Today we’d like to introduce you to Hanako.
Hi Hanako, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am a freelance makeup artist based in Los Angeles. I have been doing makeup for 21 years, since 2002. I was born and raised in Japan and came to the US as an International student in 1996 when I was 20 years old. Almost right after I graduated from college, I jumped right into a makeup school.
I was always in love with what makeup can do and wanted to explore more of arts of makeup. After makeup school, I wasn’t ready to start freelancing yet. I was still not fully confident in my skill as well as my communication level. One day walking around the mall, I found a portrait studio and I asked if they were hiring. I ended up working there for two years as a makeup artist. It was such a great place to work for someone like myself who needed experience in every aspect that comes with being a makeup artist. I was able to perform tons of makeup and hair, learn to do my work very fast and communicate well with clients. By the time I was ready to focus on freelancing, I was confident in working with different skin tones, textures and complexion. Some chuckle at the fact I worked at the portrait studio, but for me, looking back it really boosted my skills in every way. Because I became more confident in my skills in my profession, I became more comfortable with communicating and working with clients and people I work with even though my English level hasn’t changed much (haha). I really enjoy meeting new people, hearing their stories and being personal with them. Sometimes I jokingly say I feel like a therapist (with my Japanese accent) but it’s perfect because I originally wanted to work in the field and studied.
After 21 years later, I really still love doing makeup and it is such a reward when clients’ faces brighten up and love what they see and feel beautiful. That’s what makes me enjoy my career even more and that’s the reason I have been able to continue doing this for so long. Also, I have been very lucky to have met wonderful people throughout my career, and I am so appreciative of every one of them. With some people, I’ve been working with them for a very long time; one photographer with 18 years and the amount of gratitude I have towards them is more than the words can describe. Without them, I haven’t been able to continue what I love.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have been many struggles along the way, but I will talk about the struggle I’ve experienced lately. I lost a job opportunity because I was too cautious about scams that has been going around that target freelancers like myself. These people email us pretending that they are big-name companies doing photo shoots and they want to work with you. I’ve never fallen for these scams before, but I get these kinds of emails often enough that it makes me little nervous.
Recently I was contacted by an assistant of a well-known actress for a magazine shoot (they were clear about my rate and the magazine name in the first email), but I was suspicious even after they gave me all the details such as shoot location address, call time, the look they are going for, etc. If these scam emails hadn’t crossed my mind, then this professional email interactions for this job absolutely make sense and I’d be over the moon rushing to the gig. However, one day before the shoot I was still suspicious so I asked several unnecessary questions and I ended up losing the job. You can imagine how disappointed I was even more when I saw the published photos.
Also, my insecurity made me more paranoid about scams… I was concerned how they found me and why they want to work with me even though I am not a big-name makeup artist or don’t belong to an agency. Both my insecurity and my cautiousness made me lose the opportunity.
Getting into an agency has been always a goal to me since I started out. This experience made me feel more strongly that I need to get a representation so I would never lose a job because I worried about getting scammed.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
For the type of work I do lately, I have been doing makeup for headshots a lot more, and I feel like that I am a cheerleader of working actors and actresses and help bringing them one step closer to their success and goals. I really love it when I see actors I worked with on commercials or shows. I also love seeing my work in any forms; TV, prints, films or photography- it still excites me so much. Also, things like where one of the clients whom I first worked with when she was 15 years old, she wanted me to do her makeup for her wedding- her special day! I can’t tell you how happy it makes me when stuff like that happens. It brings me so much joy!
For my makeup style, I love enhancing natural beauty. I love breathable skin rather than skin being suffocating with heavy contouring and thick foundation, I try to achieve natural glow from within. I love glowy and dewy skin!
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
When Covid-19 hit, I really thought that I wasn’t going to be able to do makeup again, or for a while but a photographer I’m lucky enough to work with often, he re-opened his studio after three months going into the pandemic so I started working from June that year. Since I was very concerned about Covid like everyone else in the world, I was very careful for my clients and myself, and really thought through, tried to follow through protocols so clients could feel comfortable.
I’m not the most organized person but when it comes to my work as a makeup artist, I am the opposite. I had an opportunities to reevaluate and relearn disinfecting/sanitizing, and several companies such as Berbacide gave us online courses where we could acquire sanitation certificates. I took those courses as many as I could. It refreshed my memories, learned new things, and even now that pandemic is over, I could keep on using or keep them in my mind so we all can feel more comfortable.
Also, I learned that American people don’t like masks, lol. Coming from Japan where we are used to wearing masks daily (in Japan, students clean their classrooms, hallway, gym, etc. every day and we wear masks for that, or winter time with the flu seasons) wearing one didn’t feel weird to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Hanakomakeup.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/hanakomakeup
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/HANAKOmakeupartist
Image Credits
Zack Gold, Heather Gildroy, Yoko Morimoto, Shandon Youngclaus, Ken Weingart, Chris Jon
