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| L.A Superstar in 2003 |
My first memory of makeup is of when i was a young girl watching my mother carefully applying her cherry red Chanel lipstick to her lips before a party. I was mesmerised by my mothers transformation. With a touch of foundation, a hint of blush and that glamorous red lipstick, my mother looked like a 1950's movie star. I gazed at my Italian born mother and longed for the day i could wear that same lipstick and feel transformed. My father walked into the room at that moment and took a picture of my mum all dressed up.That memory i have is now 28 years old, my makeup artist career is only 6 months old. You might ask what i have been doing all this time if makeup was my passion throughout my life, why have i waited so long to begin? Well, its an easy question to answer. I was chasing the yellow brick road to stardom. Ok, maybe not stardom, but i got pretty close. I have always been a singer and when i left highschool i went straight into performing arts college in Sydney, then sang in bands then a music duo called L.A Superstar and then through L.A Superstar i became a published songwriter signed with Shock.
Music developed into my passion for a while and that memory of my mother with her cherry red lipstick kind of faded into the background while i chased my musical dream. I got a big break when a song i co-wrote with my best friend was signed by Shock Records and recorded by The Saddle Club for their Hello World Best Of CD. I will never forget the exhilaration i felt upon hearing my song on the stereo recorded by such a well known act. I had achieved something amazing and i kind of thought i would be signed to a deal next. But after a while things fizzled out, The Saddle Club ended, my music duo broke up and i never got signed, so i moved to a new place and got a job doing the only other thing i was qualified to do and that was teaching singing. I loved that job for a long time. I have to admit it was often difficult when students left for other dreams but i still keep in touch with many of my former singing students and i am always blown away by how far they have come and how amazing their voices are.
In 2010 my passion for teaching wasn't what it used to be. I knew in my heart that my musical journey had ended and i needed to move on, start again. But what should i do? 6 months had gone by. Here i stood, no job, no music, no dream. I flipped through my beloved scrapbooks, feeling sad and sorry about things that had happened in the past and found that old photo my father had taken of my mum 28 years ago. There she was, cherry red lipstick, long dark hair, movie star glamour. The wonder and awe i had felt at that moment 28 years ago came back to me. I remembered i did have another dream. I was going to be ok, i was going to be a makeup artist. Don't worry i got plenty of serious discussions and advice about how i wouldn't make it and how it was going to be really hard to get jobs. My response was always "nothing is certain but i have to try".
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| My Mum and Me When i Was Little. |
Makeup has become my obsession, my addiction and my passion. A local theatre company has taken me on and i get to do the makeup design for their major productions. I am getting more and more makeup jobs for formals and girls nights out and more importantly I feel like i did when i was chasing my dreams of stardom all those years ago, excited, hopeful and full of inspiration.
People say that the beginning of something is always the most difficult, the first brush stroke is the hardest, thats what i've heard, but all i see is the beauty behind every brush stroke and the glamour of that cherry red lipstick with endless possibilities.
Stay gorgeous xoxoxo
