My name is Ivy and I am a Chinese-speaking freelance makeup artist based in SW London. I specialize in Far Eastern, South East Asian or Asian Pacific makeup. I also am equally competent in light to medium to olive complexion Caucasian makeup.
Training: I qualified in professional makeup artistry at the Illamasqua School of Makeup Art in Piccadilly, London, in 2013.
A little background
The early years: My passion for makeup began when I was 12. I knew its potential and power then. All I had was my mother’s broken stump of a black eyebrow pencil to experiment with. She was not a makeup user as she only did her eyebrows. It was my paternal aunts whom I studied. Watching them get ready for work or play was the highlight of my day. I was familiar with the top Japanese brands they were using which was Kanebo and Shiseido. Of course, the temptation to play with their makeup when they were not around was not one I resisted. I perfected the liquid eyeliner technique on Asian Pacific eyes from an early age. When I left school, I did not know that I could do makeup as a job. There was no such thing as career guidance. Makeup remained a hobby.
The middle years: I left home and studied architecture at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and I have been practising architecture since. My twenty year career in architecture has given me the superb technical skill, fastidious observation and the quest for perfection in applying makeup. My drawing and shading techniques alone are par excellence.
I was a semi-professional singer-songwriter musician playing keys, synths and piano. Since my university days I had been playing in bands off and on and also performing solo. From 2005 I formed a band called Satsuma. We were gigging in top London venues. I started getting serious about makeup application during my stints as a musician. I realised you could do a lot to fulfil your alter ego. The world became my stage, and the stage my world. I did all my own makeup and my band members’ for our gigs and our photo shoots. Stage makeup became the standard by which I measured myself.
Let there be no doubt that I will get your eyebrows accurate and symmetrical!
