While models and celebrities would love to have us believe that “they just woke up like this,” those “effortless” looks actually take several hours at the hands of professionals. From faking flawless skin to fuller hair, skilled hairstylists and makeup artists can do it all.
We spoke with T. Cooper, a talented makeup artist and hairstylist, who’s worked with Victoria’s Secret, Miss America Kira Kazantsev, Matt McGorry from “Orange is the New Black,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” Grammy Award winning–singer Chrisette Michele, Karen, Renee and Big Ang of “Mob Wives,” NBA star Baron Davis, True Religion, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Dominic Adams from “Devious Maids” to name a few. Not to mention her work with Fashion Reverie!!
T. Cooper
Fashion Reverie: How did you get interested in beauty?
T. Cooper: I used to be a tailor and worked on editorial sets a lot. They usually keep makeup, hair, and wardrobe very close together, so even though I was part of wardrobe I’d be super close to the makeup artists. One day while doing a tailoring job for Essence I met this amazing celebrity makeup artist, Lucky Smyler, who is pretty much a plastic surgeon with his brushes; and he really sparked my interest in makeup artistry. I befriended Lucky and I asked him tons of questions all the time. He was gracious enough to answer them all, and I began testing to build my book. Soon after working as a makeup artist I found that photographers and clients often asked, “Can you do hair too?” With so many clients wanting a combo, I decided to add hair to the repertoire and found that I really love doing hair, too.
I learned how to do hair and makeup from asking other artists questions, watching videos, reading books, testing with new photographers, and practicing on my homies. I really wanted to learn, so I immersed myself in it and made it my life.
Fashion Reverie: Who inspires you?
T. Cooper: My clients inspire me so much; I get very excited about trying to bring out their best features. I look at each one of them as a canvas and do my best to make them look and feel gorgeous.
Fashion Reverie: Any beauty trends right now that you don’t like?
T. Cooper: As far as makeup goes, I can’t take seeing one more girl in drag queen lashes. I’m all for wearing false lashes, but I can’t stand super thick, super long drag queen–looking lashes. Ewww!
With hairstyles, I can’t take another fishtail braid. I think fishtails are quite beautiful but they’ve been overdone for the past few years, and I’d like to see them go far away.
Fashion Reverie: Do you have any beauty tricks?
T. Cooper: My favorite trick is definitely using a smudger brush to apply eyeliner. I rub the eyeliner pencil on the brush and use the brush to create the line. It gives such a subtle line that’s not too sharp or harsh and it takes away the need to be so precise. I love the E21 smudger brush by Sigma, it’s nice and small, so you can get in the corners of the eye and really close to the lash line.
Fashion Reverie: Are you DIY kind of girl; any beauty recipes that you swear by?
T. Cooper: I use Jamaican Black castor oil on my face and in my hair. My parents are from Jamaica so that was passed down to me from my mom. There is no mixing or heating up necessary so it’s ready to go right outside of the bottle. I use it as an eye cream and moisturizing and it doesn’t irritate my sensitive eyes. I also use it to deep condition and moisturize my naturally dry hair; it does wonders.
Fashion Reverie: What would be your one” can’t live without” beauty item?
T. Cooper: Lip gloss, I can’t live without the stuff. I’m an anomaly because I’m a makeup artist who likes to go barefaced 99% of the time, but I’ve always got on my lip gloss. I wear Le Gloss by L’Oreal in the color Really Rose; it’s a gorgeous rose pink color.
Images courtesy of T. Cooper
Fashion Reverie: Any other tips you’d like to share with our readers?
T. Cooper: I’ve got a great tip for those days when you just look and feel tired. For bright, rested eyes, use the Complexion Fix pen by Veil Cosmetics, it’s literally sleep in a pen. For best results use a damp sponge to blend it out and then loose powder to set it—it’s amazing!
To learn more about T. Cooper, go to: majorface.com.
And make sure to check our her work in some of our beauty editorials:
https://fashionreverie.com/?cat=211#gallery/10187/124/1
https://fashionreverie.com/?cat=211#gallery/8959/58/1
—Janine Silver
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