I've been doing photography makeup since 1982. Yep, that long. It's been a hard career of ups and downs and disappointments and in my opinion, only somewhat success. Of trying to convince people to give you a chance and a lot of the time, finding out that they really don't care. I think this business is a lot like high school. Of trying really hard to get in with the in crowd and never quite making it. This industry is a lot like that.
I've worked long and hard at my craft, at trying to be the most professional, most perfect makeup artist (no retouching needed here folks!) that I know. I try hard to make everyone else look good, not just the model, but to make the entire image look like a piece of art. To me, art is where everything is of importance, and everything compliments everything else. If one thing is off, it's no longer art, it's just another image. And all this effort, dragging my portfolio around town, meeting editors, photographers, and clients for all these years, have all got to be worth it in the end. I'm trying to make it in this business, but not just as another makeup artist. My goal, is to be one of the top 10 editorial makeup artists in the country. The one everyone goes to for beauty and glamour. Another Pat McGrath, Keyvin Aucoin. I can dream can't I?
Have you ever been at the point in your career, where you think all your hard work is for a reason, but you just haven't hit it yet? All work and no play have got to get me somewhere, right? And then one day, it just does. This moment in time. A flash. An insight. Where opportunity and hard work meet. Today was that day.
I think I'm at my somewhere.
Friday, I'm shooting for the Chinese edition of Harper's Bazaar, a 6 page beauty editorial, which will come out in September, of my top picks for makeup looks for fall. I wonder if the Chinese edition means anything less, and everyone tells me, no. It's Harper's Bazaar!!
Today was my meeting with the creative team and photographer for our shoot this Friday. And the funny part is, I wasn't even nervous. Because I knew, this was it. This is what I've been working for. This is my 20 year old dream starting to come true.
It used to be that magazines were the cutting edge of looks and trends, and no one really saw the collections, done behind closed doors, but the runway's king now and I'm copying what they're doing. But as the makeup expert, it's with my spin on it, how to take the bazaar runway makeup and make it wearable. I spent this weekend researching all the collections, of what I thought were the best and prettiest looks, and sadly, there's not much. With dull, dead colors being everywhere in makeup (what are you guys thinking?) I bring it down to the best 8 looks. I went through all the collections. Looked at colors, features, balance, and 6 hours later, drew out in my childlike drawing of faces (I'm sure Danielle and Zoe would laugh at my pathetic attempts at drawing), my interpretations of the looks. And off I went to my meeting.
I met , S., amazing hair stylist, who by the way, is shooting British Vogue this weekend, and H., photographer, who tells me that my work has inspired her. Huh? Who, me? Impressed with my little silly drawings, we went through the looks and narrowed down eight to six. Then we went online and went through models that were submitted by the agencies Major, Elite. IMG and Ford and we picked two girls that we thought represented the features and the looks we wanted to interpret. No baby doll faces here, strong bone structure is in with big eyes and big lips.
We shoot Friday and I'm not even worried. Why?
I think my dream is finally becoming a reality.
Oh, and if I'm dreaming? Don't wake me up yet, ok?
