Dior International Pro-Team Dior make-up artists, Ivan Chiu, Jamie Coombe and Junior Cedeno - all hail from different parts of the world, but their passion in life is to make women beautiful. They were in town last week for the launch of the new Rouge Dior Satin Collection, a make-up line of sheer colours that were inspired by Christian Dior's love for the luxurious fabric.

We ask these three hotties what being beautiful means.

Q: We know that women wear make-up to enhance their beauty. As men, what does make-up mean to you?

Jamie: Make-up helps to perfect the perfected. Everyone's face is unique and makeup perfects the insecurities we have in our looks. My job as a make-up artist is to make women feel confident of themselves and feel comfortable despite their insecurities.

Ivan: Makeup is a tool to build a woman's self-confidence. It makes our lives more visually pleasing, filled with beautiful things to look at.

Junior: It means beauty and seduction. I see the best inside a person and makeup allows me to project that on her face.

Q: Is working with make-up easier, or more difficult, than photography. or painting or even designing an outfit?

Jamie: For me, designing outfits is more difficult whereas makeup is like mouding one's skin. Designing clothes takes a longer  time and it's a more technical process as you need make sure the fabric is of the right texture and fits the body. Makeup is more fluid and you can mold it. It's like beautiful clay you can play with.

Ivan: Photography and make-up are two different media, and both are attractive in their own ways. Both have a few things in common - you can see beautiful things, you can make someone very beautiful and you need constant communication with the subject. The main difference is, in makeup, you can see the immediate difference as a result of your work, whereas in photography, you are still able to do touch-ups.

Junior: Painting and make-up has the same level of difficulty. The only difference to me is the sensations I experience when applying makeup for customers.

With makeup, I can change what I have done. I can embrace, illuminate and give the customer that special touch.

Before I begin to paint, the easel is completely empty and I already have in mind what I want to draw.

In makeup, it's possible to 'talk' to the face through touch. I also believe that makeup acts as an interpreter for a someone's personality.

Or it can be used to hide an introvert's personality, or tone down someone who is more outgoing. For example, for a very shy person, a make-up artist would choose vibrant, bright colours to change the look of the person, but he would choose light colours for an extrovert, because bold colours would not be suitalbe for her personality. Look at Sharon Stone – her lips are very nude.

IVAN CHIU

Dior National Makeup Artist, Taiwan

Q) Why did you decide that make-up would be your chosen profession?

Jamie: As a child I was always creative, always creating, always drawing. My childhood ambition was to be a chef and again it's about textures, flavours and colours. In school, I chose artistic studies and studied in Falmouth College of Arts and the London College of Fashion where I studied general art, design and sculpture.

In between that, I also created art pieces for show at art galleries and created clothes from second-hand fabric to make extra money on the side. So you can see, I was always creating - be it food, art, clothes or dance.

The turning point was when I was asked to model hats in school for a fashion show. At that moment, I fell in love with the energy, the people, the environment and I was told myself: "I should be doing this!"

I did and have never looked back since. *Smile*

Ivan: My introduction to makeup is through my interest in human photography. I have to work with makeup artists before photographing my subjects.

I think that most creative people can be quite opinionated and that's what happened to me when I started working with makeup artists - I always have some opinions about how the makeup should be done, so I decided to learn and do it myself! *Laughs*

Junior:  I have loved colours since I was a child. I come from a very artistic family of artists, painters and sculptors. After completing my bachelor's degree in fine arts, I was undecided about my choice of career.

Then I went to Mexico to study the fine art of restoring ancient Maya Masks, which is a very tedious and labour-intensive task as it requires one to have intense concentration and steady hands to re-apply the colours and repair the damage done to the masks through time.

I vividly remember my teacher looking at the masks I was restoring commenting that if I were to become a make-up artist one day, I would do very well. After that, I took up a makeup course and the rest as they say, is history.

JUNIOR CEDENO

Dior National Makeup Artist, Spain

The only difference is when I restore masks, they don't talk to me. But if I were putting on make-up for a customer, she speaks to me about her concerns, likes and dislikes, which I enjoy very much.  

Q) What would you consider to be the highlight of being a make-up artist?

Jamie: I'm the happiest when I have a brush with me, applying makeup for customer.

Be they celebrity, customer or model, everybody has a face and what I enjoy most is to get them to enhance and realise their natural beauty. To me, every woman is an icon in her own right, and showing them how they can look beautiful effortlessly is what I enjoy most.

Ivan: There are two. When I complete the makeup for a customer, I feel very satisfied when she is very happy with her makeover.

The other, as part of the Dior International Pro-Team, I have had the opportunity to work with people from different cultures & countries. One of the more striking things I've learnt is Caucasian customers tend to prefer deep and vibrant colours whilst Asian customers are more particular about details, such as how the makeup is done and a preference for delicate colours.

Junior: For me, it's being part of the Dior International Pro-Team which has allowed me to travel around the world, becoming exposed to different cultures and people in my travels to further my creativity as a  makeup professional.

Q) What is a woman's greatest asset? Why?

Jamie: Her eyes. Because that's the first place that you look at, as your eyes are the windows to your soul. You don't talk into people's mouths, do you?

Ivan: A woman's mindset. Because that reflects her actual 'age'. I have met many women who think or act old and therefore look much older than her biological age, as well as women who believe they are young and so look less than their age.

JAMIE COOMBES

Dior National Makeup Artist, United Kingdom

Junior: Her sensuality. Because when a woman sees me, I'm discovering her for the first time and feeling the sensations of that discovery. Her sensuality consists of many things, from the way she moves and walks to how she thinks.

Q) What is one make-up tip a woman should know to bring out her best feature?

Jamie: Take care of your skin. Before you put anything on, you have to get your skin right. When your skin is in the right condition, you have less skin concerns and therefore you need less makeup to cover your flaws.

Ivan: Learn what is your best asset and play that up your makeup. For example, if you have a great smile, make sure you always have some lip colour on because that will always be the the first thing people see when they look at you.

Junior: Women tend to look at themselves in mirror from their chins down. They should remember to look up and tilt up their chins so that they can see the eye socket to check if their makeup is well done. Doing this helps to illuminate the face.

Another tip for Asian women - when you apply mascara, concentrate on yourself. Forget everything for the moment - your husband, your kids. Look at yourself in the mirror with chin up and apply mascara on both the top and bottom of the lashes.

Something very innovative is DiorShow Iconic. Use it on the underside on your eye lashes.

Q) Which was the most memorable fashion show you have worked in?

Jamie: There isn't one favourite show or one favourite look which I created, as all are spectacular, but I like working backstage for the Galliano shows with the Dior International Pro-Team.

Ivan: My most memorable show was in 2006 in Taiwan 101 (world's tallest skyscraper). I was working with another Taiwanese make-up artist, Xiao Kai, and the art show director, who was from Hong Kong, wanted all the models to look the same, so we had to give all of them nude lips. It was quite a challenge to make everyone's lips look the same shade of nude, as everyone has different skin colour.

Junior: My most memorable show was working on the fashion show by John Galliano that was inspired by Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. I like when Galliano uses history to create couture as I got the opportunity to create spectacular looks that can only be worn by the models. It was very creative and I had to do research for the looks. It took the whole team three months to prepare for the show.