Ologies with Alie Ward - Cosmetology (GLAM/GROOMING) with Alysha Sherri Marcantonio

Episode Date: November 14, 2017

Skin care! Beard care! History! Grooming! Men's concealer! Make-up! And most importantly: what is self-confidence and where does it come from? The incredibly charming Alysha Marcantonio has been Alie's make-up artist for years and stepped in the booth to dish about HOW IN THE HECKERS she always has perfect skin (Alysha, not Alie), what it's like to hear all the gossip on set, creature prosthetics vs. glam squad and why beauty truly does come from the inside. Emotionally and from a molecular level.Follow Alysha on InstagramMore episode sources and linksBecome a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a monthOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, pins, totes!Follow @Ologies on Twitter and InstagramFollow @AlieWard on Twitter and InstagramTheme song by Nick Thorburn

First off, thank you to everyone who's making this show possible by supporting on Patreon. Your donations, the ones who are supporting, make this free, so I wish to robustly high-five each and every one of you. If you're not supporting on Patreon because you're like, what's in it for me? I feel you. I get you. And for as little as 25 cents an episode, you can become a patron in case you want to, and you get your questions bumped up to the top of the list. Now, this episode was recorded before I knew what a Patreon page was, but you get it, you know, all the episodes going forward. Also, if you like the podcast, you just want a signal boost. That also means the world to me. I'm only one person with a Twitter account, but all y'alls,

you have a lot more power than me when it comes to spreading the word. Also, rating and reviewing on iTunes is really quick and painless. I just started doing it for other people's podcasts, and I was like, oh my god, this is so easy. And it bumps the show up on the chart so other people hear about it, which is huge. So does tweeting and telling friends and all that. So thank you for that. And if you haven't done it, maybe do it. And subscribe if you haven't already because as a holiday has come up, I may have to go every other week here and there because of travel. So if you subscribe, this way you'll know as soon as a fresh as hell episode is up for you. So do that. Okay. Hi. Hi. Hello. Hi. So last week's episode was all about weird birds, mating habits, and

horned screamers, and butts. And I thought this week, let's go weirder. Let's talk about the stuff human beings put on our faces. And maybe right now you're like, cosmetology, and this was a science podcast to which I say it's called the oligies. So cosmetology is an ology. And it does take just a buttload of passion and school and hours to become a cosmetologist. And if you've ever watched the television set, or a movie, or seen a person at their wedding, perhaps a bride, you have enjoyed the work and expertise of people who know way more about this than I do, or you, maybe. So lest you think this episode will be all about makeup, it's not. I didn't want to spend an hour on techniques that you could get from a book or videos via audio that seemed like, hmm. So I

wanted to ask our cosmetologist about skincare and beards and confidence and the culture of personal grooming. So it's always fascinated me where is the line between vanity and self-confidence. So just spending too much time on how you look, does that waste your life, and the opportunities in front of you? Or does looking and feeling like a ratchet scarecrow make you miss out on chances in life because others are afraid you will sleep on their couch or steal the belongings? I don't know. I go back and forth between the two myself. Now, first off, cosmetology comes from the Greek cosmetico, which means skilled in adornment. That comes from cosmon, which means to arrange or adorn. So cosmetology is a word that's been around for a while, and the term cosmetology has been

around since the 1800s, but comes from really, really deep, deep Greek origins. Essentially just means putting things on your person and looking fantastic. So I met this week's guest when she was approximately one half inch away from my face. She was right up in there, and she is a professional makeup artist and a trained and certified cosmetologist. She gets paid to be up in people's business, but in a practical sense, and then a lot of times also in an emotional sense, because people talk in that chair. And she's stunning. She has this waist-length black hair. She has perfect, just razor-sharp, cat eye makeup and lashes every day. Every day. She looks like if Wednesday Addams grew up and dropped a mixtape. She's goth as hell. She's also sincerely the

sweetest, funniest, and one of the most compassionate people I've ever met. She's dope. So if you want to scroll through photos of her face as we talk, go for it. Her Instagram is alisha-sherry-a-l-y-s-h-a-s-h-e-r-r-i. So buckle up, as this human fixes your acne, spills tea on what to slather on your beard hairs, gives a pinion on eyebrows, and also dishes out the secret to confidence and just being who you are. So enjoy the cosmetological wisdom of Alicia Marcantonio. You can say whatever you can swear if you want. You don't have to swear, but you can if you want to. Okay, I mean it might just come out naturally, so I'm glad that I don't have to have a filter. You're so pretty. You should just start it right there.

Alicia, you're here. I'm here. Thanks for having me. You look fantastic. Thank you. You're done up as always. No one can see. It's okay. I have never seen you in the years that we work together. I've seen you at like three in the morning, like dark o'clock. Dark o'clock is normally our call time. I know. I've never seen you without like lashes. I know. It's kind of just become a thing. I mean this is me even going to Trader Joe's. Like I'm always glammed up. You have a tattoo on your back that says, glammed till death. It's amazing. It's true though. I mean I've just kind of had to make some fun out of it because this is how I've always been. So you know, I'm committed. When did you start wearing makeup?

Kind of forever. I mean I started playing with it when I was like six or seven, but when I was in middle school and high school, I mean I was already wearing it every day. I already was like in my cat eye. Like I already kind of started and I would like match my clothes to my eye shadows. So I would wear like fuchsia eye shadow. So it's been a long time coming for sure that I was going to be a makeup artist. Could you do a cat eye before you could drive a car? Yes. Really? Yes. That is not the order it typically goes. Generally no, but I don't think I'm the most normal person. So I think it works. What happens at a dinner party if someone asks you like what your deal is? Like what, so what do you do? I always just say I'm a makeup artist,

but a lot of people don't really know what that means. Like the other day someone was like, oh you work at Sephora and I was like, I don't work at Sephora. How dare you? I, you know, but then I kind of explained that it's more for film and TV and musicians and I travel and the whole thing. But I guess a lot of people don't know all the other things that go into it working in the industry. It's not just makeup. It's also, you know, you're dealing so closely with all these people and their different personalities and, you know, you know, actors, musicians, their egos. Yeah, egos, a whole lot of everything. So it's like glam and travel and beauty and makeup and nose hair and narcissism. And therapy. Oh, right. Yes. Like people tell me

things that I probably shouldn't know. I've told you so much. But it just kind of comes out. I think people feel comfortable getting their makeup done. It's kind of like when you get your hair cut, you always, you know, but yeah, people really open up to me. So it's pretty cool. In the five years that Alicia has been doing my makeup for like six different shows, she's heard all about three of my boyfriends, one she just knows by the name the butcher, both of my parents' health updates, my different battles and failures to manage my naturally curly buffalo hair. She knows about my dumb ovarian issues. She's been forced to look at photos of at least a dozen different dogs I want to adopt. This girl is a vault of secrets. I guess all of which I just told you.

