Makeup mavens and film devotees were sent into flurries of passion this past month as the International Make-up Artist Trade Show (IMATS) rolled into Hollywood North, transforming the cavernous sprawl of the Convention Centre into a cosmetic Wonderland. Held annually in six cities across the globe (LA, New York, Vancouver, London, Toronto and Sydney) IMATS is the event of the year for the Makeup obsessed, where we get to be loud about what we love to do amongst friends such as tip-top Makeup industry leaders, Award-Winning Artists, beauty product innovators, and fill our kits to the brim with our favourite cosmetic treats.

This year saw the Blanche Macdonald x CurliQue booth in a glitzed-out blitz of artistry and ado: Dolly Parton dance parties, mega-pro run-ins and, most thrilling of all, two top wins in the show’s centrepiece student competition, the Battle of the Brushes (BtoB).

On the closing day, four Blanche Macdonald Makeup prodigies – recent graduate Shino Chen and current Co-op Makeup students Eva Svobodova, Agnes Liu and Yangi Kang –  took to the BotB platform for a high-octane Beauty/Fantasy brush-off, each tasked with the conceptual reimagining of ‘Historical Beauty Trends.’ Time turned back as looks spanning the Qing Dynasty to the rabble-rousing ‘80s strutted out of the archives as creative wonders, and the seconds seemingly stopped as the last two envelopes were split to reveal the names of Yangi and Eva to a roar of applause.    

Czech-native student Eva Svobodova, who took First for her ‘futuristic flapper’ look, stepped away from her post-stage interview with IMATS Executive Producer Michael Key, giant cheque clutched tight and forgotten in the daze of her win.

“I am still shaking. I can’t believe it,” gasps Eva. “It definitely came as a shock. Inside I was hoping I would win, but you never know. The whole experience, and meeting all of these amazing artists was incredible. It was all so intense – I still need to process it!

“It’s pretty crazy when I consider that I started exploring Makeup less than a year ago – I have found my passion at 27 years old! I went to my first IMATS last year; I saw the Battle of Brushes and was so excited by it. I told myself that the next year it would be me up on stage. I didn't think about winning or losing – I just wanted to do my best.

“It’s proof that if you really want something, go for it, and go for it in a way that’s your own, you can achieve it.”

Yangi Kang, who raised hair and elevated subculture to high art with her bold punk-inspired look, was all gleam and high spirits.

“This has been a huge journey for me. I prepared months for this, working on my designs, practicing over and over again. I can’t find the words. I’m just so happy”

Half-hidden behind the curtain was Yangi’s mother, discreetly fixing her makeup. Her mascara was simply no match for the high emotion of the day, having flown in from their home in Korea to support her daughter, and watch her take the Second place win.

“I really wanted to show her what I could do,” said Yangi, looking down at her trophy, “This is for her.”

Yangi’s mother was not the only one filled with pride – waiting on the sidelines to congratulate the four competitors’ feats was their Battle of the Brushes mentor, Blanche Macdonald Makeup instructor Jenna Kuchera. Having herself won the same competition years before at IMATS LA, Jenna knows well the challenges and thrill of this ride. And fresh home from a whirlwind, city-blitzing trip on the Fashion Week circuit, working backstage with mega Pro Makeup royalty Pat McGrath (chosen as one out of tens of thousands in her #backstagewithpatmcgrath Instagram contest), she is also one to recognize the potential of brilliance in these impressive emerging artists.

“In each of our competitors I saw a strong vision that they were working hard to make come to life,” says Jenna. “It can be really challenging to create in real life what you are picturing in your mind, and I saw each of them working through their design to get to that point of makeup happiness. It's always fun to see the looks on the day of the competition in their refined and polished state – I was so happy and proud! These were all really great, lovely, hardworking students. I am so thrilled for them. Way to go!”

The weekend saw pop-ins by fairies, werewolves, and TV & Film Makeup LEGENDS: two-time Emmy Award-Winning Special Effects Makeup Artist Andy Schonenberg (Jurassic Park, The Walking Dead) and industry heavy-hitter Bill Corso, two-time Emmy Award-Winner and holder of an Oscar Achievement in Makeup (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events).

Our own Makeup Big Leaguer, Blanche Macdonald Fashion Makeup Director, Founder of creative influencers’ agency NOBASURA, INGLOT Educator, and industry powerhouse Jon Hennessey talked subverting the constriction of trends by diversifying awareness of inspiration (bulk up your Instagram feed!), creating a textured riff on contour-highlight that was a little bit Kim Kardashian, a little bit Jobriath, and a little bit David Choe.

Back at our booth, it was nonstop creative flurry. Over the bold banter of our booth-mate, Award-Winning Makeup Artist and Founder of the London Brush Co. Siân Richards, and the click-swish-smack of product obsessing, was heard the ooo-ing and ah-ing of passersby who stopped to ogle our instructor demos: a barnacle-esque patina of Swarovski by Jenna Kuchera; an opulent Indian bridal look by Shaina Azad; intricate Mandala-like layers of hue by bodypaint champ Natacha Trottier. We all watched, jaws dropped, as CurliQue Q Talent Leader and Queen of Transformation Jaylene McRae transfigured before our eyes into an uncanny double of Dolly Parton, frisking about the venue in a country-sized smile and crimson fringe.

As we took strolls for quick shops and hellos, we were running into many a familiar face: graduates Pauline King, Catherine Long, and current student Omar Caloca yar-ing up Special Effects marvel Gideon Hay; Marie-Helene Babin and Jen Little spritzing magnificent sprays of pigment in airbrush masterpieces; Kait Davison strutting about in her self-made demoness F/X; a row of smiles and busy hands at the Make Up For Ever booth; and an IATSE Local 891 panel made up entirely of Blanche Macdonald graduates Tina Teoli, Amy Van Wormer, Candice Stafford and Zabrina Matiru-Anderson.

It was so wonderful to catch up with old friends, and meet new – a big thank you to everyone who came by our booth to share in the beauty thrill with us!

Ask Blanche Macdonald Pro Hair graduate Sandra Perovic what keeps her travelling from her Vancouver hometown for international hair competitions in Toronto and beyond, and her answer might just surprise you.

“I don’t enter because I want to win,” she explains. “I do it for me. I love the thrill of competition. Hairdressing is always fun, but it’s also important to do something that makes you feel good creatively. I like what I do every day but I love stepping out of the box for competitions. Clients don’t often want you to do something crazy to their hair. So I love the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone, put my skills to the test and see what I can create.”

Sandra may modestly insist that she’s not in it to win it, but her results say otherwise. She won an incredible two trophies for Best Men’s Cut and Style and Best Day to Night Look at this year’s Mirror Awards, Canadian Hairdresser Magazine’s annual competition, and was recognized as one of North America’s Top Five Newcomers at the Contessa Awards. 

Competing in Toronto against some of Canada’s most respected stylists at the Mirror Awards made her double victory particularly sweet and surprising. 

“There were hundreds of people at the actual Award Ceremony. It’s a really big event. They announced the Day to Night category first. I thought I had a chance but it was still shocking when they announced my name. And I was genuinely speechless when they announced my name as the winner of the Men’s Cut competition. There were so many amazing stylists in that category. I was the youngest stylist in the final with the least amount of experience, so that was a big honour. A lot of people I didn’t even know congratulated me, which was really awesome.”

Sandra’s Toronto triumphs didn’t come easily. Her amazing results at the Mirror and Contessa Awards were dramatic improvements from her very first hair competition, which she entered when she was still a student at Blanche Macdonald. 

“I was still just starting out,” she recalls with a smile. “In the colour theory level Renata Trebacz was our instructor. Out of the blue she asked me if I wanted to enter the Skills Canada BC Competition. I asked her, ‘Why me?’ And she said, ‘Why not you?’ I guess she saw something in me.

“I spent hours practicing with Renata before and after school. The actual competition was a lot more intense than I thought it would be. We had to cut, colour and style three types of look – a woman’s day look, an evening look and a men’s look. On the actual day of the competition I felt the pressure and didn’t really organize myself effectively.”

It turns out that you sometimes learn more in defeat than in victory. 

“I didn’t win, that’s for sure,” she laughs. “But whenever I don’t succeed in something it makes me want to kick butt and do even it more.” 

Kicking butt and improving her craft go hand in hand for Sandra. Before she even arrived at Blanche Macdonald she’d taken a hair program in high school in Burnaby, and studied barbering after graduation. But she knew that to take her career to the heights she knew she was capable of, she needed to become the finished package. 

“I knew I wasn’t there yet,” she admits. “I wanted to get into competitions and do photo shoots. There were so many things that I took from the program at Blanche Macdonald. The instructors really moulded me. I had previous experience from other hair courses so I had this mentality that I already knew what to do. I remember doing a crazy pattern on foils on a mannequin, and my instructor gave me three out of six. I was so offended. I thought the foils were perfect. I told him, ‘Why would you give me a failing grade? These are perfect.’ He said, ‘If you were perfect you wouldn’t be here.’ That idea really stuck with me. From that moment I knew I could always learn more and do better. 

“Photo shoots were the biggest thing for me. I had no idea how to do a shoot before I came to Blanche Macdonald. That segment really helped now I’m doing competition work. My avant garde shoot at Hair School was like a samurai headpiece. It was a lot of work with so much hairspray and hair glue. And lots of hair! That hairpiece is still in my basement.”

Sandra graduated and immediately started working on the floor at Vancouver’s C-zô Salon. An instant star, she also delved further into the world of competition, reaching the Finals of arguably North America’s premier Hair Contest, the Contessa Awards, in the category of Best Newcomer.

As one of the top five new stylists across the USA and Canada, Sandra flew to Toronto for the final, where was able to meet and mingle with the industry’s elite creative talents. 

“That trip to Toronto reset that passion to love my craft. Everybody has a different story of why they put their collection together. It’s really inspiring to see a style you love and talk to the person who created it.”

She still loves her time in Vancouver, putting in occasional backstage shifts in hair departments for runways shows during Vancouver Fashion Week (along with the most recent Blanche Macdonald Fashion Design Graduate Show), and relishing her time at her new home in the city’s fashionable Gastown neighbourhood, Ignite Beauty Lounge.

“I love waking up and going to work to see what exciting things the day has in store for me. There’s always something happening at Ignite Beauty Lounge, both with the continued education we receive and my amazing clientele. That relationship between a stylist and a client is very personal. Developing these relationships and learning more and more keeps me looking forward to work every day. There's never a dull moment.” 

Another great relationship is the one between Sandra and her instructors at Hair School.

“I’m back at Blanche Macdonald all the time,” she laughs. “I feel like I never really left. The team there are close to a second family. Each instructor there has given me something I’ve taken away and used. The doors are always open. If you have a question or a problem or need advice, they’re there for you, whatever you need. Renata trained me so closely. Everything she did was always so precise. She was my inspiration to go into competitions and try to be my best.”

With such a lengthy list of achievements already under her belt, it’s dazzling to remember that it’s been less than two years since Sandra graduated from Hair School. She learned a lot at Blanche Macdonald, and has continued to learn since then. There’s always room to get better.

“I still take courses to this day,” she explains. “Even if I know the techniques, I’ll remember things I’d forgotten or pick up new tricks. You have to go into hair with an open mind. I’ve seen people arrive at Hair School and think that only one instructor is right and everyone else has nothing to teach you. That’s not true. Everyone brings something new to your skills. There’s not just one way to do things.”

As a stylist challenging herself at the highest level, she’s still happy to share some words of wisdom for those beginning the journey.

“Don’t be scared when you’re a student and people come in for haircuts. They know you’re starting out. Have patience and don’t take anything personally. If you’re nervous clients can feel that. So shake it off!”

Marlayna Pincott is where kickass and kindness meets. Little about her warm, mellow tones assume the high-octane career behind them. And yet, this Blanche Macdonald Makeup graduate-turned-beloved-instructor marvel has painted the faces of chart-toppers and A-list personalities – cue Carly Rae Jepsen, Sarah McLachlan, Kate Morgan and the Beckerman Twins – and has a client book slicked with sleek Fashion names like Aritzia, Hugo Boss, Lululemon, Nike and L’Oreal.

Signed on with supreme boutique roster Lizbell Agency for over five years now, Marlayna knows well the thrill of the professional beauty industry. She hustled the scene and achieved her dream position with an overwhelmingly inspiring policy of positivity, initiative and personal connection. We count ourselves (and our students) lucky to have her here with us.

Having just slipped out of her teaching role for the day, Marlayna joins us to perch in the sun-soaked lounge of our Atelier Campus, to talk therapy sessions with Metallica, a goals list full of checkmarks, and how she invented waterproof eyeliner.

Lizbell – I mean, we’re talking about one of the most esteemed agencies in Canada, repping BIG names. How did you make you way onto such an incredible team?

Through years of volunteering and assisting! I strategically booked all Lizbell models in my creatives so that my name would keep blowing through their office. I knew that Liz would always go through all of the photos of her models that came in. One day, I received a call from their office and they asked me if I could come in to talk about potential representation. I started out with them as a Manicurist, proving to them over time to put me on their Hair and Makeup team.

You are described as a ‘Beautician’ on the roster, and have quite a few talents on offer to your clients – what is the value of being multi-platformed in your creative interests, pursuits and knowledge?

Being really well-rounded in this industry opens a lot more doors for you. Being able to do nails has allowed me to work with some incredible teams of artists from New York and elsewhere that had already had their Makeup covered. I’ve found that being able to do ‘it all’ has always led to other opportunities. It allows me to form personal relationships with clients on set because I can say, suggest that they come see me for a hair colour, or to have their nails done sometime. I also took Animation and Web Design, which I find really helps in knowing about the post-editing side of a shoot.

How did this all start – what was your ‘Cosmetic Awakening?’

After taking an Esthetics course, I decided to go into Animation. I would be designing my 3D characters, and I was more concentrated on the shoes they were wearing, their eyelashes and their hair than I was in the actual programming process!

I was blessed to be able to assist [BMC Makeup graduate-turned-instructor and Pro Artist] Jon Hennessey and [Pro Canadian Makeup Artist] Johnny Bellas (I was introduced to some amazing artists in the industry when I was assisting my Aunt, Tracey Pincott, with wardrobe styling and fashion show producing!) and it was working with those two that I actually saw that I could make Makeup a career. At the time I was also doing a bit of acting and modeling so I was around Makeup Artists a lot, and just seeing the different settings they could be working in. I grew up in a small town where Makeup was mostly bridal, and that wasn’t really enough for me. This was a new side of things. From there I just fell in love with the whole idea of Beauty as career.

So you were exposed to the industry quite early on! You must have had some incredible experiences assisting your Aunt – Tracey Pincott ('Stylist at Large') is a mainstay of the local scene.

One thing that I always stress to my students is how important it is to have an eager, positive attitude. My Aunt knows many great people in the industry, but one thing she taught me from an early age is that there's no 'special treatment.' She would give my opportunity by putting me to work in a setting where I could potentially meet people, but would never ask them herself to let me assist them. I had to approach them professionally on my own with a mouthful of reasons why I would be a great volunteer assistant. I'm happy to have learned this lesson because it has pushed me to be independent with my success. I feel I have truly earned it.

Do you have an on-set memory that stands out to you?

I was working with Metallica and [bassist] Robert Trujillo came storming backstage. He was livid – swearing, throwing his arms, throwing a fit – because one of the security guards was trying to kick him out. I guess they didn’t know Metallica very well, and Rob didn’t have a pass on because they were the main talent. It was really rewarding being able to take him from a hundred down to zero. That’s a huge part of our job as Makeup Artists is to be a part-time therapist, reigning things in when somebody has to go out to perform. I truly realized that in this situation. The energy that you’re putting out there with the talent before they go out and perform is so important.

Do you have any personal on or pre-set rituals?

I’m really into smudging [burning sage for emotional, psychic, and spiritual cleansing]! I don’t do it on set; I do it at home before I leave. I’ll smudge my kit and myself. And I always carry around crystals. I have a big Amethyst and a little one so that I can keep the smaller one in my hand.

I'm really fascinated by crystal healing, and the different uses of incense throughout various cultures and traditions. I like to use some of these learned rituals in my morning routines before a big job.

