Today we're celebrating the first birthday of Behind the Brush as Beth looks back on some of her favourite moments of the podcast so far. Featuring snippets from defining episodes, listen to Australia's finest makeup artists as they discuss what it is like being a makeup artist in 2022. PLUS you'll hear exclusive behind the scenes stories of how Beth got this show off the ground, including embarrassing technical failures AND overcoming her own self-limiting beliefs that the world did not need another new podcast.
With an abundance of gratitude and good vibes, thank you to all the listeners of this show that make the hard work we put into the podcast so very worth it. Cheers to the first year!
Episode resources:
If you enjoyed this episode then please either:
Today we're celebrating the first birthday of Behind the Brush as Beth looks back on some of her favourite moments of the podcast so far. Featuring snippets from defining episodes, listen to Australia's finest makeup artists as they discuss what it is like being a makeup artist in 2022. PLUS you'll hear exclusive behind the scenes stories of how Beth got this show off the ground, including embarrassing technical failures AND overcoming her own self-limiting beliefs that the world did not need another new podcast.
With an abundance of gratitude and good vibes, thank you to all the listeners of this show that make the hard work we put into the podcast so very worth it. Cheers to the first year!
Episode resources:
If you enjoyed this episode then please either:
This is Behind The Brush by Saint Jack. Hello and welcome back to Behind The Brush. It's me. It's be your host and makeup artist and founder of Saint Jack. Cosmetics baby. How I are. I am great because today I am celebrating a huge miles. Stone, aka. It is the podcast first birthday, Yay, . Wow. I can't believe it's been a year. So it was a year ago this week that I published my first ever episode. And it's funny because, yeah, it feels like it was forever ago, but at the same time, Where has this year gone? So to celebrate, I thought we would take a little trip down memory lane together. I'm gonna share some of my favorite moments of the podcast over the last year, and also give you some like behind the scenes tea on how I got the podcast started. Some of the highs and the lows, some of the funny stories in between as well, of course. So let's get into it. In September last year, the makeup cleaning miss had been on the market for about seven months. So I had launched it in early February, 2021. And in that time I had built a small but fierce little following and community and it was literally blowing my mind that I would be scrolling through Instagram stories as minding my own business and I could see that little blue bottle in the corner of a kit set up or on the side pocket of a Brush bag. And I realized like, A lot of the makeup artists that I admired the most were using my product. And not only were they using my product, they liked my product, but also they were in my dms and they were talking to me about it, and I just got to thinking like the. If these artists, some of whom are like, I've been following for years and years and years and years and years, and I just love so much and want to be just like them when I grow up. If they are in my dms right now, I could never imagine that they would take notice of my brand or my product, and I just thought to myself like, how can I use these connections that I'm making in the industry to do something really special? And I obviously had the idea for the podcast, and I think when you have ideas to do something really outside the box of what you're used to. I'd never done a podcast before. I'd never been a podcast guest before, so it was a little bit scary to kind of be like, I'm gonna start a podcast , and I got, you know, Some mixed reactions from people in my life when I told them what I wanted to do. The first person I told my friend, Hamish, was actually incredibly supportive. He's a creative as well. And he was basically like, Yeah, do it. What are you waiting for? And then there were a couple others who were like, Yeah, but Beth, like there's so many podcasts in the world. Like what are you, you know? What'll make yours different? Or why do you think that you should have your own And there was a part of me that agreed with that because it did feel very attention seeking in a way to buy a literal microphone, to amplify my own voice, to record the insane things that come out of my mouth with a hope or an expectation even, that someone will listen to that or see value in that. And it, it did really Frick me out and I was afraid of what people would say behind my back. Fuck him, . If people talk about me behind my back, that's none of my business. So I just really came to the realization that the podcast wasn't even gonna be about me. It had nothing to do with me. It had everything to do with the people who I wanted to talk to. Now, at the time, there wasn't really one podcast where you could go to listen to consistently and in depth great conversations with great makeup artists. Makeup artists would occasionally like pop up on other podcasts that I'd listen to. Like I'd heard Emma Chen on Happy Hour with Lucy and Nicky, but there wasn't one show that I could subscribe to where I knew that consistently every couple of weeks,. I'm laughing because I've been so inconsistent with the podcast, but I mean it, it's hard to manage. But the point is, you know that every so often a great episode's gonna drop and you know that you can subscribe to this show and you know what we're about and you know what we're doing here, and that it's about the beauty industry . But it's so funny and so ironic that just as I was thinking, that there's no place like home. Like there's no place like this podcast I wanna create literally. Like two days before I was about to do my first interview, a new podcast got announced with essentially the same premise. Like, of course, of course this happens. And you know, like usually this would make me think, Oh, well it was a good idea, but I'm too late for some reason, and I truly can't tell you why. I just decided to push on anyway. And I think it's because as I get a little bit older, as I enter being a product based business in the beauty industry where there's 8 billion skincare brands, lipstick brands, foundation brands, all this sort of thing, being a makeup artist, knowing that there's, you know, thousands of makeup artists in Melbourne, let alone way more in Australia, there really is room for everyone. There's a client for everyone. So I was like, you know, I'm gonna do it anyway because I wanna talk to these people about the things that I wanna talk to them about. And hopefully that will resonate with the people who are listening. And by the way, for any crossover that there's been on these two podcasts. And the other one is the Makeup Insider by Vanessa Barney, and I actually love it. We've had several. Guests like Mia Connor