November 12, 2016

Meet Atlanta Makeup Artist: Arielle Antoinette

Local Stories

Arielle, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Well like most young girls I battled with finding my individuality and finding a beauty within myself, physically and emotionally. Growing up I wasn’t knowledgeable as to which route to take and what I interrupted as beauty. Society and people in general paint this cookie cutter image as to what beauty is and what we as women should all look like. The void in me to find my beauty and to appreciate all beauty continued to grow within me throughout the years. I started to dibble and dab in makeup and hair trends back in my early days of high school. I was far from an expert when it came to these things. Long story short I didn’t have anyone to teach me the skills and techniques of makeup or hair. My passion and longing to know the keys of what society views as beautiful made me more determined to learn and build my own interpretation. Over the years I began to read and watch plenty of videos, youtube and google became my best friends. These platforms even gave me the courage to start my very own youtube channel. I taught myself different techniques and applied them to myself and my friends, well anyone I could get my hands on actually. It wasn’t about the money, it was about gaining the skill set to be successful. I didn’t even think of myself as a Makeup Artist in the beginning. I was just doing what made me happy. After a couple of years under my belt, I became more comfortable and decided to venture out. I have gained clientele by proving myself and being consistent with my work. This led me to my next decision with furthering my skills and gaining my Master Cosmetology License. I attended Aveda Institute here in Atlanta, GA. It was only last year that I completed years worth of training and became licensed with hair technique and skills to add under my belt. My passion has brought me into contact with great individuals with whom I have learned from as well as admire. I am very proud of what I have accomplished thus far. I plan to do much more to come within the beauty industry as well as television/film.

Has it been a smooth road?
It was definitely not a smooth road for me. There were plenty of times I wanted to give up and I thought things were difficult as far as the learning process or just dealing with other people. But after a while, I’ve learned if your passionate about something it always seems to find a way to make you not want to give up. It’s almost as though you need it as much as it needs you. So even though I felt discouraged sometimes I always fought to improve and try again. A difficult client today, try again tomorrow. Couldn’t make a look exactly how I wanted, try again. Couldn’t approach a crowd or an individual at that very moment, try again. It’s all a learning process and eventually something has to give. You got to learn it.

What are some of the influences that have played the biggest role in your journey so far?
Well, I wouldn’t say there was one specific person that played a pivotal role in my career. There has been many actually. There is my family and friends that have kept me motivated throughout my journey. And some of my friends have left lasting impressions on how strong I need to be to keep going forward in this industry. My clients and people I have come in contact with via social media have also played a big part with uplifting me and appreciating my work.

What type of clients or projects do you look forward to most?
Well, I always look forward to enhancing beauty on my clients and friends. If I had to pick a favorite project I like to work on I would have to say it would be photoshoots. I love to watch my work come to life behind the lens. Nowadays I’ve become so involved with photography and behind the scenes work that I’ve grown to love it! It’s a great experience and I encourage every artist to get familiar with behind the scenes work and enhancing your work through photography. It’s timeless…

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were just starting out?
If I had to start over the main things I would have done differently would be to have jumped in a lot earlier. It’s great to prepare your craft and study it but it’s a whole different ball game to actually get out there and start living it. I would have also started networking a lot more back then. I am just now learning the impact of networking. It’s funny cause you hear it a lot for this type of industry but I’m just now starting to get into it and get a grip on it. And the roads are endless when you open up to different people about your skills and goals. And just building connections. It shows growth and a sense of ownership in knowing what you’re doing.

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