Heroine Magazine

Mar 2026

Apply Yourself, a striking editorial portrait series for Heroine Magazine, strips away the artifice often found in beauty imagery to focus on the raw, tactile reality of the human form. Through a series of tight-cropped frames, the project leans into a minimalist aesthetic, where the interplay of hair, texture, and light takes center stage. Hair stylist Christos Bairabas employs sculptural techniques, ranging from playful blue plastic rollers to voluminous, gravity-defying curls and utilitarian wig caps, creating bold silhouettes that define each composition. This structural approach is masterfully balanced by makeup artist Machiko Yano, who utilizes everything from smudged, vibrant pigments to fine, reflective glitter particles, adding a layer of deliberate, human imperfection to the shots. With casting by Edward Kim and featuring model Erika Barletta, the series successfully avoids the clinical polish of traditional beauty campaigns. Instead, the imagery opts for a raw and intimate feel, underscored by the inclusion of natural skin texture and a pronounced film-like grain structure. Whether captured through soft natural light or precise studio strobe, the project emphasizes shape and form with an almost forensic intensity. By utilizing macro perspectives and analogue film techniques, Apply Yourself transforms the face into a landscape of texture, ultimately celebrating the nuanced, unvarnished beauty of its subjects through a sophisticated and highly curated lens.

Editorial, Vertical