and Penny Anwar, who have been on both shows. And we ask different questions and we have different perspectives and talk about different things. And I think for you guys as listeners, that's so lucky because you get double the information and it just, Yeah, it proves the point. There's room for everyone. So I went to JB and for anyone who listens internationally, and I know there's a few of you, I love you guys. It's a technology store. JB is a technology store, but I bought the microphone. It came in the world's biggest box for the smallest little microphone. I put it together when I got home and I literally had no idea what I was doing, but I find I knew. I knew that if the first conversation could be really great, it would set me up and it would set the tone for what I was trying to do. So soon after I decided that I wanted to do the podcast, I decided that the first guest was going to be Jack Kale. I didn't want any. Didn't want it any other way. I had met Jack only twice before we recorded our episode. The first time I met him, he was hosting a masterclass. He was hosting actually alongside Dani Cousens, who I've also had on the show, and another amazing Melbourne makeup artist, Izzy Quinn. And this was at the beginning of 2020. Now, this was the beginning of 2020 before the word pandemic had entered the. It had not entered the chat yet, and it was actually in another really dark chapter of our history, which was the bush fires here in Australia. And the three of them were putting on this class selling tickets to make up artists to kind of, they were demoing. So they had, you know, three of them with their three kits set up and they had three models and they were each doing a look and kind of talking through the look at the same time. That's pretty difficult to have three different makeup artists like speaking at the front of the room, trying to each explain like what they're doing and they did it flawlessly. Like it was just such a special, oh my god, Special . It was such a special experience, but for me, Jack was magnetic. He was magnetic. I could not take my eyes off him. I could not stop listening to him. Everything that he was saying was so witty, it was sharp, it was clever. I just. I'd been following him for years, but I really fell in love with him at that moment. And then fast forward a year, so it's early 2021, the makeup cleaning. Miss has been on the market for a few months and I was actually attending another makeup master class, also held by Danny, but this time it was just standing on her own. And I got to the master class about 15 minutes early cuz obviously I wanted a good seat, . But also I get like really bad anxiety that when I have something like that, that traffic's gonna be bad. So I'm always super early for this sort of, Anyway, I'm kind of just sitting there while she's like setting everything up. And Jack walked past the studio that we were having the class in and he was like, Yeah, I was just popping by. I think he said that he'd just been at yoga and he just wanted to like stop by and give Danny some good vibes. And I was in the room as well, so it was like a bit awkward for me, like not to kind of turn around and say hello. And in my head I'm like, There's no way he's gonna remember me. From like a year ago when he met me for two seconds and he didn't, which is fair, but he gave me the biggest hug and he congratulated me on Saint Jack. He knew about Saint Jack and I was like, gob smacked. And I remember texting my makeup, Bessie, who was on the way to the masterclass, which he wasn't there yet. And I was like, Sis, you fucking missed out. Never believe who was just here. Jack Ca was here. He knows about Saint Jack, and he just hugged me and I lost my mind. So when it came time to organize the first interview, I just felt it in my gut, like it had to be him. So I sent him a DM from St. Jack's Instagram, and the DM is from the 16th of October, 2021. Let me read this because it's pretty funny. I was so nervous. I said, Jack, how are you? I have a very exciting but big question to ask you, and for like two weeks I've been running around like I had this chicken wondering the best way to ask you, but now I've had three black coffees, so I'm just gonna get straight to it. He, he, he the text actually says, he, he, he, I said, I'm starting a podcast to interview the best makeup artist about their careers and I fucking love your story about working at Mac in Adelaide, then moving over here, here being Melbourne. It is honestly so inspiring and I also love your vision board. Slash creating the career you want, you are my ideal first guest crying face emoji with a smile. Oh my God. Will you do me the Honor? Oh my God. Do you think I was asking him to marry me? We'll just record it on Zoom. It'll be super chill, good vibes, blah, blah, blah. But there's nobody I would rather kick this off with. He replied almost. Immediately. He obviously obliged and yeah, we got to it. We set up the interview, we recorded it on Zoom because we were both still in lockdown, which kind of sucked. Jack was actually in the middle of his own covid scare, or CO as he was calling it then. And this was actually before the time that like every man in his dog had had Covid. Like it was still very scary and it kind of meant something if he had Covid. So I felt really bad for him that he had to talk to me, but he did it anyway. It is actually still one of my highest streamed episodes to this date, which I think just says so much about who Jack is and what he means to our industry. But this is one of my favorite moments of the conversation that I had with him where we talk about setting boundaries. This is part of the reason why I really wanted to do this podcast is I feel a lot of the time people focus on makeup artists for what they can give them in terms of what product are you using, what techniques do you do, blah, blah, blah, But really being a full time makeup artist. Freelance working for yourself that is a business like you are an entrepreneur, I suppose I'm interested to know, like what did you find really challenging in that time? Like what was the hardest part about taking that leap? I think like not having anyone to bounce off or anyone even just there for support. So like when you're working at a makeup store or whatever, like there's always a manager or there's always someone. You might not need them, but to know that there's someone there to help you out if things don't work out or whatever. You know what I mean? But yeah, when you work by yourself, there is no one else. If something happens, it's all on you. Like if your client's late and then the next one's late, and then the next person after that is, Complaining. There's no case of like, Right, let me get my manager to call you or whatever. It's like, it's you, you're in. It's your day, you're running. You have to work it out yourself while trying to do someone's makeup. So I think that is something I didn't realize, but something else is not saying