The entire DARE team are obsessed with Love Island, so when we planned to shoot mega-babe Montana from the last series for our cover, we could hardly contain our excitement. As art editor, it’s my job to come up with the overall creative direction, and the look and feel for the shoot, alongside our writer and contributing beauty editor, Nat – we’re a great little team.
Organising such a big production took a lot of prep. Our aim was to shoot a cover image and four different beauty looks in a day. This would require a selection of outfits and nail changes, as well as the four makeup looks – and a video interview with Montana, too. The run up to the day was manic, organising the studio, photographer, makeup artist, nail technician, hairstylist, equipment and kits, and liaising with Montana’s manager about timings and transport.
It was all hands on deck at 8am. Our first heart stopper was when Montana’s taxi failed to show up and we had to arrange another at quick speed. On the upside, it gave us a bit longer to set up! We managed to have a pre-production meeting to plan the order of the different looks, the colour backgrounds we’d shoot on, and the outfits we wanted Montana to wear. When she bounded in at 10am with the biggest smile and incredibly warm personality, it was clear that she was going to be amazing; all she needed was a croissant from the breakfast buffet and she was ready to go.
We decided the cover image should be the second shot of the day, to give Montana time to warm up in front of the camera and see how she reacted on set. We needn’t have worried – she was a complete natural. The first look we shot was a fully loaded green eye, which she rocked! She played about with her sunglasses as a prop, hardly needing any direction, and joked around as if she’d known us for years. After a hair and makeup change to a bold pink lip (my fave look of the day) and slipping into a Miami-inspired swimsuit with an acid-orange jacket, she was ready for the cover shoot.
Our photographer, Lancton, put on his hugely successful RnB playlist (popular with all the crew at every shoot he does for us), and Montana danced to it as though no one was watching. It was the perfect music to put her at ease, encouraging her to be her natural bubbly self, and to get an amazing cover shot. It worked like a charm and took us under an hour to get the perfect cover image, capturing that all-important Superdrug Feeling, with a little attitude thrown in. We had two more beauty looks after lunch to shoot – glossy red lip and blue graphic liner – and it went swimmingly. She obviously loved the looks as she shared them on her Instagram stories. Make sure you pick up the latest DARE in store to see the images from the day and read all about what Montana’s been up to post-villa.