Shoot. It's like an atmosphere of oversharing already. I'm going to tell you about the dumb thing I did while I was drunk. That's kind of how it goes. I feel like people immediately are like kind of in a vulnerable place. And so it allows them to like open up and be like, oh my God, me and my boyfriend, and I'm like, tell me girl, give it to me. So I like to be there for, you know, everyone that sits in my chair, you know, emotionally. So what is the difference between a cosmetologist and a makeup artist? A cosmetologist is generally someone that does hair, skin, nails, and makeup. So they do everything. And normally they go through like a lot of schooling, a lot of hours, and then they can work in like a spa or a salon. To be a makeup artist for film and

TV, you really only need to be a makeup artist. Like you don't have to do everything else. I do all the other stuff, but I kind of just go by just makeup. It sounds more colloquial just to say, I'm a makeup artist than to be like, I'm a cosmetologist. Yeah, I think that everyone says makeup artists now too. Like you rarely hear people say I'm a cosmetologist, so. Right. What kind of schooling did you have to go through? I started going to makeup school when I was 14. What? I know, so weird. I knew that it's what I wanted to do, you know, for a passion and I told my parents

and I found this makeup school in Boston and I would take the train into the city after my high school classes and I would go learn from this teacher, David, and we would do these little photo shoots and he would teach me, you know, about RuPaul and Boy George and all these people that I didn't know about yet, you know, so he kind of expanded my knowledge for makeup and for the beauty industry and then once I was 18, I was like, all right, this is it. Like, I'm going LA. So I packed up my little suitcase and I moved to LA when I was 18 and I started taking classes in LA right away at this place, Cinema Makeup School, and I did that for about six months full-time and then I just kind of started working and I looked into Cinema Makeup

School because I wanted to, one, see what their work was like and two, waste approximately 1.5 hours of what could have been a productive day by scrolling through photos of people with bulging veins and prosthetic chins and flawless cheek highlight. So don't look up their Instagram unless you are like waiting for your car to be done with an oil change and there are no magazines in the waiting room because you will get sucked in and you will look up and you'll see that night has fallen. Now, a few select images from Cinema Makeup School's webpage feature, quote, an action shot of our advanced lab techniques class as they sculpt their decapitated heads. One of these heads bore the student's own face and it was studded with roofing nails. It had a

split cranium and a visible brain. The school did not mess around. Also, it costs anywhere from around $8,000 to $20,000 for their programs depending on what skills you want to bounce away with. Do you remember the first time you got paid to do makeup? Was that a big deal for you? It was a huge deal, yeah, because all of my life people were like, oh no, you can't do this for a job. You can't possibly make a living doing this. And I was kind of like, okay, we'll see. And even in school there, you're going to work for free for about a year and then you'll start getting paid. And I was kind of like, that sounds like shit. So I would rather not work for free for a year. I'd rather get paid to do my job. So I did get paid pretty

quickly, which was pretty cool. So what was the job? It was a fashion show. It was some really sketch runway show in 2010. What'd you do with the money? Did you just go straight down and be like, let's get hot wings? I'm so excited. No, because I was 18 and I was poor. So I was like, I should probably pay a bill. Right. So I never really had the go to college party, do whatever phase. I was a high school career. You started going to school at 14. So yeah, you knew so early. Was there something that like sparked your interest? I loved dance and I loved performing as a kid. And when I did perform and I had dance recitals, like I would always have like glitter up to my eyebrows. And I was like, this is so fun.

And then, you know, I was always an artist, like I painted a lot and I had an art background. And then I was like watching MTV, I think. And I don't remember what show it was, but it was like some, you know, the Hills or something where I started to see LA like for the first time. And I was like, okay, I need to be there. Like that looks like, you know, because I, you have to imagine me in Massachusetts, which is like not the most glam place. And, you know, it, I got curious and I tried to research, what is the most glam place on earth? There's got to be a most glam place on earth. Would it be Vegas? And I thought there's too many yard long daiquiris on lanyards to make that the most glamorous place. What about Monaco?

One source claimed that London was, and I think it does maybe come down to Los Angeles, being the most glam place on earth. But as a resident who once bought a pack of hot dogs from the 99 cents store, I feel like Los Angeles can't take it. But I guess maybe it is compared to the Massachusetts suburbs. I don't know. I didn't really fit in there anywhere. So I was kind of like, okay, yeah, this is what I have to do. And then once I realized you could do it as a career, I was like, okay, this is it for sure. The Hills was like an infomercial that sold you on LA. Yeah, basically, I was like looking out my snowy window in Massachusetts. And I was like, this is not for me. So what happens in makeup school and in cinema makeup school? Where do

they start you? Do you start making a swamp creature out of latex or are they like, this how you cover is it? I went to the full masters. So I did beauty, airbrushing, and special effects. I moved here because I was like, oh, I think I want to do special effects. The thought of making monsters to me was the coolest thing ever. Once I started doing it, I was like, okay, this is way more than I ever expected. So all the molding and the casting in a lab all day, I was like, I don't really know if this is for me. I kind of want to be out meeting people, like making people happy, doing their makeup. I seemed to gravitate more towards the beauty. So they kind of put you through the courses. You do the basic beauty stuff, and then you

do airbrushing. So I had to have my whole body airbrushed. And then in effect school, I had to have a beard and I had to be in a bald cap. And I was just like, I did not sign up for this. I was like, this is not what I thought makeup school is supposed to be. I had like a full beard on and I wasn't allowed to wear makeup to class. And I would always get in trouble because I would still come in with eyeliner on and they'd be like, Alicia, you can't wear makeup. And I'm like, I know, but I just like, it's just a cat eye. It's just me like, I just can't not wear it. So because the idea of you and you look like like the most glam Wednesday Adams ever, like in a full beard with like a glam till death tattoo, it's just like all kinds of wrong.

It was not cute. And I remember thinking in those classes, I'm like, God, if I ever make something in myself, these photos are going to come out of me with no makeup and a beard on. And I'm going to be so bummed. Let's stop real quick and break down how many hours it takes to get a cosmetology license. Now, according to barbercosmo.ca.gov, which is the government application portal, the hours needed to qualify to take the state board exams for cosmetology 1600 hours. And cosmetologists, they can cut and color the hair of people, they can perform facials, they can remove hair by waxing or tweezing, they can also do manicures, and they can do esthetician stuff. A barber, you need a hundred fewer hours. I don't know why, because they're

the only licensees who can perform a shave on a consumer. They can get a blade near your neck, but they need fewer hours. I don't know. Manicures need 400 hours, whatever. So kind of goes down the lines. Now, the pay rates for cosmetologists, they range from minimum wage plus tips in some salons, probably unlike Reno, up to several thousand a day for film and TV. Definitely depends on the project experience. Side note, in digging into the.gov site, I finally, finally got some closure to a long burning question, which was, are fish pedicures legal in California? This is where fish eat the dead skin off your feet? The answer is no. So you know. Okay, now let's get back to talking about the big bag of skin that

you live in. What about tips that you took home yourself? Because I've literally never seen you have a zit, and I've seen you so many times, so many hours. What kind of skincare stuff did you take home from that? I do get sits. I do. I don't believe it. I think you're lying. I am human, I swear. Nope. I get them. I think I learned a lot more on my own experience than being in school, but I drink a lot of water. I drink almost a gallon of water a day. I learned a lot about skincare just by researching different things and seeing what works and what doesn't, because I've definitely had my breakouts from bad products, and then I try to recommend my favorite things to my clients. How much makeup do you have to put on dudes?

