Meet ICONIC MUA & Our Quick 'N Easy Liner Campaign Star: Celine Bernaerts

huda beauty
by HB Team |
Thu, 5 Aug 2021

Celine

We recently revealed a very exciting new addition to our Life Liner collection, our Life Liner Quick N’ Easy Precision Liner, and we swear, it’s the easiest eyeliner you’ll ever use. Period! For the campaign, we invited one of our favorite makeup artists, the incredibly talented Celine Bernaerts, to Dubai.

Celine is a Dutch MUA with a unique and captivating makeup (and shooting) style that will have you scrolling her IG feed for hours! Her shaved head, bleached brows, and impeccable bone structure provide the most incredible canvas for her artistry. We say artistry because every look she slays is a literal work of art. In her own words, she is “A chameleon making her way through life with makeup! Challenging online beauty standards for your entertainment.”

Life Liner Quick ‘N Easy Eyeliner

We’ve been obsessed with Celine for as long as we can remember, and Huda has always been super keen to work with her. She’s known for her fierce AF eyeliner and next-level precision, and she’s nailed every liner trend from the 60s cut crease to asymmetrical liner. Working with her for this liner campaign was the perfect match, and her creativity and beauty overflowed; the final images from the Easy Liner shoot were breathtaking!

 

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A post shared by Huda Kattan (@huda)


During the 72-hour whirlwind adventure, we got the chance to sit down with Celine and quiz her on her life, her favorite products, and of course, her secret eyeliner tips. Honestly, we don’t think we could fall in love with her any more; she has such a unique perspective on beauty, and it translates into her makeup artistry. We could gush about why we love her for hours but we’re going to let you hear from Celine herself. Prepare to fall in love!

All About Celine

1. How did you get started in makeup? 

I’ve always been interested in makeup. My mom’s a beautician so there was always makeup around the house. It turned more serious when I applied to art school and my application project was heavily laden with makeup references. I quit after six months and told my parents I wanted to go to makeup school. They agreed but AFTER I’d get myself a bachelor’s degree. So I got a bachelor’s degree in communications, and in my last year of studies, I really started practicing for makeup school. Since there were no peers or mentors around where I lived, I took to Instagram to find inspiration, people I could learn from, and like-minded people.

2. Your looks are always so unique and daring, who or what inspires your makeup looks? 

I’m usually inspired by the clothing I wear for a certain look. During makeup school, I was taught mainly how to do editorial makeup, and obviously, with editorials, you keep in mind what the other creatives are doing: photographer, stylist, hairstylist. The makeup artist usually adapts to whatever they are doing so I think it’s now ingrained into my DNA. I also try not to look to other makeup artists to find inspiration as it’s a dark black pit where you’re unconsciously invited to recreate or copy.

 

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A post shared by CELINE BERNAERTS (@celine_bernaerts)

3. You’re such an inspiration to us, which makeup artists or beauty influencers inspire you and why?

Thank you so much!! As much as I love beauty influencers, I try to keep a link to fashion, so if there’s a place I look for new trends, it’s usually the Vogue Runway app. Not too much detail on the beauty perspective but you’re able to catch a glimpse of what’s going on on the face and the clothes are central to the story. You can clearly tell which direction fashion is headed and I create looks from that point of view.

To add, in all honesty, trends are no longer as relevant as they might’ve been in the past. I feel trends nowadays consist of a viral TikTok trend instead of a mainstream look people conform to.

4. What’s your go-to look when you want to feel confident?

Either a bold graphic liner with 60s references or a really opaque red lip.

5. What does beauty mean to you? 

A life’s mission, a creative outlet, a vocation, playtime, dress-up, transformation. Over the years it’s become less and less about feeling beautiful but more about creative expression for me.

6. In your bio, you say “Challenging online beauty standards for your entertainment.” We would love to know more from you on this topic, as it’s also very close to our hearts….

For such a long time, social media has been a way for people to learn how to do makeup but it also created a very homogeneous look where people all looked the absolute same. What I noticed was that no one ever seemed to feel like a part of it if they couldn’t do that full cover, contoured, snatched nose, winged liner, cut crease, overlined lip look. Not only shouldn’t people feel they need to conform to a certain standard, but I also wanted to showcase how much more was possible with makeup. Again, not making it look picture perfect but make it a way to creatively express yourself. To specify: I’m not talking about the way I look myself, my buzzcut, or anything. I’m specifically talking about what’s going on in the face.

7. Beauty is an essential part of our self-care routine. What does your self-care routine look like?

Very privileged but I like to go on a regular facial and make sure my skincare routine is up to scratch. It’s also doing no makeup days! I like recognizing myself in the mirror both with and without makeup.

But we shouldn’t forget that beauty is not only an exterior thing. Self-care is about the inner part of your beauty as well. You protrude a certain energy into the world, and love above anything else is central in my life. Try to be kind to one another, never feel elevated because of some societal standard, take care of your loved ones, feed your brain, and TAKE REST!

Celine’s Makeup Tips

life liner celine bernaerts

We couldn’t interview Celine without quizzing her on all her insider tips and industry secrets. Here’s everything she told us:

What are your top 3 tips for eyeliner newbies?

  1. Divide your lashline into two halves and always work towards the middle.
  2. Support your working hand. A floaty will always create wobbly lines but when you support your hand (by placing a pinky on your face) or your elbow (by placing your other arm underneath or letting it rest on your desk) you’ll be able to work much more steadily.
  3. Your mental wellbeing dictates your liner: keep breathing!

What are your top 3 tips for eyeliner pros that can help them take their liner looks to the next level?  

  1. Bone structure is your guide to everything! Your temporal bone guides you to the perfect lifted liner.
  2. A magnifying mirror and/or a magnifying glass is a must in your kit! It’ll help you see what the editor is going to fix for you later. How cool if an editor or photographer tells you afterward he didn’t have to do a thing to retouch your makeup!?
  3. Experiment!!! A classic liner is in all our wheelhouses but there are so so so many ways to play with shapes and lines. Go against the normal dictated shape and for example, go straight against it.

life liner celine bernaerts

There are so many eyeliner trends rn, from floating liner to reverse cat-eye. What’s your fave liner trend and your fave classic look? 

My favorite classic look is a thin 60s floating crease on top of a thin classic liner on the lash line.

My favorite liner is still undefined as there are still so many shapes to explore! For that sexy look, I’d probably say wolf if you’re really looking for an answer.

Do you have any weird liner hacks? 

The My Mini On Point Buds by My Kit Co, $5. Not a weird hack but the skinniest, best Q-tips you’ll find in your life!

What 5 makeup products could you not live without?

  • Concealer
  • Brow gel
  • Lash Curler
  • Red lipstick, so I can use it as blush and for lips
  • A taupe-colored eyeshadow to function as contour, eyeshadow, and freckle maker

What makeup trends are you loving right now? 

I’m quite bad at expressing myself in trends… The beauty about makeup is that it’s personal. I think everyone should always do the makeup they feel powerful, beautiful, confident or happy in, no matter the trendiness of that at the moment. Right now we’re seeing that a lot more and it makes me really really happy!

Check out more amazing makeup tips from Celine (her complexion tips are firrrree!), and see how she created her incredible Life Liner Quick ‘N Easy Precision Liner Campaign Look:

To find out more about our Life Liner Quick ‘N Easy shoot and the eyeliner, check out this post.