Never underestimate the power of a stiff drink.

Not that Blanche Macdonald would ever condone excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, you understand. But for makeup graduate April Boyes it was a night of partying that began a journey that’s taken her to the corners of the galaxy with Stargate and Caprica, and brought her back to Vancouver to pick up a Leo Award for Best Makeup in a Feature Length Drama.

“Back in 2000 I was 20, studying criminology and working in a coffee shop with a girl who was going to Blanche Macdonald,” explains the native Vancouverite. “I was planning on a career working with criminals. Then we went out for Bellini Tuesday. By midnight I was yelling, ‘I’m going to makeup school!’ I called first thing the next day, and there were two spaces on the program left. I was there at 3pm with my deposit.”

Deciding to commit to makeup artist school was anything but blurred logic. That night of fun made April realise that the opportunity to pursue a passion was too good to pass up.

“My step dad did music videos when I was a kid,” she recalls. “When I went to set it never mattered who was singing. It was more like, where’s the makeup? All I wanted to see were the little pots and containers with stuff inside. I went to Eric Hamber High School, which was very theatre-based. But I was never in the plays. I did the makeup. I begged my teachers to let me to join the makeup team. It was only for seniors, and I was a junior. But I got on the team.”

April knew what she wanted from her makeup career, and Blanche Macdonald was the first step.

“I knew I needed to go to school to apply to the union and make my way. I was very determined and focused. Blanche Macdonald gave me the confidence and the knowledge to do this. It made me comfortable touching someone’s face. You totally invade someone’s privacy when you’re doing makeup. You’re literally in their face. So you need to have the right approach. I came out of makeup school confident in my ability to work with people. Halfway through the program I took five days off to make an A&W commercial. I made more money in five days than I’d ever done in a month!”

That A&W shoot was the beginning of April’s long stint in the advertising world.

“After graduation I did solid three years of commercials. I volunteered for a three-day Public Service Announcement shoot and the producer of that still calls me to this day. That led to a paid job on a Panago commercial. I was only 20 but I was able to think on my feet. So much of makeup is about the people and the situation and reading them. If you’re doing a Mum in an A&W commercial it’s not about using either charcoal or black eyeliner. It’s about using common sense in the situation to make everyone happy. It’s what I want and what the actress wants.”

Each job led to new offers and opportunities. There was no secret to April’s networking technique. It was simply a matter of being her fun self and doing the best job possible in every situation. 

“Remember Hot Pockets? The creative people behind Napoleon Dynamite had written these ads for them. The Hot Pocket Master would turn up in awkward teen moments and deliver Hot Pockets. Two nights before the shoot I got a call, ‘We’d like the Hot Pocket Master to have a wiry beard’. I’m thinking, how am I going to make this work? I called people who helped me, got a chin piece made and did the rest. I even did a wart with hair coming out of it. People on set were on the floor dying with laughter. Failure wasn’t an option.”

It was only a matter of time before the no nonsense makeup artist with the infectious personality entered the world of feature films.

“In 2003 I heard about someone needing a non-union assistant for a movie, Chestnut: Hero of Central Park. I called, and she called me back the next day to tell me the job was mine.”

Although Chestnut failed to set the cinematic world alight, it led to a second movie, I Want To Marry Ryan Banks, that came with additional benefits.

“Ryan Banks had Jason Priestly in it,” laughs April. “The coolest thing ever was when he came in on the first day and took his shirt off, probably just to see our reaction. I was the 90210 generation. I had to pull myself together.”

It wasn’t long before department head jobs were being offered her way. A last minute firing opened the door for April to key Brooke Shields and Tom Green’s Bob The Butler, and soon after April was hired on her own merits to head the makeup team on Almost Heaven.

“I loved keying,” she enthuses. “I felt like I was in my element. I’d learnt a lot working under other people. I’d picked up so many tricks of the trade. When you need to make a bruise and all you have is lipstick, how do you make it work? It’s improvisation.”

April’s improvisational skills were tested by the sci-fi horror The Thaw. Starring Val Kilmer, the real scene-stealers were the movie’s makeup and special effects team. A story of prehistoric parasites unleashed onto the modern world, it was the perfect opportunity for April to unleash the darker side of her makeup box.

“I had to research burrowing bugs,” she recalls. “I did all the regular makeup and a couple of the characters as they broke down and became ill. The characters would get infected and slowly the sores would become more open. I did a lot of those, crossing over with the effects team. That was a real learning show for me.”