My dudes are like, I'm good here. Keep going. It's funny because I did a lot of rock videos back in the day, a lot of metal bands, and they always were like, oh, I don't need makeup. I'd be like, no, just sit down. It's just for camera. Let me just, you know. Yeah, let me blot. Can I blot? Let me just give you some something. As soon as I started doing it, they would always be like, oh, this is nice. I know. I'm telling you, it's always the dudes that are secretly super into it. They love it, because then they look in the mirror, and they're like, oh my god, my skin's totally even. This is amazing. But I just do tinted moisturizer on them, and some powder, and cover up blemishes. Sometimes I'll fill in, I'll stipple in some extra beard stubble,

because guys get really patchy. They're beards. They have empty spots, so I'll go in by hand and fill it in. So it looks nice and full and manly. I help them out. I do the most for them. Are you serious? Yeah. And like eyebrow grooming, you know, they always, it's always good to do a brow gel on a guy, because guys generally have thicker eyebrows, longer eyebrow hair. So it's good to just kind of get those brows in check and, you know, just do some grooming, men's grooming. What about the mono brow? Do you ever go in there and just puppy pluck? The unibrow? Yeah. I don't like to let a unibrow leave my chair, but I think there are some guys that are like, no, it's fine. And I don't, you know, I'm like, well, okay, that's a personal

problem. So I'm going to let you, I'm going to let you do that on your own time. But I do try to maintain it for them. Is there a way to turn your brain off? If you're at the store at the end of the night and someone has smudgy mascara, how do you not fix that? Unfortunately, no. I'm not like a very rude person, so I would never say anything, but I see everything. Like, I'm out in these streets, girl, and I see it all. Like, I just pick up on things and when I'm watching films and when I'm watching TV, everything, everywhere, I notice like, like makeup ads and magazines, I just, I see everything. I always see when they don't blend their real lashes to the fake lashes on like the mascara ads and it just makes me go crazy. So throwing dishes against

the wall watching TV. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I think you just notice all the like little tiny details after you do this for so long. God, that would be maddening. It would be so maddening. I think most people don't even see it, though. I'm just like the crazy one, I guess. You got eagle eyes. People are really into it. Do people have expectations when they sit down? Are they like, make me beautiful? I think it depends on the person. Like, you know, some people are very particular and some people are like, I trust you, do your thing. And some people are like, can you make my nose like a different nose? And I'm like, well, I mean. To an extent. Yeah, I'm not a magician. What is the craziest conversation you've had in your chair? Like,

can you even allude to that? Like, is it, do you feel like a priest in confession time? We've talked about that. But like, do you have any stories where you have been the only person on set to know something and you have to just keep it under a tight heavy lid? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm trying to think of something specific and obviously I can't at the moment, but there's been a lot of times where, you know, I've overheard things. There's been a lot of times where I've overheard things being said or, you know, artists will tell me something that's going on and you know, I feel like I have a very close relationship with whoever is getting their makeup done because they always tell me the things that they won't tell, you know, the director and

everyone else who's on set. So I definitely try to, you know, keep everything right under wraps. No one else knows I'm on ayahuasca, but you make my eyebrows look good. Okay. No, no one else knows that. I guess that means no one's like gotten arrested. No, no one's like, I accidentally killed someone yesterday. Yeah, so that hasn't happened yet, but you never know. I mean, I'm not going to rule it out. What kind of misconceptions do you feel people have about cosmetology? I think for makeup, at least in the entertainment industry, I think there's definitely a misconception to where people are like, well, what do you really do? Don't you just like put lipstick on people? And I'm like, oh my god, you have literally no idea, especially men.

I think it's so funny when there's like a male director and he's like, yeah, just, you know, just put some powder on her. And I'm like, that's not a thing. Like even the most natural makeup and like a Crest White Strips commercial still is like a lot of products. Like it takes a lot of, you know, things to make you look like you're not wearing any makeup. It almost takes longer to do that than to do like, you know, a really glam look. So yeah, I mean, I think people definitely misunderstand what exactly we do and how much work is put into it, I think on the business end, not just like the showing up to set, doing makeup. It's like also, you know, you're a business woman, like you have to deal with all of that other stuff too. So it's definitely a lot more, I think,

than people realize, like scheduling and budgeting. Yeah, budgeting, scheduling, like, because I'm freelance, so I have to deal with like a million different companies every year. So, you know, just always being on, I guess, like I'm always on, like people call me at 3am to book me for stuff. Like I don't, I don't, like it doesn't stop, like it's never off, like I don't go off the grid, always answering emails, always talking to people about a future job or this or that or, you know, talking to other makeup artists, like taking seminars, it doesn't, it just doesn't stop. Is your tax situation a nightmare? It's a nightmare. It's such a nightmare that I just put everything in an envelope and I'm just like,

here, deal with this because I can't. Like I just don't even, I keep track of everything, receipts and stuff, obviously because I spend a gazillion on makeup. Right. But I'm just like, anyone else can deal with this because I, I don't want to. You just have so many 1099s and WT's. So many 1099s. It's devastating when I open my mailbox and tax season. It is heart-wrenching. I'm like, well, I don't want to give you my money. You're just just sitting crying. I'm just weeping over 1099s. So much. So it takes, it takes a business mind, not just an artist. It does and I obviously did not know that getting into it because I'm an artist,

so I have artist's brain. So I'm, you know, scatterbrained and I'm like, okay, let me just start doing this. Oh, and then I'll just do this. And then, okay, I need to, you know, find this color tomorrow. Like, you know what I mean? Like I'm always like all over the place. So when it comes to like booking and scheduling and, you know, taxes, I never thought that I would have to be dealing with all of that on my own because, you know, but freelance. How do you, how do you tackle it? Have you become more organized since you've moved to LA? I have. I never thought I would be this person, but I have like several spreadsheets. Hey girl. I know girl. It's crazy. Like I just never thought I was going to end up doing this,

but I remember talking on the phone to one of my friends and she was like, what are you doing? And I was like, oh, I'm doing like a spreadsheet for my expenses. And she was like, you're what? Like, you know what I mean? Cause I just never, you know, cause normally, you know, you have other people do that for you or you have a normal job where you don't have to do stuff like that. I'm better at it now, but in the beginning everything was just a mess. Well, you have to be accounts payable and, you know, you have to be all of that. Oh yeah. I'm every department. Oh my God. Yeah. I'm my manager. I'm my agent. I'm my accountant. Do you think that's the worst part about the job?

