When I decided I wanted to pursue makeup artistry as a career, it was important to me to get professional training at a reputable makeup school.  I went to the Makeup Designory (MUD) in New York City where I studied Beauty Makeup.  Prior to attending, being a girl who always wore makeup (I started just by experimenting and using makeup on my own around age 14), I truly thought I knew a lot.  Mind you I had no experience applying makeup on other people and this was way before makeup tutorials were huge on YouTube.  I walked into makeup school as a true amateur.  As exciting as it was to learn this new craft, it was also incredibly overwhelming as there is much more to learning makeup artistry than meets the eye!

Blush Placement – For me, this was exceptionally an epic moment when I discovered the placement.  I think blush is one of the easiest and most effective makeup products every woman should own.  It gives so much life to the face and an instant attraction pick-me-up.  I do not think it is possible for someone to look unattractive with blush (unless the shade is not right or it is way overdone).

I had always applied my blush on the center apples of my cheeks.  My entire life leading up to makeup school, it felt natural and instinctive that is where blush is supposed to go.  Little did I realize, not only should blush be applied at the center of the cheeks, it should also be brushed upwards towards your temples!  I remember literally thinking to myself, “Wait, I thought that was an 80’s thing?”  Then I realized the purpose behind this.  When you look at a person’s profile, the blush should not just stop at the center of the cheeks and also applying the blush upwards slims the face along with accentuating the cheekbones.

Contouring and Highlighting – Before contouring kits existed and became as mainstream as it has now–thanks to celebrities like Kim Kardashian, the concept of contouring was not really a part of most people’s everyday makeup routine.

I had never contoured (let alone known about highighting) until I got to makeup school.  I find this to be a hard skill set to pick up as in the beginning, it can be difficult to know which shades are best to use to contour various skintones and finding the placement on each individual’s face takes a strong eye.  When I started makeup artistry, I used to study images in magazines in order to get a better visual understanding of contouring and highlighting.

Eye Makeup First – Most of my clients find this to be one of the most surprising things to learn as I begin to do their makeup.  Myself included, I use to always start out with my face makeup before applying my eye makeup.  I am not quite sure why but this always seemed like the systematic approach.  Breaking out of this habit on myself took some time but now as a general rule, I always apply eye makeup first.

The main reason behind this is that often times when applying eye shadows, there could be some fall out that collects underneath the eyes.  This would cause you to have to remove it and to most likely reapply the concealer under the eyes or any makeup on the face.  By completing eye makeup first, this problem is eliminated as you can quickly remove the fall out shadow and then go ahead to apply the face makeup without it getting messed up in any way.

Brow Shaping – Makeup speaking, it is a known fact that the eyebrows frame the face.  I really did not know much about brows other than how to pluck my own brows.  More specifically, I learned various ways to fill in the eyebrows and the way they should be shaped.  When I look back at photos of myself before I was a makeup artist, the first thing I notice is how thin my eyebrows were!  I was making them thinner with a tweezer but not filling them in to give them an arch.  They were completely shapeless and almost nonexistent.

False Eyelash Application – I had never attempted to wear false eyelashes before on my own, so learning how to apply them and also wearing them for the first time was an all around new experience.  I learned that applying them on other people was much easier than applying them on myself in the very beginning.  It took me time after I left makeup school to get good at applying them on myself.  Now it is actually much faster for me to apply a pair of false lashes than to coat my lashes with mascara!