00:00I'm Lucy Fink. I'm a video producer at Refinery29, but every so often I like to
00:04try other people's jobs. Today I'm working with makeup artist Stephanie
00:08Paige Vivian to see if I have what it takes to be a makeup artist on set at
00:12Refinery29. This is Lucy for Hire.
00:19Stephanie is a New York City based makeup artist who's worked with Refinery29 a
00:23bunch of times in the past. I do makeup as a freelancer but I also work for a
00:28subcontracting company where I go to people's houses and put makeup on them.
00:32But her path to success was a little bit different from many makeup artists today.
00:37I personally didn't go to beauty school. I'm already 85k in debt from college so I
00:42can't afford to do that but if you have the means to I would absolutely
00:46recommend it. I learned how to do makeup solely through trial and error.
00:51Stephanie began with a focus in special effects and fantasy makeup but she's now
00:56expanded to editorial, fashion, and even bridal makeup.
00:59Okay money great I love being broke all the time. Income wise it varies so it can be as
01:07low as like 20k a year to five million a year you know it depends on where you're
01:15at. I think sometimes the misconception is that if you become a makeup artist
01:19you're immediately gonna make a lot of money but that's not always the truth and
01:23sometimes you're waiting on the money that you're gonna get for weeks months at a time.
01:28So once I knew the dirty details my first challenge was to set up.
01:33Setting up is kind of assessing what you're gonna need and taking out what's
01:38necessary. What is your least favorite thing about your job? Can I grab it and
01:43show you? Yes. Oh god. Here she comes. This. I mean I love her. She's great. She makes me
01:52all my money but she weighs in total like both of these bags probably about 60 pounds.
01:57Stephanie's kit is no joke. Man this is heavy. As a makeup artist when it comes to
02:04building your kit you want to make sure you're considering three things. Quality,
02:09sanitation, and multi-function. I don't even know where to start. Stephanie is a
02:14little bit protective over her kit. Lucy's gonna set up her kit, my kit, and it's gonna
02:19give me agita. She's gonna set up a clean easy to find everything workspace.
02:24Let's see what you got in here. Foundation on foundation on concealer on everything.
02:28Highlighters, powder, bronzers, eyeshadow, some glitter, most of the hygiene and skin
02:35prep. Hygiene? Mm-hmm. And just when I thought I had seen everything I realized she had
02:41even more. This is the size of a small child. Every single makeup product that exists you
02:47have to have it. You don't have to bring it to every shoot but you have to have it
02:51and you have to have it for everybody's skin. Every skin tone, every skin type,
02:56everything. So step one out of everything you better not be sitting down.
03:01Gotta get up. Yeah. I'm up on my feet. I'm ready to move. Girl. So how do you know where
03:08everything goes? I just know. Alright bring in the model. Your second challenge is to
03:14prep the skin. Our model Katarina was at Refinery29 for an editorial shoot. She
03:21came in completely makeup free and my first step before touching her was
03:25sanitizing my hands. Something that should be done regularly as you go
03:29through the process of applying makeup. I began by checking the model for any
03:33dryness. A very good question that I started incorporating is, is it okay if I
03:38touch you? Oh, before I pet you. Is it okay if I touch you? Yeah. Some people do not like
03:45to be touched. Asking if she had any allergies. I am allergic to avocados. Do you have to
03:52check every ingredient in everything? Okay. So we won't hurt you. Okay. And finally,
03:59moisturizing her skin. Question, do you moisturize your face with one finger? You
04:03want me to just get in there? You can just get in there, yeah. I have to say, this feels
04:07very unnatural. Yes. One thing I hadn't anticipated was how awkward it felt to get
04:13fully in someone else's personal space and touch their skin. Next, we match the
04:18model's foundation and concealer. And keep in mind, just because it looks away in a
04:23tube, doesn't mean it looks the same way outside of the tube. How do you feel? I
04:27think that looks beautiful. Your third challenge? Apply the makeup. One of my
04:32favorite things about my job is all of the people that I get to meet and all the
04:35people I get to work with. As Stephanie told me, the makeup artist is rarely the
04:39one deciding what makeup to put on the model. In this case, the photographer was
04:44our creative director, and she had given us an inspiration image ahead of time.
04:48Look at her. I'm looking at her. She's glowing. And then it was the moment of truth.
