Makeup by Christina G

Beautycon University: Lesson 03 🎓

There was a moment at Beautycon when I started connecting some dots.

Sir John. MAC OG.

Jackie Aina. MAC OG.

Glamzilla. MAC OG.

And me.

MAC OG. 🖤

There was a time when, if you wanted to become a makeup artist, MAC was the place you wanted to work.

And I don’t mean because it was a cool retail job.

You were expected to be an artist.

I still remember my interview. I went to the New England training facility with a model, was handed 12 random MAC products and told to create a look using what was in front of me.

That was the interview.

Once you were hired, the education continued. Basic training. Trend updates. New product education. Certifications. Technique. Color. Different faces, features and skin tones.

They developed artists.

And standing at Beautycon all these years later, surrounded by people who have gone on to influence beauty on an enormous scale, I was reminded just how many of us came through that same kind of training.

Patrick Starrr has even called MAC “Hogwarts” for makeup artists - and if you were there during that era, you understand exactly what he means.

We learned before social media could tell us which product to use.

Before a tutorial could show us every step.

Before “beauty creator” was a career.

We had to learn the fundamentals, understand the face in front of us, and figure out how to create with whatever was in our hands.

And maybe that’s another part of what Beautycon reminded me:

The industry has changed tremendously.

But the foundation I came into it with hasn’t become irrelevant. It’s part of what allows me to keep evolving in an ever-changing industry.

🎓 Lesson 03: Trends will change. Products will change. The industry will keep evolving. A foundation built on artistry gives you the ability to evolve with it.

Beautycon University: Lesson 02 🎓

Don’t meet your idols… unless it’s Sir John. He is an absolute GEM. 🥹

At the closing of Beautycon University, S I R J O H N💫 asked us to share one word that described our Beautycon experience.

I was chosen to speak.

My word was re-inspired.

He asked me why.

I told him that I’ve been in this industry for more than 16 years. And now, at 42, in an industry that changes at an unbelievable pace, I sometimes wonder what staying relevant is supposed to look like.

Being at Beautycon - listening to people like Sir John and Jackie Aina, seeing where beauty is going while being reminded of everything I’ve always loved about it - made me feel like there is still so much room for me in an industry I love so much.

And his response stopped me in my tracks.

Whatever had inspired me that weekend, whatever I walked away thinking I needed to become or needed to do differently, his message was essentially: forget all of that.

Be you. Stay authentically you.

It was such a simple answer to something I think many of us wrestle with as we grow - in our careers, our businesses and ourselves.

Growth doesn’t have to mean chasing every new thing or reinventing yourself to keep up.

You can learn. You can evolve. You can be inspired by what’s happening around you.

And still build from the person and artist you already are.

I went to Beautycon hoping to feel re-inspired by this industry.

I didn’t expect one of the biggest reminders to be that I don’t need to become someone else to have a place in it.

🎓 Lesson 02: You don’t stay relevant by becoming someone else. You stay relevant by becoming more of yourself.

Beautycon University: Lesson 01 🎓

Starting this series with a message from Stephanie Santana that feels especially important in a world where we’re constantly being influenced.

There is so much noise telling us how we should look, what we should buy, what we should change, how we should practice self-care, love ourselves more, be happier, do better.

And somewhere in all of that, it can become really easy to forget that our own voice should be the one we hear first.

But what I loved most about her message was that it went beyond beauty.

Life isn’t meant to be a perfectly curated collection of good days. Some of the most beautiful parts of it are hidden in the ordinary ones - and even in the hard ones. We get to experience all of it.

The good. The bad. The exciting. The uncomfortable. The moments when we feel completely ourselves and the ones when we’re still figuring out who that is.

And through all of it:

“I want you to know right now - as you are, who you are is enough.” - Glamzilla

That one is worth remembering.

Especially in an industry - and a world - that will always find another way to tell us we need to be something more.

🎓 Lesson 01: Let your own voice be the first one that influences how you see yourself.💕

From the makeup chair to dancing under the stars ✨

When we created Kristen’s sun-kissed Aussie-inspired glam, the goal wasn’t simply for it to look beautiful when I finished.

It needed to live beautifully throughout her wedding day.

Fresh, glowing skin. Warm bronzed eyes. A soft pop of pink on the lips. Everything was intentionally layered and finished to give her the radiance she wanted while still having the longevity a wedding day demands.

And then I opened her sneak peeks from her wedding The ViewPoint Hotel in Maine…

Hours later, her skin still looked incredible. The definition was still there. The warmth was still there. And somehow, as the sun went down and the celebration moved beneath the stars, her glow only got better.

That’s something I’m always thinking about when I create bridal makeup.

Not just how it looks in my chair - but how it will photograph in natural light, through portraits and ceremony, into reception lighting, and hours after I’ve packed my kit and left.

Because your makeup has a lot more of your wedding day to experience after our time together ends.

And this gallery is such a beautiful reminder of that.💕

📸 NATALYA De SENA PHOTOGRAPHY

Boston Bridal Makeup Artist • New England Bridal Makeup Artist • Maine Bridal Makeup Artist • Luxury Bridal Makeup Artist • Soft Glam Bridal Makeup • Skin-First Bridal Makeup