Tune In: A Celebrity Makeup Artist's Favorite Clean Mascara, Eyeliner & More

When celebrity and editorial makeup artists Jenna Anton’s clients walk the red carpet or appear in photoshoots, they’re wearing 100% clean skin care and makeup. A rare feat in the celebrity and professional makeup world, Anton revamped her makeup arsenal over the last several years—and now is dedicated to only using certain makeup brands that meet her ingredient standards. 

“When I work with celebrities or models, I’ll state at the beginning, ‘I have all 100% clean beauty,’ and they’re all so thankful. They tell me, ‘Thank you for caring about me.’ They often share that they have sensitive skin but don’t feel they can stand up for themselves,” she tells me on this episode of mindbodygreen’s podcast Clean Beauty School. “But the beauty and fashion industry is starting to shift before my eyes. It’s very different than when I started in the ‘90s.”  

In the episode, we dive into her (fascinating!) journey to becoming a makeup artist, why she views makeup as a form of important self-expression, how she “broke up” with conventional beauty, and her favorite makeup products right now—a few of which I’m sharing here. 

Anton isn’t the first to say it, but as a professional makeup artist she’s definitely the authority on the subject: “Clean eyeliners and mascara have continued to evolve, but still, that’s always the area where I’m like, ‘This is really hard, I just want to use a conventional one.’” 

With eyeliners, the issue often is about the liner texture. “Traditionally, the textures in for clean beauty pencil eyeliners were really soft, which is great if you want a smoky, smooshy look—but if you don’t want it to transfer down, it’s a bit of an issue,” she says. 

However, she found her solution: MOB Beauty Cake Liner. “I love everything they’re doing so much. Their formulator worked for MAC, so the pigments are there and the palettes are there,” she explains. “And they have these cake liners that are amazing. You wet it and you can use it as a liquid liner. If you put it at the root of the lashes, it’s the perfect tight liner. And you can smudge it. You can do anything with it!"

Another category that has come a long way over the years, clean mascaras used to be abysmal. But now, there are plenty of high-performance options that rival any of the conventional ones. 

As someone who loves testing mascaras, I was most excited about Anton’s answer here—as it’s a mascara I hadn’t heard of or tried. A mascara by the name of SWEED Cloud Mascara. 

“This gives me a big lash—you can build it up a lot and it stays all day even in crazy humid weather,” she says. “I don't know what they've done, but they've mastered the formula, and I'm literally obsessed with it. Recently I was working with Emma Roberts and she was like, ‘I'm super addicted to this mascara.’” 

Her tip? 

People often falsely equate “clean” makeup with a barely-there aesthetic. And while it’s true that many clean brands do favor a light touch, there are plenty of bold color options to choose from—especially in the lip category. 

“They’re out there!,” Anton says of bold, colorful, saturated lip products. “My most recent discovery is called FitGlow Beauty Cloud Collagen Lipstick + Cheek Balm. It’s a tint, but it’s super pigmented.”

These multifunctional products come in 12 shades and are good for use all over. “I use it on the eyes, cheeks, and lips. They can be sheer, but they’re so pigmented that they can create a lot of impact and depth,” she says. “They’re matte, but they don’t read dry.” 

Her shade of choice?