Self-taught MUA, Exploring Cosmetology
Going under the name myneechan on instagram, Maisarah Mazian explores the niche of special effects make up. Growing up in an artistic household, she is familiar with handling brushes. She started to explore and hone her craft at the age of 19. However she could only afford to buy her own makeup after STPM. That was when she started work as a cashier at a petrol pump station.
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She then started to experiment with different products and techniques on her own during her spare time. She would share her creations online, through Instagram. Her endeavours really took off when her friend, who is a freelance makeup artist herself, advised her to fully utilise her talents to gain income. So that was when she started to accept freelance makeup service jobs locally for her friends’ graduation ceremonies or events to practice and gain experience. Initially her father made some comments on how expensive cosmetics are, but her efforts have managed to open their eyes with the business opportunities she created. After getting into USM, Maisarah started to gain more recognition and exposure by dealing with customers from different backgrounds.
Face painting and wearable makeup
“There is a big difference between face painting and ordinary or wearable makeup”, Maisarah explained to the FOMO team. The difference between the two makeup styles is mainly the products used. “For face painting, I use oil based paint and other DIY mixtures like fake blood and clay,” she added.
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According to Maisarah, the intensity of the colours are different too. The colours for face painting are vibrant and striking, whereas ordinary makeup palates are mainly based off neutral and earth tones colour like red, burgundy, brown and pink. She also added that face painting would usually utilise ones’ face merely as a canvas. This is a different concept for ordinary makeup which purpose is to enhance and beautify ones’ facial features.
As a demonstration of her skills, she worked her magic on two members of Team FOMO. For the first one she expressed her creativity with colours and contour, inspired by the comic book version of Harley Quinn in the 60s. The brushstrokes on the face was smooth and gentle. As Maisarah had explained earlier, the face paint and base was oilier and heavier when compared to the normal foundation formula. For face painting she truly painted the face as a canvas, painting the lips in contrasting colours with paint, instead of the usual lipstick. Masairah also flaunted her talents on the ordinary makeup look. It resulted in an elegant look fit for a night out. While demonstrating her skills, she shared that ordinary makeup looks are actually harder to draw and master as compared to special effect looks and face painting.
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Practicing a look
Maisarah revealed that sometimes she would practice a look before attempting it on a client. But that would of course depend on the difficulty and the complexity of the look required of her. “I tend to do it freestyle or spontaneously by referring to a photo reference,” she said. On average, she shared that she would take an hour or two to create her desired image. The hardest character she has painted so far was transforming herself into a Pontianak, a female vampiric ghost in the Indonesian and Malay mythology. Not only did she have to paint herself gorily, she went the extra mile and created some “scars” on her left hand. That one took her three hours to complete. Another notable challenge for her was to age a 23 year old lady into an elderly grandmother, a look which was created to shoot a short film. The challenge was in creating the fine lines and “wrinkles” naturally to show traces of time passed on her face.
Maisarah shared that she gets most of her inspirations for her looks on the internet. Before social media became mainstream, she used to watch Mykie’s youtube channel, Glam&Gore, for ideas. Another channel where she got her inspiration from was Promise Phan’s channel Dope2111, which is also on Youtube.
Makeups products as investment
While she may use face paint for her creations, she does possess high end makeup products. Her most expensive and treasured item in her makeup bag, is an eye shadow pallete by Anatasia Beverly Hills which costs around RM 200, which is not available for sale in Malaysia at the time of writing. However she views the high price point as an investment because the shelf life for products like eye shadows and highlighters are longer compared to products like lipsticks and foundation. “Plus, high end palate colours are rich and so pigmented!” She exclaimed. However most of her makeup products are still bought from drugstores as some of them are almost as good as high end products despite their low price point.
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Her collection consists of different brands depending on the hype and review on the products. However, her makeup bag is full of products from Maybelline and Catrice. “I like their formula and colours, plus they are pretty much affordable,” she explained. Maisarah mainly purchases her makeup products based her own skin types. “I have very oily skin, thus my products mostly have a matte finish.” Even so, she explained that most looks can be altered accordingly for her clients by using setting powder and spray.
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Even though there are many who would hoard and use their makeup products for years, but Maisarah is not one of them. “I follow the shelf life as suggested on the packaging”, she explained that there is usually a small jar looking symbol with digits on it to indicate how many months you are advised to use the product before they start to expire. “I usually buy products that I find works the best in bulk during sale”. For hygiene, she would usually wash her makeup brushes once a week.
Stereotypes towards face painter
Face painting and makeup used to be a gender centric hobby, with females dominating the scene. Maisarah shared her observation that she sees a surge in male makeup artists lately. She shared that on its basis, face painting is more of an art portrayal of a character or look and not to emphasize ones masculinity or femininity. “In the western country, there are less discrimination towards male who wears makeup, as compare to Asian countries.
However the stereotype is slowly dying down as more men are open to using makeup. In fact, Maisarah did have some male clients of her own who wanted to look good on special occasions. “My male customers who want to enhance their features like their eyebrows and nose, for a photo shoot usually they would put makeup on”. Although men may not be into full face makeup looks at the moment but Maisarah sees progress in guys accepting makeup as a medium to enhance a persons’ beauty and to cover up flaws.
Makeups products as investment
Currently she is satisfied with making a business opportunity out of her hobby. “I charge around RM 80 onwards depends on the event, look and request, in addition to her transport fees. She could get up to RM 400 during convocation week with her services. “I couldn’t really publicised my makeup service too much because I am still studying and my schedules may differ from my client,” she added.
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She does plan to pursue this service either independently or professionally under an agency since it pays well and she really enjoy it. “I also want to start a YouTube channel for tutorials and reviews but alas - I have issues with commitment and consistency”, she added with a laugh. She is still pursuing her studies, she lacks time to do her service and study at the same. She only has one small issue regarding her clients. Every now and then, every freelancer would meet someone who would try to decrease their rate or price of their services. “It is disheartening sometimes because it takes skills and concentration for me to do a look, plus my effort to travel and use the best products,” she added as clout or exposure does not equal to currency. “Makeup artist is a valid career and it should be paid accordingly,” concluded Maisarah.
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Her advice to interested newcomers would be to just experiment.
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“Just like art, you need to practice a lot and go through trials and errors,” she advised. If they are planning to make it as a career, it would be good to build a portfolio first by doing different looks on different skin types and colours.
