We recently connected with Daniela Maureira and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Daniela thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
At the very end of 2021, I remember wanting to start practicing makeup on other people instead of myself. My sister and I came up with the idea of recreating Natalie Portman’s iconic makeup look from the movie Black Swan. I added feathers to my sister’s eyes for this interpretation and had her wear a black lace flowy dress paired with a black crown I happened to have in my closet. We created this story all with items I already owned and used my digital camera to capture it all. I took photos of my sister swaying and dancing around my apartment as we played the music from the movie soundtrack, which would come to be the first photo shoot I ever did. Sharing that moment with my sister is something I’ll never forget, she brought this character to life so perfectly I think it awoke something in both of us. It was the first time I had ever seen makeup I had done on someone in action and it inspired me to keep doing it more.
Daniela, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started experimenting with makeup at a time where several other aspects of my life seemed to be changing. After leaving the suburbs and living in downtown Houston for a year during my freshman year of college I started listening to more music, dressing more out of my comfort zone, and trying to play around with my appearance which consisted of me applying glitter on top of my cat eyeliner (which at the time felt like the most rebellious thing about me). I was in a space where I felt like I was encouraged to and could express myself in ways I didn’t know I could or wanted to.
Eventually during quarantine in 2020 makeup turned into a hobby, and I made the time in the privacy of my room to experiment with painting on my face. My routine consisted of waking up, shuffling my playlist called “Next Level Charli” (for the hot pop smash hit essentials), then sitting on the floor with my ring light, and coming up with something to paint on the spot. It was fun and spontaneous, and was definitely a form of therapy to me. Just kind of escaping and diving into this visual alternate fantasy that felt like my very own little utopia. I eventually got to a point where I felt confident enough to start practicing on other people, which has opened up so many opportunities for me. I mostly spend my time working as a Makeup-Artist/Face Painter for projects across the Houston and Austin area. Being a part of projects with different themes / visions has given me the chance to dive into different mediums of makeup that allow me to be versatile which is very refreshing and motivating.
Something I feel like I really value in the process of a photoshoot is the trust of a model. I want every model I work on to feel proud and confident while wearing what I’ve created. It’s important to me because we’re essentially putting unspoken trust in one another, they’re trusting me to make them feel prepared to take on whatever character is trying to be presented and I’m trusting them to bring that character to life while shooting.
What I always strive to achieve is a makeup look that takes me and the model out of our comfort zones. I feel like makeup is the one part of a photoshoot that tends to be overlooked but is a factor that has so much potential and can really elevate a story to the next level. I really enjoy working around people that don’t think I’m doing too much but instead think I should be doing more. Being around people that encourage me to keep trying new things is my preferred environment because it’s proven to me there is a community of people for me to embrace and grow around.
I think I’m still very young and have big dreams that I want to accomplish. But throughout my college years within the creative community of Texas, I’d say I feel the proudest when I’m creating with my friends. There’s no performance or pressure to make it work, it just does and ideas seem to flow effortlessly.
This week I’m getting ready to print a zine I created with my friends called Unearth Me that will be released through The Fashion and Business Organization at The University of Houston in October. The zine will include interviews on female students led by the club’s officers and various visual media (paintings, photographs, poems, digital art, etc) that is meant to be an unfiltered and visual conversation about womanhood. I incorporated some of my own makeup and photography work here that relates to the zine’s themes, including my first photoshoot and a still life made up of trinkets I’ve collected that remind me of memories and feelings associated with experiencing love and loss.
The entire zine feels like something I’ve been searching for for so long and have finally found it. I’m really excited to see how people respond to it, and I’m just so grateful to every person that devoted themselves to this passion project.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I have many goals but I feel like it changes on a daily basis. I think just the desire to learn, the opportunity to be better and think bigger is always driving my creative journey. When you enter the niche of the community you’re in, you realize how many other people are passionate about what you’re doing. When I first started practicing artistic makeup I remember feeling very isolated, the closest place to buy any special effects makeup was over 45 minutes away from my hometown. Turning to social media completely changed this, since making a separate Instagram devoted to makeup has allowed me to connect with artists all over the world. Thinking about it now, most people I interact and follow live outside of the U.S.
Like I said in the beginning, I have lots of goals but I think if I continue doing and practicing makeup I’ll be okay. It would be a really nice feeling to see makeup I’ve done on a [pro] stage, a film set, a theater, a runway, basically anywhere I can look over and appreciate it. My favorite part of a project tends to be watching the models and photographer/videographer in action, especially if we’re shooting on a set we built or put together. It makes me feel like I’m living in a dream and through the characters, it gives me so much serotonin and I hope I get that feeling forever when I do makeup.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I would say other artists have significantly impacted my entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy. There’s an artist that goes by the name “Eartheater” that is just one of the most surreal and creative musicians I’ve ever come across. It seems like so much thought and detail goes into absolutely everything she does. She makes experimental electronic and acoustic music, and will have the most incredible visual to go along with it. After every project she releases I’m always left feeling so inspired by her and her creative team’s constant ability to produce something so mind-blowingly incredible.
Earlier this year I remember her posting a photo of herself from what must’ve been over a decade ago singing on a stage, appearing unrecognizable to me. It looked like she was playing at a local venue with a mic and a dream. Now she has a professional team and the resources to create the art that she’s probably always dreamed of. It’s impacted the way I think because it motivates me to keep doing what I’m doing, taking in new opportunities and making the best of them. Being human sometimes feels like you are your own worst enemy, it sometimes feels too easy to sit on everything you haven’t done or achieved yet. However artists like her put into perspective that the journey will always be an experience in itself, and living in the present tends to be much more rewarding in the grand scheme of things.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @danielaimaureira
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-maureira/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@danielamaureira4753?si=WtOaXcS9Vq2J6h5A
Image Credits
Photo 1 & 2 by Daniela Maureira
Photo 3 by Payton Wyatt
Photo 4 & 5 Daniela Maureira
Photo 6 by Joseph Eguia
Photo 7 by Kyrstin Inman
Photo 8 & 9 by Daniela Maureira