What’s your favourite trick for a tight shot?

What I’ll do is find out what the main focus is and start with that. So if they wanted eyes, lips and skin, I’d start with whichever they were focusing on and put on a coat of mascara that I can build up later if I need to and have time.

What is your current kit obsession?

My little mascara brush from M·A·C! It’s really great for people with blonde lashes; it can be hard to get right to the root with a wand, but with this brush you can get right in there. You can really build up the mascara with it too.

And, I must always have my soy sauce dish. I put my foundations and my moisturizers in it, and I’ll use it for my brush cleaner too, once the day is done.   

Do you have a hilariously regrettable personal Makeup phase?

Oh ya. Absolutely. Back in highschool and before there was waterproof liquid liner, I would use toothpicks with waterproof mascara and I would put it on in this gnarly thick line. It was so bad that my Aunt, who works in Fashion, had one of her Makeup Artist friends have an intervention with me.

That’s actually quite inventive!

I wish I had patented it!

What is something that is inspiring you creatively lately?

[Blanche Macdonald Makeup Instructor and graduate] Tim Hung is inspiring me lately! I just love how he’s doing everything. It’s cool because he’s a part of the Blanche family and I’ve known Tim for a very very long time. I like to be inspired by people who are in my reach, more so than celebrity Makeup Artists. [BMC Makeup graduate and international Fashion & Celebrity Makeup Artist] Andrea Tiller is really inspiring me as well. Her and I started out around the same time, and she’s just doing so well. She totally earned it too, with how hard she works! It’s nice to see.

Having worked in the industry, what do you think about the students and Blanche Macdonald – how do they set themselves apart?

Often I need assistants on jobs. Even more so after my bad car accident a few years ago (it is really hard for me to lift anything too heavy these days). When I needed volunteers in the past I would always contact [BMC Makeup Career Director] Heather Sosa because Blanche  graduates seem to always have a great understanding of the industry. They will always show up on time (which in this industry means 15 minutes early), they are always following proper dress code on jobs, and come ready with a solid amount of set etiquette knowledge.

Blanche has a profound reputation not just in BC but around the globe. When I have to get a sub instructor for any of my classes so that I can make a booking I know that my students will have an amazing experience in class that day either way, because Blanche has a wealth of talent on their roster. Every instructor at Blanche is actively working in the industry, keeping things current for their lessons. A majority of this city's successful artists are teaching here! When you're working at your own success, it's great to be surrounded by inspiring, talented artists. I most certainly am at Blanche!

Looking back at your career from where you currently stand, what is your biggest point of pride?

The moment I was finally signed on by Lizbell. I had worked at that for so long and it’s really great to have someone so inspiring put their faith in you. I admire so many artists on the roster. To be next to them on the site is just so great.

I just moved out of my place recently – I had lived there for seven years – and as I was packing up my closet I found this book. In it I had written a whole bunch of goals while I was still at Blanche. I remember that when I was writing those goals they seemed so unreachable, but I wrote them down anyways. I was actually able to check of everything on that list. It was so cool.

What drives you in your artistry and career?

The happiness and freedom I get from doing something that I absolutely love. My favorite quote is "If you do something you love you'll never work a day in your life." That doesn't mean I find my job easy by any means. It just means that I can deal with day to day challenges with a huge smile on my face! That's also important for my students to know. If you never feel challenged at work, then you need to work harder.

What is your personal motto in career and artistry?

Always stay positive and humble. Being negative can spiral so quickly and it doesn’t make your day any better. Always grounding yourself and staying positive is huge.

“Fashion needs to sustain you! This is an ever evolving and changing industry that requires flexibility and an incredibly tough skin. You must have passion to be here. Without that passion to drive you, the rest will just wear you down.” 

As Assistant Manager of Nordstrom Calgary’s department TBD, housing women’s denim and contemporary lines, it’s Cole Firkus’ job to ensure his team is working together, keeping their numbers up and, of course, helping their customers look fabulous. The Blanche Macdonald Fashion Merchandising graduate has worked immensely hard to get to where he is today and though he loves his job in the midst of the Fashion Industry, he’s very careful to dispel any romantic notions of constant glitz and glam.

“If you’re only in Fashion to look good, then get a great job in something else that can aide you in shopping for the best clothes. You don’t get into fashion to look good. You get into fashion to change how the world looks.” 

Growing up in rural Cochrane, Alberta, fashion wasn’t a main interest for Cole, even though he always appreciated a certain aesthetic. This good taste is at the heart of his work. Even as a child, he knew how he wanted and didn’t want to look. 

“My Mom says I never left the house dressed improperly. I was always put together even as a kid and never in sweatpants,” he laughs. “Once I became a teenager, my interests evolved to actual fashion and designers and trying to find the clothes I liked that really showed who I was.”

A love for fashion and designer knowledge didn’t automatically catapult Cole straight to Blanche Macdonald or even aspiring to a career in fashion. 

“I wanted to do something in the fashion world but it seemed so far away from anything I’d ever known. So I began a degree in Spanish in Calgary.

“I came home from school one day and I’d completely had it with university. My friend had just enrolled at Blanche Macdonald and she told me to apply and see what happened – so I did! And I felt so much better. I remember getting my acceptance to Blanche Macdonald and really, really being able to see a future in something I actually wanted to do. It was amazing.”

“Instantly I knew I’d made the right choice. I actually wanted to go to school for this!”

Thriving in all his classes, Cole found a special passion in Donna Baldock’s Textiles lessons.

“I absolutely loved Donna and that entire class! I still have the binder of swatches we had to make and refer to it all the time!” 

No stranger to the challenging questions graduation brings, Cole spent plenty of time with Career Director Mel Watts after finishing Fashion School, exploring opportunities and discussing potential careers. And then one day his dream ship came in. 

“Mel had just been contacted by Dream Careers so I went to their presentation and ended up getting accepted into their program.”

Dream Careers matches students with specialized internships in their chosen fields all over the world. Out of thousands of applicants Cole was one of a select few accepted to head to New York that spring. Scoring an internship working as a PR intern for major fashion labels Donna Karan and DKNY meant that Cole was on his way to becoming a shining star in the fashion universe. 

“It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done. If I could’ve extended my Visa, I would’ve worked in New York forever!” 

And what more perfect time to intern at a fashion house in New York than during Fashion Week?

“Every class I’d had at Blanche Macdonald came in handy. I was an intern, so obviously I wasn’t planning the runway shows. At the same time, they didn’t have to explain what every little thing or term was to me. There was one time we received an email that a publication needed anything we had with a Breton Stripe like, now! Everyone was scrambling trying to find out what exactly a Breton Stripe was but thanks to Peggy Morrison’s Fashion Elements class, I was like ‘I know what we need!’             

“If you remember the scene in The Devil Wears Prada where Anne Hathaway has the binders of people to memorize? I had to do exactly that but with their seat assignments too! The idea was that when these people came in, I would greet them, take them out of the line and then seat them. It was so crazy! But I got to meet absolutely everyone!”  

If there was one thing that his classes at Blanche Macdonald did not prepare him for, it was the excitement of meeting his idol: the influential and glamorous editor and buyer for Bergdorf Goodman, Linda Fargo.

“We couldn’t start the show without her and I was waiting outside so I could take her straight to her seat, which I still remember was F1-1, but security was being told to close the doors! It was so stressful. Finally, she arrived and when I went to lead her to her seat, she just grabbed my hand. I could hardly keep myself together!  When I got her to her seat, I turned and went back to where I was standing – and cried! Even now, reliving the experience brings back emotion. I had met my idol and she was everything I thought she would be. Completely flawless.”

Back on Canadian ground, Cole was eager to capitalize on his New York experience. 

“I’d worked at a few stores around Calgary and was always one of the top sellers but there was never any room to move up. That’s when I decided to start looking for a new job that would possibly lead to something more.” 

Thanks to his stellar sales reputation, Cole eventually found his home at Nordstrom and in his short time there, he’s proven himself a force to be reckoned with. After rising to the top of the sales ranks, he was part of the first Canadian class of Future Nordstrom Leaders, which prepares the Company’s most promising talents for eventual management. He also won an in-house sales competition which saw him take a whirlwind three-day tour of Nordstrom offices in Seattle to meet the design and buying team and design one product for a Nordstrom in-house brand.  

“They actually liked my ideas so much they took three!”

And just what inspired these amazing pieces? He grins: “I can’t say too much about it but I was heavily inspired by nautical themes and menswear. They should be launching this fall and next spring!”  

Since Seattle, Cole has been busy teaching his team how to do what he does so well: styling and selling.

“I’m lucky to have such a great team. They’ve already got the basics; I’m just helping them along. All the knowledge I gained from my time at Blanche Macdonald and my internship is why I’m so successful. I try to share that with the people I work with and of course, my customers!”

Happily squeezed in between two friends, head crowned in sunglasses and limbs bared to the mounting heat of a hot summer’s day, Caitlyn Dixon seems your average twenty-two year old headed to the beach. Her words come bright and sweet, and her radiant spirit seems to carry the sun into the room.

Yet Caitlyn has far more spectacular reasons than a cloudless day off behind her smile. This young power wonder has just swept through the world stage in a cyclonic few months training with Beauty industry Big Leagues, stepping the red carpets at Cannes, and painting the faces of mega stars as a contestant of L’Oreal’s prestigious new international competition, THE BRUSH.

“It’s been a whirlwind! Every single moment has been mindblowing. There are so many highlights that I can’t even pick one!” (Though, painting the face of SUPER strutter Soo Joo, group hugs with Eva Longoria, and three brilliant rounds of wins are some that may be worth mentioning.)

“I had no idea that it would come to this. It’s the greatest gift. It’s been life-changing.”

A journey that culminated spectacularly in a star-studded Paris production, seeing Caitlyn placing in the international Top 3 candidates for L’Oreal Paris’ new Makeup Designer, began in the humble town of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Since graduating from Blanche Macdonald’s Makeup program, Caitlyn has been busy championing the freelance beauty game back in her hometown, but when the call came for video submissions to the first The Brush contest, Caitlyn responded.

Through a mind-boggling deluge of support on social media, which saw over 5,000 members joining a Facebook campaign to help vote her into the semi-finals, Caitlyn took a top slot and moved on to nationals.

“It was a total craze in Toronto with the competition and the engagement and everything – I was on cloud nine!” Caitlyn enthuses, recalling the daze of taking the title of Canadian Finalist and being popped THE question over the roar of the Niagara Falls, all within a few days.

“And sometimes life turns into a giant fairytale,” read her bleary-eyed Insta-announcement. Fairytale indeed. Caitlyn had secured her ticket to the French Riviera.

The next few weeks before the big flight went by in a flurry with Caitlyn sent jetsetting across the country, hopping between Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto for interviews, glossy events, and trainings, including an incredible mentorship with Canadian Makeup Designer Eddie Malter. L’Oreal Canada’s Communications and Digital Director Hugo Thibault gave her the star treatment, introducing her to the Media, PR, Marketing and Product Expert teams with flourish, and taking her out for her very first Salmon Tartare (it was delicious).

She arrived on the French Riviera in high style, stepping from the runway to the crimson cush of the Cannes Film Festival red carpet, brushing elbows with pop culture royalty like Parker Posey, Robin Thicke and Aishwarya Rai (“To me, she is the most beautiful woman in the world… I can’t describe how exciting that was. It was almost like an out-of-body experience!”)

And, still shimmering in the glitz of her luxurious arrival, she arose victorious once again in the semi-final round, which saw her smoke out Pro artists from Spain, Australia and China.

“The big finale was the day after the first round, where we found out who the top three was. We showed up in the morning and were shown the set, all sleek and white with seating for the audience, and a station for each of us in the centre. There were cameras everywhere. Eva was in her Louboutins and her gorgeous white dress. It was all pretty special.

Later that evening the space, commandeered by host Eva Longoria, would be milling with a dizzying list of star names: models Karlie Kloss, Doutzen Kroes, Lara Stone, Barbara Palvin and Soo Joo Park, as well as heavy-hitting L’Oreal Paris pros Karim Rahman, Yann Joffredo, Michael Angel, and social media celebrity Kristina Bazan on the panel. It was enough to make anyone keel over in anticipation and pressure, but Caitlyn kept cool-headed and focused throughout – with a little help from some musically-inclined friends.

“We had quite a bit of time to wait while they were setting up, and I had two songs that I had been playing over and over in my headphones: Shania Twain’s ‘Today is Your Day’ and Carrie Underwood’s ‘Crazy Dreams,’” Caitlyn admits with a smile. “Both of those songs really speak to me and they kept me focused and calm. I always do some breathing exercises as well!”

Shania and Carrie seem to have done Caitlyn good, as she confidently slicked on a graphic take on Soo Joo’s blue ‘colour obsession’ that had models and panel members in collective coos of awe.

“When we were pulling up to Cannes on the train, I was looking at the ocean and admiring the French Riviera – how it faded, the further you looked, into that deeper and deeper blue. I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. I was thinking to myself, ‘I need to use the ocean as my inspiration at some point in this competition if I can.’ So when Soo Joo said that we should use water as our inspiration, I thought, ‘OK, let’s do this.’”

“I would have been a lot more nervous two and a half years ago! All the the freelancing and assisting that I did really helped in that moment for me to feel calm and feel prepared. It was just like I was doing a regular Makeup application – that’s how I treated it."

It all began in the Makeup studios of the Blanche Macdonald Centre. Looking back on the mad rush of the practical exams and photo shoots that ignited her year in the Makeup program – at the research, prep and creative charge of each time-capped challenge – it is clear to Caitlyn that her ability to push herself under pressure was discovered and found strength then. A mini beauty bootcamp leading up to Paris with BMC Fashion Makeup Director Jon Hennessey – whose globe-trotting credits include working with big Fashion and Celebrity names (Coco Rocha, Alicia Keys, Alexander McQueen, Valentino), as well as dolling up the elite for the Cannes Red Carpet – brought her back to the halls where her taste and talent for challenge first took flight.

“Jon and I really focused on perfecting the skin - making it look flawless and complete. We worked on technique and perfecting the little things because that’s what makes a look polished and sets it apart. On my own I did a lot of researching of trends. Getting yourself in the know with that sort of stuff is so important.

“The opportunity to work with Jon was in itself a total dream come true. A lot of the artists that I learned from at Blanche Macdonald are doing amazing things and are a huge inspiration because I’ve met them and have seen what they can do, and this makes it seem more attainable.”

Between televised slots with CTV and ETalk, being invited to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, and meeting the Editor-in-Chief of Elle Quebec (watch for her feature in the September issue, hitting newsstands August 11th!), Caitlyn somehow managed to keep her more personal publicity of social media running on a pace as engaging and breathtaking as her realtime experience. And thousands were keeping up.

“I wanted to include everyone in my journey, especially given all of the support I received from everybody in my hometown, and from Blanche Macdonald. It’s so important to be present. Now I can’t go anywhere in my hometown without somebody congratulating me!

“It’s been incredible – I don’t even have words for it. I wish that I could send every single person a thank-you card! It’s been so humbling to have that support. I feel so lucky and really am grateful.”

Even without the title she set out on this journey to achieve, Caitlyn has gained an invaluable array of industry insights, connections, confidence, and fabulous memories that she will never forget.

“I’ve met people from around the world! These competitors from Spain, Italy, Thailand are huge in their Fashion industries back home. They do Vogues, and all of these amazing things that I’ve never done before, and it was so incredible to be able to connect with them here. Meeting everybody at L’Oreal was so great. I’m connected to everyone in Montreal now and they’re fantastic to work with. Even doing the London Drugs Beauty Event in Vancouver, I was able to meet all of the biggest bloggers on the West Coast, so there’s been a lot of opportunity for networking.”

It was five months filled with once-in-a-lifetime experiences but Caitlyn, fiercely driven that she is, is not one to sit back and reminisce. She’s already working on creating new fabulous opportunities for herself in artistry and career.

“My passion for Makeup, what I’m doing and where I want to get to drives me. It’s all a journey – through the good and bad steps, it will take you to where you want to if you try hard enough.

“I would really like to work with an agency and do more editorial. I’m building my portfolio to be more specific to where I want to go with it now, and just really focussing on building my brand.”

