Interview with Jamie Greenberg: the Makeup Artist who Brings Hollywood to Women

After admiring her editorials and celebrity makeups, from Kaley Cuoco to Rashida Jones, we met Jamie Greenberg in a hidden and private paradise: her in-house office, a world full of colors and beauty.
It’s the reign of makeup (which is perfectly organized in piled boxes tagged by brand, basically, the dream of every makeup addicted) and of laughter, a real factory of looks and inspiration of which we just had a glimpse through her Youtube channel before. The amount of creativity in that cozy room is jaw-dropping: you could feel the energy, the ideas bubbling, the magic of the videos for Jamie Makeup coming to life.

Jamie is a living inspiration: she was so kind and welcoming, it felt like we were all old friends. We had a long chat about her work as a makeup artist, which we’ve been following for a long time, customs (and how much beauty addicts hate them!) and her favorite products, from the ones she can’t do without to the ones she would trust for a perfect look on a desert island.

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How did your passion for beauty begin?
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I think it started watching my mum get ready to go out. She and my dad would go out and I was just watching her curl her hair and put on her makeup, I was just so enthralled by it. And, then, I remember being friends with this girl whose mum was a makeup artist: we’d go up to her room and she had makeup, just so much makeup. And I was like, “how can you do this?” because I didn’t realize that was an option as a job. So after college, I moved to New York, but I didn’t like my job and I was always the person who did everybody’s makeup and everything. I went to film school I did all the makeup.

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So, did you go to film school in New York first?
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Yes. It comes in handy because now I can cut and edit and do stuff like that. I loved it, but I decided to quit my job and move here, where I started from the very bottom. I worked in stores and malls and really started for a very entry-level position.

MAKEUP PARADISE?

YES!

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You are a professional makeup artist, but also a mum and a busy woman: how do you manage?
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Did you meet Gladis? Gladis is the other mum!
It’s a support system, my in-laws live close so they help a lot, my husband is very good with the kids, my nanny is everything and it’s just about being super organized. As you can tell, it’s about making time for everything and I have a lot of energy, I feel it’s just who I am as a person. For me it just makes sense. I make sure I get enough time with the kids, I make sure I have enough time in with my work… That’s a nice thing about my job since you can kind of pick and choose what you want to do when you want to take off; it’s not like a normal job.
I work for myself, I have an agent but they just get me works so, if I want, I can be like, “I’m taking this week off” or “this day I’ll have time with my kids.”
It’s a good job to have as a mum.  

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What about your YouTube channel, how did you get the idea for that?
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I’ve been doing this for six or seven years now, and it used to do really well. Now it does ok, but it’s fine, I enjoy doing it. I just wanted to be able to connect to the girls everywhere, I’m a more natural artist and I also find that I’m not afraid to show reality, and I feel that I want to bring that to the people.  
Because I’m a normal girl, who happens to work in a really cool industry. I felt that I wanted to really reach the girls who are in the middle of nowhere, telling them “you can do this too, let me give this to you.”
It was kind of bringing Hollywood to their house.

“I feel: why can’t we be real? Life’s hard, I want to connect.”

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I think this is the most beautiful thing about your Channel, because you are so natural and energetic. You can really feel the connection through the screen.
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Thanks, that’s exactly what I want. I don’t think there’s a lot of it on YouTube. When I would watch the videos I would feel kind of bummed out because I know what’s going on and I know certain things: I’m not throwing shade but I know that it’s not real. And that bummed me out because I feel: “why can’t we be real?” Life’s hard, I want to connect. I feel glad, I feel like my audience is very mighty and connective with me but I feel like I could reach more women, so that I could help them. But it will come in time and now I’m having so much fun doing it, it doesn’t feel like work because I enjoy making videos, I enjoy Instagram and I love talking to people, so I’m glad you guys see what I’m trying to put out there.

It can really become an inspiration for girls all around the world.

I’m so happy, that’s all I want to do, and I also want to tell them they can do it: I quit my day job, I started doing makeup working in a department store when I was 27 and just did what I really wanted to do. I think girls can do that. There’s so much pressure about figuring out what we want to do, and I feel that if you love it, it just happens naturally.

