Q&A VANIA STOCKWELL
When Vania Stockwell started out doing make-up on her friends, she never thought it would take her this far. Now the 27-year-old has found out she’s made the top 30 of the NYX FACE Awards Australia. She spoke about her career, competitions and provided advice to younger artists.
Q. How did you first get into make-up?
A. It was actually my mother who pushed me into it. I guess when you’re young, you don’t know what to do, or when you get out of high school you’re like, ‘oh what do I do now?’ So she basically pushed me into it by doing make-up for all my friends and then somebody said, ‘why don’t you do this as a business?’ So we started from that. Q. How did you go about making it into a business?
A. I guess it started with creating glamorous looks, all the beauty things and natural looks. Getting into the business you need to do a lot of research. Not a course, but you do need to Google a lot of things. First, what you need to get a business established. Do you need an Eftpos machine or ABN number, things like that. Q. What would you like to tell people about this kind of job? A. It is fun, I love doing it. You have to have the passion for it. Like I tell everyone, I will do it until I die, I can never get sick of it. So only do it for the love of it, don’t do it for the money. That’s what I tell everyone. Q. How did you feel hearing that you’d made it into the top 30 of the NYX Face Awards Australia? A. It was fantastic. I was overwhelmed. I’m hoping I get through to the top 15. It was fantastic that the judges were impressed with what me and my team created. I guess (my mum) was overwhelmed as well, but also she said to take it as it is, so if you don’t get in you won’t feel bad or sad or nothing. Just keep doing what you’re doing, really. I know some people will feel really sad and say, ‘oh, I didn’t get in, I’m not good enough’, but it’s not like that. It’s just that it’s different. Q. What advice would you give young people looking to get into the industry? A. A lot of girls ask me the same question. They say, ‘should I go to a make-up school?’ Make-up schools are good, but they don’t actually teach you everything, I know this from experience. I suggest to Google things. Youtube also helps a lot. I follow a lot of celebrity makeup artists and they’ll give you a lot of tips and tricks, and then you can just do your own thing. Q. How do you come up with your ideas?
A. I like to look into a lot of gaming, I do a lot of gaming so the characters there. A lot of arts, a lot of colours, I guess when you travel you see a lot of fields, a lot of greens, butterflies. It all depends. I do look at other artists, but then again it’s not good to copy them. It’s good to get inspiration like, ‘oh, I can blend this colour how she did’, and things like that, but never copy them. It’s always good to create your own thing. Q. How do you suggest young artists make the jump from “ordinary” make-up into special effects make-up and out-there make-up? A. Baby steps. Some people jump into it straight away and they go, ‘oh my God, this is hideous’. But get into the field. If you really love the make-up, start jumping into the colours. Find models and people who actually love it. Don’t find anyone who’s going to say ‘oh, you’re gonna make me look like a drag queen’. You need someone that’s passionate about it.
YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE PASSION FOR IT. LIKE I TELL EVERYONE, ‘I WILL DO IT UNTIL I DIE, I CAN NEVER GET SICK OF IT’. SO ONLY DO IT FOR THE LOVE OF IT, DON’T DO IT FOR THE MONEY VANIA STOCKWELL