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Are you a full-time makeup artist?
"I am a full-time freelance makeup artist. I'm also a designer, so I sometimes take design/illustration projects."
Where did you grow up, and how did you start doing makeup professionally?
"I grew up in a small town in Israel and went to school there. In high school, I majored in art and theatre. I started to play with makeup when I was a child. I loved to do makeup and 'photo shoots' as a kid, with my little sister as the model.
"As a teenager, I was really into acting. I went to a lot of acting classes, and my dream at the time was to become an actress. I participated in acting classes, and I did the makeup looks for the other actors in the shows we did. That was one of my first experiences with professional makeup.
I do have professional makeup training — I studied makeup artistry in a makeup school in Israel."
"I've been painting since I can remember, and my family and friends always encouraged me to do what I love. Makeup, for me, is art, just like painting on a canvas or on a piece of paper. After I finished makeup school, I studied graphic design for four years. After I graduated, I had a hard time choosing between makeup and design. So, in my makeup looks, I try to combine my love and passion for art, design, and makeup. It began when I started to push the limits between makeup and illustrations. I've tried to use makeup as something more than just a tool to make girls look pretty — as a way to express feelings, to tell a story."
"I believe that inspiration is everywhere. Usually, the ideas just pop into my head. I can be inspired by so many things...fairy tales, books, favorite foods, pretty flowers. Or, even things that I find interesting and challenging to turn into makeup, like Anne Frank, my grandmother's dementia, or manic depression. Sometimes, I get the idea out of nowhere in the middle of the day or before I fall asleep. In this case, I write it down and even draw a quick sketch of it so I won't forget. When it's a complicated idea, I draw a more detailed sketch before I paint it on my eye. Sometimes, I just improvise."
"I use a magnifying mirror so I can see everything very clearly and can be precise with all the tiny details. I use ordinary high-pigmented eyeshadows, loose pigments, eyeliners, Make Up For Ever Aqua Creams, and so on...most of the times I mix and play with textures (like mixing loose eyeshadow with water or gel, for example). I use makeup brushes for these looks, but I also buy many of my brushes at art supply stores. To make these miniature illustrations, I need the thinnest brushes, which makeup brands usually do not provide."
"It's hard for me to choose, because I put my heart into every each of them, but I think that my favorite is the one that was inspired by the quote from The Little Prince: "It is such a secret place, the land of tears," because it's a very self-expressive, surreal and personal idea. It was a way for me to deal with some feelings I was struggling with at the time that I created it."
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