- This is me doing Margot's makeup Oscars day
when Margot was nominated for I, Tonya.
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What I love most about makeup is that when
someone has
applied just the right makeup
and they look in the mirror, and there's this spark
of (gasps), they know that they look like the best version
of themself in that particular moment
that there's a spark of (gasps) oh, I like what I see.
And it feeds them with a confidence that's going
to enable them to do whatever it is they have to do next,
whether it's just go to work or whatever their work is
or to go show up on the world's stage.
(moving instrumental music)
(containers rattling)
I wonder if it was these.
These were the gemstones that I attached
to Priyanka for the Met Gala this year.
(moving instrumental music)
Is it in the right place, in the middle?
Swarovski crystals; we don't mess around.
Applied with lash glue to hold them on the face.
That's the trick.
Oh, this is Claudia Schiffer from the 90s.
This was Bjork's "Big Time Sensuality" video.
Baby Britney, October 2005,
June 2004.
Oh, this was for your magazine.
It was a beauty issue and me and Dakota.
My first actress was Liv Tyler.
I did Jennifer Connelly, Kirsten Dunst, Angelina Jolie.
My biggest Red Carpet was with Noami Watts.
Charlize was great.
She brought me in to incredible Dior campaigns,
and I worked on film with her,
The Huntsman: Winter's War, with her.
I think the bottom line is about first making sure
that person feels great, treating it as
what can I do to help support them so they
can do all this stuff they have to do?
And it's hearing them, hearing what kind of mood they're in
and really just making sure that you're not too much
in their face, but you're also a support person
that, if they glance, you're there,
you catch it, you're there to help them.
I was born in Germany, and we left Germany
when I was just a couple years old,
and then we moved to New York and then New Jersey.
We settled in New Jersey.
(gentle pleasant piano music)
I discovered makeup at 10, and I became really obsessed.
And I would sit in front of my mothers' makeup table
and play and play and play.
And then I would start to do my friends
and for school plays and dances,
and I knew that the second I graduated high school I needed
to get to New York City and figure out how I could do that.
So I moved to New York City, got a job right away
selling makeup at a department store,
and then I was ready to play.
And I was painting faces of all these women,
real-life women, customers, all day long.
And then I started assisting.
I think the very first person I assisted was Bobbi Brown
for a fashion show.
And then
I was really lucky to get invited
to be on a very large team of Francois Nars.
And Francois took notice of me at that show
and asked me what I was up to and,
at just at that moment, his first assistant had left him.
And he invited me to come around the next day,
and then I was with him for a year and a half
as his first assistant.
And he, Francois, specifically was an amazing teacher.
He did one thing that was really interesting.
He would do one side of the face,
and then he would have me have to match the exact
on the other side of the face.
Another big thing that I was taught as an assistant,
which is don't do makeup in a room that has bad lighting.
Go to a window.
Go outside if you can.
And Francois specifically taught me
that if you do makeup in this natural light,
no matter how it's being photographed,
no matter if it's black and white or color photography
or film or still or buh buh buh,
if it looks good in natural light,
it's gonna look good in every other environment.
- Hi! - Hi!
So great to see you.
- Yeah, hi! - Yay!
- I'm happy to be here. - I'm so happy
you came to play. - Oh, of course.
What's new?
- So many amazing things.
- Ooh, wow. - You know we're all
about the devices, the GloPro; have you tried it?
- Not yet, but I think I might,
have to. - It's amazing.
- What I think makes a great makeup artist,
wow, there's so many things.
You need to be incredibly organized, (chuckles) organized,
incredibly clean.
How do you keep it clean?
- You spritz it down with alcohol.
- Alcohol, just alcohol. - Yeah, mm-hmm.
- Is this a flashlight?
- Looks like a flashlight, right?
It's actually an LED light that's geared towards acne.
- Oh, that's great. - It's a high-tech
spa treatment.
- And I believe a great makeup artist is also someone
who really cares about the person in front of them
'cause then you're giving makeup
and you're sharing makeup instead of dictating makeup.
So I haven't seen these.
- Oh my gosh, this is amazing.
It's a cheek stain. - Oh, that's for cheek,
not lip. - Yeah.
I think we can do it multi-- - Is it a multi thing?
- Yeah.
- Ooh. - It's just
like a watercolor sheerness to it, so--
- You guys are watching us geek out
(Maureen laughs) to the max.
We could just stand here and talk
about cheek texture forever. - Mm.
- Oh, can I try it on you? - Yeah.
(Maureen laughs)
- And I think what makes a great makeup artist
is one who sees beauty everywhere.
Dot, dot, dot, dot, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, buh, buh, buh.
And sees beauty in many ways
so that you're not myoptically only looking
for beauty in one particular way or place.
