Makeup
Jessica Steblyk Delivers Early Bird Makeup to Vancouver and Toronto
One major benefit of being a professional makeup artist is that you get to work in exciting environments with beautiful people and fascinating celebrities. But no one ever said that this career was easy. For Jessica Steblyk, the makeup artist for The Morning Show for Global TV in Toronto, it helps that she doesn’t have an aversion to early starts.
“My alarm is set for 3.20am,” she smiles. “Call time is 4am. But it’s stress free at Global. I have two hours to get everyone ready, which is luxury.”
Late nights are out of the question for Jessica and the rest of The Morning Show team, but there are plenty of positives that come with this position.
“It’s cool,” she explains. “I didn’t sign on expecting to do Regis Philbin and William Shatner’s makeup. I had no idea that was the level of guest they were pulling in. Regis was very friendly and professional. I had about three minutes with him. I threw his makeup on and he was on air. He looked amazing.”
Global TV is just one of many elements in the professional life of this freelance makeup artist. She’s regularly working on TV commercials, a variety of television shows, weddings and print ads in her adopted hometown of Toronto. It’s the culmination of a dream that began in drama class in small-town Alberta.
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Todd Masters Brings FX Mastery to Blanche Macdonald
“I’m not a makeup artist,” explained Todd Masters, the Emmy-winning creator and head of MASTERSFX, the Los Angeles and Vancouver-based lab responsible for countless major movie and TV makeup and visual effects. “I’m an artist that uses makeup.”
This small detail was at the heart of Todd’s two inspirational presentations to Blanche Macdonald’s makeup students at our City Square campus, as he repeatedly stressed the importance of the ability to think outside the box and to keep exploring new ideas, along with the vital value of people skills and perseverance.
Exceptionally generous with his advice, Todd acknowledged that this room full of aspiring makeup artists was already on the right track.
“Be creative in your thinking,” he insisted. “Be better – be different. Look for the medium for success. You’re at makeup school, so you’re already doing that.”
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Makeup Graduate and Instructor Farah Hasan Brings Bollywood Extreme to BC
Ten years ago Farah Hasan’s creative brilliance was directed towards her laptop, delivering graphic design work for an in-house graphic agency. That’s when a visit to City Square’s food court opened her mind to new future.
“I looked upstairs and saw Blanche Macdonald,” she recalls. “For some reason the name just clicked. I went home, googled it and decided, I want to be there.”
That day changed everything. A decade later, Farah has regular opportunities to sample the delights of the City Square food court as a member of Blanche Macdonald’s Makeup Faculty. Teaching at the Makeup School where her journey began is just one component of an incredible career that regularly takes her across Canada and the world for fashion and editorial work and has seen her become the ultimate bridal makeup artist for British Columbia’s South Asian community.
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Donna Stocker: The Model Makeup Instructor
Students lucky enough to be in Donna Stocker’s classes at Canada’s best Makeup School know they’re learning from one of the best.
Is she a tough teacher? Perhaps. Because she knows what Blanche Macdonald students can expect in the real world.
“I know what the TV and movie industries’ standards are and I teach to those standards,” she explains. “But I also know how to simplify things for students when they’re first learning a technique. I let them build their knowledge up piece by piece with what they’re learning.”
Donna’s understanding of the industry standards is the result of 17 years working on big TV and movie sets. She was part of the team for major productions like Twilight: Breaking Dawn, The Chronicles of Riddick, Stargate Atlantis, Night at the Museum, White Chicks, Santa Clause 2 and Dark Angel.
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Follow CurliQue Beauty on Facebook!
In just a few weeks, the corner of Robson and Homer will be transformed into Vancouver's newest go-to store for the best Makeup, Skin, Hair and Nail products. Introducing Blanche Macdonald's very own Beauty Boutique, CurliQue!
We invite you to follow CurliQue Beauty on Facebook for Facebook-exclusive offers, invites, contests and opportunities you won’t want to miss. Plus, learn about the hot celebrity lineup of brands we'll carry and be the first to know about special guest appearances and free seminars!
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Hair and Makeup Grad Fiona Kennedy: Rock and Roll Queen
Fiona Kennedy came to Makeup School at Blanche Macdonald with some bold ideas about where she wanted to take her career.
