A couple of years ago while I was working as a beauty therapist I started to think about expanding my skills and studying the art of makeup. At the time I was doing your run of the mill beauty therapy like waxing, facials and such, until a friend of mine asked me to do makeup for her wedding. She had assumed that I knew about makeup application because of my profession but strangely I’d never ventured into that type of work. So I decided to take a diploma of makeup in Melbourne.
Since completing the make up course I’ve never looked back. In particular I’ve been really keen on applying more lavish and ornate types of makeup, like what you see in films and video clips. I take a lot of inspiration from what I see at the cinemas and on MTV. One of my favourite stars is the pop singer Bjork who always looks amazing. She actually gets high profile artists and designer to collaborate on her whole look. She does amazing things with colour and texture and she also has an interesting face to work with.
If you’re thinking about doing a makeup course, Melbourne has some really good ones, but one thing they can’t give you is personal motivation. This for me came from watching stars on TV. Another inspiration has been Lady Gaga because her look is wacky and unique. Again, like Bjork, she’s very arty and has a team of professional artists to help her get a really creative look.Her face isn’t very pretty but the stuff that they do with makeup really adds to her appearance. I’ve also taken ideas from stars such as Bowie and even the cross dresser Divine. They do some interesting things with her makeup in John Waters’ films. I highly recommend looking to the stars for inspiration.