It's not the worst. I, I like being in charge. I think I work best when, like my eyes are on everything. I don't know how much I would trust someone else taking care of me. So, um, I think I'm, I'm good at it now, but it's a lot. It's a lot of work. What's the, what's your favorite part of the job being a makeup artist? Yeah. I think, um, I mean, in film and, you know, TV and whatnot, I love being able to travel. Like, I love that I've been sent all over the country and, and, you know, to other countries to be able to do what I love. It's kind of still a crazy thing to me when I actually sit down and think about it. It, it's, you know, it's really awesome. And it's really rewarding when women are, um,

you know, more confident because of you, like when you can come in and do someone's makeup and they've never seen themselves like that. Or, you know, um, I've worked with a lot of women that, um, have gone through chemo and like lost, you know, all their hair and their eyebrows and their eyelashes. And to be able to make someone like that, like, okay, I'm feeling good, like I'm feeling really hot today. Like that's, that's really rewarding. So that's something I never thought I would be able to do. And it's, it's really cool. You don't like cry your eye makeup off when that happens. I mean, I've had my moments, but I try to keep it together as much as I can. Quick question. How does waterproof mascara work anyway? Is it magic? I had to check.

So there's a silicone polymer. It's called Dimethicone Copapolol. I don't, I just said that wrong. Copolol, it doesn't matter. It's fat based. So the water, aka your horse crying, rolls right off them. So it's good for weddings, funerals, when you want to go river rafting, but also look fancy as fuck. But it is, it's very touching when someone, um, like really appreciates you and, and what you've done. It's, it's really sweet. It's nice. Is a word season nerve wracking? Yes. Because we're, we're coming up on the beginning of the year as word season. I was just having anxiety about that in the car. Um, it is, but I love it because I love being crazy busy. But, um, you know, some years I'm like going from the four seasons to the Beverly

Hilton to this, you know what I mean? Like I'm just like at every hotel getting everyone ready and it is absolute mayhem, but it's fun. Do you have to be an anti-anxiety coach for them as well? For sure, which is hard for me because I'm, you know, a pretty anxious person. But, uh, yeah, everyone's always really high strong, you know, they're going on the carpet, you know, but, um, I think it's good when you're there to make them feel even more beautiful and to tell them that they're going to kill it. Like, you know, they, I think everyone needs that extra, you got this. Yeah. And that's me. Like that's what I'm there to do. So isn't that crazy though that you're like, I'm really good at applying a cat eye. I know how to contour, but also I have to be a trained

psychotherapist. No, it's totally true. But it's cool. I love that part. I love being able to do that. But yeah, everyone's always really anxious or it's season. It's just like, what happens when you are done working? Have you been talking all day to your clients? Like when you get home from work in general, a shoot, whatever, are you just go into a weird cocoon in your living room and just like a pod that closes and you just don't talk? I honestly wish I had a pod that closes. I would spend much time in there. I, um, I don't know. I, uh, I feel like when people ask me what I do for fun, I'm always like, uh, like, I never know how to answer that question. I like to chill after a long day on set. I mean, we work 12 hour days. Yeah. You know, sometimes 14. So

after that, all I want to do is like burrito myself into a blanket and not exist. That is what sleeping is. It's just like mini, mini death and then I'll exist tomorrow. What about, um, how much work do you have when you get home? You clean your brushes, you got to organize yourself. Oh yeah, that's a whole other. Because your kit is meticulous. There's labels on everything. You know where all of your shadows are. And you're, you're digging through pouches, like a raccoon over there. I'm just like, what is, what are those, lip liners? Yeah, it's very organized because I have to be quick on set. Like, you know, they give you, you know, in a lot of time and you have to be fast. You have to know where everything is. Everything

has to be labeled. Everything has to be clean and sterile. So after every job, I go home and I wash about a hundred brushes and I cry over them every night because it's so much work. Like a saltwater wash. So I wash all my brushes and then I'll go through and wipe everything down with alcohol. Um, because, you know, you just don't know. Tequila or a little whiskey. Wipe everything down with rosé. Oh my God, that sounds fabulous. I have to start doing that. Yeah. So I clean everything between every single job. So yeah, the job definitely does not end when I'm wrapped. I still have to go home and, you know, deal with all the other stuff. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

It depends. For the afternoon, depending on the day you've had. It depends on, uh, on, you know, the day, but generally like an hour. But for me, I know for most girls, you know, they get up and they're rushing around and they're trying to get ready to their hair, you know, makeup, get dressed. Um, doing my makeup is like my zen time. Every morning, it's like my relaxing, like I get to create art on my face. This is the best thing ever. So, uh, I usually take about an hour, but like don't ask me to leave the house in less than 30 minutes because it's not going to happen. Like I, I need more time than that. What are the essentials for you? Like you, you have to leave the house with lashes and brows,

right? I mean, yeah. Lashes, eyeliner, like I need eyeliner. I won't go out without eyeliner. Like I just, I won't do it. Do you not care about like the history of makeup? Like, did you ever go down a, down like a rabbit hole where you're like, Cleopatra? Oh, no, totally. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of like, um, what you have to study in makeup school. You have to know the history of makeup because if you're on a shoot, especially for editorial stuff, I do, they're just throwing references at you, you know, so like you have to know who people are. Like if someone asks you for Bridget Bardot bangs and a Cleopatra eye, which I don't know why they would put those together, but you know what I mean. You have to know exactly what they're talking

about and, and make it happen. So I do, I do love all of that. Yeah, for sure. When did people start wearing makeup? Is it Egyptian times? I think so. Yeah. You know, I don't really know, but I think. So the history of makeup, just look this up. Makeup is apparently at least 6,000 years old. An archaeologist traced it to Egypt, where something called coal was used to rim the eyes. And this helped with the glare of the sun because they didn't have like sunglasses. And it kept flies conveniently from drinking at your eyeballs. And I always thought that coal was just charcoal. It's both of the K, um, but I thought there was a fancier spelling, but evidently it's not. It's galena, which is a lead oxide. So Egyptians also made ointment out of something

called not grass and powdered root of wormwood, which 100% sounds like I've just plagiarizing from Harry Potter. And I'm not, I promise. Now, makeup cosmetics used all over the world through history and China. Nail color used to be indicative of your social class. So gold and metallics were for royalty only, only royalty. Now in Europe in the Middle Ages, pale faces were the rage. And so people would just bleed themselves. Just bleeding, looking good. Now skip to the early 1900s. Makeup was really frowned upon because only like cabaret dancers and women of the night wore it. And apparently in 1915 in Kansas, the legislature proposed to make it a misdemeanor for women under the age of 44 to wear cosmetics for the purpose of creating a false impression.