Although the movie wasn’t a hit, the makeup was, winning the title of Best Makeup in a Feature Length Drama at BC’s most prestigious movie awards, The Leos.

“I was the only member of the makeup team that went,” laughs April. “Everyone else bailed. I got off the spaceship, brushed my hair, put on a dress and there I was. Then I heard my name and realised I had to go up on stage.”

Getting off the spaceship isn’t a metaphor. It’s reality. For the last couple of years April has taken a step back from keying to focus her attention on bigger budget shows, including the forthcoming series of Stargate and Battlestar Galactica prequel, Caprica.

“Rebecca Lee, who’s won an Emmy, asked me to do the pilot of The Good Wife. Now I work with her on Stargate and Caprica. She’s the head of the department and I’m the key makeup artist. Working on bigger budget shows means more money, and it gives me the opportunity to learn more. There’s still so much I don’t know. Caprica was the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, artistically. We could step back and say, that’s amazing.

“I keyed on Hot Tub Time Machine with the head of makeup Linda Dowds, who has also won an Emmy. The movie is funny, but the behind the scenes stuff was way funnier. Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry and Clark Duke are hilarious. There were a lot of f-bombs flying around that set. It took me a month after that to start talking like a lady again.”

Enjoying the artistic and social side of makeup illustrates April’s formula for success. Fit your personality to the job, not the other way around. And never settle for less than your best.

“Stay with it, stay focused and stay nervous. That nervousness gives you your edge. When you have an attitude that good enough is fine, that’s when you don’t care. It’s not got to be good enough. It’s got to be perfect. My version of perfect anyway.”

If you ever dreamt about having a band of your own to mould into the epitome of cool, you’re in luck. You’ll need to act quickly though. The competition is closing and we need entries in before August 6.

We're giving Blanche Macdonald students and graduates the opportunity to create a new look for one of Vancouver’s most promising young rock acts, The Colin Grieve Band! 

Your work may be used on the Band's promotional material on their rise to national and international glory. It may even end up on the album cover. On top of that, there's the added bonus of up to $2000 available in cash prizes!

Here’s what you need to do.

We want you to form teams of three: made up of one student or graduate each from the Makeup, Fashion and Hair programs. And in your teams of three we want you to present us with:

• a unified visual portfolio of your ideas for the band’s wardrobe, makeup concepts and hairstyles
• a 300-400 word written proposal explaining your plans
• a portfolio of your previous work: five photos from each team member demonstrating a variety of experience

Please hand your team’s completed band portfolio at the City Square Campus, attention to Kelly Schmidt or Jennifer Daerendinger, on or before August 6.

RSVP to our Facebook event for updates and to meet other students and grads who want to participate!  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=101241073262466

The three top teams will be selected by the judging panel and will be announced on August 31. On September 8 these finalists will be invited to a studio location to put their ideas into action, dressing and styling the Band for a shoot with a professional photographer. Once those photos are in the judges’ hands, the panel, now including the actual band, will reconvene and decide the overall winner. The winning team's photographs will be used in The Colin Grieve Band’s press and promotional material in 2010. And maybe even more.

For more information please visit http://www.blanchemacdonald.com/news/current/2010/contest-style-makeup-band-colin-grieve/

Good luck. For those about to rock, we salute you.

“I always knew I wanted to work at MAC,” smiles Jennifer Delesoy-Esmeria. “It’s corny, I know, but it’s true.”

Landing the dream job might sound corny, but it’s also reality. For the past four years Jennifer has been a Resident Trainer covering the four MAC stores across Vancouver. It’s a management role that goes beyond the responsibility of teaching the best young makeup artists in the retail world. MAC, Makeup Arts Cosmetics, is the professional makeup artist’s choice after all. That’s why Jennifer is one of the first artists called when big events need the top professionals. She worked on Chantal Kreviazuk, Nikki Yanofsky, Tara Oram and Zaki Ibrahim when the Juno Awards visited Vancouver in 2009, and it was Jennifer who did the makeup for k.d. lang’s amazing performance at the Opening Ceremony at the 2010 Olympics.

None of this would have happened if it weren’t for two seemingly innocuous yet life-altering moments.

