1. How old were you when you started wearing makeup?
2 years old! I used to sneak into my Grandmother's and Mother's make up drawers and play around with their make up. I also used to get into a lot of trouble for cutting my own hair. Needless to say, my make up skills were a lot better than my hair cutting skills!
I started wearing make up for school around 6th grade, then I couldn't be bothered with make up too much in high school b/c I was too sleep-deprived from all the activities I did each day. I only wore make up for dance performances and figure skating competitions in high school.
2. How did you get into makeup?
I got into doing make up because I hated people touching my face. I used to re-do the make up that my mother did on my face for dance recitals when I was a child b/c I didn't like the way it looked. When I got older, I started learning theater make up and signed up to be on crew so I wouldn't have to sit in anyone's chair! lol.
3. What are some of your favorite brands?
Stila, Make Up Forever, NARS, Fresh, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, Origins, and Body Shop
4. What does makeup mean to you?
Make up is a wonderful way to enhance natural beauty. It is also fun to mix it up and try a new look b/c at the end of the day, you can wash it off!
5. If you could only wear 4 products on your face what would they be?
OCC Tinted Moisturizer, Stila's Cherry Crush lip/cheek stain, Alison Raffaele's Transparent Finish to go, Shu Uemura mascara
6. What is your favorite thing about makeup?
The ability to lift a mood, look and feel fabulous, and the confidence it brings.
7. What do you think about drugstore makeup vs high end makeup?
I'm a make up snob/junkie/hoarder - I love good quality products so tend to stick with products I've tested on myself and that it works well. I'm also transitioning my make up to also be cruelty-free b/c bunnies don't deserve to be mistreated and tortured for the sake of cosmetics. There are so many products that humans are willing to try and test out if it works.
8. What is one tip of advice you can give to a beginner?
Hone in on the skills you are good at and focus your energy on that. You can't do everything.
I'm not an FX make up artist, nor a body painter, or do fantasy type make up but have tried all those things out. I'm just not good at it and there are so many more talented artists who can do that kind of work. My best skills is in beauty make up and airbrush make up applications. I like continuing to expand my skills so I practice a lot and have done some pretty interesting transformations during Halloween for clients and friends.
9. What is one makeup trend you never understood?
Eyelid taping. This is predominant in Asia, I had to tape an Asian brides lids a few times because they wanted a "double lid" effect. This changes the way the eyes look and I never understood the phenomenon of looking completely like a different person when this trend has been done as well as using make up to transform the entire face especially when it comes to weddings. Its just weird to me. I understand that you need to transform the entire face for a theatrical production or a film/tv show and embrace the joy that make up can do that but for an everyday look or a wedding?!?!?! Thats just living behind a mask.
10. What do you think about the beauty community on YouTube?
Some of the videos make me cringe but its like watching reality tv shows, you just can't help but watch it. This video is really cute though....
