Pushing buttons

I was part of the team that did makeup for a Schwarzkopf hair show. Francois Nel was the key makeup artist and would give us the brief for each look and then demo the look on a model. Call time was 5-frikken-am, in Midrand. The night before, Francois had insisted I be at an event he was part of so we both only had about an hour and a half of sleep. We were tired. We were cranky. Where was the damn coffee? We were both irritable. And then I got past the irritable phase and got to the overtired, stupid phase.

Francois: Okay guys this look is very natural, I want you to lightly emphasise the facial hair, I don't want it very prominent, on stage it must just look like 5 o'clock shadow

Remember I was in the overtired,stupid phase. I completed my look and took the model for inspection.

Me: *snicker snicker* Francois is this okay?

One day that man is going to murder me.

Me Me Me!

So I realise I should have started the blog with this post but oh well.

No I didnt grow up wanting to be a makeup artist. I didnt know I was interested in doing makeup until the age of 24 (okay 28 but who's counting and besides Linda Mason also only started at 28 and she's super famous now... erm, okay so she's super famous to some makeup artists not super famous like Brangelina).

So how did I become a makeup artist? I had a lipgloss addiction, a Dior lipgloss addiction, a very expensive lipgloss addiction, and I was bored. My real job was managing a model marketing agency, it just seemed like a good idea to do something creative that would also be useful for events and photoshoots I was booking models for. So I chose makeup artistry.

I originally wanted to sign up for an intensive week long course but somehow got convinced to part with 3 times more money and study for 6 months instead..... good thing they were dealing classes not drugs.

Fast forward two years later and I have a pretty darn good portfolio and a fab website www.stavmua.com (yours truly did most of the work creating that website, just the logo and background aren't my work...they are Johann Marx' work). I have worked with many photographers and models, I have done tons of work for free, I have done a fair amount of paid work, I have received glowing references and yet some days I wake up and honestly think I know nothing about makeup :-S

I have been through a I-hate-girl-makeup phase. It was at the time when we were doing a lot of boy makeup shoots and girl makeup just seemed sooooo boring (yes working with gorgeous boys with gorgeous bodies was far more captivating than doing just another natural look on a pretty poppie). Very few photographers are willing to shoot boys so I'm back to doing girl makeup and actually enjoying it *makes a note that Johann owes her a lot of boy shoots*

I am currently going through a am-i-good-enough-phase. Sure my portfolio is great but is it because my work is great or because I have worked with great togs and models?


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