AN ACCIDENTAL MAKEUP ARTIST
Jordan Liberty , one of LA’s most-wanted makeup artists, was told that “little girls upload makeup videos on YouTube, not professionals”. He, however, turned his passion into worldwide success with the help of the internet
It was a busy LA morning in the year 2006. A motley mix of artists, photographers and stylists were gathered in a studio for a fashion shoot. The camera was perched on the tripod, the lighting was perfect and the models knew their poses. The shoot, however, couldn't progress because the makeup artist couldn’t turn up. “I will do it,” said Jordan Liberty, the young art director who had never done makeup professionally. Being a Fine Arts student, the love for makeup came to him naturally and over the years, he’s perfected the art and proved his mettle in the glamour world.
After years of fine-tuning his craft, today Jordan has established himself as a soughtafter makeup maven with about 279k followers on Instagram and 464K subscribers on YouTube. Jordan is also a photographer, educator and creative director. He also does international beauty tours where he takes professional masterclasses across the world. The makeup artist has so far covered 21 countries, sharing his sensibilities with enthusiasts across age groups and professions.
The makeup artist will be conducting his first ever masterclass in the Capital at The Lalit Hotel on February 29. “It would be my first time in India! I’m so thrilled. I will be going to see the Taj Mahal,” he told us on the phone during an early morning interview.
Jordan says he loves his “chaotic and mysterious life” even though he has a detailed to-do-list. “I don’t like structure, it is exciting for me to get out of bed wondering what will happen today. The first thing I do every morning is call my manager. He is my lifeline. On vocations, I sometimes don’t call my mom but I do call my manager,” chuckles the guy who didn’t want to be famous and admits he is anxious about interviews. “Before my first interview, I couldn’t sleep for weeks,” he laughs.
Jordan owes his popularity to social media. “If it wasn’t the social media, I wouldn’t have been able to globalise my career. In 2008, I started uploading my makeup videos on YouTube. I could reach out to countless people across the world.” However, many in his fraternity did not approve of it. “It is for little girls who do makeup in their bedroom and not for professionals,” they told him. But he took the plunge and today he is a global name with an evolved design oeuvre.
Not many know the journey had its own share of hardships. For Jordan, it came in the form of cancer. When he was at the peak of his career, he had to say no to many great opportunities due to the advancing illness.
A go-getter, it was depressing for him to let go of prospects that came his way. “I was in a good place and I had to push away opportunities. There was a lot happening around me in terms of work. I had no choice but to take a break for self-care,” he says. Jordan fought the disease bravely, and while he thought that he was on his way to recovery, cancer struck again. The second time Jordan had to undergo chemotherapy, in 2017, he was supposed to leave for a global makeup tour. “Initially I was all up for it, but when the doctors refused to allow me to go, I was forced to call it off. I called the makeup company crying as I had never said no to a project, especially this one because I was waiting to do it. However, they waited for me to get well and postponed it,” says Jordan, who has taken up strenuous 12hour assignments even when he was suffering from tonsillitis and food poisoning.
The makeup artist now supports the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) as an ambassador. The AACR funds global research efforts towards the prevention, treatment, and cure for all 200+ forms of cancer in adults and children. “Cancer can ground you..it wasn’t easy for me to find myself stuck while the world was moving so fast. I’m glad that I could finally make it,” he says.