But for today at least, it’s just sunshine, friends, and basking in the excitement of what is still to come.

Speaking from his chic apartment in Stockholm, Sweden, Paul John Reyes is living proof of how an eye for style and a taste for hard work can take a young Fashion Design graduate anywhere he or she wants to go. 

“I knew I wanted to move to Sweden before I’d even graduated from Fashion School,” he explains. “The more we learned about the various Fashion Weeks around the world, the more I started understanding the origins of certain looks. I really liked the Scandinavian culture and style. They’re very straightforward with everything in life, especially fashion. They have a functional, minimalistic approach with simple silhouettes. If you’re on the subway here 90% of the colour is black and white. I wanted to come to Sweden to be inspired by the culture and style, and to mature myself as a designer.”

Inspiration and perspiration go hand in hand. Paul put in the long hours of research and hustled his way to the ultimate Scandinavian fashion experience, negotiating a five-month internship for himself at International lifestyle label J.Lindeberg. That internship has finished now. He’s still digesting everything he learned.

“J.Lindeberg wasn’t easy to find,” laughs Paul. “They don’t advertise internships. I had to go deep into the internet to find an email contact. When I finally got in touch with the right person they asked me to send my stuff over, then invited me to do a Skype interview, which eventually led to the internship.

“As a fly on the wall I could observe and learn a lot. I could see how the professionals do it in fashion and business. I was in this creative environment that was really inspiring and got me excited for work every day. I took a lot of knowledge from my time there. If I started my own brand or worked for another company, I’d look at it from an entirely new perspective now. I’m wiser and more mature. I have a far better understanding of how I’ll do things when it’s my turn.”

Paul’s turn will be arriving soon. He was making waves in the Canadian fashion scene before he flew to Sweden, walking away from the Blanche Macdonald Fashion Design Graduate Show with his class’s Award for Collection Interpretation, and dazzling his hometown of Medicine Hat, Alberta with a collection and sold-out show for his label, Knownwealth, co-created with fellow graduate Brockton Lane.

Paul’s determination to carve his unique niche in the fashion industry makes sense once you understand his background. Fashion is in his blood.

“My mother is a seamstress. She’s been sewing her whole life. Her mother was a seamstress and her father was a tailor. She always loved to design. Her speciality was wedding and prom dresses.

“I thought I had great style in High School, although looking back at old photos I’m not sure if that was the case. I was more of a jock back then. I played soccer and went to Medicine Hat College on a sports scholarship. I didn’t realise until my early 20s that fashion was what I wanted to do. When I started serving and bartending in the restaurant industry I had to look good. I’d get my Mom to tailor my shirts and make me ties. Eventually she got tired of doing that and taught me how to do it myself. Then my colleagues started asking me if I could take in their shirts too. Mine were fitted and theirs were baggy and looked like they came from Walmart.”

Turning to the one fashion expert he knew, Paul asked his mother how he could turn his tailoring sideline into a career.

“She told me that I should study fashion. Coming from Chile she never had the chance to study her craft. She just picked it up as she went along. I wanted somewhere that had a professional standard. Blanche Macdonald was the place that really stood out.” 

For a budding designer who would eventually make a home for himself in stylish Stockholm, the journey from Medicine Hat to Vancouver was accompanied by a large slice of culture shock.

“Vancouver seemed huge to me when I arrived!” he laughs. “Everyone suddenly had great style. Everyone always seemed to be doing something. There were so many creative people and outlets.”

Surrounded by creativity at Fashion School, Paul insists that it was hard work, not innate talent, that took him to the top of the class.

“Because I’m Chilean when I was playing soccer, people would assume that I was naturally good. But compared to some of my friends I wasn’t a natural. I had to push for it. Once I found something I wanted, fashion, it was the same. I saw that I could succeed if I worked at it. So many times I had to rip things apart and start over. Design is a process and it can be frustrating. It’s very meticulous and takes time and patience.

“Every day at Fashion School was challenging. It was also one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I loved the lab work – throwing your earphones on and getting on with it. When you reach that point you feel like a kid in a candy store. You have professional machines, awesome tools, computers and these great resources, including the instructors. You’re privileged to use them. I took a little bit of everything from every instructor. Even after I finished school I would often think, ‘Peggy Morrison would love this’ or ‘Lisa Gellert would be critical of this.’ I definitely carry their teachings with me.”

Suitably inspired, Paul crafted his award-winning graduate collection by deliberately exploring styles and fabrics outside his comfort zone.

“I wanted to do something that was a tribute to my Mom. She loves luxurious, elegant fashion runway style clothing. I wanted to make her proud. And from an aesthetic and marketing perspective, I wanted something that would look good on a runway. It wasn’t really my style or identity, but I wanted to challenge myself and create something that would stick out. I ended up winning the Award for Collection Interpretation, so I guess it did!”

Paul’s commitment to hard work continued after graduation. Joining forces with fellow graduate Brockton Lane, they returned to Medicine Hat to design and eventually show a collection entirely of their own creation.

“The Knownwealth collection was different to what I’d shown at Fashion School – more my aesthetic. It’s chill, ready to wear, minimalist clothing with an edge to it. We showed 18 different looks, with close to 50 actual garments. We sold 350 tickets and grossed $7,000. Unlike Fashion School this was all on us, from buying the fabric to drawing and designing it, sewing it, hiring models and finding a venue. It was all on us. The reason behind the collection and the show wasn’t to get picked up by retailers. It was to see what we could do on our own. We wanted to build our portfolios. We wanted the photos and, more importantly, videos. We knew that was what would get us internships.” 

Paul’s work with Knownwealth impressed J.Lindeberg enough for them to offer an internship to the young designer from the opposite side of the world. That’s typical of Paul’s career. If he wants something, he’ll work until it becomes a reality. So when he says that there’s a new collection fermenting inside his brain, you’d be crazy to think it won’t be gracing a runway and stores sometime soon. 

“I want to make a small collection, focussing on getting it manufactured and getting it to retailers. I’ve always made ties. They were the first things my Mom taught me to sew. I want to start a brand called Mother, which will be ties and accessories, maybe under the overall umbrella of John Paul Reyes. If I can get it into stores in Canada and Sweden I can say I’m an international designer!

“I can’t wait to get the creative juices flowing again!”

To be able to see and hear the Indian Ocean every morning is a truly inspiring awakening; its crystalline waves lapping at the white sand of the beach at Shangri-La’s spectacular Villingili Resort and Spa, in the tropical paradise of the Maldives.

“My home is an island surrounded by natural beauty! Palm trees and clear ocean. Of course I’m enjoying it!” laughs Blanche Macdonald graduate and the Shangri-La Villingili’s Director of Spa and Recreations Roxana Sanchez. “I have the opportunity to scuba dive every week and disconnect from the world into a breathtaking experience.”

It’s not all relaxation. Luxurious Island life keeps Roxana busy. Aside from recruiting, guiding and training the Villingili’s international team of therapists and estheticians, she is responsible for the short and long-term strategic planning of her departments, purchasing and budgeting, and spearheading marketing campaigns, all the while keeping on top of everything going on in the spa and leisure industries, both in the Maldives and around the world.

It’s an interesting challenge, but Roxana is used to management roles. She rose to the position of Spa Director with the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts group before she even began her Esthetics training at Canada’s Top Spa School.  

“I came to Canada from Mexico when I was 18 and lived close to the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, BC. Every morning I walked past this beautiful castle and really wanted to learn more about it. The first job opening I saw available was a spa receptionist, for which I applied instantly. The rest is history! For me it was the beginning of a beautiful journey that has taken me to places I would have never imagined. The more I learned about the industry, the more I became interested. I started to understand that it takes a special group of people to work towards the overall wellbeing of a complete stranger. It takes passion, selflessness and good energy to pull it all together. By the healing power of touch you can cure many conditions and make a good living at the end of the day.”

All Roxana needed to get her career rolling was a foot in the door. The more she learned about the spa industry, from administration to therapies to products, the more she loved it. She quickly rose to the position of Group Coordinator to Spa Reservations/Revenue Manager and was soon transferred to The Fairmont Mayakoba in the Riviera Maya, Mexico to become Assistant Spa Director. From there she was invited as an Acting Spa Director at Fairmont Nile City in Cairo and subsequently to Beijing, China as Spa Director for Fairmont Beijing. Roxana had become an international force in the esthetics world.

“I was doing everything except being an actual esthetician,” she explains. “I wanted to learn more about how to perform the treatments. I knew the protocols and the steps the estheticians and therapists had to follow. But that’s a different thing from actually performing the services. I was always on the other side.”

Roxana had decided that the time had come to complete her esthetics education. And it was only ever going to happen at one school.

“I did my research and from the very beginning, so I knew Blanche Macdonald was the best school for what I wanted to accomplish. I didn’t think twice about going anywhere else. Deciding to go to Esthetics School wasn’t about taking a step back. It was all about increasing and enhancing the skills I already had.”

Even though Roxana had been around spas her entire professional life, stepping through the doors of Blanche Macdonald was like entering a new world.

“It was a completely different environment. I’d been in the industry but never actually performed a treatment. There are so many aspects of anatomy and skin that you need to take into account before you touch someone or apply a product to someone’s skin. That was exactly what I was looking for! 

“I was thrilled to have the opportunity to get to know Simona Gozner too. She’s an amazing lady and someone I really admire. She started at the bottom and rose to the top by working hard and really caring about what she does. I was thrilled to spend time with her. She’s so professional and so was the education. The approach I learned at Blanche Macdonald was what I’d experienced in the industry. It opened my eyes to new things too. Like how important the ingredients in various product lines are.”

With her in-demand skills as an esthetician and experienced Spa Manager, it hasn’t been unusual for Roxana and her husband to move to a completely new corner of the world every two or three years. For now though, they’ve found a home in the Maldives.

“All our therapists and estheticians are expats. Our team is from Fiji, India, China, Bhutan, Philippines, Turkey, Thailand and Indonesia, which is exciting! I give complimentary skincare nutrition education to our guests and colleagues, including sun protection, naturally. Here I’m able to combine all my different areas of experience to create an environment inspired in nature that promotes healthier living. That means combining physical, holistic, fun and educational activities, nutrition and, of course, various techniques of spa therapies to meet every guest’s individual needs.  

“Of course, working in a five-star hotel in the middle of the ocean comes with logistical challenges. You always learn something new. For example, we want people here to be wearing organic products on their bodies. That contributes to the prosperity of the marine life, the fish and the coral, in this naturally blooming part of the world.”

Roxana’s commitment to her industry has taken her around the world. But wherever she’s travelled, her caring approach remains the same.

“Travelling makes you better prepared for new challenges. I still love the spa environment: the combination of health, beauty and education, and how it all interacts to help people to promote overall wellbeing. Physical touch and stress relief are things anyone can enjoy. It’s a place where people can come and de-stress. It’s a holistic approach to healing people.

“To be an esthetician you need to care about people. It’s something you’re giving from within yourself. Taking care of the little details transforms your guests’ experience. If you are able to customize every experience according to your client's needs, identifying what your client likes and how they like it, they feel comfortable and they know they’re being taken care of. Once you’ve built that relationship, they’ll always come back to you.”

The internet – the final and ever-expanding frontier of, well, everything. These Blanche Macdonald SUPERstars are storming the boundaries with a visual vengeance and boldness in voice, as mega-influencers on the World Wide Web. They are bloggers, vloggers, Insta-stars and Facebook friends to millions in the online community. They are beauty gurus, style mavens, entrepreneurs and artists. They are doing what they love, doing it with passion, and sharing this passion the world over, often making of it a killer career. Want to know what it takes to make it, and make a difference online? Take a leaf from the feeds of our #BMCSOCIALSAYERS!   

BLOG: http://www.theaugustdiaries.com/

SOCIAL SCOPE: Vanity Fair Best Dressed shortlist; features in Refinery29, The Cut, WhoWhatWhere and InStyle; collabs with Aritzia, Breez and liketoknow.it/; 26.7K followers on IG and 44K followers on Pinterest. 

FOLLOW FOR: Easy favourites, wallet-friendly wardrobe updates, and wise-worded musings in wardrobe, and in life.

Jill is that friend you call on when buried in a pile of sneakers and silk, desperately scrolling Tumblr over what to wear. Deftly weaving trends into the patterns of personality, lifestyle and whims with a voice that’s cool-headed and warm, The August Diaries has become both a haven for the style-shy and an oasis for the Fashion-obsessed. Her own style steeped in a coastal crispness, fusing minimalism with a European ease, she’ll stop short of telling you how to dress, instead guiding you through what YOU want and need (though, you’ll most likely end up wanting one of what she’s got anyhow). Balancing an astronomical drive with a down-to-earth cool, and a sharp mind with a sharp eye for style, Jill is that powerhouse pal who leaves you awed and charmed at every turn.  

MEET JILL!

If your life was a hashtag... 
#imobsessedwithmydog

Your favourite follows…
Love @tashsefton, one half of They All Hate Us from Australia, and @melissa.araujo’s feed is amazing. My favourite Snap Chatter is @songofstyle – she’s hilarious and real and basically just eats all the time. 

Favourite place to snack and snap?
Terra Breads has the best sandwiches and pastries ever. They’re so pretty!

Your current top 3 wardrobe favourites / must haves
A LWD (little white dress), Isabel Marant sandals and a hat (straw, preferably). And sunscreen!

Favourite event you've been invited to as a blogger?
A private BCBG dinner with [Chief Creative Officer of BCBG Max Azria Group] Lubov Azria – she was so lovely and gracious.

Favourite IG editing app?
VSCO, hands down. 

Quick tip for success in the world of social media...
Great quality over quantity… really!

Your #MVF, Most Valued Follower?
I can’t just pick one! I love being able to engage with all my followers and am so grateful for their support. 

First time you were recognized ‘on the street’ by a follower?
I was at a Tom Petty concert – I was both ecstatic and embarrassed at the same time. 

What’s the most empowering thing about blogging for you?
I feel so lucky and honoured to be able to influence someone’s style, or what they buy. I want to inspire and empower my readers to use clothing as a means to gain confidence.

What are some things that you took away from the Fashion Marketing program that helped you get to where you are now? 
I learned a lot in the Art & Tech Photoshop course and made some great connections and relationships in the industry!

The internet has become one of the most prominent sources of style inspiration and identification in today’s Fashion world. What, in your opinion, is important for readers/viewers to think about when searching online for style advice?
It’s really important to think about how relatable a piece is in your life. It can be easy to love a piece on someone else, but will it work for you on a day to day basis?

Proudest moment?
Realizing that I was running my own business – and that I’d done it by myself.

Five years down the feed dream?
Happily still social media-ing and growing my following, but not getting lost in the digital world. We have to remember to live our lives and not just Instagram them!

Florid torrents of sequin and chiffon, city streets steeped in electrifying beats of laughter and hoorahs – it simply must be...

PRIDE! The annual fiesta where our city blitz-and-glitzes through the streets to celebrate and be loud about our collective uniqueness in sexual orientation, gender, and gender choice. We love being a part of this brilliant, diverse and empowered community! And after the vibrant victories for the gay rights movement in the USA and Ireland this year, the 37th annual Vancouver Pride is bound to be one of the most vivacious yet! 

Our creative classrooms are built upon a culture of power-in-expression and absolute self-ness, and we’ve seen some truly incredible, utterly divine individuals find their voice here in our halls. The Pride parade is strutting up fast and fabulous, and to celebrate we reached out to a FIERCE five from our Blanche family who have been taking the local drag scene by storm.

But of course, we must leave some of the introduction up to our resident Drag Queen Supreme, the terrifically inspiring, mind-bogglingly talented Jaylene Tyme, Blanche Macdonald Makeup graduate and CurliQue Beauty Q Talent Leader! Jaylene’s realm of experience in both self discovery and transformative artistry has made her a powerful role model in our family, and a maternal icon out on the Drag Queen scene of Vancouver (serving realness and wisdom as Empress a few years back) – we simply cannot think of anyone better to kick off this dazzling week!

“One of the greatest opportunities I’ve enjoyed at Blanche Macdonald is that in which I get to be part of a family that creates a safe environment for everyone to explore. I remember how important it was for me when I was in school! As artists, we need to feel free to be 100% authentic. The creative journey is all about being able to let go completely so that the only limit is our imagination! My heart has been so full being able to witness both artistry and the human spirit take flight in these halls.

