Meet Natalia Buenrostro of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalia Buenrostro

Hi Natalia, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My name in Natalia Buenrostro, I’m a Chicana born and raised in Los Angeles from an immigrant father from the small town called Tuxcueca, Jalisco and Mexican American mother also from Los Angeles along with my two older sisters. All my life growing up in the 2000s starting from a very young age I’ve always been in love with makeup and fashion, having two older sisters means that you grew up with pop culture, the most popular shows on tv, and having mtv music videos on all the time. What really triggered my passion for who I am today was America’s Next Top Model and Lady Gaga, I was so fascinated with the transformation processes of the show and Lady Gaga’s details to fashion and makeup in her music videos. I remember watching those things as a kid and telling myself “that’s who I want to be” and I made sure and still making sure to make my childhood dreams a reality. Growing up in my teens I kind of put my childhood passion away because bullying of my looks and coming from old school parents I wasn’t allowed to have makeup till I was 16, so I focused on the art of painting. Painting is something I was super passionate about and put a lot of time into since I was creating political art about issues that were happening to women especially ethnic/women of color. Unfortunately COVID hit in the middle of my senior year of high school and I ended up in an art block, my passion of going to art school was gone until I started picking up makeup brushes. After finishing online school work I would go to my bed and start creating all sorts of makeup looks on myself, I would do some sfx on myself and take pictures and post them. It wasn’t until the subject of college came up in my AP Art class and my teacher noticed my passion for makeup and suggested to me to makeup school, he showed me Cinema Makeup School because he had a friend who went there and encouraged me to go. I decided to do some research and really loved the idea of becoming a professional makeup artist, since Covid was still a thing that was going on I waited patiently until 2022 where I was finally able to apply and start school. Going to CMS I was able to meet new people and make great connections that are still dear friends till this day. After graduating I then started to work but also post TikTok makeup tutorial videos which has led to also great opportunities with different makeup brands. When posting videos and getting attention about makeup I wanted to change things around and start posting fashion videos, that soon led to even more opportunities. When making these videos I pushing myself to post more even on my instagram, that’s when a photographer named @ovrthem00n hit me up asking me to be part of her photoshoot for a valentine’s series she was creating. Not going to lie I was super nervous because it was my first professional shoot and growing up I wanted to be those models I saw on tv but at the same time being insecure due to bullying of my looks, I decided to push myself and agreed to the shoot. After final photos were posted I started to get photographers messaging to collaborate and I was in shock because I didn’t know that people would want to take pictures of me. As soon as I got out my comfort zone I decided to collaborate with many photographers and post more fashion videos, then the fashion videos ended up leading to brand collaborations with my favorite gothic clothing brands. I just gained a bit more attention and was getting told they love my makeup work and fashion, I’m most known for people always asking to get my picture taken in clown makeup which is a favorite. Today I am currently working as a professional hair and makeup artist in the film and fashion industry and a somewhat of a model on the side for editorial photography and gothic fashion. From going from begging my mom to have makeup and my sisters taking pictures of me posing in my Baby Phat outfits with Britney Spears playing in the background, to now being passionate about my work of makeup and now posing in front of professional cameras. Even though I’m still working hard to up my career, I am happy with what I’m doing.

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?
It has not been the smoothest if I’m going to be honest. Getting into the type of industry especially at a young age it is really hard, but it’s something that everyone has to push through to get where they are at or want to be at. Sometimes I’ve had my low moments of wondering if this was the right road for me especially being diagnosed with depression and anxiety in my 20’s. When things are slow or when things are not going the way I wished for it to go for me my mental heath does take a toll on me and sets me into a deep depression state, but I try to push through because if I don’t my passion for the things I love won’t be the same and I won’t be able to make connections to get myself more out there to people or work. Going to therapy and connecting to spiritual beliefs has helped a lot, I’ve learned to think positive of myself and when I see a spiritual sign that is dearly personal to me that means things will be ok or great things are coming my way I just have to have passion and patience. Not only that but also talking to other Chicanos/Latinos in this industry has helped a lot too, there’s not many of us so when we run into each other it’s kind of a relief because you finally feel like you can relate to each other. I feel like a lot of us can relate to our parents being concerned about what career we were going into and always on us about being sure if this is really something we want to do, talking to each other always feels like reassurance that everything will be ok and we will get to our end goal and show our parents that this is really something we are passionate about.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am currently a hair and makeup artist in the film/fashion industry and a gothic model on the side. When it comes to me being a pro HMUA I specialize in beauty makeup, editorial, sfx, and hair styling. It’s something I’ve been passionate for years, I love creating new looks and making sure everyone is camera ready. Seeing what I apply on people on camera makes me happy because my work and skills are finally being seen, I love making people look their best and helping create the picture for the storyline. When it comes to modeling I’m known for mixing chicana style with my gothic aesthetic, I’m also known for especially my clown makeup photographers always seem to love it and it’s something I always find fun to do. I also work with a lot of small chicana owned gothic clothing companies to promote their stores with my Get Ready With Me videos, they are always the greatest to shoot/work with because we come from similar backgrounds and have a passion for gothic fashion style which is not really frowned upon our immigrant parents. What sets me apart from most people is that I’m always hustling when it comes to my two passions, I feel like sometimes I’m always running around everywhere with my schedule from being on set for a film to then getting my pictures taken for a shoot. Not only that I’m always a great person to connect with from what I’ve been told, people have told me I look the like most intimidating person in the room but then once I get start talking I’m a great person to work along side with and that’s how I’m able to make more connections with both being a Pro HMUA and model.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I see myself hopefully having the same passion for my work that I do now, and being even more booked and busy with both my works of being a HMUA and modeling. What pushes me even more to want to get to that point is I think over and over again to one of my many idols Julia Fox saying in an interview that she got where she is today by being delusional, “be delusional, anyone that’s anybody was delusional.” Ever since hearing that my whole mind set has changed because I used to think it was silly to think that way, but it’s not if I want to see myself still working more with my both passions I have to be delusional. So in the next few years I will be working even more as a HMUA and getting more attention and opportunities with my modeling. It’s literally in my last name BUENROSTRO which translates to Good Face in Spanish, my face is meant to be out there with the best intentions. I’ve been told by many people that I’m meant for bigger and can’t wait to see my growth, and I’m excited to see it too.

Pricing:

• 300/day for film
• 200-250 for student film rate

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nataliabuenrostromua.squarespace.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliabuenrostro.mua/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/bxxnatalia?igsh=NGVhN2U2NjQ0Yg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Image Credits
@campbell.pdf
@nataliesomekh_
@coolsidsid
@psychic.refugee
@shoptilyoudropdead