming someone's look for an important official dinner or a fun night out, the makeup artist posts before-and-after pics of her clients online, so you know she is proud of her work. Here are some of them.
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"I love to give women a sense of celebration and to see their real emotions," Motinova once said. The Global Pro makeup artist began her career with Estée Lauder as a Beauty Advisor 15 years ago. She has a passion for teaching and hosts masterclasses for both Beauty Advisors and consumers all over Russia. Though Motinova relishes any opportunity to be creative with makeup, she said she has a soft spot for brows—a beautiful, full brow is the signature of her work.
Motinova also advises on the latest beauty trends in Russia to help the local team select the best assortment of shades for their customers. Her work has appeared in Tatler, Cosmopolitan, Grazia, Hello, and OK! magazines.
However, if you are doing your own makeup, celebrity makeup artist Sir John—who has worked with Beyoncé— said Instagram is a great place to find inspiration. That's where he gets new ideas too. "I just save [my favorite Instagram posts] to the backend, and that's kind of the mood board at the moment," he explained to ELLE.
If 2020 has taught us anything, it's that skincare should become a priority, and doing a mask at 2 p.m. on a Wednesday is totally OK, if not necessary. "I think in terms of makeup trends, what will be huge is more approach to skin," SJ said. "There's going to be an ease and maneuverability around owning your skin and loving the skin that you have and not having to lacquer it from forehead to chin—not having the baking and the contouring and so many different dramatic ways to change oneself."
It looks like masks won't be going anywhere anytime soon, which makes it the perfect time to invest in a gorgeous eye look. "I do believe that eyes will be big," SJ said. "People are still going to love lashes, still going to love brows, and they're always going to be a feature. They were a feature 2,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, and they're going to be a feature in 2088."
Sir John thinks the move will be more lip stains in 2021. "If no other time, no other year, to find out if these claims of long-wear on our lip stains really work," SJ explained. "The goal now is to find out how long this lip will anchor to my mouth without drying my lips out?"
The makeup artist recommends doing a bit of self-discovery to find the perfect long-wear lipstick for you. The one test your lippie must pass, according to him, is the ability to hydrate.
"If you're wearing a super matte and you don't want your lip texture to change, use eye cream over lip balm,. An eye cream is going to be a great way to hydrate your lips. The skin of your eyes and the skin of your lips is so thin; it's almost transparent."
Sir John believes women must try 'tightlining' in 2021 as well. "Tightlining is when you lift up your lash line slightly and line that area with a waterproof black pencil, so that it's right underneath your lashes," he explained. "What that does is it makes all of your lashes extremely dense, so black and thick from the root, and it's really almost like an optical illusion." What's cool about this is that no one knows that they see a liner, but it gives you a dazzling eye-line.
Sir John said aggressive forms of contouring are out. Now, he thinks that sculpting is the 2.0 of where we need to go. "Invisible sculpting, softer appearances when it comes to the structure of our face, but all of these hard lines, or I like to call them VCLs, visible counter lines, need to go or need to stay in 2020."
Dr. Mona Gohara, Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine, also sees the huge importance of skincare in the face of the pandemic. "I wear two masks and sometimes a protective shield… [and] have myself experienced it and continue to experience [mask-induced acne, aka 'maskne']," Dr. Gohara told the BBC.
"Maskne is absolutely real. No questions asked."
Dermatologist Angeline Yong said the "constant rubbing of the masks against our skin causes micro-tears, allowing easier entry for bacteria and dirt to clog up our pores".
Not to mention that moist, damp environment going on underneath your mask.
"Breathing into a mask also creates a hot and moist environment that leads to the build-up of sweat, oil, and bacteria. Add on the fact that face masks are occlusive [designed to block things] by nature, and it's a recipe for skin disaster," Yong explained.
Dr. Yong said she advises her clients to combat maskne by avoiding thick, occlusive skincare creams.
"I always tell my patients to opt for more lightweight water-based products underneath the mask... a lightweight moisturizer can also act as an additional protective barrier and prevent chafing," she explained.
"Ideally, you should [also] be using a mild and gentle exfoliator to ... support the absorption of your moisturizer."
I would be more impressed if the after pics weren't filtered/photoshopped. Why can't we see what makeup can actually achieve?