“During Pride season, we celebrate the diversity in our communities. Vancouver boasts a fierce and eclectic drag community, and Blanche Macdonald alumni are at the top of this art form. Who doesn't love a good Drag Queen at Pride?! Check out these fabulous artists! HAPPY PRIDE!!”

How did Poison Apple come about?

Poison Apple really came about in my childhood. As a kid I lived in my imagination and dreamt of dressing like some of my favourite movie characters, characters like Cruella De Vil or the Evil Queen, and they all still serve as a huge inspiration for Poison Apple's looks and personality.

If you could sum up Poison Apple in an equation, that equation would be...?

She's equal parts good and evil – you just don't ever know which side you'll get.

Tricks to beat the Pride parade heat and keep fabulous into the night?

Wear the biggest, most over-the-top sun hat you can find. They look fabulous and keep your face from melting off!

One technique you learned at Blanche Macdonald that was a game-changer for your drag beauty routine?

During the course we spend a lot of time studying bone structure and the science behind contouring to alter the shape of the face, and that's been a huge help for me. I was definitely guilty of some racing-stripe contouring before learning the fine-tuning behind it, and my makeup has become so much more refined as a result!

Your fave Queen?

Always and forever, Alyssa Edwards.

If you could do any onstage duet, what would be the song, who would be your accompaniment, and what would you wear?

Obviously I'd duet with my Queen Lana Del Rey, we'd do all of Born To Die and I'd wear my favourite little 60's chiffon baby doll dress.

What are you most proud about in your life/Drag happenings/career?

I'm proud of where I've come from and where I'm going. I never thought Makeup or Drag could be such an integral part of my life, but now here I am, living in the city, going to school for my passion and being part of a beautiful, creative and accepting LGBTQ community that celebrates and appreciates diversity.

What does it mean to you to be able to express yourself like this at Blanche, in Vancouver?

Having the opportunity to expand as an artist at Blanche Macdonald has been life changing. My confidence as an artist has grown so much and the relationships I've developed along the way are priceless. It's been wonderful to learn with a group of girls just as eager as me and I can't wait to see where we all go.

What are your Pride plans?

This Pride I'm super excited to be hosting Backdoor on Friday July 31, performing for Celebrities the next day, and being a part of their float for the parade on Sunday! I'll also be starting my new job at Sephora, which I got with help from powder-puff extraordinaire (and one of my favourite instructors), Fay Von Schroeder. 

How did Katy Hairy come about?

The performance and entertainment factor of Drag has always intrigued me. When I mentioned to a friend that I was interested in doing Drag in a new way – like lumberjack vs. pageant queen or a Cyndi-Lauper-George-Michael mash-up – we started brainstorming and Katy Hairy was born!

Tricks to beat the Pride parade heat and keep fabulous into the night?

x1 obnoxiously large fan for both theatrical and practical purposes. And don't forget your setting spray! I personally love Green Marble by SeLr!

One technique you learned at Blanche Macdonald that was a game-changer for your drag beauty routine?

Blending, blending, blending!!!!

Your fave Queen?

My drag idol is Grace Towers – not only is she a beautifully bearded Queen and one of my biggest inspirations, but she has also done so much for our community.

If you could do any onstage duet, what would be the song, who would be your accompaniment, and what would you wear?

Islands in the stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers – and I would do both parts myself!!! (Wearing an adorably cheesy split costume, Kenny on one side looking all dapper in his suit and tie, and Dolly in one of her MANY glamorous sequined gowns!)

What are you most proud about in your life/Drag happenings/career?

I'm most proud of the name I've created with the Community in such a short amount of time! I am so grateful for all of the support that I have been shown <3

What does it mean to you to be able to express yourself like this at Blanche, in Vancouver?

When I was Attending the Pro Hair program at Blanche I loved how the teachers encouraged and inspired creativity at all levels of learning.

Tell me a little about Sweet N Sticky!

#SweetNSticky is a monthly show that I put on in Kitsilano at Displace Hashery, Co-Hosted by Evita Versace. We are going on our 5th show and its been a smash hit since the first event! You can find pictures and vid clips on Instagram @SweetNSticky

What are your Pride plans?

I will be performing at Junction on Wednesday July 29th for the charity show Faux Girls. And on Thursday the 30th, I will be hosting #SweetNSticky! Doors at 8pm, show at 9:30-ish. EVERYONE is welcome!!

When not wrapped up in things #StickNSweet, Aaron is busy dishing out toothsome candy hues as a Master Colourist at Illusion Studio & Spa – read all about his story here: http://bit.ly/aaron-brousseau

How did Ilona come about?

I had been wanting to get into drag for the longest time. However, I didn’t want to pick some random name I would change later on. I started working with a super sassy 87 year old German lady, and her and I became really close; she was super interested in learning about queer culture and would always bring me Bobbi Brown makeup! I knew that I had to name my drag persona after her!

If you could sum up Ilona in an equation, that equation would be...?

50% of Ilona would be if you put all the Japanese street styles in a blender, and the other 50% would be very inspired by Adore Delano ripping off Kylie Jenner…LOL.

Tricks to beat the Pride parade heat and keep fabulous into the night?

Show up long enough for some selfies then head to the lake – no one will ever know. JK! Pray to the weather gods that it’s not scorching hot?? That and Green Marble SeLr!

One technique you learned at Blanche Macdonald that was a game-changer for your drag beauty routine?

HOW TO OVERDRAW LIPS AND NOT LOOK LIKE A CLOWN! THANKS JON! (+ Everything from Jaylene’s Drag demo, let’s be real here!)

Your fave Queen?

This is a tough one, so I’m gonna pick 2: Adore Delano because I LOVEEE her style and aesthetic and [local scene Queen] Jane Smoker because she is an INSANEEEE performer and I look up to her work ethic a lot!

If you could do any onstage duet, what would be the song, who would be your accompaniment, and what would you wear?

I’d love to do Genesis by Grimes with Jane Smoker, even though it would be more of performance art thing than a drag number – I just really love the outfits that Grimes wears in the vid. And who else can do Brooke Candy but Jane? Pretty much no one… bahhaa!

What are you most proud about in your life/Drag happenings/career?

The biggest moment for me so far was when my girl Frost Blossoms took me to Adore Delano’s concert and I was pulled up on stage to perform a number! It was my first time ever performing and it was randomly, accidentally, kind of opening for Adore!?

What does it mean to you to be able to express yourself like this at Blanche, in Vancouver?

One of the biggest reasons I wanted to come to Blanche was because I really wanted to get into drag and further my Makeup abilities. It’s meant the world to me having the whole Blanche family at my side through my crazy journey and I’m SOOO grateful! It feels so good to know that I’m a part of such an awesome thing at BMC!

What are your Pride plans?

Tuesday July 28th I’ll be performing at Peach Cobblah’s Shame Spiral: Peach’s Biggest Mistake, and Wednesday July 29th I’ll be performing at Faux Girls at the Junction for their Pride show (doors at 10pm, cover is donation to charity!). For the parade itself you can catch me on the float for Rent Cheque/ Babe Bang!

How did Pyxie McQueen come about?

After coming out, the first thing I did was go to Vancouver Pride in full drag! Pyxie was a way for me to show the world how happy I was to finally be able to accept myself as gay.

If you could sum up Pyxie McQueen in an equation, that equation would be...?

Confidence + Beauty = Bombshell Performer        

Tricks to beat the Pride parade heat and keep fabulous into the night?

Firstly, I’ll set my makeup with translucent powder (a lot of it) and then seal everything in with a healthy layer of Green Marble FX Sealing Spray. It works wonders!

One technique you learned at Blanche Macdonald that was a game-changer for your drag beauty routine?

Blanche has taught me so many things that have helped me create the vixen that it is Pyxie. I think the biggest game changer is really the in-depth knowledge I obtained of Chiaroscuro. Without that, I would have no idea how to properly highlight and contour my features.  

Your fave Queen?

My favourite Drag Queen would have to be RuPaul Charles. She’s been such a strong hand behind starting the careers of so many of the Queens I love today.

If you could do any onstage duet, what would be the song, who would be your accompaniment, and what would you wear?

I would have to break the rules and do a group number to “Lady Marmalade”. With Raja Gemini, Manila Luzon, and Raven. The song would have a Lace and Leather theme to it, and Pyxie would rock a few body chains haha.

What are you most proud about in your life/Drag happenings/career?

To date I would have to say I am most proud of making it to the final day of Vancouver’s Next Drag Superstar 2015. Having never done performances of that caliber before, I was extremely proud to make it to the finale show.

What does it mean to you to be able to express yourself like this at Blanche, in Vancouver?

I am so grateful to Blanche for the platform they have given me. They take pride in their graduates and have helped me to become a stronger Makeup Artist and Drag performer within the Vancouver scene.

What are your Pride plans?

Pride is going to be a very busy time for me this year. I will be performing multiple times while taking part in as many of the festivities that I can. Be sure to come out and see Pyxie doing what she loves!!

How did Lana LoveLace come about?

Lana LoveLace came about years ago. She started when I started playing around with Makeup. I always wanted to entertain and she let me do that!

If you could sum up Lana LoveLace in an equation, that equation would be...?

I would sum her up as a Female Impersonator with a quick-witted attitude and a wicked sense of fashion!

Tricks to beat the Pride parade heat and keep fabulous into the night?

Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray and a fan.

One technique you learned at Blanche Macdonald that was a game-changer for your drag beauty routine?

Setting and styling wigs and hairpieces – hair in my type of drag is CRUCIAL. If it looks like a wig, it’s a wig.

Your fave Queen?

My fave famous queen is Violet Chachki (Winner of Season 7 RuPaul’s Drag Race) and my fave local queen is either Beardonce (originality and fierceness is everything) OR Tiffany Ann Co (sister queen, fish & fabulous)

If you could do any onstage duet, what would be the song, who would be your accompaniment, and what would you wear?

I would duet with Kendall Gender – she is personally one of my good friends. We started drag at the same time and she's become quite known and successful! We would probably do some sort of Fifth Harmony or Destiny’s Child song. We would pull inspiration from a 90's girl group and wear cohesive outfits that didn't match too much, but that would let you know that they were put together for us!

What are you most proud about in your life/Drag happenings/career?

I’m most proud of myself. I'm from a small homophobic town in Ontario and drag isn't accepted. I’m proud that I have built the confidence in myself to walk the streets of downtown Vancouver alone in full face and feel loved.

What does it mean to you to be able to express yourself like this at Blanche, in Vancouver?

Blanche was an awesome environment to express my drag goals! Everyone was so supportive and always eager to see photos or come to events with Lana.

What are your Pride plans?

I’ll be working at a popular gay bar on Davie, The PumpJack Pub. I fell in love with the staff and started working there part-time to give me an opportunity to build my salon clientele when I began working professionally in a salon!

Lana Lovelace has #flawless hair for a reason – read all about Jordan’s Pro Hair success story here! http://bit.ly/jordan-nogiec

Blanche Macdonald Makeup and Hair graduate Kara Alaric knows exactly when she fell in love with the movies. To her, they’re more than entertainment. They’re a connection to great times.

“Every Friday night growing up in Whitehorse my family would go to the video store and rent the VHS tapes we’d watch that weekend,” she recalls. “But I never thought I would make movies. My family called me a while ago to say that they found the DVD of Lonesome Dove Church, the first big movie I worked on, in Walmart. Seeing my name in the credits was so exciting for them. And it wasn’t even in the $6.99 bin!”

Kara doesn’t rent movies any more. She helps create them, starring on the hair and makeup teams on TV and film crews in her adopted hometown of Vancouver. In addition to her work as Key Hair Stylist on Lonesome Dove Church (featuring the great Tom Berenger), Kara has been in the thick of the behind-the-scenes action on series like When Calls The Heart, CBC’s Full Flood and the Garage Sale Mystery series of TV movies starring Full House’s Lori Loughlin. 

“There’s a huge sense of accomplishment when you work in film,” she explains. “It’s a big group effort and it’s an incredible feeling when the crew is on the same page and everyone works together. My priority is to get my job done efficiently. But I’m also a fan of having fun. Once you establish camaraderie with a crew it’s really rewarding.”

As a TV and film hair stylist and makeup artist, Kara knows all about lengthy workdays and nights. But she’s never been afraid of putting in the hours to work on her craft. While still a high school student she represented the Yukon in Canada’s National Artist Program as a tattoo apprentice. Although it took what seemed like a minor disaster to set her on the path to Canada’s top Hair and Makeup School and the movies. 

“I got dumped!” she laughs. “Via text message! I cried for a day then decided to change my life. I realized that nobody could make me happy apart from myself. I thought, what could I do that’s artistic and will give my life some structure? I typed ‘Hair Schools in Canada’ into Google and Blanche Macdonald came up first.” 

Kara arrived at Hair School looking for structure. She found inspiration. 

“I loved it. When Marcy Hodel taught my class the TV and Film module we learned to wrap hair to put on wigs. The idea of hair styling for film really opened a new door for me. As part of the Hair program we had a two-week taste of Makeup too. Ashley Forshaw was my instructor. Now we work on set together!” 

Kara moved back to the Yukon and enjoyed a short stint working in a Whitehorse salon. But the lure of Vancouver, and the chance to add to her skill set at Blanche Macdonald, proved too strong to resist.

“I figured, why not increase my opportunity to be hired in the future? So I took the Makeup program and loved it! I thought I was going to work in fashion until I got a second taste of TV and Film and Makeup Effects. Who wouldn’t want to learn from Sydney Silvert? He has continuity photos of him hanging out on set with Johnny Depp! I loved his honesty, which is what you need in this industry. It’s either camera-ready or not. I thought, if all these instructors are working on TV shows and movies, why can’t I do the same?”

Kara understood that making the leap from Makeup School to professional movie sets wasn’t going to happen without a concerted effort to acquire as much experience as possible. 

“I volunteered all the time at Makeup school. It was like my time was on fast forward. I got a job working at the MAC Pro store on Robson Street early into the program. My experience there helped me so much. Working in retail taught me how to deal with people. It’s your job to instil confidence in people, and that’s a really rewarding feeling.”

Filling her time with every makeup opportunity she could carve for herself, Kara entered the world’s most prestigious makeup student competition and finished a couldn’t-be-closer second in the Character Prosthetics category at the Toronto IMATS. 

“That was really exciting. I placed second by one point. The Makeup Artist who beat me was Darla Edin, who just won the most recent series of Face Off. When you show someone your résumé and they see you competed at IMATS they know your passion and willingness to take a risk. You know you’re not scared to show what you can do in front of a live audience!” 

Kara had already started her journey into TV and film, working on student film projects, when a call out of the blue propelled her into major league territory.

“I got a call from an acquaintance Makeup Artist one day saying, ‘Hey, I heard you do hair. Want to Key Hair on a movie?’ I still don’t know how she got my name and number. I had never keyed anything but of course I said yes! I didn’t realize that the show was Lonesome Dove Church. Tom Berenger was the lead and this was way bigger than any student film project. Greyston Holt from Bitten was in the movie as well. His career was taking off. He’s very grounded, which is my experience with most of the actors I’ve worked with so far. It’s great to work with people when there’s no ego. I had a blast! I was excited for the opportunity and the knowledge that it was going to open more doors for me. Which it did! Now there’s a group of actors who like me and enjoy working with me more. The Unauthorized Story of Saved By The Bell was a Lifetime TV movie and another fun project I was a part of. I remember going home from school as a young teenager and watching Saved By The Bell. Now I’m working on a movie of the week about it! It was such a fun show to be a part of. I love the ’80s! 

“The opportunity to find creative solutions is always there. During Full Flood I hand-made hairpieces for a character where I combined shaving and extensions to give an actor a hairstyle no one would ever want. And it’s exciting to have the opportunity to do that. I love getting involved with effects on a character design level. If I could make westerns and bloody horror movies all the time, that would be fine with me.”

Another thing that Kara adores is sharing her knowledge and passion with the next generation. And although her schedule is too busy to allow her to commit to teaching regularly at Blanche Macdonald, she adores her time in our classrooms. 

