Celebrity Makeup Artist Cat Mignano Breaks Down Her Coachella Skincare Prep & Glam for Influencer Emma Rose

Cat Mignano (AKA cam.artistry) is an NYC-based professional makeup artist known for her glowy but sultry looks on some of today’s most prominent creators like Emma Rose, Melissa Wood-Tepperberg, and Jourdan Sloane.  

We recently caught up with Cat after she spent the weekend in sunny Palm Springs glamming Emma Rose for weekend 1 of Coachella. She gave us the rundown of her must-have festival beauty picks and process for nailing long-lasting, smudge-proof glam that can withstand the wear and tear of long days in the desert. 

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey to becoming a celebrity/influencer makeup artist?

Growing up I always painted, drew, or created in some way. I think I always had that little artist inside of me. I fell in love with makeup while watching beauty creators on YouTube like Lauren Curtis, Jaclyn Hill, Carly Bybel & Nicole Guerrero. I went to Makeup Designory in 2019 to deepen my knowledge and love for makeup artistry. After school, I worked a lot in film, TV, & bridal. That was fun at the time, and I learned so much about what I really wanted for myself and my career. I wanted bigger & more. I started to DM creators & influencers I had been following for a while, asking them to do their makeup. All it took was one person to answer. From that, the next person I messaged was more inclined to say yes when seeing another familiar face on my page. It all started to roll from there – word of mouth, recommendations, etc – & here we are! I started to pursue makeup full-time in February 2022. It’s a dream. 

It’s no secret that every great makeup application starts with having great skin underneath. Can you breakdown the top 3-4 products that you used on Emma Rose for skin prep? 

I am very particular about skin prep before makeup & I really like to take my time with it. I think it is the most important step to a flawless & long-lasting base. Emma’s skin is on the oilier side so I always use the Dr. Dennis Gross Hyaluronic Marine Oil-free Moisture Cushion, Laneige lip mask, & Kiehls creamy avocado eye cream. This combo never does me wrong and lays so beautifully under makeup.  

Can you walk us through your makeup process for creating Emma’s festival glam? 

I started working with Emma back in December of 2022 and have really learned what works for her skin, what she likes & doesn’t like, and what looks best on her face. Creating the look is definitely a collaborative effort between me, Emma & the hairstylist. We typically start by pulling the outfit out for the day, assessing the vibe, how she feels in it, and how she wants to feel when her glam is done. I think this is such an important question to ask: do you want to feel girly, edgy, flirty, sexy? For festival glam specifically, she wanted to step a little bit outside of her comfort zone with some looks by using different colors & styles she wouldn’t normally do. Sometimes we will pull some picture inspo as well. We will keep going back and forth with ideas until the lightbulb strikes in both of our heads.

What are your top skincare and makeup must-haves for creating a long-lasting, smudge-proof makeup look that can withstand all of Coachella’s elements (i.e. heat, dust, sweat, sun)? 

Every day I applied the Dr. Dennis Gross Lightweight Wrinkle Defense SPF 30. This is not only extremely lightweight on the skin, but added such a beautiful glow under the makeup – and sun protection, of course. Really hydrating from the inside out is so important when being out in the desert. A super hydrating face cream like the Hyaluronic Marine Oil-free Moisture Cushion is perfect to deeply hydrate without leaving the skin feeling greasy. I love layering different creams and powders for dimension and longevity. My favorite setting powder right now is the Givenchy Prism Libre Loose Setting & Finishing powder. It corrects any discoloration while brightening and setting the skin so weightlessly. The girls love a glow so instead of putting a highlight on top of the cheeks, I emphasized the glow under the makeup so that it would shine through with wear. This is where the glow from the sunscreen really does its job. 

Can you share your top three tips for caring for your skin during and post a long festival day in the desert? 

On Day 2, I started skin prep with the Dr. Dennis Gross DRx SpectraLite FaceWare Pro. I love this because it’s so quick and effective. Since the girls were in the sun all day, wearing a ton of makeup & sweating, this was the perfect reboot their skin needed. Using a deeply cleansing face wash is great at the end of the night to ensure all of your makeup, dirt, and sweat is off and ready to take on the next day!! Hydrate from the inside out, & SUNSCREEN! 

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