Don’t know why you were downvoted. Subtle photoshop is insidious. I hadn’t noticed it but I believe you
Load More Replies...I get that some of the commenters prefer a makeup free face, but “You looked prettier before” isn't the compliment you think it is... it’s telling the women that when they try to achieve their goal of beauty, they end up looking uglier. Saying “Beautiful in both pics!” is completely okay, as I think it’s great that you’re boosting confidence in them and their natural beauty, but in the end we have to remember that these women are people with personal preferences, and could just be choosing to have their makeup done in a way that they prefer. We HAVE to stop telling women that they look ugly with makeup, because it’s pushing the false narrative that what they think looks pretty TO THEM is ugly.
saying prettier without make up isn't saying ugly with make up, can still be pretty, just not AS pretty. Some of these girls/women do look better with their natural looks and the make up seems (to me anyway) to be overdone...you are the only one bringing up 'ugly'
Load More Replies...Super boring article but these are really good makeup looks. It just isn’t worth commenting on them individually. Most of these women look years younger and it seems this makeup artist is most skilled at evening out a skintone. Good job. I like these makeup styles, although heavier than what I wear, they still seem in the realm of normal.
Problem with those makeovers is that we get used to that look and start believing that's the way normal people look, and then normal "imperfections" (acne, moles, shiny skin, whatever you want) look bad. And then we start thinking that something is not ok with us, when, in reality, they're not ok.
I'm extremely happy that there aren't many comments saying "cake face" or "they looked better before". they look lovely before and after, and for a lot of people, wearing makeup makes them feel better. and at the end of the day, that's what's truly important. remind yourself that you're in no place to judge them because it doesn't effect you in any way. also were the filters and photoshop necessary?
Never realized how much make up makes eyes stand out. I think it's also wonderful to show the before pictures so young girls can realize that all of those beautiful people are just ordinary people with make-up added. Hopefully gives them a boost to know that models are just like everyone else once the make up comes off.
I disagree. All of these women already have facial features that are generally considered attractive.
Load More Replies...i'd love to see some pics of how artists would make up ppl without eyebrows. seems the current trend w/heavy made up brows looks horrid on those of us who don't have much to work with. for myself, i have mr. spock brows that go up but no arch. looks like i am in a constant state of surprise.
Ngl, these photos are obviously heavily edited along with too much makeup. I feel like with less makeup and no editing, these women would look much better.
Not sure why you're being downvoted. They are obviously edited.
Load More Replies...I'm sure you can! Makeup doesn't have to be expensive.
Load More Replies...As a professional photographer who has done fashion work as well as glamor photographs, I know it is the combination of makeup AND lighting that makes people look so great in these photos. Out 'on the street'... the before and after difference isn't as dramatic, especially since under harsh outdoor lighting (IE: direct sun raking across the skin) the foundation and powder will show lines and wrinkles and look worse than bare skin.
In some of the after pics the make up artist makes the lines and wrinkles disappear... How is this achieved with make up?
Honestly, this kind of makeover creates generic women. Why can’t we look like individuals instead of dolls?
So most of them are young pretty girls which got heavy makeup. Some of them are models. What's the point? The more mature ladies are pretty anyways, too. I really do not get the idea here.
Literally every one of them looks like some kind of a bizarre creature in the after pictures. However, I guess this was undeniably their goal. They wanted to achieve an unattainable level. And now what they've achieved that, they look like something that's obviously unattainable and therefore grotesque and unnatural.
Bored Panda. Pick a side already! One week it's "women are beautiful without makeup"! Next week, it's "look at how these women look so much better with makeup." Seriously, I defy anybody to prove me wrong.
When you are 50 or older? Egads I wilsh someone could show me how to do that!! At that age or above, we are given CREDIT for looking our best. For the younger women, there is always a time and a place to glamourous. To the younger women...read the room.
Why does literally everybody on this post have friggin perfect eyebrows????
Most of these look really airbrushed/photoshopped. I'd rather see realistic pictures of real people. Fake isn't beautiful.
These women are naturally beautiful--a little touch of mascara or a bit of concealer or lip tint would have been plenty. How sad someone turned them into copies of plaster-like Ivanka face memes.
The pictures of Ivanka that I've seen seem to be somewhere in the middle ground... sure we mean the same person?
Load More Replies...I’ve noticed that whenever BP runs a story celebrating inner qualities and such (People Who Were Bullied And Thought They Were Ugly Got The Coolest Response Online) it is almost always accompanied by something like this (We made ordinary women pretty!) Fairness Doctrine? Or just ran low on reddit/Twitter/TikTok content to copy/paste?
Exactly! No such thing as ugly. Only poor lol.
Load More Replies...Why do YOU think that? That’s really stupid and sexist.
Load More Replies...Compared to most makeup styles of today, these ladies had rather subtle makeup.
Load More Replies...I would be more impressed if the after pics weren't filtered/photoshopped. Why can't we see what makeup can actually achieve?
