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

Alright, Cameron thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I taught myself how to do makeup for the most part, obviously I would look at youtube and check out some tips and tricks to see if I could use them. Eventually, I found makeup artists that appealed to the looks that I go for and learn somethings out of their workshops. I don’t like to try to rush my craft and how its presented, but during my learning process I think I could’ve just practiced more and play around with more colors and looks. Skills that I think are most essential is skincare. When it comes to makeup artistry, to get the best finish it starts with your base and how well you take care of your skin. If you are looking to be in the beauty industry take time out to learn about the different skin types and what can and can’t work. I know while I was learning there were times a foundation make have not worked with my skin type so, knowing what formulas I can mix together became very beneficial.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am Cameron Pinkney, 22 and I am from the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia). I am a Makeup Artist but I like to think of myself as a creative, because I don’t like to limit myself. I offer beauty services such as, soft glams and editorial glams. I started doing makeup on myself originally about 5/6 years ago, then i started to take clients in 2019. Having clients weren’t enough for me so then I started to venture off into like creative directing and editorial looks. Where I am able to have a bigger range and more to play with. I am just there to bring my clients visions to life whether it is a soft glam to a full music video production if they will. Being able to bring an idea to life is what makes me most proud, I chose this path because it makes me feel like me, it’s comfortable and there is no right or wrong way to do anything. Creating my own look and vision is what I strive for, I don’t want to be like anyone else.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Seeing a client happy at the end of their service or when I gain a new client and it’s because someone loved the work I did on them is most rewarding. Whenever I have a client I get very nervous because i’m a little shy and of course, you wonder if they are going to like to outcome. So, when I am able to work with someone and they love the outcome it makes me feel warm inside. Also, when I am working on a project on my own, seeing an idea come to life is amazing to me, sometimes I get amazed at what I am able to do whether i’m trying things for the first time or thinking of something from the top of my head. I remember I was watching Disney Pixar movies for the day and I was watching Monsters Inc. I remember sitting there and thinking what if there was a female Sully. I never saw anyone else do it before so I didn’t have any references except from the movie, so I drew a sketch of how I wanted to look and came up with my version of female Sully, that you can see in the pictures of my work.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

The best thing society can do when it comes to creatives is give them space and grace. Everyone is not going to be appealing to you and that’s okay. most of the time creatives don’t creative for their audience, they create for themselves and their audience are people who are attracted to them for them. Society shouldn’t be so criticizing about artist work. I think that people feel at times if it’s not appealing to them or if it doesn’t make sense it automatically called ugly or now and artist work isn’t considered “good” to them. So, it’s okay not to like someone work as much but always remember to be kind, because what’s not a masterpiece to you can be for millions of other individuals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cameronbriana.as.me/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/killalookz/