Shooting beauty is a suprisingly technical affair. A photographer can spend hours perfecting the light until it is just so, the make-up artist's brush stroke must fall just so, then there is the expectation that the model should know every angle of her face down to the milimetre (not so necessary on a fashion shoot) and angle it towards the camera until it hits that sweet spot, that split-second when the camera clicks and a moment of spontaneous beauty is captured. Notoriously, this process takes hours. Days even.

But alongside this exacting approach to creating a spontaneous moment, there are great flourishes of art. And sometimes, these little snapshots happen even before the shoot begins. Such is the case for this week's audio-visual beauty shoot, Star Ascending. True to form, Alex Babsky, UK make-up ambassador for Lancôme begins the creative process by sketching and painting the proposed make-up looks in his notebook. 

For his first trick, Babsky played a riff on the tricksy graphic eyeliner shapes and sea of cobalt blue shades that ruled the spring/summer14 catwalks. 'This blue sculpted liner is an amalgamation of the novelty liner shapes of the season,' he explained. Never one to cut corners, he even used 'tape to stencil the shape for the liner.' See how it looked in reality, here.

When is a smokey eye not a smokey eye? When it's an upside-down smokey eye, of course. Born of Babsky's decidedly outside-of-the-box approach to make-up, his take on spring's smokey features a bare upper lid and a drama-filled lower lid, the effect being one of playful rebellion.

And for his piece de resistence, Babsky sketched out a jewel-encrusted (but in no way blingy) eye, comprised of all the murky, sludgy colours of the season. 'There was a lot of embellishment at the shows this season, so I wanted to incorporate jewels in colours that weren't too glamourous - greige tones over a dull brown matt eyeshadow,' he says. 'They were in random sizes and in a graphic shape to give a chunky feel, rather than too girly.' A make-up artist with a true artist's eye, how refreshing.

See the man in action on the Lancôme counter at Selfridges Beauty Project on Thursday 8th May. Celebrating Lancôme Hypnose Mascara's tenth birthday, Babsky will be hosting a champagne reception all about eyes, while Lancôme experts will be offering masterclasses and exceptional eye looks for guests. To book an appointment with a Lancôme make-up artist now, call +44 (0) 207 318 3739. 

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