Oh, Kansas. Come on, Kansas, chill out. Okay, but once Hollywood movies, you know, came along, the stigma was greatly reduced. So I guess kind of, you know, this, despite the fact that the LA River is a concrete drainage ditch peppered with shopping carts, woo, LA might be the glamest place on earth. We owe it to old Hollywood smearing weird stuff on people to make them seem hotter on film. So you pay money to look at it. Funny to read back on some of the products. I was just going to say they, they certainly put some ingredients in older makeup products that are very questionable. So I'm glad that we have evolved in that department for sure. Yeah, like wouldn't they use like lead paint or like arsenic?

Yeah, basically arsenic, you know, mascara was a thing for sure. I don't, I mean, I don't really know what they put in them, but I wouldn't want it on my face. So at some point before commercial makeup became widely available, people wanted to look pale because only the working class was out in the sun. So they used enamel, like actual paint on their faces. Like, uh, yeah, arsenic much? A little bit. That's glam till death. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Have you ever been to the Max Factor Museum in Hollywood?

No. It's really cool. You can like go in and see all the little like old Max Factor, like lipsticks and blushes and mascaras that they used like way back in the day. So it's really cool to see like the old packaging and I'm a sucker for that stuff. I went down a little rabbit hole researching the kind of, I guess, godfather of modern makeup. He actually popularized calling it makeup as term cosmetics. His name was Max Factor, but he was born in Poland as Maximilian Faktorowicz. That name rules. I'm mad he changed it, but Hollywood. Anyway, he came to the U.S. He started selling makeup within the movie industry.

And then when TVs came along, the definition and resolution was so weird and sucky that he had to invent this insane way of painting clown face onto people in different colors so that their features would even read. I highly suggest Googling Max Factor TV contouring for images that look like if a sweet girl from like your sociology class became a juggalo and then fell down a worm hole into old timey days. It's so rewarding. Did they have you learn like color theory and stuff in school? Yeah, yeah, all the stuff. Yeah, color theory, like mixing, also learning a lot about like the different bases of products like foundations like, you know, water based, silicone, what else, oil. So it's, you know, you have to learn about all these different things and

how, you know, you're not really supposed to mix one thing with the next if you wanted to stay a certain amount of hours. So it's like, it's definitely like a little chemistry, like a little mixing and, you know, all of that. That's chemistry. Yeah. Speaking of chemistry and cosmetics, I just read that 90% of L'Oreal scientists and innovators are women. Pretty dope. Pretty cool. Maybe not as intense as, you know, but yeah, it's not breaking bad, but it's not breaking bad. Not quite, but, you know, if you had to give someone one tip to just get out of the house looking not buster, what would it be? One tip. I mean, I think that it's great to have a toner. I love a toner. I use a rosewater toner and I think it's great to use it with a cotton swab to like get all the

extra stuff out of your face because your face wash will only take out so much. But it's also great to just spritz it because that also gives you like a nice little glow. Like if you just spray your face with a toner before you leave the house, you'll just have like kind of a fresh little youthful like, oh, what were you doing this morning? It's like sweat, but it's better. Exactly. What about those makeup wipes? Are those, are those not something that we should be using on our face makeup wipes? Makeup wipes, period. At the end of the day. I mean, I don't use them, but they're fine. But I think a lot of people don't realize that you have to wash your face after you use a makeup wipe. People are just like, let me just make up wipe and then go to bed. And

I'm like, no. What do you do after? You have to make up wipe, then you have to wash, then you have to tone, and then you have to moisturize. Oh God, I skip at least two of them. I'm going to be honest. So there's some math involved. There are some, yeah, there's a lot you have to do, you know, but that's maintaining your skin is a lot of work because at the end of the day, when you're tired, the last thing you want to do is like do all of those steps, but that's something I stick to, like religiously. So that's probably why I don't ever have many pimples. Okay, so I got to do some washing, some toning. Moisturizer is your BFF. Moisturizer is the most important thing in the world. Do you have one you like? I have a lot. Yeah, I'm a big fan of serums. I love serums

because a serum is going to penetrate your skin deeper than a moisturizer. And right now I'm using a seaberry oil from Fresh and I am a big fan. Okay, good to know seaberry from Fresh. That sounds like a fake advertisement, doesn't it? That voice was killing it. Seaberry from Fresh. No, I like that one better. Okay. What about for dudes? Because I know some dudes that are like, I wash my face with whatever's in the shower and some are like, who washes their face? Not me, I'm a boy. Guys are so funny. I know. Sometimes I'm like, what's shampoo do you use? And they're like, what? They're like Ajax soap. Ajax. Look at Dawn. It's good enough for seabirds. Good enough for me. I really think that guys should get more into skincare. But I mean, it's kind of hard to

get a lot of them on that dream. But there is all the same stuff we use. They have, you know, like a man version. Right. It's essentially the same stuff, but it's in like a blue little cup. So it's manly. You know, or a black cup and it smells like cedar. Yeah. Yeah. What do dudes do about those big nasty ingrown hairs they get with their beards? Dudes hate those. I know, I think that there's definitely some, what's it called? I use witch hazel a lot. This astringent always kind of intrigued me, which is totally natural for a tonic with the word witch in it. But what is witch hazel? What is it? Well, it's a distillation of the bark and roots of the witch hazel plant. And colonists learned from Native Americans that using it, it had all kinds of

compounds and tannins and some say anti-inflammatory properties. So yes, you can use it on your skin, even though it was commonly used for soothing the wounds of childbirth and for hemorrhoids. So if it's good enough for your ragged, torn apart, nethers, it should help with the zit. It like will pull things out of your skin. So I use witch hazel as a toner if I do break out because it'll help like bring the zit out of your skin. It does work good for ingrown hairs. There's something I can't remember the name of it. That's great for ingrowns, but they definitely have products out there to help pull it out. But was it tend to skin for ingrown hairs? It's in a blue bottle. That is what it is called. And it's, I have used that

before on different areas of my body after waxing. And it is like gasoline. It is just like searing. I see. It's like napalm. That word alone just makes me like not. I've heard it's amazing. I don't ease it, but I've heard that it's really good. So dudes can put that on their face. They can just, yeah, sear it on there. Yeah. It's like a chemical peel on accident. I know. I'm the worst. So I always want to pick it in grown hairs, which is not what you should do, but on yourself or other people. Other people. Yeah. Because you can, if you look close, you can always see the loop. You can see the hair that's like flipped in. And I just gotta like, I just have to pull it out. I have to. But isn't it your job kind of to be like,

yo, you got a thing. I got to take care of it. Yeah. I always tell them beforehand though, because if I come out of man's face with tweezers, they're always like, what are you doing? I'm just going to get this little thing. So, you know, but I do a lot of eyebrow tweezing with men and they're always absolutely terrified, which is fun for me. Do you think that their pain tolerance is a lot lower? Like, do you put an eyebrow and they, and they, they act like you're bludgeoning? I mean, first of all, childbirth, like needy. You know what I mean? Yeah. Exhibit A. No, I, yeah, they definitely are really sensitive with that. But I think it's also because they're not used to it.