That's pretty. - You've got the magic touch.
Feels so nice when you do this, thank you.
- What makes a great makeup artist
is people who feed themselves creatively
and have interests that are broad,
look at art everywhere and look at inspiration everywhere.
That's a great makeup artist.
(birds chirping) (plane roaring overhead)
- [Woman] Yeah, (speaks indistinctly) coming.
- You see the Hollywood sign okay?
(woman speaking indistinctly)
It's pretty big. (chuckles)
(gentle acoustic guitar music)
Well, I'm a morning person for sure.
So I love early, early mornings.
I love being up with the sun, like sunrise.
I like the quiet of the mornings,
but that's not to say that I don't love a sunset, too,
and especially getting to see in California
such incredible sunsets; they're magic.
This is my favorite time to come out here and walk
because yeah, the light is so beautiful; it's magic.
(birds chirping)
Two years ago, two and a bit years ago,
there was this thing in my mouth that was weird and growing.
And they checked it out, and it was something easy
for the oral surgeon to take care of.
But there was a scan of my head that was ordered.
The radiologist who read that scan
detected a cerebral aneurysm, so he called.
He's like, good news, benign, da da da.
You have to go back to the oral surgeon,
but the radiologist, and I remember writing down,
detected a cerebral, and I didn't know
how to spell aneurysm.
So I need to refer you to a brain surgeon.
So then I started meeting brain surgeons
and to understand how risky it was.
So it was decided that it would be best
for me to deal with it and not have this fear
of a ticking time bomb in my head.
So I, yeah, I had brain surgery two years ago.
Yeah, I had my head cut open, and they clipped the aneurysm,
and I'm great, never been better.
And I'm blond as a result.
It's a whole other story. (laughs)
(stirring instrumental music)
I feel like it gave me a reboot; I'll call it a reboot.
It was like a reset button, like oh, priority shift.
What's important?
It's not like I do less now or slowed down
or something as a result 'cause I go,
but I go more mindfully.
(stirring instrumental music)
So yeah, this is a recreation of Margot's look
from the London premiere of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
And I did a orange and purple eye
and then a deep plum sheer lip.
- [Woman] Welcome to our white carpet, Margot Robbie!
(crowd cheering)
- Margot has a really incredible, rare face
that I've come across that you can do anything on her face.
I can do a very strong, almost black lip like I did for,
that was Suicide Squad New York premiere.
She's wearing Alexander McQueen dress
that had a unicorn on it.
So what do you do with a silver unicorn dress, right?
You do a black lip, of course.
Or she can take a crazy swatch of yellow eyeshadow.
That was the premiere of Goodbye Christopher Robin
in London, I think.
- It's just very moving.
It's beautiful, and it's magic, and it's moving.
It's amazing.
- She was wearing this bronc dress
that felt very nightgown with little, delicate flowers,
and there was these little, delicate flowers,
and there was a little yellow in there,
and I'm like we've gotta toughen this thing up.
This looks too soft, so yellow, yellow.
Who can take that?
Margot Robbie, she can; she can take anything.
(lilting pleasant instrumental music)
I think that people are more willing
to take risks with makeup now than in the past.
I feel like, in the past,
at least we're talking Red Carpet,
- Right. - right?
In the past, I think that people
were a bit more afraid to take risks.
Now, people are willing to
take edgier risks with their makeup.
And I'm not gonna take credit for that at all,
but two years ago,
straight after brain surgery, my first job with Margot
was that Red Carpet in London, and I did yellow.
And they were like are you okay?
You just had brain surgery, are you sure?
And I'm like, I'm sure.
A swipe of bright yellow on a Red Carpet like that
on a person like a Margot definitely gets attention,
and I think it helps eke open a door for other people
to feel confident to do something bold also.
(stirring instrumental music)
- [Woman] Do you think your 10-year-old self
or even your teenage self, when you were just starting
to do the makeup, what would she think of you now?
- Mind blown.
She would
have no idea of the vast potential.
I think she'd think I was pretty cool.
It's pretty cool what I get to do.
I can't imagine ever not doing makeup.
I know that carrying that makeup kit
around the world has a shelf life because it's hard.
It's hard to travel, and it's hard
to just physically do that.
But I'm always gonna find a way to keep doing it.
There's one fantasy of living in San Miguel de Allende
and doing weddings; that's an idea.
(chuckles) I might just say bye, I'm gonna go do that now.
And I just know that wherever I go in the world,
I could still do people's makeup.
And it doesn't have to be big movie stars.
I'm good with that.
It's just I wanna make people feel
like the best versions of themselves,
and that's what I'm gonna keep doing.
I've been doing it since I was 10,
and I hope I'm still doing it at 90.
(uplifting moving instrumental music)