no. So basically like you take this leap of working for someone else to working for. And you just don't say no. You're like, I've taken this leap. I'm not gonna say no to anyone. And I was working so bloody March, like sometimes seven days a week I was working. And you're like, You know, it's my business. I need to, I can't say no to money like this, that, or I can't say no to that person. Or they'll go somewhere else or whatever. So I think people tend to burn out because they feel like they can't say no. But now I understand that you need balance. Yeah. Yeah. I was just gonna say, I mean, it sounds like you would struggle with work-life balance. I. Certainly when that's your only source of income. Mm-hmm., you kind of feel like, you know, you gotta say yes to everything because you don't want them to think, Oh, well, Jack's out. So next time I have something I'm not even gonna ask. But I think that there's so much value once you kind of get yourself to that position to know when to say no. Not only to protect like your. Mental health and you know yourself, but you know, sometimes there are jobs that come up that you just don't wanna do. Like ? Mm-hmm., I know that's like really yucky to say, but like, sometimes they're just like, not, not worth it. I don't, I don't know how to put it. Do you know what I mean? Like, you have to pick the jobs that are right for you. Yeah, I, I know what you mean. Just because you work for yourself doesn't mean you can't say no. Something that someone told me was time is money as well. Just because you're saying no to a job and you're losing out on that money, like your time is worth something as well. So even though you're not working for money, maybe you're gonna spend that time recharging and then you're gonna have a better week or a better. Weekend with your clients, or maybe instead of doing that you're gonna do your emails and that's valuable as well. You need to get those done. Not everything is about money and time is money. Mm-hmm.. So value your time. I completely agree. I mean, I can relate to that so much a few years ago and not saying no to anything, and then at the end of these jobs I would feel so burnt out. I wouldn't feel like I was kind of living in my light, like I wasn't doing my best. Work and it just wasn't, it wasn't worth it in that way, I suppose. And yeah, time is definitely money and whether you spend that time working or not doesn't really matter. And I think when you work for yourself, you can kind of feel guilty if you're not like constantly hustling, but just the same way that you have boundaries. If you worked in nine till five, you've gotta put it in those boundaries for yourself. A hundred percent. I kind of think of it like, say you're moving house and you pay a removal list, you're like, Oh, I'm gonna lose 200. But it's like time is money as well. Like you're gonna spend that time instead of moving all your furniture by yourself, you can spend that time doing something valuable that's gonna make the future better. So does that make sense? No, it makes complete sense. And I am absolutely one of those people in life and in business where I'm not afraid to outsource things to people who I think would do that task better than me. Yeah. So that I can spend my time doing things that bring me joy. And I think that that's a really important lesson to teach anyone who's thinking about becoming a makeup artist or someone who already is one. Mm-hmm. to value your time on the whole, not to say All my time must be working. Exactly. And like working can mean different things as well. Like working doesn't always have to be you with a client. If I didn't have any time off, I wouldn't have been able to do. Faces by Jack or you know, all these other kind of like things I've been doing or I wouldn't have time to expand my business. Mm-hmm . So that's why saying no to things and making sure you have time off is important. Cause you're still working. It's just on different things. It's like you with Saint Jack, if you were doing clients all day, every day, like. Not that we could in lockdown anyway, but like , you wouldn't have built such an amazing business. Yes. Well, thank you. Um, but a hundred percent I, and you know, it's something that I have to think about moving into next year, and we've talked about this. Mm-hmm., where is my time going to be spent because you only have 24 hours in a day, and as the brand gets bigger, what do I do? How do I make that work? Potentially I have to bring someone on to pack orders, if that makes sense for me, so that I can have more time to do clients. So yeah, you've just gotta balance it out. So the reception that I got for that episode after it went live was so overwhelming. Like I was so excited. I got so many dms, people were sharing it on their stories. I sent Jack at the most beautiful flowers in the world. They still have the pictures of them, and I look at these flowers and even though I never saw them myself in real life, it's just. This beautiful memory I have of such a special time where it was like, you know what? I backed myself and good things happened. And that is the perfect segue to my next kind of little bit that I wanna share of the show, which was actually the immediate episode after Jack, which was Hillary Home. So I have loved Hillary for. Such a long time, like I've followed her on Instagram from my personal account for years and years and years and years and years, and I think even at some point in this episode, I mentioned that I had DMed her from that, you know, my personal Instagram account, long before I ever had a makeup artistry account. Certainly before I had a Saint Jack account because she speaks a lot about body positivity and all this stuff, you know, that. Some of us know I got in , got really neck deep in that conversation at one point this year, but I just loved her and it made sense to me to reach out to her next. And what I was really excited about is she has her space in South Melbourne. I was living in South Melbourne at the time and I was like, What a cool opportunity to potentially record the podcast in person, because by the time. It, You know, it was time to record the next episode. I'm pretty sure we were out of lockdown. Mass was still very much a thing, but I was allowed to go and see her, and I remember I messaged her and asked her to come on the show. At this point, it didn't feel as scary to ask someone to come on the show because I already had an episode out. Whereas when I asked Jack, I was kind of like, Huh, I've just had this idea out of thin air and I have nothing to show for myself. Do you trust me? And he had to kind of free fall with me. At least with her, I could be like, Oh yeah, Jack has come on the show and obviously the makeup community here in Melbourne's like quite, you know, close knit. And so she, she knew all about that and she just had the loveliest response to me when I reached out to her, she was like, Oh, it's so funny. We've just been talking about