Color Theory

Follow this Column

Hello! I am thrilled to introduce my YouBeauty column, Color Theory, where I will dish about makeup, share my favorite tips, and help you find the best makeup look for you.

Courtesy of Fiona Stiles

I have loved makeup for as long as I can remember. Many childhood memories may be foggy, but I remember the sheen and sparkle of an insanely metallic silver eye shadow my best friend in 3^rd grade had, just as clearly as I remember the perfect yellow nail polish I had around the same time. The color was called “Maize.”

Can I tell you the 20^th president of the United States? No. But can I tell you the name of a nail polish I had 30 years ago? You bet.

It amuses me that these products are so indelibly seared into my memory, and it should have made sense to friends and family that makeup would end up being my path. I swear I could categorize all of my favorite pieces of makeup from grade school through high school, then through college and my early adult years maneuvering Manhattan. Makeup has always been there for me, even when I didn’t know that it could (or would) be a career.

Thinkstock

I actually had no idea you could make a living doing makeup. It just never dawned on me that you could actually support yourself by doing something so amazing and fun. My focus in high school was art (drawing and photography) but something sensible in me said to focus on photography so that maybe I could actually make a living. I went to the Rhode Island School of Design and studied photography, and while I was in school I would do makeup for friends’ films or fashion projects, but I never really gave it much thought.

After moving to New York after college I decided that makeup was what I wanted to do. There was no Internet, and hair and makeup agencies weren't listed in the phone book so it took a little ingenuity. I would go through magazines, read credits, and then go through the phone book and call makeup artists to see if they needed an assistant. It took patience, perseverance and guts, but those are all great qualities for this industry, and it all worked out. After things took off and I realized that I could support myself by making up faces, I never, ever looked back.

For me, being a makeup artist is incredibly satisfying. I have traveled the world, met the most fascinating people (Madonna and Nelson Mandela to name two very different examples!) and seen wonderful things. I love being around new people every day, and even though on the tough days I wish I could be a clerk somewhere filing papers, minding my own business, the feeling always passes when I touch a new product, work on a new face, meet a new inspiring person, or travel somewhere I’ve never been before.