Today we’d like to introduce you to Sien Verschave.
Sien, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As a little girl, most people would have described me as a tomboy. Yet occasionally I would indulge in an over-the-top dress-up and makeover feast using my mom’s closet and makeup drawer. I always had an ‘aesthetic eye’, but my real interest in makeup came later on in my early twenties. After a while I started helping friends with their make-up and people came to ask my advice about their beauty routine. After graduating as a veterinarian, I started as a doctoral researcher at the parasitology department of my university. Despite my passion for science, I felt I needed a creative outlet. I enrolled in a course for make-up artistry and started a small side thing as a make-up artist after, for which I mainly did bridal and festive makeup.
After finishing my PhD, my husband and me moved from Belgian to the United States and it took a while before I picked up my makeup brushes again. Last summer when I was walking around Coolidge corner in Brookline, I passed two girls, one was taking pictures and the other modeling. First, I just passed them and continued walking. However, I could not stop thinking “I need to get in touch with photographers to start building my portfolio as a make-up artist again”. So, in the spur of the moment I ripped a piece of paper from a notebook in my purse, scribbled my contact info and walked back to them to tell them that I’m MUA looking for collaborators. The day after, the photographer contacted me and we got together for a shoot. I’m very grateful to this photographer as she brought me in contact with more photographers in the Boston area, which allowed me to work on my portfolio as MUA.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As make-up is not my main occupancy, it is always a challenge of balancing and combining it with my ‘other career’.
An advice to beginning makeup artists would be to make sure to listen and learn. I feel an important part of the job as make-up artist is to listen to the client as much as possible. For clients that have their personal mak-up sone: Too often, I hear stories of women who went to a beauty counter where the visagiste/make-up artist just starts putting stuff on their face without even trying to get to know the client or asking what she desires (or he in some cases). Make-up is such a personal thing, that you can’t just talk to your client. But also when you are performing makeup for models and professional shoots, it is key to listen and communicate with the team.
A cheesy advice would be to follow your gut and passion, be open-minded and keep learning!
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Brush up – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
As mentioned before, I really try to listen to the person in my makeup chair. What does she thinks is beautiful about herself, what kind of looks does she like, how does she see her self, does she want to learn a certain technique/product to add to her beauty routine, can she fit it in her beauty routine etc….? I believe everyone has some kind of beauty in their face/body, it’s my job to help to bring that out and make the person in my chair shine as much as I can. Basically, show the best possible ‘him or her’ and provide that (too often needed) boost of confidence to the ‘real life ladies and gents’ out there. So, I also try giving feasible advice as much as I can, even ‘professional’ models left my chair with some kind of tip or advice they loved.
In addition, I try to keep my make-up looks as ‘natural and realistic’ as possible. Certainly, when it comes to skin finish, I don’t like covering people’s faces too much as it takes away the natural glowiness of the skin, which is hard to replace with any product. Another example, a bride should look her possible best on her big day, but her groom should still be able to recognize her and see the woman he fell in love with.
Who have you been inspired by?
Lisa Eldridge – Great make-up artist, awesome and warm personality, very inspiring woman, keeping it real
My teacher (Peggy Timmermans) – she turned her career around a little later in life (end of her thirties) to follow her dream and become a make-up artist.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brushupyourmakeup.weebly.com
- Email: brushupyourmakeup@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brushupyourmakeup/
Image Credit:
@cynthiawwong, @karenvierbuchen, @zinguyenn, @rasvan_
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