About us
Makeup Tagg has been devised by Liz Tagg, a celebrity makeup artist with 26 years experience, to provide you with advice about the best makeup and colour palette to suit your phenotype. Liz works in TV and Film and has been nominated for both BAFTA and EMMY awards as well as her work featuring in magazines such as OK and Vanity Fair. Liz has pulled together a panel of 12 of the world’s best TV and Film makeup artists to recommend and review the products included in this application. All the makeup recommended is regularly used by this panel on the celebrities they work with. The panel have worked on films with:- Reese Witherspoon, Kirsten Dunst, Cate Blanchett, Ashanti, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Connelly, Aishwarya Rai, Keira Knightley, Sophia Loren, Christina Ricci, Dame Judy Dench, Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Diane Kruger, Orlando Bloom, Susan Sarandon, Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Kristin Scott Thomas, Thandie Newton, Gillian Anderson, Jessica Biel, Emma Thompson, Catherine Zeta Jones and many more.
See our interview, with Liz Tagg and Louisa Miller, founders of makeuptagg.
This month we meet makeup guru Liz Tagg and management extraordinaire Louisa Miller, sisters and co-founders of Makeuptagg.
makeuptagg: Liz and Louisa, an iPhone app offering personalized makeup advice to suit the individual is quite an achievement and very unique. Not only do you have an impressive list of contributions from celebrated makeup artists globally, but you yourselves have enjoyed incredibly successful careers too. How did this come about?
Liz: Well, I began my career as a makeup artist in 1982. Training with Oscar winning makeup artist Peter Owen. I was extremely lucky to accompany Peter to some amazing film sets early on in my career such as Highlander, starring Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan. I got the bug and didn't look back. I had further training at the BBC and over the last 25 years I have worked as a freelance makeup artist on over 200 film and television productions .
makeuptagg: You must have worked with some amazing people. Tell us about some of your favorites?
Liz: All of them were an experience and equally amazing. Sleepy Hollow, Directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp was an exciting and challenging makeup job. I have also had the good fortune of working with other great directors and actors including Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Cate Blanchett, Reese Witherspoon, Liv Tyler... I won't go on with the name dropping but I have been really lucky to meet and work with so many talented stars.
makeuptagg: Louisa, what inspired you to start Makeuptagg with Liz?
Louisa: The first company I began was in 1988, before I went to University, after which I did a stint in Marketing at an Arts Centre in Wales. A couple of years later, back in London, I joined another startup where I helped with the launch of Two Way TV, the UK’s first Interactive TV company. With a couple of successful ventures behind me, I took the step of founding my own business in 2000, an IT specialist training company whilst also working with another Telecoms startup. Between 2006 & 2009 I worked at another new company, Truphone, as the Head of Business Affairs, having been one of the original founders, so it has been a very busy few years!
makeuptagg: And then of course the amazing launch of Makeuptagg with Liz?
Louisa: Yes, working with my sister is great and we get to work
on something we are both passionate about.
makeuptagg: Liz, you have received some rather impressive awards yourself!
Liz: I love my work so to be nominated and to win the Hollywood Guild award for Best Character Makeup on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was an incredibly honor. This is an award given by my piers so it means a lot to me. I have also received a Bafta nomination and an Emmy nomination for Best Makeup.
makeuptagg: That’s pretty impressive! You have 15 professional makeup artists contributing their knowledge to Makeuptagg between them they also have some amazing accolades.
Liz: Yes. Amongst us all here at Makeuptagg, we have three Oscar nominations, four Emmie and eight Bafta nominations...and not forgetting two Hollywood Guild awards!
makeuptagg: You certainly are top of your work! Now, you launched Makeuptagg last year in 2010. It is an innovative format for the beauty industry. What did you both want to achieve with Makeuptagg?
Louisa: Makeuptagg's iPhone app is unique as it offers you tailored, personalised recommendations for products to suit your phenotype, your own colouring. We also feature a wealth of tips and tutorials from top makeup artists who have worked with the cream of Hollywood’s and global A-listers. We are now working to ensure that our website offers all of the features that are available with the iPhone app.
Liz: We have fifteen fabulous advisors and our site is constantly changing as we review new and exciting products and advice.
makeuptagg: Tell us a little more about your website. Can the products you review and recommend be purchased through Makeuptagg?
Liz: They can, although we don’t sell makeup ourselves we do provide you links through to well known high street and online stores that do. We are very open about this, and remain unbiased in all of our reviews and recommendations. Makeuptagg does stock top of the range makeup brushes and tools at extremely competitive prices.
We will shortly be adding a customer review section to our website where our users can post unbiased opinions on their most loved or hated products.
makeuptagg: An innovative makeup bible from the touch of your phone?
Liz and Louisa: Exactly!
makeuptagg: You are both career woman yet you also have families. How do you find time to fit everything in?
Liz: When my first child was born back in 2005, I soon realized it wasn’t easy trying to juggle motherhood and the world of show business. I immediately had huge respect for all working mothers. However, I was forever being asked for beauty advice and tips on how to look like the A-listers. This was when Louisa and I decided to set up Makeuptagg. We developed a data base which is very complex. Through my years of experience I know which colours work the best with every combination of skin tones, eye colour and hair colour. We use the term phenotype to describe personal colouring. Once the user has entered her phenotype into the app the results are returned with the brand name, makeup type and colour of makeup tailored to suit the users personal phenotype. The brands that are listed on the app are the ones that our contributors chose as their “must haves”. We update this info regularly as preferences change or as new products hit the market. We have recently added their must have skin care products in the essentials section.
Louisa: Exactly as Liz said! The launch of Makeuptagg has been remarkable. Together, we held a vast knowledge of the industry and with a top team of makeup artists contributing their expertise, we can give people an insight into the must have products used by today’s celebrities.
makeuptagg: Finally, how would you both sum up Makeuptagg?
Louisa: Makeuptagg gives you unbiased advice from professional makeup artists on the best makeup combinations and the tricks of the trade, through the simple use of our iPhone app or by visiting our website.
Liz: Yes, it's wonderful to have so many celebrated makeup artists contributing to Makeuptagg and to help people discover the best combinations of makeup tailored to their phenotype (colouring) with our online tips and tutorials. It means you can feel confident in buying the right product to suit you!
makeuptagg: Liz and Lousia, its been a pleasure!
