Backstage at NYC Fashion Week

I’d like to introduce you to my dear friend MJ…

MJ is a professional makeup artist living in LA. She’s worked for many amazing makeup lines including Dior, Laura Mercier, and MAC. She has done everything from bridal to red carpet and from runway to film. She even has worked with the D-O-Double G himself!(Umm that’s Snoop I’m referring to haha)

Most recently she worked backstage at NYC fashion week! So she is giving us the scoop today on what it’s like backstage!

MJ: I was running on not a lot of sleep! It was a very looong day flew in and hit the ground running the morning! Early call times! But then really, who sleeps during fashion week?

I was backstage for 2 days with 3 shows per day so it was a lot of work! The shows I worked on were at the Metropolitan Pavilion in NYC. Bebe, EMU Australia, Theia, and Malan Breton were among the designers I was able to work with.

Beauty Control was the beauty sponsor so they provided the makeup, skincare, foundation and all the color to use on the models! (Which she got to keep! Jealous!)

It was very intense…station prep, demo from the Viktorija Bowers (the lead artist) and then everyone just attacks the models…I always had to make sure that I had someone in my chair. Everything gets done at the same time: hair, nails, makeup. So you have to be focused and quick! No time for stargazing. Ahaha.

I was able to actually watch most of the shows!

There was barely any time to sit but you don’t really notice until your done because the energy is so high! Theia was my favorite show…everything was on point and perfect. After that particular show, they received a standing ovation…some people even had tears in their eyes…I thought: this is the reason I do what I do…moments like this…its not always this way but I felt so lucky to experience a moment like that…everything was perfect and I was able to be a part of that!

I was fortunate to be partnering with a great team, which really can be attributed to the lead artist… She was so down to earth and encouraged us all to not be afraid or hesitate, that we are good artists, that why we were there so just trust our skills and go for it!

Here’s a video backstage at a show MJ worked at! Can you spot her?

BC NYC Fashion Week 02.12 Recap from Jason Smith on Vimeo.

Did you spot MJ? She was at the :42 mark! Stay tuned for another post from MJ as she gives us the scoop on the beauty trends she saw on the runway!

Cheers to Fashion week, to NYC, and to Perfect Moments,