Australia’s most famous makeup artist spills her secrets

Rae Morris is widely known as Australia’s most influential make-up artist, with more than 25 years’ experience in the industry. She’s penned six books, launched her own make-up brush collection and worked with some of the biggest international celebrities. The Weekly’s beauty and health director, Sheree Mutton, caught up with Rae to discuss her career, the launch of her new book and this season’s make-up trends.

Rae Morris is to make-up what David Bowie was to music … a legend, an icon of the industry and someone who continually pushes the boundaries. In fact, Rae even trained with Bowie’s make-up artist, Richard Sharah. “I was his last student,” says Rae. “He taught me make-up. He made everything happen for me.”

Growing up in Brisbane, Rae began her career as a hairdresser. She opened a salon it was through that profession that she found herself at the ‘Model of the World’ pageant in Istanbul in 1993. “I had never done make-up before in my life and I always say this, it was five seconds of Naomi Campbell’s’ life that she will never remember that completely changed my life,” recalls Rae. “She wanted her make-up touched up. She had clear lip gloss and I thought ‘can’t go too wrong, it’s clear lip gloss, she’s got big lips’. I touched the lip gloss and at that moment the paparazzi had come in”.

Rae was quickly booked as an international make-up artist, working on fashion shows and shoots around the world. She became the longest-serving L’Oreal Paris make-up director and counted celebrities like Miranda Kerr, Jessica Biel and P!NK, as clients.

Today, Rae serves as the Priceline Pharmacy make-up director and the creative ambassador for the National Academy of Beauty. She will be at the forefront of the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival this week, directing a team of 60 and masterfully creating on-trend looks for each of the runway shows. She says this season will be about metallic eyes and matte lips. “The thing is it’s a consumer show so it will be about simplicity and the looks will be paired back. Clean, classic, timeless, beautiful and wearable,” she says.