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you can’t ever stop learning. Teaching doesn’t just help students learn things. You learn so much from your students too. The way they approach new things and comprehend them is so exciting to see. When they don’t understand something you have to think of new ways to teach them. Once that light bulb goes on it’s such a rewarding feeling to know that you’ve broken through that barrier. When you show makeup students how much that can add to their skill set, and how much that can make them more employable, they soon understand. 

“The TV and film lifestyle isn’t for everyone. You can’t go out partying every weekend. You must take care of yourself. You need to eat well and sleep when you can. You need integrity, common sense and professionalism. It helps to be a little bit crazy. But every day you can see your accomplishments and how it adds to the completed project. You can really see the hours paying off! And if you’re not having fun, what’s the point?”

“I am a firm believer in not censoring your art. I love to turn difficult subjects around and bring attention to them in beauty. Not everybody sees it that way, but it always gets people talking whether they agree with it or not. Art should make you feel something. It’s so important.”

As one of Vancouver’s leading Freelance Makeup and Bodypaint artists, Jennifer Little has made it her job to boldly push the boundaries of beauty beyond the face, sparking engaging conversations in art, body positivity and even animal rights under her self-started banner 'A Little Artistry.' Wielding airbrush gun and a rapid-fire hand with hues, Jennifer has slicked the planes of the body with creatives that boggle the mind – see pin-up zombies, scarecrow goddesses and animorphs – for leading performers, artists, charities, private and corporate clients. Over the course of her career, she’s taken four 1st Place, a 2nd Place, and three 3rd place bodypainting competition wins and has been Art Director and Judge at some of the city’s largest bodypaint events. The Canucks jersey trompe l’oeil paints she created during the Stanley Cup Finals broke national news. And in the last two years, she's been published more than ever before for publications like Vogue Italia. She’s been making Makeup magic for over fifteen years, and she’s at it just as fiercely as ever before.

Having worked all areas of the professional Makeup game – from fashion to bridal to television and celebrity (cue Gothic Lolita star La Carmina) with vigorous independence and artistic verve, Jennifer is a dynamic force and an inspiration for anyone looking to make it out in the Freelance world. We sit down with Jennifer to talk telling tales in paint, mornings with Much Music VJ’s and how being a risk-taker takes the biggest reward.  

What’s special about bodypainting? Why do you love it as much as you do?

It’s just so creative and colourful, bold and attention getting! Bodypainting is a really good way to get a message across because you’re already engaging people’s attention with the fact that you’re working on a human canvas.

You do quite a lot of these live painting sessions! What is it like having people engage with you while you’re creating?

I love it! I’ve always been a people person. I started bodypainting with the Taboo Naughty and Nice Show, so to have people watching, talking to you and interacting with you is how I first learned.

What are some things that you have to consider when working on such an intimate scale?

You have to up your level of professionalism. Not all models or clients are comfortable in their own skin. With a lot of people, even their partners won’t see them in the form that I get to see them. It’s a very intimate service and people have to let their guard down right away. I try to set the atmosphere so that they’re as comfortable as possible: making sure they’re well fed, putting on easy music. Many models are used to being on stage or changing backstage with other girls, but private clients don’t have that automatic openness and comfort being in their own skin. I try to encourage it in our sessions together!

You work with artists and organizations that are so empowered in their own skin, and that champion body-positivity. But in these private clients that are maybe not so comfortable in this, do you see a change after your sessions?

Being bodypainted is completely liberating. I have seen people do a one-eighty; from the booking process to having finished their appointment they are, to me, a completely different person. I’ve had people so happy and proud of themselves that they went through with this service that they cry. Having a bride cry because she’s so happy, feels beautiful, and emotions are running high is one thing, but having someone who’s closed-off or over-sensitive or self-conscious, and having them break out of their shell is another. It’s something that is a hundred percent for them! And even just having the consultation process to figure out who they are, what they like and what exactly they need from this, is so empowering.

Looking back, was there an ‘Aha – meant to be an Artist or Makeup Artist’ moment growing up?

I never thought when I was a kid that I would become a Makeup Artist – I wanted to be a photojournalist for National Geographic. I have always been interested in photography, long before I was interested in Makeup.

With what I do, I am still telling stories with pictures. So I haven’t swayed too far from my original dream career!

That’s very interesting! So how then did you end up here?

I did a lot of TV & Film extra work and some modeling as a teenager, so the profession was familiar and alluring to me already. I first spotted BMC at a career fair when I was in grade 12 – something about it caught my attention. Honestly it was probably the colour [she laughs]. I had always wanted to work with people. I’ve always coloured outside of the lines, if you will, and having a human canvas was very intriguing to me.

My parents asked, ‘Are you sure this is what you want to do?’ And I said, ‘I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I think I’m going to be really good at it.’ I was, and I absolutely love it still.

Did you have a favourite class?

My favourite was Fashion – I loved it. It was more outside of the box; Beauty and Bridal are creative, but not on the level that I was needing.

Daemon was my Fashion instructor and she was super fun! It was really easy to relate to her, and she broke it all down so well.

After graduating you worked around at a few cosmetic retail counters before settling in at Spa Utopia. Is this where you met Jon Paul Holt, Avant Garde’s Salon Owner?

Yes! They brought him in to head the creative team, which they had assembled to do more shows and magazine shoots. I was the Key Makeup Artist, working at the Pan Pacific at the time, and him and I just hit it off!

Tell me about the creative connection between you two; it seems you are forever dreaming up the next wild concept for Avant Garde’s photo shoots!

When I left Spa Utopia, after about five years, I called him to tell him that I was really sorry that I wasn’t going to be able to work with him anymore. He said, [Jennifer dons a suave British accent here] ‘Now don’t be silly darling, you’ll start in with me on Monday!’ He took me in and I immediately started in at Avant Garde. I’ve been their house Makeup Artist ever since.

I’m very blessed to have people that trust my ability. We’ll know what each other is thinking for the final look. You’re always going to get the best work out of that – when you bring together people who are the best at what they do, and let them do what they do.

You work with so many BIG personalities – lots of performers and other artists. Tell me a little bit about the energy on set!

It can be really chaotic! Though, I’ve been really lucky in that all of the people that I’ve worked with – for the most part, 95% – are doing what they love. We’re all immersed in our passions at the same time and so I get to see the best side of these artists. They know my work and my skill level so they trust me to do what I do. It’s always a good time. I’ve gained some of my best friends from them coming to me as clients or models.

What is one of the coolest private commissions you’ve ever had?

I’ve been blessed to see a lot of incredible events that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to see just by being able to work them!

Working as a Key for the Olympics was definitely a highlight. It was A LOT of work. It was a month solid with no days off, 12 to 16 hours a day. I was lucky that I had pulled the day shift so my clock was still a little bit normal!

How did that come about?

I was working with CTV at the time. About a year before, they told us they were going to need Makeup Artists to cover the event. They asked if I would you be willing to be stationed in Whistler for a month. I said, ‘Yep, when do I leave?’

I was working with broadcasters, athletes, some performers. These were broadcasters from the BBC and from all around the world. The makeup was very minimal; most of the athletes did not want to wear makeup, but needed a little concealer and a lipstick to be camera-ready because it was all HD. The first people in my chair every single day for the whole month were the MUCH Music VJ’s and they were so sweet. I absolutely loved starting my day with them; they made it a lot easier to be there at five in the morning. They were doing live TV for the whole month and they were exhausted. One of the girls would come sit in my chair all wrapped up in her hoodie and her scarf, with her giant coffee, and I would hold her head and do her makeup while she napped!

What is the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?

As a freelance artist you take constant risks. I’ve had friends ask me how I do it, not having that comfort of knowing exactly where the next thing is coming from. I just go out there and I look for the work – it’s a hustle and you have to hustle to make it work. It’s all worth it, and I keep doing it, because working for myself, doing what I want to do and having that creative freedom is an incredible thing. And having clients return to me year after year, event after event – there’s a lot of satisfaction in that too.

Advice for burgeoning artists?

Never say no to anything – to a point. There will come a time in your career where you will feel comfortable with saying no because you will have built your portfolio, you will have earned your credit, you will have built your name. There’s a lot of trade-for-print in Vancouver’s Makeup and Fashion industry, which means there’s always somebody willing to collaborate for free. There will come a point where you can’t just do every collaborative because you have to value your time, your skill, your products and you have to value yourself. So, take the time to build your network, always presenting yourself as professionally as possible even if it is a trade gig; you never know who you’re going to meet at that gig and what that person’s network is. Always challenge yourself and have fun with it.”

As we nestle into the clients’ lounge of Barbarella Hair Saloon with Blanche Macdonald Pro Hair graduate Nessa Pineda, the six-chair corridor-style layout is sunlit and buzzing. We start in, and the other stylists chirp in intermittently as they frisk by, plucking product off the shelves, whisking bowls of yummy pastel pastes, laughing through the hum of dryers. Some come to lounge with us in between clients, their hair twisted up into bows, or tinged in toothsome hues. The atmosphere is vibrant and blithe for so early in the morning. And yet...

“Well, I believe that the salon is haunted,” Nessa declares, eyes glinting from behind her signature thick black frames. “So there are definitely some crazy things that have happened. A few weeks ago the manager, Erin and I were opening the salon and we hear this noise. In our back room we have two sinks, and the one for the colour bowls was completely turned on…

“And my hairdryer turned on by itself yesterday!” proclaims Haley, another stylist, with an ominous look as she struts back to her station tailing her customer from the sink.

We can only speculate as to the spooky origins of the salon’s omnipresent client, but one thing that can be stated for certain is that Nessa loves being a Stylist at Barbarella. Ghost or no ghost.

“We see so many different clients here! Our services are very colour heavy, and we’re always trying something new, so it doesn’t get boring. 

“It’s a great team and the owners really emphasize on teamwork. It’s nice to come into an environment where there isn’t that competition, and where you feel comfortable sending your clients over to another stylist when you’re away because you know that they’re going to do an awesome job.”

Nessa has been stationed at Barbarella for four years now, and she’s somewhat of a veteran of the Main Street hair hub, which sees multi-hued youth and unique-seekers of Vancouver flocking for seats. Those that plunk down at Nessa’s station are never disappointed – she loves what she does, and she does it with brilliance.    

“I love the freedom and the creativity of hair styling! I’m not an office person, so it’s nice to be exposed to new things every day – it’s never the same! And I love making the client happy, giving them what they want. People are investing their money into this so it’s really important to make sure they adore the outcome; that you’re putting a lot of work and care into it.

“My favourite is when someone wants to cut their hair off, when they come in saying they want a transformation. Making people happy and seeing their face light up when they’re going through that change is so fun. I love that aspect of my job.”

Nessa was quite nearly an office person. Growing up in Ottawa, Ontario, she’d had her heart set on Law School, but it was during a reflection on the straight-ahead track of this career that she realized she needed something more dynamic. Coming from a family of hairstylists, Nessa thought she might try out a Hair program first; at the least she could use it to pay her way through Law School later on. She hunkered down for some Google-ing, but Blanche Macdonald’s Pro Hair Program link was the first, and only, she needed to see.  

“I’d been to Vancouver before, and it was a great reason to come back out this way. I had heard nothing but amazing things from this school; Blanche Macdonald has a great reputation. One of my friends from high school had moved out here at the same time, so it worked out perfectly!”

When Nessa finally did arrive to her first day at Hair School, she was taken aback by how fulfilled her cravings for study and challenge could actually be in such a creative field.  

“A lot of people have these misconceptions when it comes to doing hair. I definitely did. I thought that I was going to come in, learn how to cut hair and that was it, but there was a lot of knowledge to it. You have to be very studious, very on point with everything that’s going on. It can be fast-paced, and you have to put the work into it to keep up.  

“It’s definitely an amazing program, even if it does ask a lot of you. There will be days that are hard, and there will be days that are great. Just keep your head up and really put your best effort into it. And get a part time job at a salon while you’re in school if you can! That way you’re already starting out on that outside-of-school education too.”

It’s advice that comes from experience. Through Blanche Macdonald’s Work Experience program, an internship network built right into the Pro Hair curriculum, Nessa started on at Barbarella Hair Saloon, and the Owner was so impressed with her technique and ethic that she hired her on immediately after. Nessa was handed one of few slots in one of Vancouver’s most coveted hair nooks, and she hadn’t even graduated yet.

“As soon as I started working at Barbarella I was like, ‘Forget Law School!’ I realized then that I am a creative person and wouldn’t have been happy staying in one place my whole life. I like the movement of where I’m at now.”

And she’s active in keeping her momentum going; between the steady streams of snips and shades she doles out at Barbarella, Nessa also finds the time to collaborate with local creatives on editorial photo shoots, work the behind-the-scenes of runway shows, and beautify brides as a freelance stylist. It keeps her on her toes, and always learning.

“It’s good to keep well-rounded with everything, and connected. A lot of people tend to just focus on one side of Hair, but the nice thing about our world is that there’s so much you can do. In such a broad industry, being able to do bridal and to do editorial is an asset. It keeps things interesting, and so that you’re not necessarily stuck to the chair.

“It’s so important to keep educating yourself because it keeps things fresh and keeps you relevant in what’s going on. It broadens your spectrum in how to be the best stylist that you can be. Once you stop learning, and stop updating yourself, is when you get bored.”

Keeping to the vanguard of the industry is something Nessa is familiar with. She’s lucky to have bosses that support her in her personal boundary pushing, sending her to the Vidal Sassoon Academy a few years back, and nominating her Salon Ambassador for their sustainable beauty line, Davines. She’s discovering that her love for learning is only one leg of a cycle that she’d like to propel.

“I get to go to classes with other Ambassadors and Educators around the city. We get the first look at new collections or products that the brand is putting out, so that we can then bring back this knowledge to our salons to educate our co-workers and clients on what's coming up. It’s something that I really enjoy, and that speaks to where I’d like to be in the next few years.

“Eventually I’d like to move into education. I feel like there’s a lot of mentorship being made available in this industry, and I would really love to be able to be a part of shaping up-and-coming stylists.”

For now, Nessa is happy keeping Vancouver in fine chop and saturated hues. We leave her to prep for her first client, parting through the bright bustle with furtive glances over shoulders, in the hopes of spotting the elusive specter of Barbarella Saloon.

With thousands of artists soaring into our halls from around the world each year, our classrooms have become dynamic global communities under the unitedly diverse banner of our Blanche World – a UN of creativity! In a glorious culture clash, our International students import a vibrant collection of new customs, insights and inspiration that colour our world in exciting new ways. The leap from their home countries to our corner of Canada comes with big change, courage and incredible journeys. Speaking in the international language of passion, we sit down with our global talent to talk the dreams that brought them here, the challenges they overcame, and all about the power of being an artistic representative in a new country. Meet our BMC Ambassadors!

“Italy, Paris… the big Fashion cities! I want to get to that point when I’m the one that people call when they need a look for the runway, for photo shoots – all of that High Fashion work.”

Blanche Macdonald Global Makeup student Evelina Helgesson is not one to mince words when it comes to voicing her goals. After all, she’s made big moves to be here in Vancouver, studying at Canada’s #1 Makeup School. Growing up in small town Gothenburg, Sweden, Makeup was a distant, but eager dream for Evelina ever since her pre-teens.

“My mom gave me this blue eyeliner when I was twelve, and I put it all over my eyes,” Evelina laughs. “People kept saying that it was good and even though I knew it was probably bad, I thought, ‘Oh, maybe this is my thing.’ You go through that period where you’re just trying it out and it looks like hell but you do it anyways. After a while, I started doing Makeup on other people and really enjoyed it.”

It was a visit from an international agent at her high school that planted the idea that she could study beauty as a career – she’d just have to be willing to leave her Gothenberg nook.

“I asked what the best program would be, and they were like, “Blanche Macdonald – no question. Go there.’ ”

That was all it took. Her small town sent her the eager 19-year-old off, thrilled with her grand plans (so much so that they ran a full article about her adventure in the local paper). It was her first time away from home, and her new journey took her halfway across the world. Upon arriving, Evelina’s fierce energy and high ambitions charmed International Admissions Director Lina Lee, who recognizing in her also the uncertainty of starting in in a new city alone; she decided to take Evelina under her wing.