04:53Because we're working with glitter today, I do want to start on the eye. I added
04:56primer. That's not eye primer. Okay. You don't have to be so incredibly gentle. I mean,
05:02you want to be gentle, but you don't need to, like, not touch her. We'll do a basic eye
05:06contour, which I think will be easy for you to grasp. My best practice advice here
05:10is, like, you can always add more, but you can't take away. Start here, blend inwards.
05:15If you need more color, pick up more color. Does it feel incredibly unnatural to you?
05:19Yep. Wow. Yeah, I love it. Pack the products a little bit on the outer corner, and that same
05:27motion of pulling just inward, and just buff out that edge. All you have to do left is a lid
05:33color.
05:34Just the inside? Mm-hmm. I also maybe wouldn't rest my whole fist on her forehead. Good to know.
05:39Okay, so next is the liner. Don't be afraid of it, because it will know. When you do a wing,
05:46go from that tip and pull inward. Open. Beautiful. Next is glitter. Ooh, fun. Stephanie was great at
05:57guiding me through the process and teaching me various techniques along the way. Pop right in
06:01here. Please don't pump my mascara. Just one pop? Well, the reason when you pump mascara, you...
06:07Please don't. You're pumping air into the mascara. It dries out quicker, so you just need to do one scoop.
06:12But she also let me make my own decisions at times. She has such long lashes that I don't even
06:16know if
06:17fake lashes are necessary. What do you think? Cool. That's your call. Ooh, it looks like she has false lashes
06:22on,
06:22actually. It does? Yeah. And then I applied makeup to her face. Foundation. You want to focus it where
06:29you feel like she needs the coverage. Don't be afraid of her face. And that's why blending is bae.
06:34Now put your head down and look up. So here's where we want to get that little tiny bit of
06:39correction.
06:39And then I applied contour, bronzer, blush, and highlighter. I'm learning a lot of techniques that
06:44I will be implementing on my own face. And for her lips, I lined and filled them in with a
06:48red liner
06:49and applied red glitter on top. Oh my god, you're like Dorothy. Dorothy's shoes right on your mouth.
06:55This challenge, above all, revealed just how clumsy I am. What did you do?
07:02I'm gonna go in really... Oop. I was dropping things left and right. A big no-no in this industry.
07:10I am a mess. This is a hard job. It also took me a little while to realize that it's
07:15okay to ask the
07:16model to tilt or move her head. Okay, let me have you turn towards me. After I had gotten the
07:21hang of
07:21it though, I was starting to feel a lot more comfortable. This looks really good. I'm not just
07:27saying it because I did it. And once the makeup application was complete, we quick styled the
07:31model's hair for a photo shoot. We're shooting. Let's go. It's happening. Your final challenge is the
07:37shoot. So it's just about being very vigilant and at the ready to go in whenever you need to fix
07:43something. Our photographer Maya met us in the studio and the photo shoot began. Maya's a photographer
07:49that I've worked with many times in the past, but I'm used to being the one in the photos. When
07:55you're
07:55behind the scenes as the makeup artist and the hairstylist all in one, your job is to remain
08:00fully attentive and keep an eye on the model's full look. As the photographer is shooting, if there's a
08:06hair out of place or any fallout from the makeup, you need to fly in and fix it. Flying in.
08:12She's great. Flying out.
08:14I even accidentally called hold and jumped on the set before realizing that only the photographer
08:20can call hold. Hold. Hold. You don't get to call hold. Oops. Flying out.
08:28Look how good she looks. Oh yeah. She's a natural. She is. I didn't realize how fast paced this set
08:36would
08:36feel. You don't have the time to switch brushes. I didn't realize just how much goes into being a makeup
08:41artist. And not just the skills and knowledge you need to have, but also the energy needed to ensure
08:47your model feels comfortable and well taken care of. Love those.
08:56Stephanie's the makeup artist who's going to be doing my makeup on my wedding day. And now that I've
09:00gotten a taste of her job, I am absolutely blown away. Lucy did great. She listened to direction
09:06well. She was excited to learn new techniques. She's not a bad makeup artist at all except when
09:12she dropped every single one of my tools all day. But I think that Lucy has a lot of promise
09:17in makeup artistry, for sure. Let me know what jobs you want to see me try next time,
09:22and we'll see you then on Lucy for Hire.
09:24Hey YouTube, thanks for watching. Click here to watch another episode of Lucy for Hire,
09:28here to subscribe to Refinery29 on YouTube, and right here for my personal YouTube channel. Bye!
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