You know, I've been waxing my eyebrows for like 15 years. So, you could pour wax all over my face and take it off and I would just sleep right through it. Like, I wouldn't even know you were waxing my eyebrows. I have no feeling around the eyebrow area anymore. So, I'm so used to it. But I think that if you're not, it's definitely an unpleasant feeling. For sure. I heard at a laser hair place, a guy say that when guys come in to like their backs lasered or whatever, their mono brows, they're like crying. Like, they need to stop and breathe. And the ladies are like, just do it. Tap me out when it's over. Like, but, but dudes really are not used to how much like beauty is pain or beauty is. Oh my gosh. Yeah. The things we put

ourselves through, it's like unbelievable. You know, like laser hair removal, you know, coloring our hair, which burns our scalp off, waxing our eyebrows, tinting our lashes. I mean, I glue hair to my face every day. Like men have no idea. They just don't know like, you know, what we do. It's crazy. I ripped out my mustache last night. Casually. You know, like why, why do you think culturally like how and how much do you reflect upon this? Maybe not at all. But why do you think culturally the burden of beauty has been on on women? Like, we go to these lengths, we go through this pain, we spend this money. You know, I don't know why. I mean, I think society definitely. And beauty magazines, you know, they, they make us feel like

we have to, we have to do these things. We have to be this way. And for me, like I just kind of go with what makes me happy. Like if I want to do this, I'm going to do it. It's not for anybody else. You know, people are always like, when I was a kid, people would be like, why are you wearing so much makeup? Like who's it for? And I'm like, it's for me. It's not for anyone else. Like this is just what makes me happy. You know, but I don't really know like why men aren't bothered in any department. Like they're just, you know, they don't need to, you know, there's, there aren't those standards for that. I personally have kind of a rocky relationship with makeup, because it seems that women waste so much of their worry and anxiety on being perfect for other people,

which ends up just draining us of resources such as time and money. But on the other hand, being able to dab something on a problem area is a goddamn blessing that men should have the freedom to do. And I just started researching men's makeup to see kind of like what the market was. And I came across this thing called the men pen. Essentially, it's a concealer stick, but it's in a chapstick like tube so that no one can tell that you have makeup in your pocket. $17.95. And the site boasts in very aggressively all caps masculine sans serif. Quote, A men pen is a men's concealer product designed to conceal specific areas like acne,

moles, scars, dark circles, blemishes, or just rough spots. Exclamation point. You'll love the self-confidence you get from the men pen. It also says, This is the same makeup for men that male actors, models, and businessmen use. It's like, I just keep imagining a drill sergeant in a cosmetology smock shouting at me. There are lines coming out now, like more and more, that are men's makeup. But I think that there's still definitely a lot of men that are like, I would never wear makeup, you know, because whatever masculinity. But I think that I think it's awesome when guys are open to anything, you know, when guys are like, yeah, I'll try it.

We do have some questions from listeners. Okay, cool. I told them. Let's hear it. But before we take questions from you, our beloved listeners, we're going to take a quick break for sponsors of the show. Sponsors, why sponsors? You know what they do? They help us give money to different charities every week. So if you want to know where oligies gives our money, you can go to alleyword.com and look for the tab, oligies gives back.

There's like 150 different charities that we've given to already with more every single week. So if you need a place to go donate a little bit of money, but you're not sure where to go, those are all picked by oligists who work in those fields. And this ad break allows us to give a ton of money to them. So thanks for listening and thanks sponsors. Okay, your questions. And I'll just rapid fire. You just let me know. Jordan wants to know, is it safe to pluck a nose hair? And I'm going to guess if Jordan wrote this and he's an alive person, then yeah, because you haven't died yet.

Jordan, first of all, Jordan, why are you plucking them? That's so much more painful. I don't know. Why don't you just get like a little nose trimmer and just clear it out? Okay. Or like some little like manicure scissors and just get up in there. But the plucking sounds painful. I just, I wouldn't recommend. Yeah, as people who wax their faces and wear high heels, we're telling you that's too much.

Yeah, that's too much. No, it's not necessary. Eric wants to know, my legs get especially dry to the point if I miss applying lotion over 48 hours, it appears to lose pigment and have loss of color. Any suggestions? His legs are losing pigment. Well, they're so dry. Okay. I mean, I think that lotion is not obviously working. Sometimes, like I said earlier, moisturizers don't go deep enough into the skin to actually fix the problem. So I think that it's best if he tries an oil like coconut oil is cheap and you can buy a huge tub of it and it

hydrates your skin so well. So that's a great thing to try. If you purchase coconut oil and you are confused by why it was solid in the store, but liquid at home, well, hot damn, it melts at 76 degrees right there. I myself possess white powdery leg skin, which is very disgusting to behold. And I have a jar of coconut oil in my medicine cabinet, which would be more effective if I actually applied it regularly. But I look at it every day because at that magic 76 degree liquid point, it is the only thing in my life that shows the changing of the seasons in Southern California. And I have long said and I stand by that in LA, if the coconut oil is solid, it's eggs weather.

And also drinking a lot of water because sometimes when your skin is that dry, you have to hydrate from the inside out, you know, the problem might not be your skin. It's like internally first. Oh my God. So beauty is on the inside. Beauty is on the inside. It's true. And it's just water. It's just water. Rachel wants to know best makeup brands for people who are far darker or lighter skin than normal shade ranges. Rachel. Okay. I love this question because it's actually like my biggest pet peeve when brands come out with foundations and they're like, you know, here's our new line.