“Lina was my first friend here, and would take me out in the city to show me around. That was really great because coming here, I didn’t know anyone or know where to go, what to see or what to avoid. And she gave me that whole package, just for me. It’s been great. She’s been so helpful!”

Since then, Evelina has not only learned her way around the city, but has been expertly navigating the creative community, working with top photographers on private and commercial shoots, and making new friends.

“It’s a really pretty city and there’s a lot of outgoing people. I’ve had people ask for my number right away after meeting them because they want to hang out, which I still think is kinda weird (that’s not how we do it in Sweden at all, we’re really hard to get to know!), but I’m a really outgoing person and I love to make new friends, and to talk about their experiences, so it’s great!

“I’ve been meeting and working with a lot of photographers lately too. There are a lot of art and photography students in Vancouver that are looking for Makeup Artists, but you still need to stand out. I’ll email a few times telling them that I really want to work together, asking them when we can collaborate. I just keep e-mailing until they set a date. And once you get that one connection, they all start flowing in.”

Evelina is glowing in her accomplishments, as she rattles off a slew of her latest, most exciting projects. Though, she’ll admit that things didn’t feel quite so bright and easy when she first started in at Makeup School.

“I was really nervous. We learn English from second grade all the way through high school, but there are so many words that you don’t learn. After my first class I was crying and in a really weird spot, wondering, ‘Why did I think that I could do this?’

“Because of the language barrier, getting myself out there for volunteering was definitely something that was really hard for me in the beginning too. I didn’t even know what to write in an email to these people. I was just really scared of having them judge me for not being able to speak English, or that they wouldn’t know how to use me. But then, a few months in, you start to feel like, ‘OK, I got this.’ I’m more secure now with what I’m doing in Makeup. In the end, you just have to try it out. I was really really scared but I just did it and after that first time it wasn’t so bad.”

Today, Evelina’s pronunciation is cool and confident, and she urges that those coming here with English as a second language keep their head up, and feet out the door throughout their stay.

“Everyone actually thinks it’s cool that I know a second language! People here don’t judge you because you don’t know a word. That helps a lot. You just have to get out there; even if you don’t know the word, just try to explain it. You learn to live with it, and pick up words as you go.

“Looking back, I would get out there much earlier. I would get right out there in the first weeks. Every volunteer opportunity that I could find I would do. It’s so important to get out there and get that experience – even if I do have that experience now, I could have had twice as much if I had started earlier.”

If she had a late start, she’s making up for it with a vengeance. In school, like out in the creative community, Evelina has been doing exceptionally well, impressing her instructors with resolute artistry and diligence in learning.

“My favourite instructor so far is Sydney – he’s just so helpful and he’s kind of like a diva. He’s GREAT. I just love him. And Leanne. she’s an amazing teacher; she really gets in there with the Special Effects! You might be wondering how you’re going to get through something, and she’ll be really patient throughout. She’s good at telling you when you’ve done something wrong, and when you’ve done something great, which I really appreciate.”

Instructors aside though, her favourite course, she says, is and will forever be, “Fashion. I am a Fashion girl. This is where I want to be. I want to go to Paris! I want to work on runways!”

With her boldness in dreams, and her initiative in making industry connections, she’s already well on her way. She’s been recording her journey on a blog these past months, filling in her portfolio with creatives in the hopes of one day presenting it to international clients. Evelina is eager to take on more daring moves, but for now, she’s proud of the one she made in choosing to study Makeup alone in a new country.

“I’ve definitely grown a lot; when you move away from home, you start to get to know yourself. At my age, you’re just trying to figure it out, and sometimes you try to be something you’re not because people expect you to be a certain way. Coming here and feeling like my instructors and new friends were seeing me for me, instead of who they wanted me to be, has been such a great experience. I’ve been getting to know myself and learning how to be comfortable in myself, how to be proud of what I can do. I’ve learned to step back and tell myself, ‘Ok I did this well. This is a good Makeup.’ ”

One could argue that the most MUST Kit Must-Have is the kit itself – which is why we've been lusting after Stilazzi's covetous pro cases since we first opened shop. We pulled some strings, called some FRENDS and made it happen, now making us the ONLY brick-n-mortar store to carry them this side of the coast. That makes us feel pretty darn special. So, to celebrate and to welcome them to the CurliQue Beauty floor with zazz, we're offering up a debut deal of 30% off both styles – the 'Gone Topless' and 'The New Yorker'.

Stilazzi is THE supplier of supplies to Pro Makeup and Hair artists across the globe and a Superstar of industry events. Their durable wonders are strong, reliable and completely customizable so that you can kit up your goods like couture, making them easy favourites of industry Pros looking for top class quality at an easy cost. We have a major case of the swoons welcoming Stilazzito the CQ family – get in here and build your dream kit with us!

글로리아 김은 그녀의 삶을 바꾸어 놓게 된 메이크업 세계에 뛰어들게 된 날을 기억합니다. 물론 그녀의 가족들도 잊지 못하지요.

“잠자리에 들기 전 항상 메일을 확인하곤 했어요. 새벽 2시였죠. 저희 할머니는 제 옆에서 주무시고 계셨어요. 그때 전 IMATS의 Heather Wisner로부터 메일이 온 것을 확인했어요. ‘축하합니다: 당신은 시드니 IMATS의 최종우승자로 선택되었습니다’. 전 너무 놀라 소리를 질렀고, 저희 부모님이 달려오셨죠. ‘무슨 일이야!’”

이 꿈만 같은 일은 이제 막 시작되었습니다. 한 달 뒤, 글로리아는 시드니의 무대에 서서 IMATS 뷰티/판타지 부분 최고상을 수여하게 되었습니다. 그녀는 이 대회의 '시대를 통한 예술'이라는 테마에서 시간과 장소의 느낌을 살려 한국의 전통 가옥인 ‘기와 (Ki-Wa)’를 재현해 보았습니다.

“모두가 제가 상을 타게 될 거라고 말했지만, 전 크게 기대하지 않았어요. 제가 우승을 했다는 결과가 발표되자, 전 기뻐서 눈물을 흘리기 시작했고 제대로 서 있을 수조차 없었어요! 믿기지 않았죠. 카메라 플래시가 여기저기에서 터지기 시작했고, 그때 느낀 행복은 이루 말할 수도 없어요.”

돌이켜 보면, 그녀의 우승은 당연한 결과라고 해도 과언이 아닐 듯합니다. 한국에서 태어나 15살이라는 어린 나이에 캐나다에 오게 된 그녀는 자신의 예술영역을 다른 캔버스에서 펼쳐 보겠다고 마음먹었을 때 이미 뛰어난 화가였습니다.

“블랑쉬 맥도날드에 다녔던 친구가 이곳에서 제가 아티스트로서 직업을 구하는 데 도움을 얻을 수 있을 거라고 말한 적이 있어요. 이 메이크업 학교에서는 같이 수업을 듣는 친구들이 마치 가족처럼 서로를 지지해주곤 했어요. 모든 강사분은 학생들의 시간 관리에는 매우 엄격했지만, 굉장히 친절했어요. 수업을 들은 지 반년이 흘렀을 즈음 전 제가 패션이나 TV&영화 쪽으로 전공을 살리게 될 거로 생각했는데 에어브러슁 수업을 듣고 나니 이게 바로 제가 원하던 거라는 걸 알게 되었죠! 바디페인팅이 바로 제가 찾던 예술이에요!”

글로리아는 그녀의 강사들로부터 영감을 받곤 했습니다. 그녀 또한 캐나다에 온 지 얼마 안 되는 아시안 학생들에게 영감을 불어넣어 주는 대상이 되기도 했습니다.

“저희 교실에는 영어 실력이 조금 부족한 대만인과 일본인 학생들이 있었어요. 그들은 메이크업 전문용어를 이해하는 데에 어려움을 겪기도 했어요. 하지만 저희는 그들이 도움을 필요할 때면 어떠한 문제라도 극복해 낼 수 있도록 도와주곤 했답니다. 강사분들도 그들이 궁금한 점이 있을 때면 직접 상세하게 보여주면서 이해시키려고 노력하셨어요.”

글로리아는 블랑쉬 맥도날드 경력지원팀의 도움을 받아 호주로 가기 전까지 신부 화장, 졸업 및 졸업파티 영역에서 메이크업 커리어를 쌓느라 매우 바쁜 하루하루를 보냈습니다.

“여러분의 메이크업 기술을 향상하는 데는 경험을 쌓는 게 가장 중요해요. 열심히 일하면서 바쁘게 지내는 게 가장 좋죠!”

지금 그녀는 IMATS 우승자로서 그녀의 커리어 시장은 급성장 하고 있습니다.

“시드니에서 돌아온 지 얼마 안 돼 유명한 한 웨딩 사진 업체 관계자들을 만나게 되었어요. 그들은 이미 제 이름과 우승 메이크업에 대해 알고 있었고, IMATS 에서 최근에 우승했는지 물어보더라고요. 캐나다로 오자마자 더 높은 임금의 직장을 얻기 시작했어요! 그들은 제가 일을 잘해낼 수 있다는 걸 알고 있고요.”

글로리아는 그녀의 고객들에 대한 자신감도 있으며, 미래에 대한 계획 또한 탄탄하게 세워 놓았습니다.

“저는 나중에 저만의 아카데미를 차리고 싶어요. 고객들과 메이크업 수업을 위한 뷰티 공간과 포트폴리오를 만들 수 있는 스튜디오가 있는 그런 아카데미 말이에요. 그게 바로 제 최종 목표에요!”

"No matter how long I do hair, the most rewarding part of the job is still changing someone's life." 

Despite reaching near-celebrity status on the Vancouver hair scene, Aaron Brousseau still marvels at the transformative powers of the hair he is entrusted to shape. 

"I love that I have the ability to give someone the most beautiful accessory they're ever going to wear. Hair can be life-changing, absolutely." 

Starting out with only tenacity and a strong urge to get snipping, Aaron's been taming locks since a young age. 

"The first haircut I ever gave was on my brother. I must have been about twelve. I took some clippers and started to cut his hair. Then the guard on the clipper came off and left a nice sized bald spot on his head. It was the most wretched haircut. We ended up shaving it all off."

Growing up as one of twelve children in the rural town of Terrace, B.C. may have offered plenty of willing young hair models but it didn't offer Aaron the opportunity to gain formal training as a Hair Stylist.

"[My own Stylist] saw me cutting and colouring for my family and siblings’ friends, and saw that I was getting better. That's when she said, 'You need to go to school for this. You have a raw talent. You're good at what you do, but you need to be trained. If you don't apply for school by September, I won't cut your hair anymore.' So I applied to Hair School."

The bright lights of Vancouver were the obvious destination for Aaron and it wasn't long before his research of Hair Schools led him through the doors of Blanche Macdonald.

"I looked into a lot of programs and Blanche was the only one that had everything. I wanted to learn every aspect of the industry and Blanche Macdonald had it all." 

Canada's Top Hair School was just the thing Aaron needed to focus and perfect his passion for all things hair. Embracing the abundant, exciting opportunities both in and out of class, Aaron threw himself into both the Pro Hair program and Vancouver's bustling Fashion scene, gaining every ounce of practice he could.

"School helped me so so so much! Before I started, I would look at hairstyles and be like, 'OK that's how it looks' and that's exactly how I would cut it. I took hairstyling very literally. But when I came here I learned what I needed to do this stuff properly." He laughs, "It also corrected the bad habits I'd given myself! I had a good self-taught foundation, but Blanche Macdonald added so much more.”

It is this foundation – bolstered by a wildly coveted patented ombre technique that he has developed over the years – that has allowed Aaron to launch the practice of hairstyling up into a vibrantly-hued art form. Today, he is re-imagining Vancouver’s salon experience as an Independent Contract Stylist at Illusion Studio and Spa. And between the eager rush of clients  (here more aptly-deemed fans) that fill his chair, he acts as Salon Educator for Bumble and bumble., as well as Co-founder of creative group BE Collective. 

As an Independent Contract Stylist, Aaron is afforded the freedom to explore more channels of the industry. It’s allowed him to broaden his abilities, strengthen his talents, and to focus on the development of his brand.

"I've always had 'the mustache followers' because of my crazy facial hair, but when I started doing rainbow and pastel hair with my ombre technique, that took me a lot farther on social media."

You'd be hard pressed to find someone in Vancouver who isn't sporting one of his signature ombres or at least familiar with his name as the ombre stylist.  

"My ombre is something that I developed by taking classes and making mistakes, mostly! Though, I’m a huge nerd and I like to study, so I researched and took tips from L’Oreal’s Balayage Collection. Working with companies like Bumble and bumble. and La Bioesthetique helped because those are three completely different styles I was able to merge in my own way. I also stare at people on transit all the time! Sometimes I'll just be like, 'Is that natural colour?' "

Whether it's moving from his hometown or starting up a side career, Aaron has never been one to ignore those pivotal "what if?" moments. It was a holiday in Hawaii that provided him the last inspirational push he needed to take the plunge from drag admirer to performer. 

"I always thought I couldn’t do Drag because I would never shave, but Grace Towers, another Drag performer who is one of my idols, changed all of that. I met her in Hawaii and she introduced me to 'Beardy Drag.' I could actually incorporate all my facial hair into a really glam performance. She really inspired me to just give it a try!" 

It was thanks to a fateful New Year's Eve, that his social media and career now incorporates another majorly cool, colourful and artistic side of his personality. Aaron’s newest role is a star Queen on the drag scene running the popular monthly “Sweet N Sticky” show.

"Evita Versace and I were going out in drag last New Year's Eve and a few of the servers at Displace Hashery in Kitsilano wanted to see me all dressed up, so we stopped by and the customers went crazy! They kept asking if we would perform for them, and of course, I'm in drag so I get all sassy and go, (with a hair flip of course!) ‘I'll perform when you book me a show!' I was totally kidding, but then the owner actually reached out to me about it, and "The Sweet N Sticky” show was born!" 

Combine Aaron's rainbow ombre fan base with his sprinkle-topped sundae of a drag persona (“I'm basically a cartoon version of a real person. I'm a hot mess. A big, colourful hot mess!") and you have a social media explosion. 

"When I started posting a lot of drag looks and pictures, I lost a lot of followers, but in no time, I've gained a whole new set of followers. My social media community now is a meld of things that I love the most and it's all come together to make a big splash!”

Aaron has become a Master of his craft and a highly respected expert in the competitive Hair industry, and he’s done it by striving for the top of a niche he created for himself. He’s seamlessly integrated the full gamut of his passions – from Pro Hair to Katy Hairy – into one vivid and flourishing career. Following his love of hair has taken him to amazing positions and opened countless doors of opportunity that Aaron never even considered for himself at first.  If there ever was an example of letting your heart and dreams lead the way to success, Aaron is definitely it.  

“I wanted the freedom to create the magic I wanted to create without rules and boxes because I specialize in not so run-of-the-mill type stuff. I’ve developed my own artistic style, so when I get to show people at another salon how to do that and then they put their own twist on it, it’s super fun. Especially when they come up later and go ‘I taught the Aaron ombre and it was amazing!’”

With thousands of artists soaring into our halls from around the world each year, our classrooms have become dynamic global communities under the unitedly diverse banner of our Blanche World – a UN of creativity! In a glorious culture clash, our International students import a vibrant collection of new customs, insights and inspiration that colour our world in exciting new ways. The leap from their home countries to our corner of Canada comes with big change, courage and incredible journeys. Speaking in the international language of passion, we sit down with our global talent to talk the dreams that brought them here, the challenges they overcame, and all about the power of being an artistic ambassador in a new country! Meet our International stars!

Hi Darlene! Where in Australia did you grow up?

I grew up in a small country town called Humpty Doo.

...You’re not serious...?

I’m so serious. Population of 5,000, minus one! It's a very small beautiful country town that I call home. It’s up north so it’s really really country, in the middle of whoop-whoop-nowhere. There are kangaroos, there are crocodiles, snakes and spiders everywhere!!

So what brought you here?

