We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jaime Quintana a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jaime thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

The journey of a Makeup Artist is infinite. We mess up , we learn , we mess up again and we accept our failure with every stroke we take with our brush , praying to the makeup Gods that we don’t mess up again . That’s the way of the game. When I first started my journey , I dedicated my work to the beauty industry. My body and soul craved for more , so I started to mess with character designs using regular beauty makeup not knowing that that actual Spfx makeup really existed. It wasn’t until I joined a haunt called “ Dark Harbor “ which was located at the Queen Mary in Long Beach CA . I learned so many essential techniques at the haunt that have helped me in so many other projects later in life . Working in a fast pace environment is super crucial at a haunt , that allowed me to speed up my process , how to lead / train a group of artist into the season and walk them through new challenges that they may come across , and as time passed by (after haunt) I learned more about working on set and productions , which allowed me to take some of those techniques and implement that into my own art With my own team.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Being a part of the film and television industry isn’t for everyone. Everyone has a different path , a different journey on why they chose it. I’ve never had the love and support that I would have liked to have from my father . Instead My father always gave he’s personal opinions about how I should act , how I should be more masculine , how I wasn’t man enough , or how much of a disappointment I was because I wasn’t following in my dads or brothers foots steps. When I finally came out back in 2005 , I was cut off from communication from my father . Since then , he gave me the fire to show him that I was able to fight on my own two feet , to stay strong and write my own journey and most importantly, show him that I didn’t need he’s help to become someone in the industry . After he’s passing back in February 2023 , he left me without answering any of my questions , without giving me any sense of clarity but at this point in my life , I was okay with that . I’ve realized that I didn’t need hes approval any longer . By this time , I’ve already written my own journey on where I needed to be in life . My journey has rewarded me with great new challenges that has molded me into the artist that I am today . I’ve been featured with Morphes very first Pride Campaign back in 2019 when I was more involved with the beauty community. I always knew that I wanted to do more with my artistry , so I left retail and started freelancing during COVID . Definitely was a scary time , but it was probably the best decision of my life . It has opened up doors to work for multiple productions that led me to work with wonderful people and well known actors through out the industry . I had the privilege on working and getting hired by one of our Department heads for Prothetic fabrication Cristina Waltz for a new upcoming Star Wars show call “Skeleton Crew” by Lucas films . I was hired on as a PA for the team . This has got to be probably one of biggest life changing experiences of my life. Having the chance to learn and communicate with some of the best in the industry is definitely a highlight and a perk ( to me ) . I never went to makeup school . I taught my self , or I surrounded myself with other artist . So when i had this opportunity presented , where I had the chance to learn from amazing individuals that had been doing this for a while, and welcomed me with open arms , it made me feel like I was a part of their family . Something that my father couldn’t do for me and now , I wanna do the same for others artist . Inspire others to follow their own path and there own dreams to higher possibilities because nothing is impossible .

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

As creatives , our inspiration is what drives us . My goal has shifted recently , but now my mission is to inspire the new generation of makeup artist especially monitories . I was born in El Salvador and came to the United States when I was 2 . Coming into a world where there’s so much movement and not knowing what do first feels very intimidating. I myself am still learning , I’m still growing . But when I see my fellow Latinos succeeding …. That truly inspires me and gives me a sense of hope into what I can become and I can dream big , so can you !

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Growing up my mother was always flamboyant. She’s always loved makeup , jewelry, hair pieces which is why I ended up having a fascination for beauty . When I started “Beauty school “ , I met a bf that I had at the time that was really amazing at makeup. I asked him if he can teach me makeup ! I was so inspired by hes talents ! Well , to my surprise , he rejected me . He said I was better off as a hair stylist. I took that pretty personal and the following week , I walked to cvs and Walmart and bought my very first items that were going to be a start to my very first makeup kit . I sat down in front my computer at the time and learned through different YouTube artist how to apply beauty makeup . I later would charge 5$ to personal clients , friends and family members just so I can get the practice on different face shapes , skin types and eye shapes. I later took a huge leap and interviewed for Mac cosmetics . However, it took me 6 years in order for me to get my foot into the door for Mac cosmetics. Even tho it took me 6 years , I don’t regret nothing . Years down the line , I became Department head for a show called “Queer for Fear “ and I had the privilege to work side by side with one of Macs Senior artist Jon Stapleton which was so inspiring , mind blowing and such a grateful experience all at the same time .      

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Jayqartistry
• Facebook: JayQ Artistry

Image Credits
Photographer- Raymond Loy Models – Madison Estrada Samantha Lokelani Victoria Laurita Brett Gustafson