“It was 1999, I was 19 and going to legal secretary school,” recalls Jennifer. “Holy crap, was that boring. I learnt there that I didn’t like office life. One day I was reading The Province newspaper and saw an article about Blanche Macdonald. I instantly thought, ‘I can go to school and make a career out of being a makeup artist’.

“Once I’d decided to go to makeup school a friend introduced me to MAC. For my birthday she paid for me to go to the MAC counter at The Bay in Downtown Vancouver and have my makeup done there. Right then I knew I wanted to work for MAC. They all wore black and were super-cool. The girl who served me is now a dear friend, but she had a lot of attitude and kind of scared me. She’s tall and she was wearing black leather pants. She looked like a model. I felt kind of intimidated, but in a strange way I liked it. It seemed so cool. It opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know existed.”

Jennifer was new to professional cosmetics, but she proved that lack of previous experience isn’t a hindrance to success at Canada’s top makeup school.

“A lot of students at Blanche Macdonald come from an art background or have always done makeup,” she explains. “I had no experience of makeup on anyone but myself. Makeup artist school gave me the confidence to make a career of this. I loved it! It was the only school I ever went to that I actually enjoyed. They were teaching me things I wanted to learn about. And it was very hands-on. We didn’t sit and listen to lectures. It was more like, this is how you do it – now go do it! It was about getting in there and doing it. And practicing!

“Seeing people build a career in makeup was inspiring. I was 19 and that’s what I was looking for. And I realised what the creative possibilities were. Even though I knew I wanted to go into the retail side of the makeup business I still loved the special effects courses. I still have pictures of me in a bald cap with no eyebrows looking absolutely hideous!”

Jennifer’s sights were set on MAC. After graduation she went for a job interview there, only to be turned down for a lack of makeup retail experience. To gain that experience, she took a job at Estée Lauder at The Bay in Downtown Vancouver. Three months later, MAC decided they wanted to speak to Jennifer again.

“MAC called because they had my resumé on file. I was still working at The Bay so I did my interview with them in my blue Estée Lauder smock. I got the job and I started part time in 2000.

“I started as a MAC artist, where my job was to work the floor, sell product and do makeup. I moved into a key holder position when they opened a new location in Metropolis at Metrotown. Then I was made an assistant manager. And four years ago I became a Resident Trainer. That was my ultimate goal at MAC. I like it because I’m always doing something different. That keeps things interesting. You’re leading by example and you’re training people. It’s coaching the staff on artistry, customer service and product knowledge. A bit of everything really. I even get the opportunity to incorporate some of those legal secretary skills!”

Resident Trainer may be a senior and full-time position, but that doesn’t mean Jennifer puts her feet up when she’s not working at MAC. She’s one of Vancouver’s most in-demand freelance wedding makeup artists and when MAC presents her with opportunities, she’s eager to take them.

“MAC has an artist relations department that filters cool jobs out to us. Getting to do celebrity makeup is something I love. Last year the Juno Awards were in Vancouver, and I did the makeup for Chantal Kreviazuk, Nikki Yanofsky, Tara Oram and Zaki Ibrahim. At the Olympic Opening Ceremony I did k.d. lang’s makeup! That was an awesome experience. It was a lot of fun and a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

It’s safe to say that after a decade with the company, Jennifer’s love for MAC is stronger than ever. She hasn’t forgotten the impression the MAC team made when she first entered the world of professional makeup.

“You can tell when someone is visiting a MAC store for the first time,” she explains. “They can look shell-shocked. I want to share my energy, enthusiasm, excitement and passion for MAC. I enjoy providing great customer service and giving people an amazing experience that maybe they’ve never had before. Makeup is such an emotional purchase. People don’t buy it because they need it to survive but because it makes them feel good. And being able to make people feel good is super-rewarding for me.”

There are more rewards than the pleasures that come with satisfied staff and customers. Jennifer continues to grow as an artist as MAC enables and encourages its team to become the ultimate makeup professionals. Thankfully, for Jennifer and the rest of the MAC team, that tends to result in a lot of fun for all involved.

“One of the coolest thing about working at MAC is that you do get to work with other makeup artists, so you can really grow your skill set. There are always workshops and master-classes to attend. I’ve been to New York, Miami, LA, Toronto and Washington DC for Train the Trainer workshops. We learn and share tips and tricks. You can grow so much more as an artist with the pool of people you work with every day. It’s a family-type community.”

Jennifer has been blessed with a great job, celebrity glamour and all-expenses paid trans-continental travel. Honestly, it doesn’t sound corny at all.