you in the studio, Like you match our vibe, blah, blah, blah. We'd absolutely love to, and I suggested that we do it in person. And she said, Cool, yeah, let's do it. Let's do it in the studio. So one day I go down to the studio in South Me., she had just released her primer bang, so that was the first shade. She's now got two shades out for home beauty, but that was the first product for home beauty and it was just magnificent. And it's really funny, thinking back on even her career and her journey over the last year and what's so different for her and what she's built is so phenomenal. But yeah, we were sitting in this back room in her beautiful studio in South Melbourne, but she'd kind of turned it into a bit of a pick packing situation for the brand. And the space in South Melbourne has a tin roof and concrete floors. And if you know anything about podcasting, which as we know, I certainly don't, but rooms like that are not so good for recording And of course, on the day that I go to record this episode with her, it was like apocalyptic rain. So it was just, So noisy in the background and much the same as I've definitely been outed on the show before, but like, not in a bad way, but like I prepare questions in advance because you know, I'm happy to think on my feet, but I wanna have some sort of guide in case I needed it. And I go in to record this episode with Hillary and I have the questions in front of me and we're like sitting in real life, we're sharing the microphone talking. I don't even think I looked at the questions once. We just had the best conversation and it truly was the beginning of a relationship and friendship that we still have today. She calls me and offers me so much support with Saint Jack. She's a really incredible woman and something that I love about her is the way that she uses her platform to spread an amazing. Message about including all people in beauty, not just people that we have been traditionally told are beautiful. I hope that makes sense as much as it did in my head, , but this is one of my favorite moments from her episode where she talks about what is our legacy as a makeup artist? Is it about the moment of making someone feel super hot or you know, for one night only, Or is it about something much bigger? Take a listen. I think it's really important that, and I think if you are doing a really great job with speaking to makeup artists, we have an incredible ability to touch point people when they're their most vulnerable, in a way to say to them, You're amazing. Like we have been guided by all of these big, huge monopolies in our life that market to us tell us we're not good enough. All these fashion houses tellings, we're not skinny enough to fit into their clothes. So many things that we are not even aware of. You know, the teachers at primary school telling us we shouldn't eat that or that there's so many things that condition us to think that we're not good enough. We as an industry can fucking get our shit together. Honestly, there is so much power in unity and there is so much power in our message. If we can start to really show these people, cuz. These huge makeup houses that airbrush the fuck outta their makeup using super blurred models. That's not real beauty. And so if we have the ability to use our platforms, all these makeup artists uniting and saying, Actually, we're here to represent something far greater than just selling a lipstick. We're here to represent a way that people fundamentally feel about themselves. That's not just a moment of satisfaction, of thinking that you're a good makeup artist. That is a lifelong legacy. Like that's huge. There were actually so many moments in that episode with Hillary that I could have used as a soundbite to include in this episode, but to include on social media and to share with people. It's one of the ones that, yeah, I can go back and I can listen to it, and I was in the room and I've obviously re-listened to it a few times just by virtual, kind of editing it and all this sort of thing, but. Even to this day, kind of going back into it a couple of days ago, getting ready to do this episode. I was like, Damn. Like she just gets it. She really gets it. And that was so cool. And so that was on the 17th of November that I published that. And after that I spoke to the ballerina bride, AKA Laura Ha. Then I spoke to Danil J. Then I did my first solo episode, which was 21 Lessons from 2021, and I'm definitely gonna do that again this year because I loved that episode. And then we kicked off into the new year, so we're in 2022. I speak to Lou Griffin here in Melbourne. A really good friend of mine, she owns the brand Lulu Lips. I do another solo episode, Instagram subscriptions and what they mean for you. And I think a lot of people kind of like, they don't mean anything to me, hon. I'm not gonna do Instagram subscriptions, but just telling you your girl is noticed, People are doing it in Australia now. So if you wanna know more about that and what that means, go back and listen to that episode because it's still, it's still holding up guys. Everything I said is still true. That was on the 10th of February, and then on the 24th of February, I upload Penny Anwar part one. This one was really cool and also this one just has so many funny stories attach to it, but. Basically, it was in February, I guess, maybe late January, but I was just feeling the itch and I think it's like two years after being stuck in one place. I haven't done much travel, like no travel actually, I don't think at all. And I was like, I just wanna get outta here. I wanna do something. And you know, like the makeup cleaning list was like chugging along, but I was starting to have ideas for the next product and I was getting. Impatient, Which is ironic because it's like almost a year later and it's still not done. So talk about impatience, but I was like, Oh, I think I, I think I wanna go to Brisbane and I think I wanna meet some of these people. Like I'd spoken to Laura who, and to Neil. But I was like, I wanna meet these people, like I wanna get to know them, like I wanna connect. And I was like, but they, you know, these people are so busy, like they don't wanna talk to me, you know, they've already done my episode, that they don't wanna catch up with me. You know, if I reach out to Penny an like, you know, she'll probably be busy, you know, just self-limiting thoughts, doubt, whatever. And so obviously I'm kind of toiling on it and I mention it to my dad and his advice., just do it. Like just book the flight and he's like, And just book the flight and then start messaging them and being like, Hey, I'm actually gonna be in Brisbane on these dates. Like, would you like to come on the podcast? Laura, aka the ballerina bride, would you like to do my makeup? And she did end up doing my makeup and it was so much fun. Like she gave me the full like gem. Fox eyeliner. That was so cool. And we made the funnest TikTok with the of George saying like, Why are you