Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirsten Cory.
Hi Kirsten, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story is a bit unconventional as I was always interested in doing makeup but didn’t ever know that I could ever realistically have a career in it. I grew up in the Bay Area (San Mateo area to be exact). When I was younger I would always sneak into my mother’s beauty supplies and put on her lipstick and eyeshadows, and as I grew older my friends would come over and get their makeup done. I was doing makeup off of my floor with no brushes because we didn’t have enough money to afford proper supplies so I got really good at repurposing one product for multiple uses and also using a very small set of tools to achieve any look.
I moved to Chico for college when I was 21 and a few months later unexpectedly lost my mother. I had originally wanted to just get a business degree, maybe work in advertising, but the sudden loss of her paralyzed me emotionally and I just had to get out of town. I moved down to Southern California because it was the only part of California that I hadn’t lived in yet.
I started doing my makeup every single day and taking photos, hoping to break into the influencer sphere (this was also back when Instagram was still fun and the algorithm didn’t make it a vapid and over competitive space). A friend who lived down in LA and was attending SMCC reached out to me and said he saw me doing makeup and asked if I could do makeup on a student production. Now I’d never even considered that I might want to do makeup on other people. There was a little voice inside of me telling me that I might not be able to do it or it wouldn’t be the same as doing it on myself. But I said yes and went to Rite Aid and made myself a little makeup bag with the $100 I had to build a sterile mini-kit and I went and did makeup.
I loved it so much. Making other people feel good about themselves, helping actors feel comfortable in their characters and able to act them better, it was SO fulfilling for me and I was immediately hooked. I made connections on that set which eventually landed me a few more gigs on student films as well as a few commercials – cut to 2021 and I got my first opportunity to be head of department on a feature.
The following years have been a whirlwind and I’ve come across so many interesting people, places, and experiences on sets in the 4 years that followed. I wouldn’t change it for the world, there’s nothing better than being on set and instilling confidence in others. All I can say is just say yes, even if you’re scared, even if you think you can’t do it or that little voice in your head is telling you no. Prove to yourself that you can!!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Most of my struggles just came from this internalized fear of failure and rejection, or just feeling like I didn’t “deserve” to be living the life that I dreamed of. I was obviously dealing with a lot of grief surrounding the death of my mother for years (and honestly still do to this day), and had to push past that and tell myself to keep going because she would’ve been SO proud of me. Sometimes when someone passes away it’s hard to accomplish things knowing they aren’t here to see them. But you just have to let the thought of them inspire you instead of withholding you from living the life they didn’t get to.
Another thing that was daunting (still is sometimes!) was doing all of this without any sort of mentorship! I had to use all the resources available to me (Youtube, magazines, the internet etc) to expand my knowledge of makeup methods and history so that I wouldn’t have to shell out too much money on schooling, and I am practically entirely self taught. We have access to everything we need in this day and age to be successful, you just need to be able to apply yourself enough to seek out and absorb the information.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a makeup and hair artist who also specializes in therapy. Haha no but really, when you sit in my chair the goal is for you to leave feeling weightless mentally and able to focus just on your acting and character. So I do pride myself on being a good listener and letting people tell me their stories and what’s stressing them out and getting things off their chests! I love dishing with my actors and also making sure that they are getting everything they need on set.
The funny thing is is that hair has never been my favorite thing to do but I’ve always been naturally decent at styling it so when I started doing makeup I kind of just fell into hair as well. And I’ve learned that I also love installing a good set of clip ins or tape in extensions.
I also do light SFX (bruises and scrapes are my favorite to do!) SFX is so fun because it’s messy and imperfect, just like life. Where doing regular or glam makeup can feel precise and rigid, SFX feels like fun, organized chaos. I would love to widen and expand my SFX knowledge and learn how to work with larger prosthetics, so that may be my next career goal.
I pride myself on having a cruelty free kit and animal safety is very important to me. Knowing that my kit items have caused no pain in their trajectory of creation is of extreme importance to me.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
My advice for networking is don’t be too cool for school. So you work in makeup department, why can’t you have a conversation with grip and electric? Why can’t you introduce yourself to the editor? You NEVER know who might have the next line on a job for you and who might have a project in the works they need you for, and also the COOLEST people can be found in other departments. I often hear about makeup artists just staying in their makeup room or only talking to directors or actors the whole day. I make it a point to speak to everyone on set at least once during the course of production so that there aren’t any departmental cliques forming and so we are able to make a better film through collaboration and comfort with one another.
Sometimes the best networking is just being generous enough to offer a “hello” even when it isn’t necessary.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kirstencory.wixsite.com/homepage
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/klrstencory/
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11286165/
Image Credits
Kim Preston
Jack X Proctor