There’s a certain etiquette that comes with winning a Leo, British Columbia’s most prestigious award for its massive movie and television industry. Tina Teoli understood that even before she won the 2010 Leo for Best Makeup in a Short Drama for her work in the horror/espionage thriller, Serum 1831.

“I’d been to the Leo Awards before so I knew what to expect,” she laughs. “I went as part of Natalie Cosco’s team when she won for Smallville. They don’t feed you until eight, so you drink a lot of wine on an empty stomach, which isn’t necessarily good. I was on heels too, so when my name was announced I was concentrating on not falling over. You get a trophy and do your speech, then they walk you off set, take your trophy, give you another one, take a photo and they take the trophy back again. I have no idea where my Leo is right now.”

Tina’s sense of humour makes any time spent in her company terrific fun. But she also knows that an outgoing approach isn’t appropriate for every situation. That’s one of the reasons why, over the course of nearly two decades in the film and TV business, the Blanche Macdonald makeup grad has risen to the top of her profession, including being named head of the makeup department for the last two series of Smallville.

“Makeup is more about psychology than people realise,” she insists. “I’m able to talk to people. I can be a clown and get people out of a funk. And I’m able to calm people down when they’re on the ledge. That’s my strength. You bring your personality to the set but it’s not about you, it’s about the work. On set you need to keep your mouth shut and your ears open. I’ve met makeup artists who can’t stop telling everyone how much they know. But we’re all still learning. There are always new products and techniques.”

Tina has learnt to keep her lively personality capped when the set and situation demands it. It’s a philosophy she first picked up when she attended Blanche Macdonald and learnt from the professionals back in 1993. Fed up with a going nowhere job as a phone operator, Tina decided to turn her creativity into a career.

“I’d always done costumes and when Halloween came around I’d do costumes, makeup and hair. I’d always painted too. One day I was watching makeup artists work on some monster on TV and thought, ‘Wait a minute, that’s kind of like painting’. I started investigating and ended up at Blanche Macdonald. I liked the course and I was able to flip my schedules at work and go to makeup school at the same time. That was 17 years ago.”

With a day job that routinely involved listening to strangers whine, Tina was hungry to build a career from the ground up. She worked hard at Blanche Macdonald, but it was a labour of love at a makeup school she’s happy to give a glowing review.

“I loved the courses and my teachers. The program brought out what you had. If you had talent it shone. It gave you the skills. I had all sorts of ideas but I didn’t know how to get there. I got motivated. I wanted to do well. While I was in school I was volunteering. Getting your name out there works. One of my teachers, Michelle Pedersen, ended up hiring me!”

That show, Madison, ran for five seasons and won multiple awards. Tina still remembers her first day vividly.

“I was so nervous, but I felt prepared, as much as you can be. My teachers were all working makeup artists, so that was invaluable, but you can never be totally prepared for set life, because a set has nothing to do with reality! Things there don’t make any sense. Madison had a large cast and we did hair and makeup, so we had some busy mornings when twelve people would come through our trailer. It was a great experience for me. You had to learn to get along with a lot of different egos, including your own. You learnt when to fight and when to put it away.”

Tina learnt quickly. Her reputation as a talented and professional makeup artist led to her first feature film, the Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon thriller, Fear.

Tina doesn’t hesitate to stress that big movies doesn’t necessarily translate to big glamour. Fear was made over a course of unrelenting 18-hour day weeks, while as part of an under-funded makeup team on The Scarlet Letter, Tina was reduced to tattooing 400 Iroquois warriors with Sharpies. On the set of 2003’s horror hit Freddy vs Jason, the movie’s violence began to affect her psychologically.

“The script got to me,” she admits. “Of course it’s fake, but horrible things happen in reality too. I was standing in a cornfield at 3am covered in blood from head to toe, surrounded by dead teenagers. At that point I started being offered shows I really liked.”

The fun times had begun in 1999, when Tina keyed the series Hope Island. Winning a job on The Chris Isaak Show in 2004 meant that the days of slain slasher victims were officially over.

“I was first assistant on The Chris Isaak Show for two seasons. Chris is a perfectionist, but the band was fantastic and we had a free concert every week! I got involved with Jake 2.0, and Natalie Cosco asked me to do the second unit on Smallville when Jake finished.