so obsessed with me, And so I did. I booked the flights. I booked a room at that hotel, which is called . It's so funny cuz it's like, I don't think anyone knows how to pronounce this body hotel name. And I don't think that's a great marketing move from them. But it's either the. Elina or the Carlyle, but it's that bougie hotel in Brisbane that you see like everyone go to. And it's like so nice and yeah, I'm not gonna lie to you, it was like a little bit pretentious and I felt very outta place there because I'm just like a simple bing bog. I'm not very cool, but it was beautiful. And so I booked a room and yeah, after I booked the flights, after I booked the room, I messaged Penny and I reached out to her and I said, Hey, I'm gonna be in Brisbane. I would love you to come on the show and. She happily accepted and I was very excited. And if that is not just like proof in the pudding to just like do the thing, I dunno what is, So I ended up flying to Brisbane. at the beginning of February, I think it was, or middle of February. And it was so hot, guys like it was so hot, it was so humid. Like I normally like to curl my hair when I wanna feel pretty, but I couldn't even do it because it was just like frozen the fuck up. So I had like the slick bun thing going for me, and I. Flew in on a Sunday, had dinner with my friends on Sunday, some of them live in Brisbane. And then I was meeting with Penny on the Monday and she was coming into my hotel room around lunchtime to record this episode. And I was so nervous and it's so hot. So I'm like sweating. I'm like, Freaking out. I go across the street to what could only be described as the world's most expensive supermarket to buy like a handful of like nibbly things, you know, in case she was like hungry or something. Just really not thinking through that. Like obviously she's not gonna be eating on a podcast , and that would not be, that would not be a good look. But I do it anyway. And I set it up in the hotel room. There's this really beautiful kind of circular. I think it's some sort of stone. I don't know if it's marble table in the middle of the room set up the one microphone I have, you know, podcast microphones, like the ones that you have at home are really not that expensive. But I just didn't think about it, that I could get another one. So I'd set it all up that, you know, we're gonna have the microphone in the middle and we're gonna share it and all this sort of thing. And. I'm trying to remember exactly what I did wrong when I recorded it, but, Oh God, I just remembered. Yeah, I remembered. Yeah. So Penny arrives. She's divine, right? I have the best chat with her. We end up recording maybe two hours worth of audio. So I split the episodes into two when I got to the point of you guys listening to it so that I didn't have to cut anything out. And then after we stopped recording, we talked for another hour or so, just like talking shit and just really getting to know each other and we were really connecting. And then she leaves the hotel room. Oh my God. I'm like, I've unlocked a core memory that I just don't think should have been unlocked. I go back to listen to it so that I can start. Doing a little bit of an edit before I send it off to my editor, and I noticed that the audio sounds really, really weird. And then I realized that I didn't turn the microphone on and this thing has picked up the audio from the microphone on my six year old MacBook Pro. So, Like as if somebody would've FaceTimed me through my computer and I don't have AirPods in and I don't have a microphone in. It's like the microphone and audio that you would have just coming out of the actual built in laptop, which is not ideal. And the laptop you guys was facing. Me , so, Oh my God, it's so embarrassing. So like it was picking up me really loudly and it was picking up Penny really faint because I had the laptop with the questions. My God, these questions get me into so much strife. But anyway, like it doesn't even matter because the content of that was just so. Inspiring and cool, and Penny's such a legend, and I've gotten to know her, you know, since then. She flew down to Melbourne. I took her out for brunch. I actually took her to a cafe here in Melbourne called Lenny, and I was really proud of myself that I took Penny to Lenny , and I'm actually going to see her in a few weeks. I'm going to Brisbane. I did the whole Brisbane trick again. I thought considering that my trip to Brisbane was my version of a risk, I guess that I would share one of my favorite parts of Penny's interview with you guys, which is her risk of when she flew to LA because she got told that there was an opportunity for a celebrity brand that had not been released yet that they thought that she would be perfect for. And of course, that brand is Fenty by Rihanna. Take a listen. James Vincent. Yeah. Very prominent, you know, person in the makeup industry in America. He helped to bring Mac into America from, and helped to establish Mac in America. So he's been around for an extremely long time. So I was on his New York Fashion Week team quite a lot. He emailed me one day randomly out of the blue. It was like late 2016. Early 2017, he said, Hey, I've got an opportunity in LA do and you would need to fly out here for like an audition type thing. I really think you are our guy for this. Like I really feel like this is a really great fit for you and your style. I can't tell you what it is though. Oh. But it's a celebrity starting a brand and that at the time in 2017 wasn't like it is now. No. Where every man and his dog is starting a brand. No, that's huge. Yeah. And he said, You need to be in LA in three days. Oh my. I Hervas. I know. And my husband's like, Well help you. You're going. And I was like, Oh, I dunno. Like, What do you, And he's like, It's James. It's not gonna be something, nothing. Yeah. He's like, You know, it's gonna be legit with him. Right. Anyway, I ended up going, Yep, I'll be there in three days. Wow. So, had to do, and then he email me, he said, You need to do a, like a storyboard type presentation of your personal style makeup style. So he's like, You need to do a presentation in front of, you know, a lot of people. So he's like, You know, just be prepared for that. He's like, But I trust that, you know, just trust that your natural style is this brand. I was like, Oh, okay. No problems. Got on a plane, went to LA for like on a plane to la Yeah, yeah. Literally I Canditt, and then I was like thinking in my head, who could this be for? What is it? And on the plane, I was doing my prep for the presentation and I did like a glossy eyelid. and you had to, we had to, um, demonstrate our look as well. Yeah. So I did like a glossy eyelid and a really dark burgundy lip. Like, cuz to me, like, I like simple, I love some shine on the face, like, you know, got there.. They started doing this and it was over two days, this like audition process. So when they got there, I found out that I was in the second round of the audition. Oh, you skipped the first, I skipped the first round. Apparently, apparently there were 4,000 people who auditioned in New York alone. Poor James had to go through all of these things. I, for some reason, he thought of me and. I was lucky enough to skip through to the final 40. Whoa. So they 4,000 to 40. 