Makeup Studio

Rubina Apoian

Cultural and Visual Anthropology

Dr. Leanna Wolfe

November 20, 2013

For my photo interaction project, I did mine on the interaction of a makeup artist with her customers. The girl in the picture on the right goes by the name of Lilit. Interacting with people you don’t know many times a day can be quite difficult for some people, but not for Lilit! She has about 5-10 appointments a day and she doesn’t complain one bit. She is a very friendly person and loves meeting people. Good customer service is mandatory to get more customers and that is what Lilit provides!

Doing makeup requires lots of materials. Some mandatory materials needed are brushes! A makeup artist cannot have a brush that is one size, they have to be many different sizes: long, wide, slanted, pointy, etc. Another material needed is a makeup palette to mix different colors. The one Lilit has is a customized one of Marilyn Monroe, which is very stylish. She uses this to get different shades of makeup for different customers because everyone has a different shade on their face. Plus, not everyone wants the same color makeup.

This picture shows Lilit doing airbrush makeup on a customer. By the look of the customer, it looks like she is enjoying her VIP treatment! Airbrush makeup is another type of makeup that lasts longer, but is not good for girls with oily skin. Lilit is making sure that she gets every spot on the customer’s face. She is covering her hair so it doesn’t get ruined by the makeup. The result of airbrush makeup will be a glow on the customer’s face and will be a great finish!

This picture shows Lilit putting makeup on a bride to be. Before her wedding, she is getting great service at Lilit’s salon, drinking champagne while getting her makeup done. Lilit has already done the eye and face makeup, but now she is moving to the lips. Instead of putting lipstick on with the lipstick itself, she is using a brush to give a smoother, better look on the customer. Lilit will make her look amazing for her wedding!

Lilit even makes sure that her customers look great while they are at the party! We all have those days when we get our makeup done, but by the time we are at the party, it gets ruined. Lilit is so dedicated to her customers that she, herself, gets up and goes to the party that her customers are at to reapply their makeup. This bride was at her wedding, and she requested for Lilit to come and do her makeup again. What a wonderful makeup artist!

These egg looking like sponges are called beauty blenders. Lilit uses them to blend makeup together, so it looks smooth, glossy and natural. These are very important in makeup because without them, makeup doesn’t look as smooth as it does. It will just look like the makeup is thrown on the face. Without these things, Lilit will not apply makeup on anyone’s face!

In this picture, there are many photographers taking videos and pictures of the blonde bride. Some brides want this makeup process to be in their wedding video, so this shows that Lilit is trying to perfect her and the photographers want to catch every single moment. The bride is getting professional treatment from Lilit and surely, is feeling like a superstar. It is a full house in the salon!

After Lilit does business with her customers, she also has a makeup class. As you can see, she is standing in front of everyone with a model, sitting down, showing the audience how to apply makeup. The students look like they are very interested in what she is doing and they are paying attention. Lilit is an amazing teacher because if any of her students need help, she does her best to explain and show how to do it. Even though she is very busy, she makes time to have seminars every Sunday.

After all this hard work, I think Lilit deserves to get some special treatment herself. Here we see her sitting down where the customers would be sitting, getting her makeup done. One of her students, actually, is the one applying her makeup. She came to Los Angeles all the way from Alabama just to take Lilit’s 3 week professional course. Lilit looks very proud of how well her student is progressing. As a matter of fact, she is so proud, she is taking a picture of it.

This picture is my favorite of all! All of these girls in the salon are makeup artists/students. Lilit is in the front, looking very happy, proud of all the work that they have all done together. At the end of the day, they are not just coworkers, they are dear friends to each other. This salon is very cozy and the service is great. The way Lilit interacts with her customers brings her more customers and more business. After the end of a busy day, these girls still know how to have fun.