The Makeup Show Dallas: Part 1

“Contouring  makes me angry. Everyone keeps trying to keep up with those Kardashians by drawing brown stripes on their faces.” This was just one of the hilarious and memorable quotes from professional makeup artist (and one of my personal heroes) James Vincent at The Makeup Show Dallas (TMS.) TMS reached out to me a few weeks ago and invited me to attend this amazing event as press and I am so grateful that they did. Fair warning… this post is going to be long and picture heavy! In fact, I decided to split it into multiple posts because I feel like I could write a book at this point. But I just can’t wait to tell you all about everything I heard and saw! Since Jill isn’t local, my friend Rachel, a beauty writer for The Examiner online, came along with me. (Check out her take on TMUS here!)

Let’s recap about what The Makeup Show is… The Makeup Show is a traveling convention that hits up major metropolitan cities around the US like New York, LA, Chicago, San Francisco, etc. TMS features dynamic keynote speakers as well as product and technique demonstrations from the industry’s most talented artists. Sponsors include Make Up For Ever, Stila, Smashbox, NARS and Kevyn Aucoin. The show is aimed at makeup artists and cosmetology students that want to up their game and learn about the newest products and gain valuable advice and insight from world famous makeup artists.

When I walked into TMS room, there were makeup booths as far as the eye could see. I mean, heaven. What I didn’t realize until I attended the show is that big time beauty brands will offer their products at heavily discounted rates at the show. This is to help artists build their kits. And to help me empty my wallet.   See what I mean about “as far as the eye can see?”
Make Up For Ever was the Diamond sponsor of the event so their booth was extra big and they had a chair set up for makeovers and product testing.This picture was taken at the Crown brush table. Crown brushes are pretty amazing. And they are amazing enough that James Vincent put his name on some of them. Crown brushes prove that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get quality tools. I got a few brushes that I am looking forward to testing out soon.   

While it was great to browse and shop and see all of the products, I was really excited to hear some of the keynote speakers. Celebrity Makeup Artist James Vincent is the Director of Education and the face of TMS (and all around general badass.) His goal in helping to create TMS was to “celebrate artistry” and become a resource for artists. Since this year was the 10 year anniversary of TMS, he felt passionate about bringing together more brands and his friends and game changers in the industry which is just one of the reasons why he brought Ruby Polanco.

Ruby Polanco founded Ruby Makeup Academy 10 years ago to not only teach makeup artistry but the business/branding side of the industry. Ruby delivered a keynote called “What’s My Name? Branding and Building a Career in Today’s Industry.”  Even though she was speaking directly to makeup artists, I learned a lot also in terms of how to brand for Boxy Ladies. She talked about how to create a brand personality that is something in you that the masses can relate to. She also gave tips about how to best utilize social media to brand yourself– using the right hashtags to find new readers, post consistently at the “high traffic” times, and to create a signature style for your posts. 

The next keynote I attended was called “Artistry & Science: Exploring the Art of Product Innovation” with Lijah Stewart and Jessie Powers from Make Up For Ever. James joined them onstage for a little while as he has also worked with Make Up For Ever. I had obviously heard of the brand before but I learned so much more. I was joking with Rachel that MUFE was beginning to sound like a cult the way they were talking about the brand and its iconic founder, Dany Sanz. As a professional makeup artist and professor of the art, Dany started creating her own products in 1984 in the now famous “cellar”– the basement of the future boutique at 5 rue La Boétie in the 8th district of Paris. Between make up lessons at the school, and helped by her students, she packaged her products there. This legendary site is now a meeting spot for the make up artists of Paris and all over the world.

Dany takes great care in every product and all products that she creates are made with makeup artists in mind. When she creates a product, there is a rigorous testing process, with makeup artists doing a lot of the testing in the field. Dany takes their feedback very seriously and utilizes it in product formulations and even product creations. One of MUFE’s biggest selling products is the Flash Color Case. Basically every makeup artist worth a grain of salt will have one in their kit. But makeup artists felt that they needed a more subtle palette for their film work and the  Cinematic Palette was born. Dany always said that “products are serious but makeup should be fun.” And she took her products VERY seriously. Lijah and Jessie referenced some eyebrow products that were in production that still haven’t seen the light of day because they haven’t met Dany’s standards. So what I’m trying to say is that once MUFE DOES release the eyebrow products, they will be the Real Deal.

It was just so interesting hearing the gals talk about their love of the brand and how it’s always felt like a family to them. They told stories about the early days of the brand and how Dany even had her blue collar father helping her to create the products in their shed in the backyard. He even got a little creative with the colors and so there was a special line of Dany’s Father’s Shadows at their flagship store. 

One of the nicest gals I met is Emmy winning makeup artist Melanie Mills. You might know her work from a little show called Dancing With the Stars. Something that I guess I didn’t really think about before is that with a show like DWTS, it’s important to think about the whole body in terms of makeup, not just the face. Those skimpy dance costumes don’t leave much to the imagination and those legs and arms have to look good, too! Melanie realized pretty quickly that she needed a specific kind of product to get the look that she wanted… but it didn’t exist. So she created her own line of body makeup called Gleam by Melanie Mills.

She took the time to put some on my arms to show how it can instantly make your skin look better. Just an Emmy-winning makeup artist putting makeup on me. No big deal. I ended up going back and buying a full-size tube of the Body Radiance in Rose Gold. She also used the Radiant Dust on me that took the shimmer up a notch. I didn’t buy the loose powder because I don’t need that much sparkle on the day to day but I’m ready for my legs and arms to look a bit nicer when I’m wearing dresses.

I was also able to attend part of Melanie’s keynote called “Superstar Makeup Artistry.” She spoke about her career and how she worked her way up to eventually become the head makeup artist on DWTS. She spoke a lot about differentiating yourself and your brand and how making yourself (as a makeup artist) stand out with different business skills will make you more valuable to the person who could be hiring you. For example, she told the DWTS producers that she would need more makeup time with the stars in order to produce that ultra glam look that they love but in return she would keep everything under budget. She also gave some good advice about social media– create a vibe on Instagram and have it represent your business. Keep your personal stuff on Facebook. I thought that was a great idea and I hope to learn how to create more of a consistent vibe for our Boxy Ladies Instagram! (Hey, feel free to follow us!)

I have SO much more to tell you coming up in Part 2 tomorrow, including my favorite part of the whole thing… learning from and eventually meeting James Vincent! So stay tuned and come back tomorrow!

xo,
Lauren