September 13, 2016

Meet West LA Makeup Artist: Tiffany Hilt

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tiffany Hilt.

Tiffany, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started doing makeup as a hobby, during my freshman year in college back in 2007. I started slowly building up my makeup supply and perfecting one area of the face before moving on to another. Every day I’d practice on myself or anyone around. I’d watch YouTube tutorials practically all day and I’d replicate looks I’d see in magazines. Until finally I felt confident enough to start working on photo shoots with my model friends. My first photo shoot started a snowball that helped get me on the path that I am on today. Although I’ve been involved in makeup artistry for almost 10 years, it’s just recently within the past 2 years I’ve been truly focusing on it as a career.

Has it been a smooth road?
I have definitely hit some bumps along the road over the past 10 years. From having to step away from the industry due to family health issues and finances to having my work harshly criticized and as a result being filled with self-doubt and losing my “mojo”. However, no matter the challenges faced I always found my way back because it is truly something I love.

Tell us about your childhood, what were you like growing up?
Growing up I was quiet and shy and very much into my academics, reading and writing stories, and poems. However, I also loved to make things. For instance, I remember my cousin and I used to make “rollercoasters” (as we would call them) out of anything we could get our hands on. I used to make clothes for myself and my friends out of cut up old t-shirts, I experimented with food and drinks and I even made my own skincare products. Anyway, I could unleash my creativity I did. I like to think of myself as very innovative. Even though I was reserved I was almost always the leader in any group situation.

What is your favorite childhood memory?
It’s kind of hard to decide but one of my favorite memories that immediately comes to mind is all the times my best friend and I used to make prank phone calls. At that time there was a show called Crank Yankers that we loved because it was so hilarious, so naturally, we decided to make some calls ourselves. Usually, we’d call restaurants, hotels, party line etc. but that day we decided to call someone’s house and I can’t remember exactly what we said but I do remember laughing until our stomachs and heads hurt, it was all fun and games until that person called back. We just knew that we blocked the phone number so how did they call back is what we were wondering. At that point we got scared so we decided to go out the house and sit across the street because we just knew they were on the way to the house. As scared as we were, we still thought it was funny and continued to laugh the whole time. But I don’t think we ever made another prank call after that lol

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
In the future, I hope to continue to grow as a person and as an artist. Since I do have a Bachelors degree in psychology I do want to pursue the next level of education, I want to be able to help people feel as beautiful on the inside as I make them look on the outside. I also plan to take additional art classes and explore the special effects side of the makeup industry. Currently, I am in the very very beginning stages of opening my own makeup and skincare store, so far its been challenging but fun and I’m definitely learning a lot along the way. Once I get my store up and running I plan to expand to creating a full makeup line. Lastly, I definitely would like to create some sort of program aimed at helping underprivileged boys graduate and get into college, since back where I grew up (in the cities of Compton and Lynwood), they were the least likely to graduate and go to college. It would be sort of like a mentorship, we’d start with them in freshman year in high school and guide them through their college journey. After all that is running smoothly I just want to travel the world with my family and friends in tow.

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