No two clients are the same.

I asked Erin to bring her entire collection— skincare, makeup, brushes, and tools— to my studio. First, we talked about what she needed from her makeup: an easy, 15-minute application process for work, the ability to play and try different looks for special occasions, and a more consistent selection of products she could rely on and repurchase in the future. We looked at everything she already owned and determined that many of her products were excellent, she had just purchased them in the wrong shades, she was unfamiliar with the proper techniques to apply them, and she didn’t have the right tools to accomplish the look she was going for.

For Erin, we could use her existing collection (with the support of a few brushes and products from my personal collection) to work through her makeup routine step by step, modify application techniques in order to serve her unique features, and determine how the same suite of well-selected products could be used to accomplish a wide variety of looks without making any unnecessary additional purchases. We took careful notes and set up a camera to record a few steps she felt she would need help recalling visually.

A week later, I sent her an application guide with step-by-step instructions, visual aids, and reference materials for some of the major concepts we discussed— all using the exact products she already owned. I also gave her a few celebrity references and reliable influencers to follow based on her features and personal style. I included a shopping list with all of the brushes we used during our in-person lesson, a “complete collection” guide where I identified which of her existing products worked perfectly, which products needed to be repurchased in another shade (shade included), and which application steps would benefit from buying something new (recommendations included). As a bonus, she told me a story about losing her makeup bag during a flight, so I supplemented her list with an “emergency drug store selections guide” so she would be able to purchase a functional collection at a lower price.

Erin’s daily makeup routine stayed under 15 minutes, but she felt much happier with the end result, and her newfound knowledge about the best way to approach her features unlocked her creative spirit for special events. We arrived at the best possible outcome: confidence in the collection, money-saving strategies for investing in it wisely, a reliable daily routine, and a sense of fun and enjoyment around wearing makeup. 

Sarah came to me with a unique situation. She was getting married on an island that was only accessible by boat, and she didn’t have room in her budget to provide housing for a makeup artist to join the voyage. Sarah would be doing her own bridal makeup, but she didn’t have much product in her existing collection, and her knowledge of makeup application was limited.

To help her, it was a matter of making exactly the right purchases, developing a step-by-step process using the exact makeup she would have on her big day, providing reference materials for her to practice the look on her own, and (ideally) find practical ways to incorporate her new products into a daily routine so her purchases wouldn’t go to waste. We knew that the best way to approach was to gather the collection right away and work with the products directly in order to make the best use of our time. So, we set up a video call, talked about her vision, looked at her beautiful dress and aesthetic choices for the wedding, and took a quick peek at her existing collection. Sarah didn’t often wear makeup, but she was very open to exploring, and she wanted her bridal look to be special. We discussed her budget, and I got to work researching the collection that would best meet her needs as well as developing visual aids for the application styles I felt would best suit her.

We set up her in-person lesson by starting at Sephora, stopping in to CVS, then returning to the studio to work together on her makeup look with everything we bought. To give her a clear an uncomplicated sense of what to do, we worked step by step— first with a demonstration from me on the right side of her face (recorded on video), followed by an opportunity for her to try on her own on the left side of her face. She was a natural! Not only did she pick up the techniques quickly and easily, she was extremely happy with the end result.

In the following weeks, I sent her all of the reference materials necessary to support her practice, provided instructions on how to use her products differently for day-to-day use, and made myself available for questions when she sat down to practice the look. Thankfully, everything we spoke about clicked. Her practice sessions were incredibly successful, she made excellent use of her new collection in multiple settings, and she sat down on her wedding day feeling calm, confident, and beautiful. 

Michael is an aesthetically adventurous dresser and stylist with a job in the fashion industry. For him, makeup provides an opportunity to be daring, expressive, and creative. While he openly embraces the world of makeup, his personal taste lives less in the beauty space, and more in the artistic/editorial realm. When he reached out to me, he wanted to know which application styles would best serve his features, but favored a sense of discovery and exploration in the process over the visualization and execution of a specific result. The thing that drew him to makeup was the product itself: he loved textures, multi-chrome finishes, interesting color stories, and opportunities to embellish and understand the ways his products interacted with each other.

He arrived to our in-person lesson with a small collection of products he felt inspired by, and he wanted to learn about both the cutting-edge, high-end releases hitting the market and the drugstore products he might use to practice his application techniques at a lower price. For Michael, we focused more on understanding his unique features than on finding a routine. We knew he loved the freedom to be bold, but by drawing his attention to the nature of his unique features, his designs could have greater impact, include more detail, and work more harmoniously.

While we touched on the drugstore products that could also serve more exciting, editorial looks, we realized that a complete collection would need to include two things: unique materials with aesthetic “wow factor”, and a small number of functional, standard items to balance the results and support their staying power. For Michael, it was worth it to invest in statement pieces that inspired him, so we left room in his budget for creatively-driven investments, then looked to the drugstore for practical items like eyeshadow primer, concealer, setting powder, setting spray, eyeliner, mascara, and brushes.

For Michael, it was also important to talk about shopping as its own skill. Because he was willing to invest in high-end makeup, we developed a strategy for evaluating whether or not a product was worth the price. By calling-upon our map of his features, he could make a distinction between a product that attracted his eye on its own and a product that would actually wear well and achieve the desired effect when he applied it. With a thorough understanding of layering and mixing, he could also determine whether or not he already had what he needed to accomplish a similar result, or if he had stumbled upon something new and wonderful to add to his collection.

I followed up with references and written materials after our lesson, but our relationship has continued through the mutual love and sharing of our most exciting product discoveries. 

Devin came to our lesson with some complicated, but completely understandable feelings about makeup. She was a successful, young Assistant Director for major film and television projects, which made for a very demanding schedule and very little time to devote to herself. She began by saying, “I’m sick of people at work telling me I look tired”, and went on to express her frustration that, despite her important contributions and the countless number of hours she spent on her feet, the subject of her appearance came up regularly and carried a certain level of importance in her environment. While she knew that her makeup did not matter to the quality of the work she was doing, she cared about her career, and she was ready to consider addressing the steps she might take to project a polished, “put-together” image at work.

After some more discussion, she revealed another factor that contributed to her difficult relationship with makeup— there were times where she liked the idea of wearing it and trying something new, and it went against her feelings about wanting to be valued for her work and not her appearance. Devin’s predicament is incredibly common. There are many reasons why makeup can bring about feelings of confusion and resentment in the wearer, and when that is the case, our goal is to find a collection that allows the wearer to choose their own relationship with their process. For Devin, that meant adhering to a budget, and finding a brush-free, zero-excess collection that fit into a small bag.

During our lesson, we explored a few multi-use options, and favored the use of low-cost, individual products over palettes and powders. After landing on the specific items she felt comfortable wearing and applying, we talked about some of the looks she liked for the times she felt open to doing something a little different. We discovered that eyeshadow sticks were the perfect solution: brush free, compact, convenient, and soft. I sent her a specific, concise shopping list of essentials (each under 10 dollars), clear step-by-step instructions for use, a few additional looks to try without making any additional purchases, and a separate list of budget-friendly options for when she felt ready to try something new— in her own time, and separate from the essentials.

After a few weeks, Devin reached out to share that she had become much more comfortable with her application process and the extremely low impact it had on her schedule. She had even gone out and purchased everything from her alternates list and was starting to incorporate them into her daily routine! By empowering Devin to make her own decisions about her makeup and the level of energy she was willing to commit to it, she was able to take ownership over the relationship and discover a pathway to enjoyment.