The Makeup Artists Creed: Always Be Prepared

It can be said that one of the major benefits of working as a makeup artist is the opportunity to meet and work with new people. Often, each new day brings a completely new set of faces, and any artist worth their weight in finishing powder should be prepared for any eventuality.

This isn’t always the case and, unfortunately, one fed-up model is calling out the industry as a whole.

South Sudanese model Nykhor Paul has walked runways and graced the covers of magazines since 2008, but she recently took to Instagram to express her frustration with her perceived racism in the industry, and artists being ill-prepared to work with darker skin tones.

“Why do I have to bring my own makeup to a professional show when all the other white girls don’t have to do anything but show up WTF,” Paul writes.

Paul points out that most major brands create shades for skin tones like hers, and doesn’t understand why makeup artists don’t have them in their kits.

“A good makeup artist would come prepared and do their research before coming to work because often time you know what to expect especially at a show! Stop apologizing it’s insulting and disrespectful to me and my race it doesn’t help, seriously!”

Hey, Nykhor, we feel you! Faces come in every shade, and just like Boy and Girl Scouts, a makeup artist should always be prepared, lest they not be invited back! Of course, no one expects your kit to be stocked with colours to fit every skin tone at all times (you’d be lugging around a trunk in that case), at the very least do your research a few days before your due on set, and don’t be afraid to ask who you’ll be working with.

Choose to fill your makeup case with products that do double duty, like skin-matching formulas or pigments that can be layered for different effect. When it comes to foundations and concealers, it’s a good idea to have at least five main colours – from lightest to darkest – as part of your core kit so you can mix them as needed.

Whether you’re working on a blushing bride or the walking dead, the job of a makeup artist is to transform faces and make people feel beautiful (or frightening, in the case of the zombies). Makeup is for everyone, your kit should be too.