How do you solve a problem like Maria? You call in the stylist extraordinaire that you’ve been counting on for decades to bring even your most far-fetched visions to life: the one and only Lisa Martensen. Here’s how she turned our beauties into bandidas.

MADE UP LIKE MARIA
HAIR
“Maria was basically a 180-degree difference from Taos, which I’m sure the [models] welcomed,” Lisa laughed. “They were such troopers with the overnight wet set to get that Millicent Rogers coif [for Taos], but I think it will be quite a while before I can convince them to do that again! Fortunately, for this look, we got to go a lot simpler, more relaxed. For Kaylin, I gave her kind of a natural, windblown look, as if she’d been out riding a horse all day. I was actually able to take advantage of her natural wave for once, instead of fighting against it! I used my trusty setting spray and I ‘mussed’ it with my fingers for a more piece-y look. For Veda, her hair is already that sleek straight, which was perfect for loose braids that don’t look messy; it fit the character and it looked chic.”
MAKEUP:
“We were channeling these rough-and-ready bandidas,” Lisa said. “They were gritty, they were sun-kissed, they were no shrinking violets. They were horse-riding, bank-robbing, risk-taking badasses. We had to capture that in their look.”
FACE
“I went heavy with the foundation, definitely opaque,” she said. “We had to give them a sun-kissed look in the middle of December; it’s not something I would recommend for the average person. I didn’t use a lot of powder, if any. In fact, they were pretty shiny, which would fit with being outside all day in the South Texas sun. I wanted them to look like outdoorsy gals.”
Behind-the-scenes
PRO TIP: “On day one, Kaylin’s poor little tip of her nose got sunburnt. So for day two of shooting, I used this little miracle-worker called Bye Bye Redness and let me tell you, it worked like a dream!”
BROW
Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil
“You know me, of course I filled in their brows!” she laughed. “I penciled them in to be more pronounced but not too precisely defined.”
EYE
Tom Ford Eye Quad in Suspicion
“We did a rough smoky eye,” Lisa said. “We used deep smoky browns and a rusty terracotta-esque shade. And then I lined the lip top and bottom with my go-to MAC gel liner. I don’t do that very often because it can get too heavy, but it worked with the grit of this look.”
CHEEK
“I didn’t use a traditional blush, no pink at all,” Lisa said. “I used a bronzer, sticking to earthy tones, bronzy, sandy colors – again, kind of a terracotta. If you look at the pictures, you can see how I used it more in a contour rather than on the apples of the cheeks like a blush.”
LIP
“I went really natural with the lip, that was not the focal point of this look,” she said. “I used a universal nude shade that I have used several times in Double D Looks, Strip Search, and then I dab it with balm to keep them from looking dried out and give just a light sheen but not like a gloss.”
Of course, curious minds want to know… What kind of lip balm?
“DCT by Blistex!” she laughed. “You can get it at every drugstore in America, I’m pretty sure; another example of more expensive doesn’t necessarily be better. I LOVE this stuff. My daughter says it reminds her of her childhood because I always have it in my car – that’s how much I love it. My lips never peel if I use it.”
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