“On the first day of classes, the instructor asked what we eventually wanted to do,” she recalls. “I said, ‘I’m a musician and an artist and I’d love to combine the two, touring with a band that has really fun makeup like Lady Gaga or Kiss.’ I thought that would be living the dream.”
She hasn’t worked with Lady Gaga or Kiss. Not yet anyway. But the Makeup and Hair graduate has fulfilled her creative dream of working at the heart of the music business. You’ve seen her work in videos for Hedley, Marianas Trench, Band of Horses and many more. Rock and roll.
“It’s such a fascinating industry to be a part of,” she continues. “Bands need to be actors, writers, performers and models to be what they are. Josh Ramsay from Marianas Trench, he can do everything. I got shivers watching Jacob Hoggard from Hedley perform. It was so intense. It’s great to work and be around people like that. You totally vibe off it and it enhances what you’re doing. And they’re all so bloody nice! They’ll come and give us a hug at the end of the shoot and say how much they appreciate what we do.
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Makeup Graduate Oz Zandiyeh Conquers Vancouver, Toronto and Beyond
No two days are ever the same for super-busy freelance makeup artist Oz Zandiyeh. One day she’s in Vancouver. The next, it could be Toronto. You’ll have seen her work on influential fashion photography site Ben Trovato, on The Food Network and in magazines including Papercut, My Vancouver, Fashion Chicago and even the Barcelona-based Hacid.
Oz does have an unfair advantage. Having graduated from Blanche Macdonald’s Esthetics School, as well as the Makeup Program, she’s also in a position to offer clients the benefit of her skincare expertise. Busy? We’ll let Oz explain.
“Fashion takes up 50% of my time, bridal and commercial shoots the other 50%,” she smiles. “The industry is slightly different in Toronto. Photographers there have a different vision. Not better or worse. Just different. I lived there for two years. I wanted to leave Vancouver, see what else was out there and if I could succeed. I came back to Vancouver five times for work in that time. And I’ll probably go back to Toronto again next year.
“My esthetics background is useful because I can explain why you need different skincare routines in Vancouver and Toronto. You have to adapt your knowledge to wherever you are going. You have to be prepared for everything.”
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California Dreamin’ - Makeup Grad Deb Svarc Living the LA life with Korres USA
As a young girl growing up in Northern Manitoba, Deb Svarc had a dream. She didn’t know how she was going to make it happen but somehow, some way, she was going to live in Los Angeles.
“I remember sitting in the donut shop when I was 14 years old, telling my friends that I was going to move to Hollywood,” she explains on one of her regular visits to Vancouver. “I wasn’t joking. That was always my plan.”
Deb did move to Los Angeles. It’s the perfect base for her role as National Makeup Artist for Korres USA. She looks after the Korres accounts in seven ultra-high profile stores in LA, and manages everything in Canada from Winnipeg west. There are regular trips to the New York head office and the home of Korres in Athens, Greece. And yet, whenever she returns to Los Angeles, Deb knows she’s coming home.
“When I fly back from Canada the plane is always full of kids heading to Disneyland. They’ll be clapping and cheering because they can see the Hollywood sign through the windows. And I’m always there with them!
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Another Trophy and a World First for Blanche Macdonald on Day Two of the Vancouver IMATS 2011
And they say lightning never strikes twice…
After a historic first day of the Vancouver International Makeup Artist Trade Show (IMATS) 2011 where Blanche Macdonald’s incredible students and graduates took home all three trophies in a clean sweep of the Fantasy/Beauty Competition, the triumphs continued on Day Two. Recent graduate Candice Johnson took a well-deserved Second Place in the Prosthetics competition and a pair of graduates-turned-instructors, Ashley Forshaw and Celine Godeau produced dazzling creations on the Blanche Macdonald stand, one of which may very well have been the first of its kind in the world.
Now held in six cities around the world – Vancouver, Los Angeles, New York, London, Toronto and Sydney – the IMATS is the premier makeup show on the planet. Over two hectic days, thousands of makeup artists, from beginners to fashion and movie professionals, descended upon the Vancouver Convention Centre to experience the newest products in person and to listen to presentations by TV and movie makeup legends like Michael Key (the head of IMATS, editor of Make-up Artist Magazine and a two-time Emmy winner), Eve Pearl (five-time Emmy winner), specials effects mogul Steve Johnson (two-time Emmy winner) and monster-maker extraordinaire Todd Masters (one-time Emmy winner).
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