40? Yes. Were there any other Australians in the 40? No. Wow. So I was the only person they flew out losing my shit over. I know. Even me, I'm like, wow, this is like talking through it is like, wow. That was wild. Yeah, that was pretty cool. Anyway, so I was there. Priscilla Ono was there. Hector was there. There was like all these other great artists, like amazing artists. James was running the whole thing. So we had to get up, do a presentation on our signature look. Then we had to do like, it was like a fashion week type vibe where we were all lined up with a model. We had, I think it was 15 minutes to do a full makeup, and it was a red lip. And the look was a red lip and a clean face. Right? Which, that's my chair. Yep. I, I can a clean face in three seconds flat, like no problems. So I went in and did the red lip first and was like, I've only got 15 minutes. I wanna make sure this red lip is like perfect mint. Like it's gotta be amazing. Did the red lit first? Apparently that caught their attention. And then I did the rest of the face banged on a bass. You know, Amani amazing. Looks great. We love it. We love it like nice and easy because of course you wouldn't have been using, I was using my own product. You didn't know I had my own kit. Yes. Okay. So I was like, sweet, I can do, I can do it. Skinny, you know, in a second. Yeah. Concealed little bit of scar brushes, Brush up the brows and I felt like I was cruising and everyone else was like freaking out. Still on the skin doing this stuff.. I was one of the few people who had a red lip on at my model by the end of the 15 minutes. And so James later on told me that that caught their attention. Cuz I thought like a fashion week makeup artist. So, you know, whenever there's something in Fashion Week, like if there's a key feature, you do that first on any every single model because it doesn't matter if you are doing the skin backstage or if you're doing, you know, Little final, you know, touches in the lineup. But as long as that key kind of feature is done and done perfectly, then you know the rest is pretty simple and quick to be able to put on. Or you can have like a team if you do one, Bang it out. Yeah. So anyway, we did that and then at the end of it they said it was for Rihanna's new brand. I freaked out because. Love Han. Yeah, like my jam, Like I love Han. Like she's always been my style icon. She's always been like, I've been a huge fan of her music. Like loved her. So I was like, Oh well this is pretty cool. And then went back to Australia and then so how long were you in la? Two days. Holy shit. Oh, it was well weird cuz I think. a matter of a few months. I, I went to LA like a multitude of times. Literally flew in. Like, And you arrive on that flight, like at, you leave here at mid-morning, you
get there at 6:00 AM Yeah. And then I would do a day, and then I'd go back on the 11 o'clock at night flight . Oh my God.. Now you can see my s changed me. Yeah, definitely. Like, I dunno if I'm about that anymore. But it was definitely an opportunity that was like, you have to jump on that opportunity. So then they were like, we're gonna do a call back, and we we're going to do, call half the people. And I was lucky enough to get a call back and there were 20 of us and that was quite a rigorous like audition process where. We had to do a lot of stuff to camera like, and I'm not, I can talk to camera, I can talk to a Deborah Wall, dammit. But , I don't love being on camera, but often it's a part of my job, so sure, I'll just do it. But a lot of the US maker parts are very, . Good on camera. They're good at selling themselves. They really are. Americans have a different character, I think to Australians definitely to stereotype. They're just very eager and can do that very naturally. Whereas, and they're good at selling themselves. We're not. We're really not. Cause I'm like, Oh yeah, I can do a bit of makeup. Yeah. And I remember James speaking up for me at one point when I was talking to like a panel of people and he was like, Stop. She's gonna talk herself down cuz she's austral., but just know I've got her back. She's like, she she knows her stuff. Yeah. And I was like, Oh, she's, man. Yeah. I can do a bit of makeup with like, you know, like it's, I don't know, like we're just, not that I don't have an elevator spiel. Mm-hmm., I don't, I forget half the jobs I've done. Yeah. Like, I, I don't tell everyone I've worked with Nna, like, I don't, like, I've worked with people who after years are like, Oh my gosh, you worked with Ri, you never told me that. And I.. That's cool. Like I, I'm not gonna brag about it. It was a while ago. Yeah. I didn't see her last week. Like I so Australian of us, like we are very tall. Popp Syndrome. It's like, Oh, I don't wanna get too high. Someone might cut me down. But I don't know, like, I think it was definitely a moment of like a whirlwind thing. I got a call back and I didn't think I would get a call back after that. And then it was down to like, I think there were. Eight or 10 of us on like one of the, like one of the final rounds. And Rihanna was upstairs in like a room, I guess, and we were all in like our own little rooms. We weren't allowed to like see what the other artists were doing. We just had ourselves in the model. And we had to do three different looks plus our signature look. And then they were photographing it and the photos were all going up, tethering up to a computer that she was like looking at. Oh, that's so hectic, so surreal. But at in that moment, we used plenty. So we had this big table full of products that weren't labeled. They were literally just so it had all the matchsticks, it had the foundation, it had the gloss bomb. All the things, but it was all in the packaging from the factory, so nothing was like branded or anything. And so we went and used all that and then she came around at the end and she was like, Cause I put the lip gloss on the eye. I was like, Sweet, I'll do that. No rules, Like nothing's labeled. And she's like, Oh my gosh. I loved that you just used it like in an artistic way. You didn't look at it like, Oh, that's a lip. It's gotta go on the lips. She's like, That's what I love, that's what I want for this brand. I don't want it to be kind of, you know, rules. She's like, I, I like to have like that creative, no rules kind of vibe. So Penny thinks that that was the first time that she'd ever really like publicly spoken about how that opportunity with Fenty Beauty came to be like, at least in so much detail. And it was just like, I can't even describe to you I'm in this hot ass hotel room. I'm like sweating. It's so humid and gross and I just couldn't. Think