And it's like four shades. And I'm like, what are you saying? Like this is not okay. Makeup Forever has a few different foundations and they have very, very dark colors and also like Casper white like me, which is great and NARS as well. They both are like a big fan of both of those lines because they do have those really deep scantones that, you know, have different bases, you know, oranges, reds. And a lot of lines have like one dark shade. And that's it. And, you know, normally, you know, sometimes it's not dark enough. And then the same with the fair ones, sometimes it's just like a light shade. And there's girls that are like, you know, me that are like ghostly. And we need, you know, it looks like we're wearing too much makeup with

it. So Makeup Forever HD is really great. Or NARS, they have a tinted moisturizer that kind of has a full spectrum. That's great. Makeup Forever. It's way to go. Jessica Sugar-Kiper wants to know eyebrow regrowth. Is it possible? Eyebrow regrowth. Okay, girl, I am with you because I am a victim to waxing the crap out of my eyebrows when I was a teenager and being like, where are the rest of them now? Quick PSA. If you're noticing that the outer half of your eyebrows is like bye and just grows like shit. Also, you're always cold and tired. You may have an underactive thyroid. So get a check, people. Sincerely, someone with an underactive thyroid who's googled what happened to half of my eyebrows, dude. I do know some people that have

used Lattice on their eyebrows. Lattice is like that formula to regrow your eyelashes. And I have a friend that her eyebrows like look incredible just from using that. Lattice is a prescription-only medicine and it's used to grow insanely thick and beautiful lashes. Now, it was discovered after an active ingredient in glaucoma medication called memitoprost or something made people have these really thick amazing lashes. And my great-uncle Hale, who's in his 90s, has glaucoma and eyelashes like a Kardashian and he looks fantastic. The only thing is I don't know what happens when you stop using it. I don't know how that works. There's definitely some serious procedures if you want to go crazy because they can take some of

your scalp off and stick it on your face. I think that's how they do it. That is the medical procedure. They just cut a piece of your scalp off and they slap it on your eyebrow and then they're like, here you go. Scotch tape. But there is more you can do if it's real serious. What about this microblading? I'm just going to bring that up. That is like a thing right now. Microblading. Explain it. Microblading is like a hair-like stroke with a tattoo gun. So it's like a very fine needle and they're basically tattooing your eyebrows in, but it's not like it used to be. You know, like our grandmas that have like solid purple eyebrows and they're like, Nana, what's the deal? Now they do like hair strokes. So they'll like draw the brow on first

and then they'll go in and tattoo it. I obviously haven't done it. I've had some friends that do it and they love it. I would just say be really careful because I feel like all ink, tattoo ink, as far as I'm aware, once it mixes with your blood, I mean, over so many years, A, it expands and B, all the ink I've ever seen has turned, it turns green, right? Some tattoo FAQ. So black ink in older tattoos fades to dark blue or green. I think because a lot of black ink is just really, really dark green or dark blue ink. I don't know. I went down some holes trying to figure this out. I found this one article by a tattoo artist named Chris DeBarge and basically his advice is, quote, keep it out of the goddamn sun.

You should wear sunblock every day. The sun is going to turn you into a goddamn suitcase. He seems like he would be an excellent spokesperson for the menpin, by the way. Now for a second, I wondered what if the sun turned you into an actual suitcase? Like you just were out for the day and then you're like, boop, I'm a suitcase. That would suck. Then I googled, is human leather a thing? Because there's no way it could be and everything terrible exists. So yes, human leather is a thing. There's some British company that makes it and a few questions from their website asked, where did it come from? They said, human leather is produced from skin sourced from normal everyday people. These people have bequeathed their skin to us

prior to their death. Is it illegal? Not at all. In fact, we've had to turn away some potential donors as they can only accept the highest quality human skin. They do note they cannot give you the source of our raw product. We apologize. Human wallets, $14,000. Human shoes, $27,000. They say they cater to a small but highly diserting clientele. They are amongst those lucky few who have everything they could possibly desire. So much about this is so, so, so, so gross, including people who have everything they could possibly desire except for a billfold to keep their money in made out of a person. Like, you know what? How about donating some of that money to some charities or just spending it going kite surfing? Earth. What were we talking about? Oh,

eyebrow tattoos. Yeah. So I'm like, I don't really know much about like the colors of cosmetic tattooing and how that works. But I would be really careful because there's a lot of people that do it now. So you want to go someplace really good. Right. I don't want to. Because it's your face. Yeah. It's your face and it's a tattoo on your face. Exactly. So maybe go with someone who's been doing it for more than like six weeks. For sure. A lot of people are doing it now. So I would be real careful. Bunda wants to know, how can I make my nails stronger? I'm a guitarist. Oh, I think there's nails stronger. I mean, I think that vitamins are an important part of that. I mean, if you're not eating right and your hair is not growing and your nails aren't strong,

that's kind of a diet thing. Oh. So I feel like a lot of people are like, what product can I get to fix A, B, and C? Try like fixing yourself internally first because like that's how your body works. And like try eating right and taking the right vitamins. I know that there's like nail growth vitamins that you can take. Yeah, I think it's biotin. So what's in these hair growth vitamins? Well, it mostly actively biotin or B7. Now a deficiency of B7 can cause brittle nails, but don't eat the bottle all at once because excess biotin can make some people's skin break out. No bueno. It's also biotin made by intestinal bacteria. So among other things. So maybe if your nails suck, you just have kind of crappy intestinal flora. So I am 1 million

percent not a doctor, but some might say that you could drink more water and take some probiotics too. Have I mentioned that I am not a doctor and how much not a doctor I am? Okay. Yeah, there's also like polishes and stuff that are supposed to strengthen your nails. But yeah, I would try a vitamin first. So again, beauty on the inside. Beauty's on the inside. Vincent wants to know, what's the best way to keep a beard healthy without it feeling greasy with product? A beard healthy. I mean, I know that there's a lot of greasy. Well, there's a lot of oils, but I guess they are. If you get a good shampoo, that's probably going to be the best thing to take care of it in the shower and shampoo it. And also like a deep conditioner. I mean,

that's what we do to our hair. You can do the same to your beard because I know that, you know, a lot of beard oils are very greasy. So I think maybe a deep conditioning treatment leave it in or a mask of some sort. I'm sure you could DIY it at home. I'm sure you could put an avocado in your beard and it would be like sick. So just get super sloppy with some guac. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, there's definitely some things that you could probably DIY to just get some, some more hydration in there. You can, can you mash up an avocado and just put it on your skin, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Avocado and egg is great. Like avocados are the best. I mean, they're really good for your skin. So yeah, you can just, you know, just put it all over your

skin. Some honey. Sometimes when I run out of my masks that I like, I'll just put honey all over my face. Just honey? Yeah, I look insane, but it works great. I've heard coffee grounds as a scrub. Coffee grounds is a really good scrub. A good scrub is just brown sugar and some lemon. Really? So squeeze some lemon in a bag with brown sugar and mix it up. It's a really great lip scrub to get all the dead skin off your lips. They sell lip scrubs now for like $20. And it's essentially just oil and sugar. Like, you know, the sugar scrubs that are like a whole big thing. Now you can make one at home with brown sugar, something that's like really gruff and just some lemon. I love stuff that I could also eat on accident. Oh, yeah, it's

awesome. It's also delicious. I know. You know, there's that. The idea of like face temperature honey dripping down my face and like accidentally catching some in my mouth sounds like not the worst thing. We know what you're doing tonight. Just honey. Just honey-facing. Honey-facing. What do you find beautiful when you are trying to do someone's makeup or when you're looking at something or when you're doing your own? What strikes you as like, ah, that's so gorgeous? I love, I just love things that are different, honestly. Like, I think that we live in a world now where everyone wants to look like a Kardashian. And that is fine. However, I think that, you know, when you see someone that just has different features, someone that, you know, I love that.

