My Story
My Mission is to provide a quality makeup application and experience to my clients.
BACK STORY
My love for makeup started with a bad eyebrow job.Growing up, I remember begging my mom to get my eyebrows done. This was because at a early age, I recognized how the shape of someone’s eyebrows can dramatically change the appearance of their face.
When I was 16 my mom finally gave in after years of telling me to wait and allowed me to finally get my brows waxed.
I remember the feeling of excitement as the woman who was doing my brows applied the hot wax on my skin. I pictured how my eyebrows would come out and how my face would look after. When the woman was done, I looked in the mirror to find that my eyebrows came out really nice, however, I couldn’t help but notice that the skin around my eyebrows was significantly lighter than the rest of my face. I couldn’t believe that id been begging my mom for years to get my eyebrows done and when finally I did, I didn’t even like them! So I didn’t say anything, I forced a smile to hide my dissatisfaction from my mom. I knew this was due to the glue from the wax, so although it wasn’t what I expected, my eyebrow lady was not to blame, no one was. Little did I know that would take 2 weeks to fully fade away.
When I home that night I stared at the freshly waxed skin that was two shades lighter than the rest of my face. I remember being extremely nervous to go to school the next day. The following day, in my 2nd class, I remember a classmate of mines asking me if it hurt when I got my eyebrows done because it looked like it was painful. I knew they were referring to my very noticeable discoloration around my eyebrows and the rest of my face.
A couple of other comments from peers were “jokingly” made in regards to my eyebrows that day too. I really don’t remember exactly what specific comments were made at the time, but that day was enough to get me to run to Sephora (Makeup Store) around the corner from my school. This was one of the many privileges attending high school down the block from Time Square.
I rushed inside the store hoping to find someone who could fix my problem. As I walked in, I instantly noticed how bright lights were. I remember the thought of never seeing a store so colorful and full of creativity. Every employee that worked there was dressed in all black and everyone of them had on their own unique vibrant makeup looks. The smell of expensive perfume lingered store around the too. “I really like this place” was the recurring thought that played in my mind as I looked around at all of the different makeup and brands.
A woman who was a employee smiled asked me if I needed help. She had on a bright red lipstick, long curly lashes, and flawless brown skin with a glow on her cheeks. I explained my eyebrow “crisis” and she instantly recommend a concealer in hopes to even out the discoloration in my face. She sat me down and started applying the concealer around my eyebrows. When she was done, I’ll need to be honest and say that although the concealer helped, it didn’t change the overall appearance of my face too much but I really didn’t care. She made me feel special and important that day and for some reason, that was worth more than that concealer could ever give me. She sent me home with a sample of the same concealer she used on me. This was huge to me because at the time I wasn’t able to afford $35 dollars for concealer or 40$ for a foundation bottle. It seemed like so much money for a little product and in many ways, makeup products today is still a pricy thing for the everyday person. The feeling of excitement and curiosity walking in Sephora for the first time, stayed with me. After that day, I went to Sephora everyday after school, played in all of their free sample makeup from multiple makeup and skin care brands. I continued to take home free samples after I realized that anything liquid or cream could be sampled. This included lipstick, primers, foundation, liquid eye shadow and more. I would watch countless hours of tutorials and try them out on myself. Since then, my love for makeup had grown tremendously. I started doing eyebrows for my friends to wearing bright colored eye shadow and lipsticks to school. I did the makeup for my high school fashion and dance shows. Now id be lying if I said I saw this as a career graduating high school. After graduating I had a job I didn’t really like and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.
That summer, I saw a good friend of mines post online about her needing assistance as a makeup artist for a fashion show. Only having 7 or 8 brushes, a couple of eyeshadow pallets and tester foundations from Sephora, I asked her to join her and she agreed. Since then, I fully embraced myself in my artistry, craft and business. Now I have over 4 years of artistry experience.
WHAT IVE DONE
My work has been featured in Vogue, Culture Icon Magazine and more. I have worked as makeup artist for NYFW, music videos and film productions and gained personal training from brands like Bare Minerals, Too faced, and Urban Decay. I was key makeup artist for a campaign shoot with Footlocker. Ive also done campaign work with many other growing indie brands. I’ve worked with celebrity artist like Kali apart of Atlantic Records and hip hop artist Donmoniqe for Rolling Loud. Ive worked on multiple professional sets where I got to use my teamwork and leadership skills to work with other talented photographers, videographers, stylist, hairstylist, set crew and more. I’ve worked on multiple beauty editorial shoots and personal beauty looks for my clients. I am comfortable working in fast paced environments, just last year I was apart of a makeup show with 30 plus models who needed their makeup done. Me and 2 other makeup artist were able to have everyone ready for show time in 5 hours.
SPECIAL EFFECTS MAKEUP (SFX)
My love for SFX makeup stared 2 years into my makeup career on Halloween. When COVID 19 hit the world, everyone was at a pause. This was a time for me to really focusing on creating and I wanted to step out of my comfort zone. That Halloween I wanted to try and make a fake scar out of latex and fake blood. I did what many of us did during the pandemic, I shopped on Amazon. I did countless hours of research about products, application and removal and ordered more and more products as the months went by. I started to experiment with bald caps, body paint, prosthetics and anything that had to do with SFX makeup that I could get my hands on. What started out as a Halloween costume and extra time during COVID has grown into a genuine passion for Special Effects Makeup. Since then, Ive developed my craft, knowledge and technique for this particular style of makeup. Ive done SFX makeup for short films, videos shoots, photo shoots, independent projects and Halloween makeup. My passion for transforming people and enhancing features translated into both styles of my makeup.
My skills include,
- Prosthetic Application for Cuts, Scars and Bullet wounds
-Face Paint
-Facil Hair Application
-Character Prosthetic Application
-Old Age
-Blad Cap Application
THE WHY
What drives me is in the feeling of making people feel good about themselves which I believe helps them be great at what ever they set out to do. It is more than just applying makeup for me, its about the confidence someone feels after leaving my chair. My phrase I often tell my clients is Look Good, Feel Good, Be Great. Having done makeup for over 300 people of all different ages, backgrounds, skin type, gender and location, I have learned that everyone wants to feel confident and be seen. If I can play just a small part in making that happen then I have done my job.
Staying true to my business principles is also something I hold a high value to. From always making sure my products and brushes are cleaned and sanitized, to treating every client with the same amount of respect and maintaining professionalism. This is just some of the things that I do not change regardless of the client or environment. I believe that a makeup artist and a clients relationship is so important because some of the time, makeup artist need to do makeup in very intimate settings with their clients and are both in each others physical personal space. My business structure was based on the principle that just like any good relationship, my relationship with with my clients needs to be valued, respected and nurtured in order for it to grow and be sustainable. This is why having these key principles provide a better experience and relationship for both my client and myself.
Thank for reading about my story. Stay updated and follow me by clicking the Instagram icon on the top left of your screen.