about anything else other than trying to imagine what it must have been like being in a room, doing makeup, knowing that there's a live feed of what you're doing into a room where Rihanna's watching, because she wants to know what direction of the brand. You know, somebody can. Can make and to be chosen out of so many people from a, you know, the other side of the world. That's just, that's something else. And you know, you look at Penny's work and it completely makes sense, but God, she's so humble. Like she's just, you know what I love? And it's actually the case with everyone that I've spoken to, like Penny was just so down to earth and she was so normal. And it's like I've idolized these makeup artists for years and years and years and years and then, you know, you get to talk to them and it's. They're incredible people, but they're also, they're just like us. You know? Celebrities are just like us now, . So after that, you know, I did a whole slew of episodes. I spoke to a Polis who's a Melbourne makeup artist. She also works with the brand Ferrero. I did another, you know, couple solo episodes. Spoke to Sabrina while she was like a TikTok queen also from Brisbane Yarn Do in Canberra. Oh my God. I am obsessed with yarn. Go back and listen to Yarns episode. He. So much fun and he is so creative as well, and he really talks about his creative process. Spoke to Dani Cousens and then I spoke to Alex Parent and she absolutely blew me away. Alex was the first makeup artist that I had had from Sydney on the show. And if I'm gonna be super transparent with you guys as I always try to be, I. Saw a lot of kind of people in my community, in the Saint Jack community and listening to the podcast from Melbourne, I saw a lot of people listening to the podcast and you know, as well, I can see where people are purchasing my products from. And it was Melbourne and Queensland. It's like Saint Jack was great in Melbourne and Queensland, but you know, Sydney just hadn't happened yet. And I'd been following Alex for a while and I was like, Oh, she's just, she's so good at what she does. And I was. I mean nothing to Sydney makeup artists, like they don't know who I am. She's, you know, she got so many followers, like I'm sure she's got so many like requests. Oh my God, I can't even imagine. And it was actually the weekend that she had just done a week working with Carl Richards of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and I was like scrolling Instagram on a Sunday morning. thinking, who am I gonna get next on the show? But like, that's in the back of my mind. I wasn't actively kind of thinking, you know, thinking about it. And I was just seeing this amazing content of her working with Kyle. And I am, I hate to say it, a really big Housewives fan. I watch Beverly Hills, Potomac, New York, currently watching Salt Lake City. I can't help myself, it's how I switch off. And so I was so excited for her that she got to work with Kyle and I was like, that would be such a cool story to tell people about, you know, working with the celebrity of that nature. Because I think, you know, I've spoken to a lot of people who have worked with like, Australian celebrities and influencers, but like this person is on a major American TV network, like Hollywood movie Star. And I was just so curious and so I was like, you know what? The worst thing that could happen if I messaged Alex, because, you know, I didn't have a connection with her yet. She didn't follow Saint Jack. Yada, yada, yada. I was just gonna go into requests, is what I'm trying to say. What's the worst thing that can happen? I'm just gonna sit and request forever. Or alternatively, something slightly worse than that would be her replying to me and being like, No, I don't wanna come on the show. And of course, she didn't say that. She said, I would love to come on the show and her episode. Oh, she. She talks about how she does skin and she likes everything to look like elevated and expensive, and it's like that's what she's like. She's just like, she's so graceful. She speaks so articulately, ironically, for how I sound at this exact moment, she really. I was just very, very impressed by her and really inspired by her. And something that she talked about, which it never really crossed my mind, was how you brand yourself as a makeup artist and how that, you know, represents your business. Right? So if you think about like flight attendants, I don't know what the rules are these days, but I used to hear all these rumors about flight attendants having to like wear a certain amount of makeup and all this sort of thing. But it's like the whole point of getting a flight attendant to wear the red lip, for example, on Virgin Australia. I think that might be a thing that they have to wear a red lip. If not, they all do it, but it represents the business in a certain way so that you're gonna equate the business with that level of polish. Right. And she was saying something very similar about. How we present ourselves as makeup artists. And truthfully, I have been to many a job in my time where I have shown up in basically active wear and an oversized t-shirt because the job started really, really early in the morning. Say it's someone's wedding day, and I'm like, Well, would you rather me spend X amount of time making myself presentable this morning? Or kind of like sleeping in a little bit extra or getting a coffee so that I can make. Better, and I had that mindset and that mentality for a really long time. And then I heard what she had to say and I was like, Oh, I'm not representing my business very well. So I'm gonna let you have Alyssa to it. Let me know what you think. It's certainly stuck with me ever since this moment. Yeah, ladies and gentlemen, Alex Perrin and branding yourself, and she goes, I don't know what it is, but I just, I really trust you, . And I think that also comes down to not only me having a really great connection with her, her trusting me, but how I was presented. She looked at me and was like, You've got it together. She looked at me, I had my makeup done. I was dressed nicely. That's a really important part of the. If you aren't representing yourself in a certain way, and at the end of the day, it's your branding. So I'm always, always done. It doesn't matter what time of the day it is, I'm rocking up in an outfit, I've got my hair done, my makeup is done. Like it's a look good, feel good situation. So if I'm not feeling good, how am I gonna make you look, feel, um, feel good, you know? They love it. They love when you rock up and they're like, You are put together. They almost like don't understand how you're so well put together at that time of day. You know, it's the whole thing. So I always say to people like, It's We've all got questions about how you can look this good all day, every day. We've all got questions about that, but do go on now.. But yeah, no, she, she just trusted me and, and yeah, she was like, I love it. Off we go. And then, You