I love, you know, you don't always have to be perfectly symmetrical. Like, there is beauty in every, you know, not to sound so cheesy, but I mean, there is beauty in every, you know, in every person. Also, you know, when someone is just really confident, I love that. Like, I just, you know, that's a hard thing in life to do and to have. So when I ever meet someone like when I'm doing their makeup and they're, you know, just a really confident person, I mean, that's to me, that's really beautiful to me. I love that. That's a sweet thing to say. Do you any, have you picked up through cosmetology any tips on getting that confidence? Like, what's common in all of those people that have that really like radiating? I mean,

I think that that's all of our, you know, life struggle. But to me, confidence kind of runs everything. I feel like part of the reason why I take time to get ready in the morning is that if I leave the house and I'm confident, I will get shit done. Like, I am like a force to be reckoned with every day because I leave the house and I feel like a boss. I get all this stuff done, you know, and I think if you go through life and you love yourself, then you are more successful and you attract like, you know, better things into your life. But confidence is a tricky, a tricky thing. I think that the key is to find it not through your beauty and to find it through, you know, who you are. And I think that that's definitely a long, a long process. And I think

that's something that a lot of people, women especially, we struggle with all the time. But yeah, it's hard to work in the beauty industry because I'm working amongst people who are like, buy this product and you'll feel confident. And I just want to be like, but no, because that's not what it's about. Like, there's things that'll make you feel better. But, you know, it's obviously a much deeper thing than, you know, a little bit of concealer. Right. Do you think part of that confidence comes from actually pursuing what you love? Do you think that part of your confidence comes from having done what you wanted to do since you were a kid? For sure. I cannot imagine hating my job. I don't know how people go to

work every day and are unhappy. I don't know how people like, you know, go through life doing anything that doesn't please them. But I think that, you know, I just kind of know what I want. And I have been selfish in my life because I've been like, this is going to make me happy, like this is what I have to do. And I think that that's, you know, important for people. So, you know, yeah, for me, confidence has always been just being who I feel as though I am and kind of creating myself. Like as a teenager, I was like, this is the type of person I want to be. I want to be a strong, fierce, independent person. I want to travel the world. I want to do this. I want to do this. And, and I thought about it every day and like, that's kind of who I became

because I worked on it. And it was definitely a process. Do you have any advice to like future cosmetologists? I think we're in a time now, like when I started doing makeup, it was pre-social media. Which was like by like a year, because we've discussed this privately that I could biologically be your mom. Like it is disgusting. Like I was goth when you were born. You're born in the 90s. Like, I know. However, okay, hear me out. Okay. I have been doing this for about eight years. And, you know, Instagram and everything has only been really popping off for like four or five. But now everyone's a makeup artist. I mean, everyone's a beauty blogger. Everyone does

YouTube. Everyone, you know, does makeup on themselves, doesn't necessarily make you a makeup artist, but that's a different conversation. But advice to anyone like that wants to do what I do, like wants to, you know, work on set. And I would say, you know, it's, it's your everything. Yeah. It's your, it's your 24 eight. Like it's, it's your morning, noon and night. It's, it was like constant for me. Like I never stopped. And I think you have to be absolutely relentless. Because it's one of the hardest things to do to work in the beauty industry. And in the entertainment industry is, you know, hard. So you have to like, have really thick skin and you have to be nonstop. Like you have to know what you're

going to do and you have to just do it. So that's what I would say. And you have to not be a douche too. You have to not be a douche. You have to be a good person. I feel like I've had success because I'm tough, but I'm also understanding and, you know, I'm kind to people, you know? Yeah. You're always the nicest on set, but not like a, not push overnight, just like pleasant. But I feel like especially doing makeup, you have to leave room for the talent to be horrible. Oh, totally. You can't be the diva because one of them is going to be mentally unhinged,

but they need them for the shot. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah. Like I'm pretty, I'm a pretty sassy person. You know, I'm Sicilian from Boston, so it's like ingrained in me. But yeah, I'm very laid back. I, I definitely let, you know, the talent do as they will. And a lot of times, you know, I have dealt with some divas, but I'm just like, girl, I'm here. Like if you need a vent, just let it out. Like take it out on me so that we can like get through the day. But you're never the diva. No, not on set in my day to day life for sure.

Oh, come on. But well, not a bad diva. I mean, I say diva all the time, but to me diva is just a really, like just a really strong woman, like just, you know, a sassy woman. And I think it's like a positive thing. I think people always associate diva with like, oh, she's a diva. But I like, I love divas because they know what they want, you know? So I think it's more of a positive thing. But there are people that you meet that are the worst, you know, that are like really high maintenance and like throwing chairs on set. And you're like, this is so unnecessary. But, you know, whatever.

That's interesting. I never thought about divas like that. I like to think of it as something positive because I'm just like, you know, yeah, girl, you do you like, obviously, you know, you feel really, you know, not into yourself, but you know, divas are normally very confident women that have to do things their own way. And I love that. I'm super into that. So I love it. To get more of diva, Alicia, Mark, Mark and Marcia. I can never say this right on the first try. It's actually really easy. If you look at it, the syllables Mark and Tonio. Oh, look at that.

My parents, if I was a boy, my parents were going to meet me and Tonio, Mark and Tonio. So I dodged that bullet. Oh my God. Are you serious? Yeah. Antonio, Mark and Tonio. I know. I was like, how are you guys going to do me like that? That is not okay. To see more of her work, look her up on social medias as the easier to spell, Alisha Sherry. Her website is Alisha Sherry, A-L-Y-S-H-A-S-H-E-R-R-I. And she's just, she's a wonderful human. Be her friend if she'll let you.

To follow along with me, I'm at Allie Ward on Twitter and Instagram. Allie G's is at Allie G's on Instagram and Allie G's pod on Twitter. And the merch store, AllieG'sMerch.com now has a set of limited edition collectible enamel pins. They're so dope. And we have these snugly winter caps we just got in, which is so exciting. And thank you to everyone who's supporting on Patreon again and for making the show possible. Also, hello to all the new folks who've joined the Allie G's podcast Facebook group. Hey. And thank you for keeping that a jerk-free zone. Thank you to the patron saint of podcasting, Stephen Ray Morris, for helping in editing

this episode so I could do things like bathe and do laundry and go to a birthday party. This is an exciting development and all the cheese. So ask smart people all the dumb seeming questions you want because they're probably way less dumb than you think. And also, we might as well learn something before we're turned into a suitcase by the sun or worse by weird British tanners. So next time, cosmology. So yep, cosmetology followed by cosmology because we're all just covering up blemishes on a tiny rock in the middle of expanding nothingness or something. I don't know. I don't know if that's accurate. We'll find out next time.