Christen Dominique is one of the hottest names in the beauty industry today.
Since 2009, she has amassed more than 4 million followers across her social media platforms,
and was named as one of Forbes top beauty influencers in 2017.
Dominique's ambitious and entertaining makeup tutorials have made her a fan favorite, but
she's not stopping there her star is still very much on the rise.
Here's how the now-famous makeup maven became one of the most recognized names in the YouTube
beauty universe.
Vanishing circles
When Dominique first started experimenting with makeup, she wasn't looking to transform
her entire face she was just looking to cover up the dark circles under her eyes.
After getting teased by her classmates, Dominique started borrowing her mom's concealer.
She told Makeup.com,
"It actually helped my undereyes and I became really into color correcting, even though
I didn't know what it was.
That's when I started getting into makeup, from that insecurity."
"If you were to have known me before, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing right now, smiling
at random people, saying hi, if anything I would avoid it, just because I was so insecure
with who I was."
Dominique became so skilled that her friends began to take notice of her new talent.
They began asking her to do their makeup, too, and Dominique soon became the go-to makeup
artist in her circle of friends.
Cubicle life
Dominique's pre-beauty blogging career was far from glamorous.
She was focused on being a wife, mother, and going to school, all while holding down a
job in medical billing for half a decade.
Her close friends encouraged her to start putting videos on YouTube, and she soon found
herself hooked, despite being a self-described shy person.
It wouldn't be long before YouTube took over Dominique's life, and she began to change
her lifestyle for the benefit of her channel.
She told Refinery29,
"I worked in a cubicle.
I didn't wear makeup because I wanted to save my skin for the weekend, so I could film a
video!"
Full support
At first, Dominique's YouTube channel was just a way to explore her creative side, and
that's all she really expected it to be.
Even after her channel began to take off, Dominique still didn't plan to pursue it as
a full time career.
When a company wanted to help her pursue beauty full time and asked her to move to Los Angeles
to focus on her channel, Dominique almost turned them down.
She told Makeup.com,
"I had just bought a house, so I thought, 'That's crazy.
I can't do that.'"
Fortunately, her husband had other ideas and wanted his wife to pursue her dreams.
Dominique said that he told her that she couldn't turn down the chance of a lifetime, so they
ended up making the move from Houston to LA.
It was a risk but one that ended up paying off big time.
Eye-popping
Dominique may be a genius with a makeup brush, but not all of her secrets can be mimicked
with creative uses of cosmetics.
If you want to get some of her eye-popping looks, you're going to have to branch out
beyond eyeshadow and mascara.
The secret to her stunning eyes?
Colored contacts.
While she doesn't need them to correct her vision, Dominique looks at colored contacts
as yet another way to express herself through color and to change up her look.
She told Allure,
"I wear them purely as a cosmetic to change up my makeup looks.
I love exploring with different shades."
They might not be a necessary item to add to your beauty arsenal, but colored contacts
are a quick and easy way to transform your look.
More than makeup
If you're a dedicated fan, you know that Dominique's videos go deeper than just makeup tutorials.
The artist wants her viewers to come away with more than makeup tips.
Dominique told Beauty Bay that she has been passionate about helping people her entire
life, and even considered becoming a psychologist at one point.
That desire to help people was part of her motivation in launching her YouTube channel.
She explained,
"At the end of every video I give either an encouraging, motivating piece of advice or
I leave them with a simple note to love themselves."
"Thank you guys so much for watching, I love you so much, if nobody's told you today, you
are beautiful, that's it until the next video.
Love you guys, bye dollies."
The most important thing
While she's made a name for herself through enhancing outer beauty, Dominique believes
that inner beauty is even more important.
She told Trending All Day that this is one of the most important things she learned in
the beauty industry.
At the end of the day, it's all about staying positive, and this is something Dominique
tries to communicate to her viewers.
She told TubeFilter,
"Start to tell yourself you are who you feel you are and your mind will start to believe
it.
Sometimes you have to fake it until you make it happen."
"Whatever makes you happy, you should take the time out to do that.
I love you guys so much and I'll see you in the next video."