I am what is known as a self taught makeup artist. Wile I started doing makeup for others in 2012, I have no formal education in makeup artistry. The truth is, I did not teach myself a single thing.
My freshman year of undergrad, I did not integrate myself in my environment thoroughly and was miserable from trying to survive a major I had no business doing (a story for another time). Arriving to college with my MAC Skin Finisher and newly purchased Sephora all in one eyeshadow, blush, and lipgloss set, my makeup knowledge was limited. But, I loved it. Eager to learn more, I turned to the internet and found myself on Youtube. Hooked on there people who were mentioning bands and brushes I’d never heard of, at 18 I started soaking up everything.
Looking around today, makeup has advanced so much, trends have shifted, and it seems like even middle and his school student knew more now than I did when I was first learning.
It has been about 8-10 years since the beginning of our relationship. These days, I don’t hear the names of some of these OG’s enough. Being an ‘influencer’ wasn’t even a thing when we first started. Wishing them elevation, brand partnerships, and more coin. Meet the OG’s who taught me makeup.
My favorite Beauty YouTuber starting out was Kiesha aka MakeupD0ll. She is a fabulous brown skin girl who made glam accessible to me. As she grew in her artistry, I grew in mine. Much of the first brands I bought like BH Cosmetic, Sedona Lace (one of my favorite palettes ever), Wet n Wild, Kiesha all put me on to. When I realized bomb eyeshadow needed bomb eyebrows to frame, I turned to MakeupD0ll for guidance.
Destiny Godley is an artiste. Her flawless looks always motivated me to step my game up. Even though I loved a lot of color, Destiny taught me the art to choosing and matching colors. Her blend game has always been on point. Studying her, I felt her style was intentional, sophisticated, and effortless.
Lauren aka Queen of Blending was in a lane of her own. She lived up to her name. Eager to be bold and creative, she gave me so much life. Other than her undeniable talent, Lauren was always bold and unapologetic in her style. It gave me confidence to walk around campus blue eyeshadow and lipstick. You couldn’t tell me a thing. It is not easy to balance the amount of colors she uses and make it look blended cohesively. I practiced even more because of this amazing artist.
4. Wayne Goss
Wayne Goss is a boss. He has always been authoritative in the way he taught. I spoke earlier about the different trends that beauty community went through. Sometimes he just wasn’t always feeling it and spoke about that. He exposed me to minimalist, magazine, and airbrushed makeup. Wayne broke down concealers, undertones, color correctors while giving me confidence to do makeup on a spectrum of shades. He was thorough and straightforward.
Megz gave me beautiful girl next door vibes. Her infectious personality drew me in. Her tutorials showed the range of color chocolate girls could wear. She helped me get beyond my MAC Skinfinisher and into tinted moisturizers, foundations, etc. Because some of my other faves were trying to correct their skin, for a long time I didn’t see the benefit of using anything than my light powder. Like me, she was a girl who had relatively normal skin who loved makeup.
Jennie is was soft spoken and stylish from head to toe. She’s literally a walking look book. A lot of my other faves did hair reviews and tutorials, but Jennie actually made me consider it. She had this high light in the inner eye phase that I adopted for a long time. She is another glam star that indulged my love of makeup.
7. Nitraa B
Nitraa has always given sophisticated southern belle vibes. She’s really a joy to watch. She was not as bold as my other teachers, but her technique was flawless. I loved her eyebrows and changed my routine because of her. Outside of beauty she is the first true lifestyle YouTuber I was introduced to. The I was watching her, beauty was her main subject but she grew to home and how tons that really diversified her.
