Lesson Learned! Rose-Marie Swift on Thinking—and Acting—Fast When Something Goes Wrong on Set

As told by Rose-Marie Swift, makeup artist and founder of rms beauty

I would be lying if I said nothing has ever gone wrong on set. From disastrous products to bad lighting, I’ve seen it all. I try to think of each snafu as a learning experience I can take with me to the next set I work on. One of the most valuable things I’ve learned in my career has been the power to think fast and react quickly when something goes wrong.

One time I was on an outdoor shoot for an H &M swimwear campaign. Since we were going to be in the sun all day, the model had put on sunscreen before arriving to set. But the client wanted her to have a tanned look, so I applied makeup to her body that gave her a perfect sun-kissed glow. She looked amazing and the client was happy with the results, until they decided to have her take a dip, so that it looked like she’d just gone swimming. The cold water reacted to the sunscreen, the makeup separated from it, and the color of her skin quickly turned chalky white and streaky. I tried to blend it together, but it didn’t work. The combination morphed into a sticky glue.

I grabbed my organic jojoba oil (thank goodness I had it in my kit!) and massaged it to her skin. Luckily, that did the trick! All the products started blending together seamlessly, like magic.

Now I always carry around an organic oil. I’ve learned just how perfect it is for blending synthetic, chemical-based makeup products and preventing such mishaps. Another must-have in my kit? Raw coconut oil, because it’s the fastest makeup remover on earth.

If you plan on wearing makeup over your sunscreen, make sure you know the product you’re using. While a sunscreen may appear to have no detectable color when you first rub it into your skin, if you do go in the water, and the water is cold, it might make its presence known. Of course, you should always wear your sunscreen. But maybe wait to put on your makeup until after you’ve gone for a swim.

Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images Entertainment