THE POWER OF MAKE-UP

Make-up can definitely push some buttons. I know first hand. Although I work on some very beautiful and famous faces along with some amazing magazines, the end result doesn't always win a good response from the public. Remember the year Björk wore a Swan to the Oscars? Yep, that was me. I did Björk's make-up that day and she landed on just about every worst-dressed list you can think of. Speaking of Oscars, remember Gwenyth Paltrow's "Goth look"? Yep, me again. At first the press just attacked the dress, then they went after the braided hair style she wore, and finallythey came for me. They said she looked like a panda bear. I loved that Gwenyth wanted to step out of the box and try something different, something unexpected. Then there was the year I did Salma Hayek and gave her peacock blue eye shadow while everyone else had "the no make-up, make-up look". I watched as each actress came out to present each Oscar award and looking like they were hardly wearing any make-up at all. I nervously waited to see Salma come out, but when she did, I just gasped! She looked amazing. She loved her make-up and that's all that mattered. Then there was the time I did Will & Grace star Megan Mallully for the cover of Out magazine with photographer Matthew Rolston. We wanted to make her look like Sophia Loren mixed with Elizabeth Taylor - sexy, glamorous, and iconic. I thought she looked sensational, but when the magazine came out people actually wrote in that it was the worst she ever looked and that we tried to change her too much.

In my career I have pushed many buttons, but it's my job to not only make women beautiful, but it's also my duty as an artist to make a statement at times. Sometimes you just gotta put on some peacock blue eye shadow or some red glitter lips otherwise life and the world just starts looking all the same to me, and that's boring. There are a lot of jobs I wish I could've changed this or that, but mostly I wished the client or model I was working on was just more open. So many times It's getting them to break out of the same look or to try looking more natural when they love a lot of make-up. When I'm the most inspired is when I can create a persona, like a Sofia or Marilyn look. Or a Swam, Goth, Goddess. That's my idea of beauty, creating art and washing it off and creating something new the next time. Ever changing, creating, discovering all the possibilities of the power of make-up.

- Troy


QUOTES

Here are some famous quotes. Beauty is...?

Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future.

Nature gives you the face you have at twenty; it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty.

Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.
-Coco Chanel

It is sad to grow old but nice to ripen.
-Brigitte Bardot

Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered.
-Marilyn Monroe

Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.
-Sophia Loren

I never thought I'd land in pictures with a face like mine.
-Audrey Hepburn

God made man stronger but not necessarily more intelligent. He gave women intuition and femininity. And, used properly, that combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I've ever met.
-Farrah Fawcett

Plain women know more about men than beautiful women do.
-Katharine Hepburn

Beauty is all very well at first sight; but whoever looks at it when it has been in the house three days?
-William Shakespeare

If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in the library?
-Lily Tomlin