Three Brands Offered Me National Make-up Artist Positions

MunemiHow did you start doing make-up?
MunemiHow did you start doing make-up?

MatinMake-up is something that kind of fell into my lap. It wasn’t an intentional career path.
MatinMake-up is something that kind of fell in my lap. It wasn’t intentional career picture.

When I was in college, my roommate, who was a make-up artist, introduced me to a job with a make-up line. I started selling cosmetics, and somehow, I was very good at it. Soon, other lines started calling, and I worked for various brands. It provided a pretty good income throughout my college years.
When I was in a collage I needed a job. And my roommate back then was a makeup artist and he got me a job for a line. I started by selling makeup and somehow I was very good at it. Because of this, I kept getting offers from different cosmetic lines to work for them, which provided me a fairly good income during my undergraduate years in college.

Although I had a scholarship in graduate school and didn't need to work, I still received frequent calls from make-up lines for holiday sales. Dior and Bobbi Brown, in particular, often asked me to work special events.
And in my grad school, I had a scholarship so I didn’t have to work but I was still getting phone calls from lines for doing holidays, especially, Dior and Bobbi Brown asked me to come back and work for special events in the stores.


About two weeks after contemplating this, I received calls from Dior, Bobbi Brown, and Laura Mercier all at the same time. Each was looking for a national make-up artist.
Three brands offered me national make-up artist positions simultaneously. I felt it had to be a sign. I wasn't even looking for a job, but this was something I had been considering, and it was coming to me. A voice in my head told me, "You have to follow this."
This time, I completely surrendered and decided to pursue a career in make-up. I quit my job as a molecular biologist and interviewed with everyone.
I met Laura Mercier and her agent at the time, Timothy Priano, when they were launching her line. They created a job for me, and I also became her assistant. After working as her assistant for six months, I went freelance.
After 2weeks of having this thought, I received 3 phone calls from Dior, Bobbie Brown and laura mercier. All called me the same time and all were looking for a national makeup artist. And I realized that this is a sign, I didn’t even apply for a job and it was something I have been thinking about and it was coming to me. A voice inside my head told me that I better follow this. This time, I completely surrendered, decided follow makeup. So I quit my job as a Molecular Biologist, and I interviewed everyone and I met Laura Mercier and Timothy Priano (her agent then) when they were launching the line and I started working for laura mercier, they created a job for me, and I also started assisting her. I assisted her for 6month and started working my own.

My Big Break Came Three Years Later!

MunemiHow did your career develop from there?
MunemiHow did your freelance career go from there?

MatinIt was slow at first. It took me three years to get my big break. I believe every make-up artist needs one major break. After that, everything becomes easier.
MatinIt was slow in the beginning. It took me three years to break through. And I think every makeup artists need one big break. When we get that break, everything gets easier.

My break came three years later, from fashion editor Carlyn Serf De Dudzelee. At the time, she had moved from Italian Vogue to Marie Claire, and I did many covers with her and Laura Mercier. I would do the make-up for the models, and Laura would come in for the final touches. It was an incredible learning environment, working with top models, photographer Patrick Demercier, and make-up artist Laura Mercier. I was very lucky to start in such a place.
It was wonderful to work with top models, and with photographer Patrick Demercier and make-up by Laura Mercier, there couldn't have been a better place to learn. I was truly fortunate to begin in such an environment from the outset.
My break came three years later from a fashion editor, Carlyn Serf De Dudzelee , that time she has come from Italian Vogue and then marie claire. I did a lot of covers with her with Laura Mercier. I would make the girls up and Laura would come in and do final touches, it was great to work with all the big girls, and The photographer was Patrick Demercier and makeup was Laura, it couldn’t have been a better place to learn. I was very lucky to be in the right place from the beginning.

Carlyn knew how I worked and that I spoke a little French, as she enjoys speaking and expressing herself in French. She had a major shoot for ELLE in the Bahamas with photographer Gilles Bensimon, which was all about skin. She knew I could make the skin look darker without it appearing like make-up.
So Carlyn knew how I worked and I spoke a little bit of French, she likes to speak and express herself in French. And she had this big shoot for ELLE with the photographer, Gilles Bensiomon in Bahamas and it was all about skin and she knew that I could make the skin a lot darker without looking like makeup.

During the shoot, I was very shy and didn't really talk to photographer Gilles. But when we returned to the airport, he tapped me on the shoulder and said, "I'm shooting Liv Tyler for an ELLE cover next week and want you to do the make-up." I couldn't believe it and just kept saying, "Thank you."
Although I couldn't quite believe it, I was soon booked for the shoot. That month, my work was featured on the cover and in a 28-page spread in ELLE. This was when my portfolio only contained test shoots, so it was a truly significant breakthrough. He was incredibly generous, and I received eight covers from May to December of that year. By the end of the year, I had eight ELLE covers and two Marie Claire covers. My career completely changed. Celebrity publicists loved my covers, and that's how I started getting celebrity bookings.
I was very shy for the whole shoot and didn’t really interact with Gilles. When we came back to the airport, Gilles tapped my shoulder and told me “I am shooting Liv Tyler for a cover of ELLE next week and I want you do the makeup.” I was like “ Oh, thank you. Thank you.” But I couldn’t really believe it, but next thing I knew I was booked for the shoot. And that month, I had a cover and 28 pages in ELLE. This was when I still only had test shoots in my book. So it was a really amazing break through. He was very generous to me and gave me a cover of next month too, that year from May to December, I had 8 covers. It was incredible, I had 8covers of ELLE, 2 covers of marie claire, and my career completely changed. And the covers gave me into a lot of publicists, they loved the covers and that’s how I started getting celebrity bookings.





Profile
Matin is originally from Afghanistan. He is one of the most sought after fashion and celebrity make-up artists working today. His work has been published on the international and domestic covers and pages of Vogue, Elle, InStyle, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and Vanity Fair.
Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie, Julianne Moore, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Claire Danes, pop stars Dido, Mandy Moore, and Jessica Simpson -- all are among his clients. He is also the chief cosmetics science expert for Neutrogena.
Matin is the founder of Afghan Hands Inc., a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to helping Afghan widows.
CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 profiled the Afghan Hands project, and press coverage includes Elle, Life and Style, Vogue Nippon, Lucky and People.