Don’t know why you were downvoted. Subtle photoshop is insidious. I hadn’t noticed it but I believe you
Load More Replies...I get that some of the commenters prefer a makeup free face, but “You looked prettier before” isn't the compliment you think it is... it’s telling the women that when they try to achieve their goal of beauty, they end up looking uglier. Saying “Beautiful in both pics!” is completely okay, as I think it’s great that you’re boosting confidence in them and their natural beauty, but in the end we have to remember that these women are people with personal preferences, and could just be choosing to have their makeup done in a way that they prefer. We HAVE to stop telling women that they look ugly with makeup, because it’s pushing the false narrative that what they think looks pretty TO THEM is ugly.
saying prettier without make up isn't saying ugly with make up, can still be pretty, just not AS pretty. Some of these girls/women do look better with their natural looks and the make up seems (to me anyway) to be overdone...you are the only one bringing up 'ugly'
Load More Replies...Super boring article but these are really good makeup looks. It just isn’t worth commenting on them individually. Most of these women look years younger and it seems this makeup artist is most skilled at evening out a skintone. Good job. I like these makeup styles, although heavier than what I wear, they still seem in the realm of normal.
Problem with those makeovers is that we get used to that look and start believing that's the way normal people look, and then normal "imperfections" (acne, moles, shiny skin, whatever you want) look bad. And then we start thinking that something is not ok with us, when, in reality, they're not ok.
I'm extremely happy that there aren't many comments saying "cake face" or "they looked better before". they look lovely before and after, and for a lot of people, wearing makeup makes them feel better. and at the end of the day, that's what's truly important. remind yourself that you're in no place to judge them because it doesn't effect you in any way. also were the filters and photoshop necessary?
Never realized how much make up makes eyes stand out. I think it's also wonderful to show the before pictures so young girls can realize that all of those beautiful people are just ordinary people with make-up added. Hopefully gives them a boost to know that models are just like everyone else once the make up comes off.
I disagree. All of these women already have facial features that are generally considered attractive.
Load More Replies...i'd love to see some pics of how artists would make up ppl without eyebrows. seems the current trend w/heavy made up brows looks horrid on those of us who don't have much to work with. for myself, i have mr. spock brows that go up but no arch. looks like i am in a constant state of surprise.
Ngl, these photos are obviously heavily edited along with too much makeup. I feel like with less makeup and no editing, these women would look much better.
Not sure why you're being downvoted. They are obviously edited.
Load More Replies...I'm sure you can! Makeup doesn't have to be expensive.
Load More Replies...As a professional photographer who has done fashion work as well as glamor photographs, I know it is the combination of makeup AND lighting that makes people look so great in these photos. Out 'on the street'... the before and after difference isn't as dramatic, especially since under harsh outdoor lighting (IE: direct sun raking across the skin) the foundation and powder will show lines and wrinkles and look worse than bare skin.
In some of the after pics the make up artist makes the lines and wrinkles disappear... How is this achieved with make up?
Honestly, this kind of makeover creates generic women. Why can’t we look like individuals instead of dolls?
So most of them are young pretty girls which got heavy makeup. Some of them are models. What's the point? The more mature ladies are pretty anyways, too. I really do not get the idea here.
Literally every one of them looks like some kind of a bizarre creature in the after pictures. However, I guess this was undeniably their goal. They wanted to achieve an unattainable level. And now what they've achieved that, they look like something that's obviously unattainable and therefore grotesque and unnatural.
Bored Panda. Pick a side already! One week it's "women are beautiful without makeup"! Next week, it's "look at how these women look so much better with makeup." Seriously, I defy anybody to prove me wrong.
When you are 50 or older? Egads I wilsh someone could show me how to do that!! At that age or above, we are given CREDIT for looking our best. For the younger women, there is always a time and a place to glamourous. To the younger women...read the room.
Why does literally everybody on this post have friggin perfect eyebrows????
Most of these look really airbrushed/photoshopped. I'd rather see realistic pictures of real people. Fake isn't beautiful.
These women are naturally beautiful--a little touch of mascara or a bit of concealer or lip tint would have been plenty. How sad someone turned them into copies of plaster-like Ivanka face memes.
The pictures of Ivanka that I've seen seem to be somewhere in the middle ground... sure we mean the same person?
Load More Replies...I’ve noticed that whenever BP runs a story celebrating inner qualities and such (People Who Were Bullied And Thought They Were Ugly Got The Coolest Response Online) it is almost always accompanied by something like this (We made ordinary women pretty!) Fairness Doctrine? Or just ran low on reddit/Twitter/TikTok content to copy/paste?
Exactly! No such thing as ugly. Only poor lol.
Load More Replies...Why do YOU think that? That’s really stupid and sexist.
Load More Replies...Compared to most makeup styles of today, these ladies had rather subtle makeup.
Load More Replies...