Urban Decay Cosmetics,
Hi Fi Lip Gloss

Julia Kuzmenko McKim photographed and retouched macro beauty imagery for Urban Decay’s Hi Fi Lip Gloss collection.

These frames are outtakes from the Hi Fi Gloss campaign. This photoshoot gave all of us on set a wonderful little a-ha moment. Amanda, Urban Decay’s lead makeup artist at the time, was our lip model for this shoot, as she had been many times before.

This time, she had just returned from a holiday in Italy, fresh off a very long flight and very little sleep. While I was focusing on my lighting, Amanda looked at the test shots of her lips on the large screen I was tethering to and pointed out that her lips looked deflated and dry.

She stepped away and returned with a small bottle of water. Over the next 5-10 minutes, she gradually drank it all. We took another round of test shots, and her lips were as plump as always. I would not have believed the visible transformation if I had not seen it myself.

Since then, my pre-shoot notes to beauty models and their agents always include one must-do: stay hydrated the day before and the morning of the shoot. It is also worth gently reminding models that partying the night before the shoot, alcohol, smoking, and lack of sleep all show in how skin, lips, and eyes photograph in beauty, and especially in macro beauty.