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And what’s your favorite beauty YouTube channel?
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Let me think about this. I love Kandee Johnson, she’s positive and neat and so talented. I’ve met her a number of times, we’re friends, and it’s nice to see people that are genuinely nice to do really well. Honestly, I think her transformations are amazing.
Also Promise, that might also be my favorite. She’s married to Michelle Phan’s brother and she does the most insane transformations. Promise is great, she might be one of the most talented ones: she’s funny and beautiful. She would become, like Bruno Mars, or Beyoncé or J-Z. She’s so talented and she’s so nice, I’ve met her in person too and she’s amazing, so I would probably say Promise is my favorite. 
I worked with Michelle Phan earlier in my career, doing YouTube videos on ICON Network on YouTube: it was called “Pretty Little Pranksters” and it would prank YouTube influencers, what was so much fun. We were supposed to do Promise as well, but it never happened.

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The look you were most proud of and the one you were most scared of doing?
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Maybe the most proud that I’ve ever been is this Cosmo Cover that just came out today, which is very exiting, with Kaley Cuoco. She’s the best. Well, I think the one I was most scared of doing was my first red carpet, I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life. And it’s funny, because you do the makeup and then they go to the Red Carpet while you just sit at the computer and wait and refresh for the pictures to show up. The first time I ever did a red carpet was with Katrina Bowden: I was so nervous but, when she went on the carpet, she was so beautiful! I never felt such a sense of relief in my life. It felt like do or die, it felt like if it didn’t look good I would never work again. So that one is something that kind of combines both, because it was a confirmation. And I remember the day after: people never do that but she left me a note on the front desk with 50 dollars in it. And I thought, “That’s so nice! I guess she liked it!”
It was just a combination of being so scared and so proud and knowing that I was in the right place, that I was doing a good job.

That must feel really like a relief!

Such a relief. Because sometimes it’s not so good, there’s so much that goes into it: the hair, the makeup, the outfit, the weather, the lighting, the skin, everything. So if one thing is off, it just doesn’t look great. It’s really a team sport.

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Name us three products you’d bring to a desert island.

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Too Faced’s Better Than Sex mascara, number one. I guess Vintner’s Daughter serum, April [the founder] is amazing. And then, I guess maybe a lipstick or a brow product…or maybe a lip and cheek! I would pick the Stila Convertible Color, that is a lip and cheek. That product has been around a long time and it’s just so beautiful, I feel like the consistency is just so amazing. I would say these three right now, but you could come next week and I would have a new favorite.
But I would take care of the skin, open the eyes and just give the face some color.

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How do you look for inspiration in your Editorial Looks?

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I look at everything, nature, artwork and colors, even my kids. I think just everything, everywhere you look you can find inspiration. And it’s funny because I try not to look at other people’s work, I really try not to. It’s weird: it’s like I wish I didn’t follow a lot of makeup artists because I like to look, but it’s almost as finding out the end a book before you finish it. You don’t want your creative process to ever look like you’re copying something or that you’re actually drawing inspiration from them because it’s good to drive inspiration, that’s what I’m trying to do, but I want to have an idea that has not been modeled down like, “hey, they did this.”
It kinds of spoils it for me. Apart from that, it’s makeup lines, books, shoes, fashion, hair, people, faces. Everything.

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How do you express your creativity when you’re not doing makeup?
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I paint. I haven’t painted in a while because of my kids, but I used to paint. I also sketch a little bit and I work out everyday: that’s a big, deep blow of esteem, I just love the energy of it all. Just clear your mind and sweat, there’s nothing better. I love working out, people think I’m crazy.
But, if I wasn’t in makeup, I’d be in fitness. I just think it’s so awesome because I think it’s about just feeling better and I think that working out does make you feel better.

“I work out every day: that’s a big deep blow of esteem, I just love the energy of it all.”

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We loved the look you did on Busy Phillips for “The Cut” magazine! What can you tell us about that?
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They wanted a natural makeup, which I love, and they really wanted it to be very minimal. We used three different faces masks, so she hydrated her face the entire time I was getting her eyes done: we put on the lashes, we curled them, put on a little bit and did the brows, and then I literally let the hair go at it. We just did a mask for twenty, a mask for twenty and a mask for twenty, and then oils. It’s all about skin. Skincare, skincare: if you want your skin to look amazing just pile on the masks, pile on the oils and hydrate. That look has just so much hydration! It was the first time I ever did that and now I’m like, “that’s it, I found out what you really need to do. Hydrate the f**k out of it.”

She’s gorgeous so that helps too, but I’ve seen it on myself too. Like the more masks I do, the more radiant my skin looks. And it is again, if your skin looks good you don’t have to wear much makeup.

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What are your favorite products ever?
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 I love the Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder Foundation, I love Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation and I love…well, there’s so much I love. I love the highlighters from Colourpop, I did a collaboration with them when they were smaller. Also Cover FX, it’s so amazing and I think it’s the best, and I love Chanel lips, some of my faves. I love Lanolips too, it’s a really cool brand.