The real reason I moved here is really crazy. I was raised as a farmer's daughter in (like I said) a small country town with my brothers, so I’m the biggest tomboy. I never considered a career in Makeup until I realised my love for gore and FX! One day my life took a huge flip: I lost something extremely important to me. That night I dropped to my knees and cried myself to sleep for the first time as an adult. And I had the most random dream, so real, with a voice that said, ‘You need to book a one-way ticket to Vancouver, Canada to study Makeup Artistry, to one day head a feature film. I promise you that you will be the happiest you could ever be!’ I woke up, my eyes stuck together from my tears, thinking, 'Why the bloody heck would I move to Canada when I’ve never met a Canadian, I’ve never seen snow. I’m from the other side of the world.' But the next day I googled '#1 Makeup School in North America' and Blanche Macdonald came up.

[Blanche Macdonald Admissions Director] Chaline Hird’s the reason why I ended up choosing Blanche. I looked into other schools, but Chaline and the connection that I had with her made me come to Blanche Macdonald. She’s amazing. Now that I’ve come here, I know it was the best decision of my life, and I’ve honestly never been so happy!

Obviously, language was not a barrier for you, but what are some of the other challenges that you faced and overcame in coming here?

The biggest challenge for me moving here: I had no friends, family, accommodation nor job. When I turned up in this strange place I was so nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to make friends, worried that nobody was going to understand the Australian humour. And then a week later, I went to Blanche. Those girls that I studied with, they’re now my best friends. I still speak to them every day and we hang out all the time. Everyone in that class was just ridiculous talented. We were all so close and motivated and would push each other to do better.

How have you been liking Vancouver?

I’m obsessed. I’m so obsessed I’m never leaving. If I could live here the rest of my life I would. The Canadian culture, the charm, the accent – which melts me everytime, tingles my ears like, 'St-op talking' – everything about Canada I love. Vancouver is ridiculous. It’s beautiful. And I’m a North Van girl now, so I’ll go to Cypress for a run and to chill out when I can.

Did you have a favourite module?

TV & Film! Let me tell you about that: I’m obsessed with a teacher named Sydney, everyone knows it, it’s no secret. TV & Film was what I wanted to get into so I waited that entire time so eagerly, and then the second I got there I was obsessed. Obsessed with my teachers – Sydney, incredible, and then Leah comes along, hottie, love her – and then everything that I learned from them about TV & Film was everything that I needed to know. I knew there and then that that was where I was heading: straight into TV & Film.

How about a favourite classroom memory?

[Chuckles musingly] Favourite classroom moment...oh my god. There’s so many! I was just talking with the girls about this the other day; we used to just cry ourselves in laughter, like legit be sitting in the classroom just crying. There was no drama in our classrooms at all, full stop. All of those moments have been my favourite. I’d prank the girls – play around with their work and stuff – and we’d prank the teachers. I mean, it was all amazing.

There seemed to have been a lot of them, looking at your Facebook feed! Tell us about this '100 Happy Days' thing that you had going.

That was the best idea that I ever carried out. My first day I thought about how, in 100 days, I would be graduating from the school that I dreamt about coming to. 100 days of happiness before I get there. That first day, I was sitting outside of Blanche Macdonald having lunch with the girls, just looking at how beautiful it was and I thought you know what, I need to take a picture of this. So I sat in front with my friends, staring at my dream. I thought. ‘This is day 1.’ Then, every day I had to find something new that made me happy. Every day that I was at school, I did.

Do you have a project that you were most proud of over your time here?

Honestly, it was all my little projects that I did at home – my babies. The first time I ever picked up an airbrush, I was terrible and I had no idea what I was doing. I went home and started practicing on my leg (I’m obsessed with Disney so I did this Peter Pan scape). All of those little projects at home, my babies, pushed me further and made me become better at my school work. Like with those crazy FX hands – they were all unexpected things that I did, playing at home. I was just trying things out. Out of my stuff that I did at school it would probably be my final, the wolf. I was like, 'Did I do that? Damn Gina!'

Well, we certainly loved seeing all of your at-home F/X! Speaking of out-of-class practice, did you do much volunteering?

I’m all networking and socializing and pushing my business, and when I first landed in Vancouver I knew no one. So I pumped myself up – I volunteered and networked my ass off until finally I got my in. After those six months, I started working with the photographer who’s the main photographer on sets like Arrow, and who works with Will Smith and Clint Eastwood. Now he’s like my brother from another mother. It’s just amazing the people I’ve had the chance to meet in this industry. I’ve worked with some of the best photographers in Vancouver now. That’s what it’s all about – you have to put in the hard work, volunteer, push yourself and then it all starts coming back.

What do you want to do from here?

From here, my goal of course is to get into film, but one of my main things is also that I want to become somebody that people can look up to. I want to be able to inspire everyone else to chase their dreams. And to just do it, because you can do it. I’ve been a presenter for about seven years now, and I want to one day have my own label, to be able to get onstage and sell my business. I want even one day to represent Blanche Macdonald! I’d love to talk to students, tell them about how a small town girl from Humpty Doo moved here to come to this school, and tell them what it gave me to get to where I am now.

What are you most proud of in your journey?

What I’m most proud of is taking – and I say this all the time – ‘Darlene’s Leap of Faith.' Taking the leap of faith and following your dream, your ridiculous dream, and moving. Everything is about that leap of faith in life. Just do it. Take a breath and do it. I’m proud of growing up, moving away from my small town to come here and make amazing new friends and a whole new life.

What would you tell a fellow Aussie looking into the journey to Blanche Macdonald?

If it was one-on-one, I would tell them, 'Do it. It’s worth it.' You are being trained by the leading artists of our film industry – Heads of Department of Tron, X-men – like, what? That’s ridiculous. Who else would you want to be trained by? They say it’s the best Makeup School in North America, but I think it’s more the best school in the world. I would talk that school up – I’m all for it.

If you could start all over again, would there be anything that you would do differently?

I had the best time...so what would I do differently? I would tie up Sydney so that he didn’t leave for Hawaii during TV & Film, and stayed with me for the whole six weeks. I’d do that.

No, I mean honestly, I wouldn’t change anything at all.

It’s fitting that we find ourselves at the threshold of a Woodwards building street level storefront. Built in 1903, Vancouver’s historic shopping behemoth sat vacant for a period of nearly a decade before the renaissance of Gastown in 2003. Now, the revolving ‘W’ sign crowns one of the city’s most exciting boutique neighborhoods, and the soon-to-be Hey Jude shop, in which two sharp young women plan to continue their reinvigoration of vintage aesthetic in a permanent space. And under the vaulting, industrial ceilings of their new home at 315 Abbott Street, much like in their slick heritage surroundings, old is anything but outdated.

Few pop up shop announcements have caused more buzz over the years than those of Hey Jude Vintage and now, five years in, Founders Lauren Clark, Blanche Macdonald Fashion Marketing graduate, and Lyndsey Chow are readying themselves for big moves. Every step of their growth has been a savvy one, in both business and style, and the insights they’ve collected along the way are just as discerning and covetable as their clothing. When we meet, the pair have only just picked up their keys, and we spend a moment contemplating the space, barren but promising in the pale spill of morning. The months ahead promise a whole lot of hustle, so we lock up and hightail to Prado Cafe to fuel up and talk thrift.

Congrats on your new space! Though it’s not entirely unfamiliar – you held your latest pop up shop here. Let’s start with how starting out with pop ups has helped you get Hey Jude to where it is now.

LY[ndsey] // It’s probably the best piece of market research that we’ve done to get to this point. We started doing pop ups because it was the most feasible way to have a shop. We started out with single day pop ups to ease into it, with our longest one open for three months. We opened in neighborhoods all over Vancouver: Chinatown, Main Street, Kingsway and then Gastown. We really thought that somewhere like Main Street would be the place to be with all of the walk-by traffic, but it isn’t really a shopping district. When we came to Gastown we realized that as much as walk-by traffic does make a difference, it’s also about the mentality of the neighborhood, and Gastown really has that boutique shop atmosphere. It was so clear that of all the neighborhoods we had been in, this is where we had to be.

LA[uren] // We did eight pop ups and I feel like every time we kind of evolved and figured out what our brand was. For the last couple it’s been really consistent; we get who we are, we understand our brand, and now we’re ready to open a store. It doesn’t feel like we’re starting from scratch. We put in the work and now we’re really happy with what we have, and with the store that we will be able to create.

Looking at what you’re putting out each season, you do have a strong sense of what you’re about. Your seasons are curated and cohesive – they’re collections. Which is unique in that you’re creating them in collecting existing, disparate designs. How do you develop a certain seasonal mood?

LA //  Beforehand we’ll do a little bit of research – not researching any specific trend, but to get inspired. We’ll flip through magazines and articles, grab coffee, get out and walk around. Before we go buying we’ll just make sure that we’ve been filled up with inspiration and from there it kind of just comes to us. We work really well together and we often visualize the same thing. We’re very much on the same page. Often if we don’t talk it through together we’ll end up dressing the exact same!

LY // I was actually thinking about that today. I was concerned we’d both show up and...oh god. (both laugh)

Tell us a little about how you guys met, and about the moment you decided to start Hey Jude.  

LY // We were actually bartending together eight years ago, and we hit it off in our common love for travel, art, thrift and music. And we were both from small towns so we were like, ‘Yes! You get me!’

LA // (I’m from Vernon and she’s from Ladner.)

LY // One thing sort of led to another. We’d talk about one day opening a shop together and that became the pipe dream. It seemed very far-fetched until we had been on a trip to New York together and saw these pop ups happening. And that was when we thought, ‘Hey why don’t we…’

LA //  We wondered, ‘Why is nobody in Vancouver doing this?’ The very first one we did in my apartment. We cleared out all of the furniture, handed out invites, packed my apartment with people and sold a lot. We thought, ‘Ok we’re on to something,’ and we just started it from there.

Lauren, you graduated from Fashion Marketing at Blanche Macdonald – how did you come to it from Vernon?

LA // My high school had Fashion programs, which were hands down my favourite. I would come down to Vancouver for these ‘Fashion trips,’ going to some of the school runway shows and all that. I was always dreaming of moving down here. After high school, my girlfriend and I signed up for Blanche together. It was an exciting move. The Fashion Marketing courses were just so diverse; at first I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so it was an awesome opportunity to learn a little bit about everything!

Is there anything that you learned at Blanche that you use still?

LA // Yea actually, a lot. When I was at Blanche, I really loved the Styling, Fashion Awareness and Buying classes, and it’s funny to see how all of those things that I enjoyed in school is what I’m now doing in the business that I’ve created. I often go back to the things that I’ve learned, even from courses like Runway Production; one of the very first things we did after starting Hey Jude was put on a runway at a friend’s event. So my time spent at BMC has definitely been invaluable. Even just in the community I’ve been exposed to – so many creative people have gone to school there, Makeup Artists and such. It’s a great way to connect with likeminded people in this city.

What we love about vintage shopping is that everything can be taken out of context; you can shop in all size sections, in the men’s section, kids section… How are you allowing for the clothing to take on new context within the Hey Jude culture?

LY //  That is a challenge that we often face. Sometimes we’ll pick an item and looking at it, it could be either an absolute bust or it could be this incredible piece. For us it comes down to our tools – the photo shoots that we do, Instagram, our inspiration boards… it really helps to get our idea and our story across, which draws people in. Once they’re in the shop we definitely try to help them pair pieces up and explain our reasoning behind our picks. We have a lot of oversized men’s silk blouses this year and it did take us talking to people for them to understand how to wear it, and that it actually does look cute; that you can make it look sexy, and it’s not just this oversized bag!

LA // We do get asked about sizes a lot and there are people who have only been to shops with a full, standard size run. They’re used to thinking, ‘Oh, I’m a medium,’ and then grabbing at it. Even if it isn’t ‘their size,’ it doesn’t mean that it won’t look good on their body. We urge people to try stuff on.

It makes the shopping experience more of a conversation.

LA // Yes, and I think also it makes the items more unique. A lot of our pieces can be worn by many different sizes, and the look will change each time. It makes everything a little more personal.

So we’ve been talking about how Hey Jude is making the idea of thrift and vintage more widely celebrated aesthetically. The other side of this is that thrift shopping is eco-conscious, which has it’s own preconceptions to tackle. You’re bringing green to cool in an entirely new demographic. Was being eco-conscious an important factor in starting up Hey Jude?

LA //  It was always at the back of our minds, but it wasn’t until we did our first presentation at Eco Fashion Week, when we sat in on the seminars and were around all these like-minded people, that we really became proud that we were choosing to go an eco-conscious route with our brand. Today, everyone’s talking about fast fashion and third-world factory conditions. People are more aware and are trying to make smarter choices, even with food. So the timing is right to highlight this.

LY //  One thing that we’re super proud of is that we keep challenging ourselves each year to make our company evolve and stay with the times. With this, it’s become a part of our being; we’re more health-conscious and eco-conscious in our lifestyle and in our values since starting up Hey Jude.

Going back to the pop ups, do you guys have a pro tip for pop up eclat?

LY // Make a list. (laughs)

LA //  Every time we do a pop up we’ll think of, and write down, absolutely every possible thing that we could do, should do and who would want to hear about it – all the logistics from ceiling to floor. We’ll both work off of it to make sure we’re not forgetting anything.

LY // And I would say too that you have to really need to make an effort to get the word out. When we first started out in Chinatown, Chinatown wasn’t ‘cool’ yet. There were no other shops around. And this was before Instagram was as big as it is now. We actually walked around the neighborhoods handing out flyers. You can’t think that you’re just going to pop up in a space and people are going to come. You have to do whatever it takes – go visit stores, tell you friends, tell your friends to tell their friends.

It’s interesting that you bring up your early Chinatown adoption, because these pop ups were probably a really brilliant way to familiarize yourself with the lesser known characteristics and characters of Vancouver. There’s quite a lot going on when you look for it! What is it about Vancouver that makes it a good launch point for Hey Jude? And is there a beyond in the works?

LA //  We both just love this city. There is an amazing creative community here and there are so many entrepreneurs starting up and doing their own thing. Everybody is willing to support each other and connect with each other, and we’ve made this amazing network of friends and peers. This is definitely where we want to have our base. Our goal is to grow from here and expand further from Vancouver but for now, it’s just big enough that we can dig in our feet. It’s exciting to be bringing something fresh and new to Vancouver. This city needs to be spotlighted more.

It’s exciting to have you two doing what you’re doing here! Talk us through your magic, ie: your picking process.

LY //  Picking is the most exciting part for us. These past couple of months have been so much screen time, so much paperwork. As much as a buying trip is exhausting, with the 15 hour days, we love it. It’s when we get to see the collections coming together. We’ll have those moments where we find things that we just can’t wait to see in the store. We’ve done so many of these trips, but we still get excited before we leave!

LA // We do a lot of our buying down in the States so we’ll put in the twelve-hour days of picking and then we’ll always make a point of ending up in a city – whether it’s Seattle or Portland or wherever – to treat ourselves to dinner and a cocktail.

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever unearthed from the pick piles?

LY //  I think it still has to be this silk kimono that we found for our first or second pop up in Chinatown. It was this stunning cream piece with beautiful tassels…

LA // … all embroidered. It was ridiculously cheap. We couldn’t believe it!

What’s your top tip for thrift?

LY // Go in openminded. Don’t be thinking, ‘Ok I need to find this colour of blouse today.’ Be open to finding something cool and unique. You can have goals, and then maybe you’ll find a version of it. Also, I would say touch the fabrics. Fabrics are a big thing, especially for us. We’re mostly natural fabrics, silks and wools. We’re at the point where we can spot them from across the room!

LA // And also make sure to look in every section instead of just going to the tops and the dresses. We’ll go into the Menswear area to look for women’s pieces, or even into Holiday and Maternity. We look in every area because you never know what you’re going to find, and where!

And lastly, your top three current wardrobe must-haves?

LA & LY // Wide leg culottes for fall, frayed denim, and silk tees and tanks for easy layering with interesting statement jewelry! Our favourite is @karenn.la for minimalist jewelry inspiration. (Find these trends in Hey Jude's upcoming Fall shop!)