“Natalie showed me that you don’t have to boss people around to key. For me the most happy and creative productions I’ve worked in as an assistant were when I was treated as a partner. When I started for Smallville Natalie never had to tell me who’s boss or tell me to be quiet. I am quite outgoing and opinionated, which doesn’t always go over too well. When Natalie decided she was done with Smallville I was given the honour of keying seasons nine and ten. Smallville can be a beast the way it’s edited. You can be duplicating something intricate from two months earlier that another unit did in the first place. We manage to do it.”

As key makeup artist on a major TV series you’d be correct in assuming that Tina’s spare time is precious. Which is why she’s dedicated to putting that time to good use, volunteering for projects that allow her to flex her creative muscles. Case in point, the Leo-winning Serum 1831.

“We did it on weekends,” she explains. “Volunteering is still a great thing to do. Serum 1831 had a small cast, so I didn’t need a lot of people, just my second unit key from Smallville, Michelle Lemieux.

“There was a bit of blood, and boils and peeling skin. Basically, it stars a living zombie. It’s so much fun when people rely on you to come up with the ideas. When you do an independent production you’re the boss. It’s you who needs to come up with ideas for $1.99!”

Whether it’s major studio movies, globally distributed TV shows or independent zombie flicks, Tina brings her talent and personality to the set every day. Even when it’s been tough, it’s been fun.

“There have been way more good moments than bad,” she smiles. “I’ve worked with incredible creative people! Film crews are the most entertaining, ridiculously funny people you could ever work with.”

Great rock and roll has always been about more than just music. From Roxy Music to the Sex Pistols to The Strokes to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Slipknot to Kings of Leon, the truly essential bands have always had a unique look to enhance their unique sound.

If you ever dreamt about having a band of your own to mould into the epitome of cool, you’re in luck.

For the first time ever, the Blanche Macdonald Centre is running a competition offering students and graduates the chance to style a living, touring, take-no-prisoners rock and roll band. The band in question then has the option of adopting their winning new image on a permanent basis. It’s a remarkable and unique opportunity for anyone interested in making inroads into the music business.

We’ve teamed up with celebrated Vancouver producer Don McLeod to select an act that we think sound terrific but, if we’re being honest, could look better. Allow us to present future stars (once you’ve finished with them)…Colin Grieve.

Music-wise, think epic rock. We’re talking 3 Doors Down, Theory Of A Deadman and Daughtry. Image-wise, think what you like. Oh yeah, don’t be confused by the name. Colin is the songwriter, but it’s definitely a four-piece band.

www.myspace.com/colingrieve

We need you to style and sculpt this band into what you think the next generation of rock and roll heroes should look like. The end result: a completely new style, which will be documented in a photo shoot that could very well be used by the band as their official press shot as they spread their music across Canada and the world.

Here’s what we need. 

We want you to form teams of three: made up of one student or graduate each from the Makeup, Fashion and Hair programs. And in your teams of three we want you to present us with:

• a unified visual portfolio of your ideas for the band’s wardrobe, makeup concepts and hairstyles
• a 300-400 word written proposal explaining your plans
• a portfolio of your previous work: five photos from each team member demonstrating a variety of experience

Entrants will also be evaluated based on program marks, attendance record and volunteer work.

We’ll be cutting the band’s hair in August and will be sending images to finalists on August 31, so please bear in mind that any hair concepts will have to be based on styling rather than cutting. Don’t panic. We'll be giving them versatile cuts that can be styled in many ways.

Once all the entries are in on the submission deadline of July 30, a judging panel of Blanche Macdonald instructors and music experts will select their ten top teams that will qualify for the semi-final.

Those teams will need to produce minute-long videos of their ideas in action, which we’ll post on-line for the universe to see and vote on from August 17 to August 30. The team with the most votes will earn the Viewer's Choice Award and win a $500 cash prize.

The three top teams will be selected by the judging panel and will be announced on August 31. On September 8 these finalists will be invited to a studio location to put their ideas into action, dressing and styling the Band for a shoot with a professional photographer. Once those photos are in the judges hands, the panel, now including the actual band, will reconvene and decide the overall winner. The winning team's photographs will be used in Colin Grieve’s press and promotional material in 2010. Your work may even be on the album cover! Oh, and your team also wins a $1500 cash prize!

Please hand your team’s completed band portfolio at the City Square Campus, attention to Kelly Schmidt or Jennifer Daerendinger, on or before July 30.

Good luck. For those about to rock, we salute you.