I love iS Clinical, it’s this skincare brand that makes amazing serums, and Joanna Vargas’ skincare is also really good. Makeup-wise, Ever Skin has a new makeup line and they have a mascara called “Whiplash” that I really like.
Jillian [Dempsey] is really good too: the Lids are amazing and the pencils too, you’re going to like it. And also, the Ardelle short flared are my favorite lashes!

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Did you ever consider doing your own makeup line?
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Yes! I’m actually working on my own brand so I’ll definitely keep you posted! [laughs] It’s for 2019, so it’s happening, although it’s not a line but just little things.
I’m a minimalist, so I think it’s better.

“It’s not a line, just little things. I’m a minimalist, so I think it’s better.”

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What’s the makeup look you’d love to do in the future?
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I’d love to work with Rihanna or Rita Ora, I’m in love with her face, she’s so gorgeous and I would love to work on her. I would also love to work on Oprah or maybe Lady Gaga because it would be something fun and creative! I try not to think about it because I feel like whoever I get I’m supposed to get. I’m very lucky because I get to work with so many dope chicks, but maybe I would like to work with more rappers, like Cardi B. I liked working with 50 Cent and I’d like to get a couple more rappers, they’re fun! I love hip-hop.

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Epic Fail on the job?
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I guess it was more of a personality conflict. There was an actress that didn’t want me to be the makeup artist and had a super big attitude. That threw me off my game and, instead of being really strong and say “no, we’re doing this,” I was a coward and said “ok.”
Then my makeup sucked and it was just bad all around, I am affected by who I work with and their personality. I think that’s why I’m attracted to all the funny girls, I want to have fun and laugh.

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Your favorite TV or Cinema Beauty look?
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I would say all the movies from like the 1940s, the filmed-in-the-war movies, like the Ingrid Bergman’s ones: all those icons of the Hollywood era, old school black and white. I just feel they’re all so iconic, all so gorgeous. Like Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford, they all just exude this really amazing aura, like the down of beauty. They all have a look that’s unique, strong and different and I really like celebrating that, because I feel like we live in this weird era where everybody wants to look the same and it’s kind of a bummer.

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What’s your dream project?
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The dream project is to be able to go everywhere and meet real women, helping them with their beauty routines. That’s my dream.

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I think you’re doing it with all the things that you share on Youtube.
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I hope so! I hope that, in a couple of years, I will be out visiting countries and doing makeup on real women. On a smaller scale my kids at their school have to donate money or time, so I’ve been doing these meetings with other mums when they come with all their makeup, and I tell them what they should get rid of, what they should buy and how to put on one look, we do a look per day. I love that. I really like it, at the end of the day it’s not about the money, it’s about the connection with people that need help and a little push, either you’re a working mum, a stay-home mum, and so on. I feel that I could just go in and just show those women a little love in that department, that’s why I do this: I worked in the malls, so I would do women’s makeup and they would light up, that was pretty. I want to serve those people, that’s what I want to do. It’s cool in this industry, I’m grateful, but it would be really fun to just help women.
And maybe the makeup for a Beyoncé video, just throwing this out!  

“The dream project is to be able to go everywhere and meet real women.”

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What’s beauty for you?
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My definition of beauty doesn’t even involve makeup, it’s just to able to see with loving eyes. Just being able to feel good inside. And I feel that, when you feel really good inside, you look better to yourself as well. You know what I mean? Just growing up and going through life. I’ve had moments of my life when I didn’t really like myself, but I have grown out of that. Once you realize who you are and what you can give to the world, if you realize you’re not the only person here and if you could share whatever you’re good at, I think that’s everything.
Beauty to me is when you love yourself and feel really good inside.

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It’s so difficult to achieve, though.
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Yeah, It’s very hard. Lot of meditation, but you know what? When it clicks and you’re out doing your thing and you can see the sunshine you can put in the people’s lives and how it changes them, it’s so beautiful. It’s so amazing. So everyday I try to strive and to do that, some days I succeed and some days I fail. But it’s a fun way to try to live. You look at yourself differently. You may not need as much makeup, or you might get ready faster. That’s why for me, I feel like I work with a lot of girls that know who they are so they don’t need to cover everything. They just enhance what they already have. And again, no shade on lots of makeup: I love makeup and I think people look beautiful whether they wear a lot, or a little, or none or whatever. But for me, my goal is to work and be around people that know who they are and celebrate it.

Photo Credits: Johnny Carrano.

Follow Jamie on Instagram: @jamiemakeup
Find her also on her blog and Youtube Channel