Envision this: you’ve just been chosen as one out of tens of thousands of face-painting hopefuls to join the backstage ranks of the world’s reigning Cosmetic Queen for New York Fashion Week. You soar out to the Big Apple on the order of an Instagram notification and join right in on the frenzy of shows like Anna Sui, Diesel Black & Gold, Calvin Klein and Hugo Boss. A few days later you’re pulled onto a flight to Milan where you brush it out for luxury legends Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Bottega Veneta and Versace. Another ticket is thrusted at you. It reads Paris. Givenchy happens, as does Jil Sander and Valentino. You’re there amongst it all, and you end it with a magical motorcycle tour of the city.

This is Jenna Kuchera’s fantasy. A fantasy that flung through into real life.

“When I found out I had won Pat McGrath's #backstagewithpatmcgrath Instagram contest, I was on set with my friend Alan Chan shooting for Kit and Ace – just a regular work day – and I hadn’t looked at my phone for hours. When I had packed up I saw that I had something crazy like 50 missed calls,” recalls the Blanche Macdonald Makeup graduate-turned-Pat-Prodigy. “I knew at that point that I must have won.”  

“I threw my life together, my kit together and I was away for over a month with her team. I wasn’t expecting that time frame either so it was all just really crazy!”

Jenna can’t reveal too much of her whirlwind month with Pat – MBE (that’s Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), and widely-dubbed ‘Most Influential Makeup Artist in the World’ – but what we do know is that what was supposed to be just one Fashion Week turned into three.

“She asked me to come along to Milan and Paris and of course, you’re not going to say no. It was a dream come true for her to ask me that, as was every opportunity that came up during that time with her. I was so in shock that I didn’t really think about it too much. I feel that if you’re thinking about how, ‘I’m here, working on the World’s Best Team,’ you start to get panicked and nervous. For me, the more that I relax and do my thing, and not really think about, the better. It wasn’t until I came home that it sunk in.”

As astonishing as this may all seem to be, it is not all that far-fetched. After all, like Pat’s ennui-blasting reinvention of editorial beauty in the 1980’s, Jenna has been vivaciously reimagining the standards of artistry in Vancouver. Her boldly singular style, which elevates character in unapologetic blitzes of glitter and hue, has made her one of the most sought-after Makeup Artists on the local scene for a mind-boggling gamut of sets. From the fresh calm of Aritzia lookbooks; to eye-pummeling conceptual editorials with the likes of Grimes; music video sets for Hedley and Eating Out; and face-doodling sessions with Norman Reedus (we’ll get to that later), there is simply not enough space in this article to describe her range of artistic reach. Jenna takes it all on with chroma-packed prowess and enviable cool. And the international scene has taken note.

The fashion-slick scapes of New York, Paris and Milan can seem distant dreams for most, but especially so for Jenna, who began her journey in a small town just outside of Penticton, BC.

“When I was young my mom would have friends come over on some Saturday afternoons and we’d have hillbilly barbecues with all of these characters drinking Budweisers and – as it was the nineties – wearing cut off denim shorts and big blonde hair,” laughs Jenna nostalgically. “There was one instance where my friends, my sister and I snuck into my mom’s makeup and dressed ourselves up like our moms – teased our hair and did beauty marks and the lip liners that are too dark. The women thought it was hilarious and everyone was having so much fun about it, working together to find us more props.”

This was Jenna’s ‘Cosmetic Awakening’ – Makeup for fun, Makeup for transformation, for characters and collaboration.

At just fifteen years old, Jenna forayed out into the world of freelance with a beauty-tome-taught talent (it can be said that her first classes were coached by cosmetic greats Kevyn Aucoin and Bobbi Brown), working on a circuit of word-of-mouth bridal gigs, and dreaming up outlandish creatives in the studio of then high school pal, now renowned New York photographer Owen Bruce.

She might have stayed a big fish in a small pond forever, had it not been for one irresistible invite. Her best friend was going to Blanche Macdonald. She should join.

As would become something of a motif later in her life, Jenna packed her bags up in flurry and whim, not knowing quite what to expect of Canada’s Top Makeup School, but ready for big changes.

“Blanche was the best. I had the most fun. We were all super tight buddies in my classes. I remember them all fondly and keep in touch with some of them still. We were always dying with laughter over whatever – whether it be beard day, dressing up like pirates or some hilarious thing. There were always some crazy shenanigans going on.

“That’s also when I became quite serious about what I wanted to do. I started to realize that I cared a lot about doing well with this. In a small town sports are considered competitive, but we were definitely competitive with creative work within our class. That really helped me to excel in those days.”

The rapid pace of expectation and growth that her in-class competitions brought left Jenna wanting more. Shortly after graduating, a recommendation from instructor Jennifer Folk to apply to the IMATS (International Makeup Artist Trade Show) Battle of the Brushes was an easy yes for Jenna, and an even easier yes from the application board.  

“I found out that I had been accepted and needed to make money – quickly – to get to LA, so I made a raffle basket with a bottle of tequila and a bag of Doritos. All of my friends would come by my work to put money down. All of a sudden there were more than 100 people who were going to be want to know whether I had won or not, so I was like, ‘Shit, I better win.’”

Jenna did win. She took first place in the Beauty/Fantasy competition with her macabrely brilliant black widow creative (which can still be spotted on the IMATS banner to this day).

Having swept the podium of the Canadian Makeup show earlier that same year, placing first in each of the three competitions she entered (Glamour, Fantasy Runway and Body Painting/Airbrush), one might imagine that Jenna walked into the IMATS, and her many subsequent challenges, with easy confidence and ease of mind. That this is not the case speaks strongly to how she has come to be where she is today.

“I have confidence in what I’m doing, but I don’t ever have that assumption that what I’m doing is going to be better than anybody else. Or that I’m going to win a competition because I’ve already won three or four. After each is over I reset. New game. Anything can happen. The constant challenge drives me, and drives any artist to keep up their game and keep performing. It’s so important.”

It may not be the gold that Jenna is interested in with these intensive artistic trysts, but the golden opportunities that have presented themselves as a result of her years competing – both in the arena, and with herself – she takes in gratefully. Her brazen vision, coupled with a modest and genuine mien, caught the eye of Blanche Macdonald Fashion Makeup Director Jon Hennessey, who promptly signed her on with his bar-raising talent agency Nobasura. 

“The industry has really expanded for me, just in meeting new people and having these opportunities come up. Last year I was able to work with Norman Reedus and Djimon Hounsou, who are amazing, awesome guys for a film called Air. Norman Reedus doing my makeup was funny. That was a good time.” (He’s apparently quite talented too.)

“A big reason that I like working film is that it can be so fun. And as I do Beauty and Fashion Makeup almost every day, it’s really important to me to keep up in the world of Special Effects. Those skills transfer into other projects that I do; they definitely help with problem solving, and I’ve used this mindset at shows and shoots.”

It is this sort of invaluable industry-reaped insight that Jenna has been bringing back to the classroom, as an instructor at the Blanche Macdonald Centre. Though well under 30, she’s far more than qualified for the position – having worked her first Fashion Week at 22, keeping a swift and cool-headed rise ever since, Jenna has become somewhat of a hero to her fledgling creatives.

“I like to come back to Blanche because my students all look at me with sparkles in their eyes. They all listen to every word I say and are just so excited to be there. To have relationships with people that are learning something from you is such an interesting feeling. They’re really happy and thankful to have me there and I feel the same way about them.”

In the wake of her glorious globe trot with Pat Mcgrath, Jenna hints at BIG things on the horizon. It’s unsurprising and, of course, all very hush-hush for now. Wherever it is that she ends up, Jenna insists that she’ll hold Vancouver enshrined as her creative home.

“What I really like about working here is that a lot of these people in the creative community are open to doing something new, having fun with it and not taking it too seriously. Once people feel like they have mastered whatever they want to master here, it’s a lot easier to bring it to other markets. You feel confident with your work once you’ve had this playground to figure it out in.

“I’ve been very lucky in having people allow me to do whatever craziness I’d like to do. I call them my friends, but they are professionals – really amazing photographers, stylists, models. I’ve just worked with them so much that they’ve become my friends.”

Makeup has always been a means to great times with great people for Jenna. And even now, making her break into the prestigious hustle of the backstage elite, she manages to source out these two happinesses.  

“Everybody on Pat’s team is super welcoming. They are all extremely talented – some of the best Makeup Artists in the world – and that can easily make somebody a jerk. I deeply respect all of them, not only for their experience and their skill, but because they’re good people who accepted me and were super generous with their knowledge. They went beyond my expectations of just being really awesome-cool-amazing humans. If you’re like that you’re going to get further ahead.”

Though we’ll greatly miss Jenna’s own liberal outpourings of savvy and artistic wit about campus during these next thrilling stages of her career, we can think of few more fitting to take on the challenge of making over the world of Fashion Beauty.   

“Fashion is at a point where it’s starting to change and I’d like to be a part of that in a positive way. It’s been a nice feeling for me to be a supportive friend or role model for younger people that are in the industry. It’s something that I would like to continue to do. There’s going to be a new generation that challenges the older conventions of beauty and I’m hanging out waiting for that to happen, but also hoping to be a catalyst for it to happen too. In my own way. In my own work.

“I'm looking forward to seeing how my work will change into the future, as I go out to experience and learn more of the industry – what it will look like when I break out some of my weirder Jenna Kuchera stuff down the road, and make people question things.”

We can’t wait.

As a leading fashion stylist, Amy has created an aesthetic that makes fashion believers of even the most disenchanted crowds.  

These days, Amy is most often found jet-setting about the hottest of US destinations, or surrounded by racks of dreamy pink and cream designer gowns. Putting it simply, Amy has made it. A self-proclaimed lover of all things sparkly, Amy is always bringing something luxe into the mix, never shying away from texture, and using her incredible knack for layering in editorials that are always alluring: daring yet polished, edgy yet refined.

Building a high profile styling career overnight isn’t a reality. Amy understands that. It is a passion for what she does, along with immense drive and talent, which makes her a salient figure in the world of Fashion Styling today. 

Her strong work ethic, paired with an inimitable eye for Fashion and unrivaled creativity, has landed her in the driver’s seat of numerous artistic projects and lust-worthy editorials. Since graduating from Blanche Macdonald’s Fashion Marketing Program, Amy has worked with renowned photographers, models and celebrities in locations around the globe. Following her time at Blanche Macdonald, Amy relocated to Canada’s Fashion epicenter, Toronto, where her career success continued to flourish. She had no other direction to go but up.

Currently based out of San Francisco, California, her work has appeared in editorials for FASHION Magazine (in which she was also voted one of Canada’s “Best Dressed”), Vanity Fair, Interview, People, Zink, Sport Illustrated Women and Hello Magazine, and in national advertising campaigns for Coca Cola, Levi’s, Anthropologie, Cover Girl and Nike. If this wasn’t impressive enough, she has also worked with celebrity clients including: Jessica Pare, Selena Gomez, Nina Dobrev, Russell Crowe, Jason Priestley, Lily Cole and Georgina Chapman.

This award-winning stylist has also received BC Apparel’s Fashion Stylist of the Year award and some images she styled for photographer Barbara Cole won the Grand Prix of Fashion Photography at the International Festival of Photography in Cannes. Chances are you’ve seen this fashionphile make appearances on Inside Entertainment and Canada’s Next Top Model.

We recently checked in with Amy to get an update on all her fabulous happenings and styling feats: 

BMC: So San Francisco! How was it that you ended up there of all places? 

Amy: I have always wanted to live back on the West coast; I have a life-long love affair with Los Angeles but San Fran is the best of both worlds – city vibes, beautiful nature, and it's a quick flight home! I anticipate I will be traveling to LA often but there are definitely amazing things happening here. Toronto is an incredible market for fashion photography; there is world-class talent there. But coming to San Francisco was a personal decision. I missed the ocean.

BMC: Your aesthetic clearly reflects your love for beauty found in nature. Can you remember some of the most memorable locations that you have worked in that parallel with this artistic pull?

Amy: Besides the Fashion, working in brilliant locations is my favourite part of the job. I have been blessed to shoot in some of the most incredible nature locations in North America. I'd have to say shooting all over the Lake Tahoe area was one of my most favourites; it was mind-blowingly beautiful. Oftentimes we shoot in big fancy mansions too, which is uber inspiring!

BMC: We know while you were in Toronto you were represented by one of the most prestigious talent agencies in Canada - Judy Inc. Are you now doing Freelance work, or are you still repped by them (or someone else)?  

Amy: I'm still with Judy Inc in Canada and have been represented by them for over a decade. But since moving to SF, I am doing more freelance work. Judy Inc does work with international clients, but I find it makes the most sense to be represented by an agency that is in the marketplace you want to work in. My plan is to align with a top US agency once I am a little more settled in!

BMC: Sounds like the best of both worlds. Now let’s talk clothes. For your shoots, which shops and stores do you love to pull from?  

Amy: It really depends on what the job is. And of course what the budget is like! For ad jobs in Canada, I love Holt Renfrew and Zara the most. For editorial, it's all showrooms and online designer look books. It is hard to choose a favourite designer because they change all the time, but I usually start with Chanel, Saint Laurent, and Greta Constantine. 

BMC: What would you say was the pivotal moment in your career? 

Amy: There isn't one I can pinpoint, I was as excited to style a granola bar advertisement at the beginning of my career as I was to style A-list celebrities later on. All of the moments lead to the next big thing. I did have a dreamy moment when I was surrounded by Marchesa gowns in the Lowell hotel in NYC a few years ago, I do love beautiful clothes after all. And more recently I was shooting in LA with one of my favourite photographers, Richard Bernardin. I took him to this lookout spot I have been frequenting for years and we shot a whole editorial around it. That was pretty epic.

BMC: What is it that inspires and drives you in your artistry?

Amy: I love clothes and beautiful images. Styling has allowed me to dive deep into both worlds.

Day-to-day, I am inspired by nature, which is one of the reasons I moved back to the west coast. I love the ocean, sunshine and flowers.  From an industry standpoint, I am always inspired by innovative Fashion photography. Sometimes I feel totally over it and then see a killer editorial by one of my favourite teams and then I'm totally fired up again.  I am also intrigued by the total transformation of our industry by social media; to be honest, I don't completely understand it or my place within it, but have seen it change before my eyes and can't help but be inspired.

BMC: You clearly found your calling! Having now worked extensively in the industry, how do your feel your time at Blanche Macdonald set you apart from others?

Amy: I am grateful for my time at Blanche because it gave me an entire year to dive deep into Fashion without distraction. I spent all of my time reading magazines, studying, thinking and daydreaming about Fashion. When you dedicate that much energy to any craft, it makes a difference. The opportunity to immerse myself in Fashion for the duration of the course was, in hindsight, invaluable.

BMC: So beautifully put. For any future students coming to Blanche Macdonald to study Fashion Marketing, what advice would you give them?

Amy: Take advantage of all of the opportunities. Volunteer or intern whenever possible, network, go above and beyond what you think you should do. It’s not only about getting good grades; it’s about making the most out of the opportunity as you can.

BMC: Of the many projects that you’ve done, which kinds are the most unforgettable?

Amy: Unforgettable projects can be unforgettable for many reasons; sometimes the photographer is someone I have wanted to work with for years; it could be an incredible location, or racks of the most amazing clothes; a beautiful model, the buzz of working with a celebrity. It’s all relative to where you are on your path. 

BMC: You said it perfectly. It’s truly all about perspective. Looking back at your career from where you currently stand, what is your biggest point of pride, your “tour de force” if you will?

Amy: There are so many moments and they change all of the time. Sometimes it's the early morning drive to location, or a quiet moment on set, or seeing a story on shelves in print where I'm like, ‘Wow, this is a cool job!’ I'm really proud of some of the images I've worked on, the experiences I've had and the career I've created for myself. I wouldn't change a thing.

BMC: Creating a career for yourself based on what you love. That is definitely something to be proud of! What is your personal motto in career and artistry?

Amy: Be true to yourself and just fucking do it! Listen to yourself, work hard, and don't give up. 

BMC: Lastly, what tips can you share for any budding stylists who are just starting out in the industry?

Amy: Get started! It takes a long time, a ton of dedication, passion and hard work, but if you are in LOVE with clothes and photography, it is the best job in the world.

To view Amy Lu's incredible portfolio of work, visit her website at www.amylu.ca, or on her Instagram @amylustyle