There’s no piece of art that can quite match the raw beauty possessed by a human being. Makeup artists like Michaela Carpenter have been channeling that beauty for thousands of years, using pigments, glosses, dyes, and powders to enhance the human form and experiment with creativity.
Michaela, a brown-haired beauty who bears a continual smile, is a makeup artist based in Denver, Colorado, who specializes in photoshoot makeup. She has always enjoyed arts and crafts, and once she moved to America to be with her former boyfriend (now husband) she decided that she preferred to be her own boss over returning to her former job field in sales. When she lived in Slovakia, Michaela did plenty of photoshoots as a model. She decided to try modeling again in the states as a way to make some cash and meet new people. One of her photographers complimented her makeup and asked if she ever considered doing it on somebody else. Though she hadn’t, the inquiry lit a spark. Now, Michaela has been full-force in the makeup industry for 3 years. Her preferred style is a pure one, as she prefers natural colors (especially for her maternity and boudoir photo sessions).
“I love to highlight my client’s best features and make them still look like themselves, just with a little underlying enhancement,” she says. “If somebody asks me for those Instagram looks that have super filtered, contoured faces, I usually refer them to another artist.”
Nevertheless, Michaela does her best to focus on her client’s desires rather than her own ideas. She gives helpful suggestions and compliments when needed because, whether it’s wrinkles or double chins or unwanted splotches, people's insecurities come out when having their makeup done. Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder— and Michaela wants to help people see the artistry in themselves.
“One person may consider something art, and another might not see it,” she says. “If makeup makes the person wearing it happy, that’s all that matters— whether a different person sees it as art or not.”
Michaela is available to do makeup for photoshoots, weddings, portraits, and pretty much whatever one might need to get dolled up for! She can be reached at makeupartistdenver@gmail.com.