know, we, we were attached by the hip for the three days. So we went from, you know, the interviews from Channel seven to channel nine, to then like, you know, the radio interviews and we had lunch together. Like we were literally. With each other for the three days straight. So it was really fun. Like we, we had a really great time and I really love her as a human. Like we, we got to learn each other about each other's lives and you know, just what's going on and what's happened and, you know, just the reality. She's, at the end of the day, she's a human being just like everyone else. So with celebrities and working with high profile people, they just want to feel like a normal person. So if you are in their presence and you're shitting bricks, they're like, Like, what's, what are we doing ? You know? Oh my God. They, they feel, then they feel like they Canditt, they can't connect with you. They're kind of just like, I am superior to you. So like, what's, you know, I'm just gonna mind my own business. Yeah, I'm one of these people, like this is, oh my God, I'm just about to like out myself so badly. But like , I, I'm like a starstruck type of person. Like I will get starstruck and like I would really have to rein it in if that were ever to happen to me. But like, it just sounds like you were so cool, calm, and collected and obviously that's gonna make a huge difference cause you're so right. Like they do just wanna be treated like people, but like, so does anyone and. This is just like blowing my mind. This idea of like branding and showing up in a certain way for not just Kyle or any other celebrity, but like everyone. Like that's the experience for everyone. Absolutely. And I feel like it's something that you are then known as People just know that yeah, you are on, you are on another. Like you're in another caliber. Like I hear, I hear about people tell me all the time, like, photographers will turn up to a wedding and they obviously arrive at much later. Like they arrive in the mor in the morning much later and they see how, you know, many people that are doing hair and makeup present themselves in the morning. And cuz we're starting at, you know, four in the morning, sometimes earlier, sometimes a bit later. But they say like, Alex, you're always so well put together. Like, you always have your makeup done, you're. Presenting yourself, like, bang on. And we see girls turning up in active wear or like track pants and they're hair in a top knot with no makeup on. And it's, that is your branding. That is you showing up to a job. Like how do you, how, how can you be charging premium rates? And you know, telling your clients that I'm gonna be bringing a premium experience. It is a luxury experience. Not everyone gets their makeup done every day, so you need to bring your A game, like there's no other way around it for me. And. I guess it, it comes down to also, yeah, like I love that I, how I feel when I, you know, when I've got myself put together. So that's an energy shift as well. So if I'm vibing, I'm feeling good, you know, that's, that's gonna then, you know, people, people can feel that. Needless to say, after that particular conversation, I really think about things and how I'm gonna present myself and my business before any job. A lot harder, you know, to each their own. To each their own. But it does make sense when you think about the service that you're providing is not just premium products that you're putting on somebody's face, but it's the premium experience. It's the whole thing. It's the whole vibe, It's the whole energy. So yes, you would have caught me at my most recent weddings, rocking a little suit that I got from Dish. Which I highly recommend to any of my thick thigh gals just like me,, because they cater for me perfectly. But you know, after that episode with Alex, I was just on such a high, I spoke to Mia Connor, who is just someone that I have admired for. God knows how long. Fernando, Hervas, and most recently alone comal. And if you have listened to that episode with Alone, you will know that much the same as I cooked it in that episode with Penny and the microphone wasn't even on. I had such significant internet issues with that episode that we actually had to record it twice and that. Such a nightmare, but you guys have really enjoyed the episode, so it was totally worth doing it all over again. I hope that you have really loved taking this little trip down memory lane with me. It's so funny because there's obviously hours and hours and hours worth of content in the podcast available wherever you're currently listening to this, and it's impossible. It is literally impossible for me to try and condense it all down into, you know, A few moments that I wanna share as if they're the only ones that matter. These are some of my favorites, but they are so many more that I just wish I could fit into this. But if you're interested, you're just gonna have to listen to the episodes, baby. But I just wanted to take this. A little opportunity while I've still got you to say thank you so much. Thank you so, so much for getting around the podcast. Like I said at the beginning of this particular episode, I was really quite nervous to tell certain people in my life that this is what I was going to do. I was really nervous about what people were going to think. And even though that's not healthy, it's just, it's true. I was worried about, you know, Even something as simple as people I'm no longer friends with or people I went to high school with, you know, what would they think if they saw me doing that? Would they make fun of me? And. It all kind of melts away. And the fear and the, you know, worrying about that and insecurity when you put yourself out there, it all sorts of melts, melts away when people support you. And I haven't met so many of you guys, which I find so crazy. Like, there's so many people I can think of right now off the top of my head. Sylvie Turner, Joanne, you know, people who share the podcast on their stories, week in, week out, shiny like you guys. Ah, there's so many of you, you guys. I'm so grateful for your support. You know, whatever I can do in the future of this business and in the future of this podcast to give that back to you, I absolutely will. But in the meantime, just know that with every episode that I make, if it gives you something, you know, that. Is gonna spark joy or creativity or inspiration for you, that makes it a hundred percent worth it for me. And yeah, I can't wait to see what the next year is going to look like. I'm already starting to put up some boundaries. Jack would be very proud of me based on , the snippet I shared. I'm putting up some boundaries over the next few months because as we know, Saint Jack is moving into its next phase with new things happening and exciting things happening, but never wanna leave this podcast behind. It is one of the true joys of my life as it stands right now, so thank you. I will see you on the next one. Bye.