Who Is Beyonce's Makeup Artist

As far as we know, in that location's almost no such thing as effortless dazzler. From facial treatments that leave your complexion dewy and luminous to the perfect winged eyeliner, experts reveal their about-trusted, insider hacks for CR's serial, Beauty Secrets.

Sir John is a makeup artist who believes that beauty is supposed to exist source of strength. "If information technology'due south not empowering, then what the fuck are nosotros doing?" he tells CR.

It'south a message that he's returned to often throughout his prolific career. Sir John's celebratory approach to beauty comes through each bold lip and shimmering eye he creates. The artist, all-time-known for his work with Beyoncé, got his big break assisting Pat Mcgrath and Charlotte Tilbury'due south makeup teams during way month. Since and then, he'south worked with some of the biggest names in the fashion and entertainment realms–those that are historic as strong female figures–including Serena Williams, Mary J. Blige, Chrissy Teigen, Joan Smalls, and, of course, Queen Bey.

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While he's achieved much more–hosting makeup masterclasses around the globe, appearing equally a mentor on beauty competition prove American Beauty Star, and launching a special-edition Lion King cosmetic collection last year tied to the live-activity remake–Sir John says he's still a student: "There's so much airs at the blackness chugalug level that you'll never learn anything else, so stay a white belt." Just here, the pro shows otherwise, teaching CR about how being a makeup artist goes beyond eye-catching beats, how he wants to build confidence in his clients, and why feminism is important in his work.

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You hinted that yous're working on something new, tin can you lot share anything about it?
"Correct now I have something to say, so information technology'due south going to commencement a bit earlier than the cosmetics or pare approach. It'due south a podcast that creates an ethos and rings into the consumer before nosotros inquire them to come where we are. It's nearly rallying around women who don't experience whole. Our business chips abroad at women and so much and in that location'due south and so much anxiety and depression that happens because of the glorification of vanity in the social [media] era, that I feel like part of my chore is to shed lite on, a lot of that shit isn't real."

Then how practice you combat that in your own work?
"Being whole starts with liking what y'all encounter in the morning, shaking what your mama gave you. How you look affects how you experience. So how does that bear on my day to day? I'1000 e'er doing a check-in. For example, Beyoncé sung at Kobe [Bryant]'due south funeral, and I had an idea of what I wanted to do, just emotionally I could come across she was heavy. And you know, information technology's not about me. Then many makeup artists and hairstylists, we get in and take this idea of what we want, but actually, what is your girl feeling? Can we magnify where she wants to be? It'due south non virtually hair, it's non about makeup, when you see someone shining on the red rug or track, it'southward because the team is in harmony. It's non simply considering the person is then swell. It's because the team had a flow or an energy that radiated through that client."

And how do you reverberate that in the makeup or dazzler itself?
"I was talking to Rosie Huntington-Whiteley for a show we filmed recently, and she asked, 'Sir John, how do you want people to feel later on you practise their makeup?' And I idea virtually information technology, and I don't desire them to feel sexy. I don't want them to feel beautiful. I want them to feel powerful. For me, beautiful is sweet, but information technology'southward too kind of soft. I want them to feel strong. And it tin but exist a statement lip or bully skin, information technology doesn't have to be so much of a look as much as it is a feeling. When you feel powerful, yous do more, you own more than, you expect more."

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It's about edifice conviction.
"Absolutely right. That confidence, speaking of social media, information technology weighs on the younger generation. Our job as elders in the community, fifty-fifty though I'chiliad like 37, is to check in with our younger girls because information technology doesn't happen to the guys in the aforementioned mode. And it started a long time ago. It started back in the '40s and '50s when the marketing companies needed to put a hold on someone'southward sense of self to sell product. Concealer, foundation, anti-wrinkle cream–all of these triggers we have in terms of advert affects a sense of cocky. Coming dorsum to a neutral betoken is the goal."

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Who inspires y'all?
"Goes without saying, Beyoncé is a huge inspiration. Massive, massive, massive. When y'all're around the lord's day, yous tin can't help but feel illuminated. Erykah Badu, and too my mom, my sister–the real women around. Ann Marie Nelson-Bogle who was the senior vice president marketing of Fifty'Oréal Paris and watching what she's doing in the boardroom everyday. I'1000 around some warriors. Just being around these strong women. I'm a huge feminist. When I say that, it's just a modern mode of saying that I'thousand an advocate for women. I grew up with a strong single mom. For me, I'grand making sure that's what'southward at the forefront. I'm really in that location to push button the agenda or to allow people who don't necessarily feel affected by women's issues know that they are affected."

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Sir John and his mom

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What is something you learned from your time working with Charlotte Tilbury?
"Charlotte always wanted me to be myself. When I say that, I was e'er myself. But being in the way industry, growing upward as an banana in the business, everyone has to wear black, everyone has to fit into the back. You're not supposed to be seen or heard. It kind of took a price on me. So she saw I was losing a bit of my underground sauce, and she pulled me aside backstage in Milan and was like, 'Sir John, I want y'all to bring all of that light here. I want y'all to be as flamboyant, equally fun, as absurd as the day I met you. Don't dumb that down for anyone.' When she told me that I looked at her like OK. Getting that creative license, no 1 needs permission, just sometimes yous need a reminder."