We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jade Jewel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jade below.

Jade, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

Absolutely. Both I and my work have been misunderstood and mischaracterized. Let’s start with me first. It’s no secret that people judge you at first glance. When I’m out and about with a full face of makeup on, my long curly hair styled how I want, long nails, an outfit I spent time assembling, accessories, and big shield sunglasses. People look at me and think she’s extra, she’s shallow, she’s insecure, etc. I’ve had someone call me bougie when I was out with my niece before. The reason why I believe this happens is society has pushed this narrative that women who are into beauty and fashion are shallow and vain with no depth.

When people look at me when I’m in my element, they wouldn’t guess that I’m big on education. From a young age, my Mom instilled in us the importance of higher education and performing well in school. I was on the Gold honor roll, and an occasional silver honor roll, and I received the President’s Award for Educational Excellence in 2015. In high school, I was in Honors classes and a few AP classes. I was also a part of the NHS, the National Honor Society. In College, I was a part of two honor societies. First was the NSLS, the National Society of Leadership and Success. The second was the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

My work has been mischaracterized before. Some people believe makeup is not art. Makeup is art. I wrote a quote about this topic before. “Art has no limits. It can be on paper. Bodies in the form of tattoos. Faces in the form of makeup. There are no limits, only boundless freedom.” That’s a quote I later got tattooed. Art can take many forms and it’s no one’s place to tell you that what you do isn’t art. All because your work doesn’t fit into their definition of art.

My takeaway from these experiences is people are going to judge you no matter what, until the day you die and then some. You can’t let people change you or stop you from pursuing something that is important to you. Life is short and the world can be a dark place most of the time. You have to do something that makes you happy. Even if it’s putting on makeup, a certain outfit, or wearing some wild accessories.

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

Hi everyone. My name is Jade Jewel. I’m a 22-year-old artist, makeup artist, writer, and digital and film photographer.

For as long as I can remember art has always been a big part of my life. My Mom loves photography. As far back as I can remember she always had a camera with her. Always one of her many Nikon cameras. She always had projects for us to do. She took us to Michael’s and Home Depot to do crafts and projects. She is also an incredible artist. Her drawing skills are impeccable. I owe her for my drawing skills and photography skills. Makeup is another story.

In 2013, Lady Gaga released her album Artpop. I have a soft spot for that album and eventually, I started listening to her other albums. The Born This Way album and Artpop were heavily influential on my style. The Born This Way era makeup consisted of heavy eyeliner and bold red lips. I wanted to do makeup like that. I was roughly about 13 when I started playing with makeup. Most of the time I was painting my face in my bedroom. Eventually, I started watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. YouTube is how I learned how to do more complex looks and what products to use. My Instagram was created because I was trying to win a giveaway, that I did not win. So, I decided since I have it, I might as well share my work. When I turned 16 my parents bought me a Nikon camera for my birthday. A few years later, I started putting the photos I took on my Nikon on Instagram.
When I was a senior in high school, I was able to take Digital Photography. I really enjoyed the prompts and learning photoshop techniques. I was able to participate in two art shows while I was in high school. In College, I was able to take two semesters of Film Photography and participate in another art show.

There are a couple of things that set me apart from others. I’m experimental and the way I present makeup is in an edited but unedited way. I’m very experimental with my makeup looks and fashion. You never know what you’re going to get from me. One day I may go for the grunge aesthetic. Other times I may go for the Euphoria style. On my page, you’re going to see a wide variety of looks. I want to discuss what I mean when I say “makeup in an edited but unedited way”. The photos on my page are not heavily edited or face-tuned. I use the saturation tool in the Instagram app and occasionally the vignette filter. That’s all. My older work was raw images from the camera put directly on Instagram. No saturation, nothing at all. I started saturating the images because photos are not always an accurate depiction of makeup in real life. The flash can wash you out, especially when the photos are taken up close. By saturating the photos, I was trying to give my audience a better look at what makeup really looks like. It was important to me that I didn’t face-tune my photos because I didn’t want to promote unrealistic and unhealthy beauty standards. On my page, you’ll see my skin’s texture. I’ve posted many photos where there are noticeable blemishes. I want people to come to my page and see makeup and skin for what it is.

What I’m most proud of in my makeup/photography journey is when it gets recognition. I’ve had Cardi B’s makeup artist Erika La’ Pearl share my work on her story before. Recently, Euphoria’s makeup artist, Doniella Davy, shared my recreation of Maddy’s makeup from Season 2 on her story. It makes me proud. One day, I hope people recreate one of my makeup looks.

I want my followers and fans to know, part of my reasoning for sharing my artistic endeavors with the world is I’m doing it for my little 13-year-old self. She deserved the freedom to express herself and genuinely enjoy makeup and fashion unapologetically. So here I am doing it all for her. Potential followers and fans should know that I’m always playing around with different mediums of art outside of makeup and photography. If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, I suggest following my main account @theprettyybitch or my other accounts dedicated to writing and photography for new and exciting projects.

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

To answer this question, we have to go back to the beginning of my makeup journey. I was about 13 when I started falling in love with makeup. The only problem was I attended a Catholic school. A Catholic school is not the place for you to be yourself. I wanted to indulge in art so badly and Catholic school didn’t allow that type of expression. I wanted to play with makeup. I was drawing all over myself because I couldn’t wait to get tattoos. I was actually counting down the years until I turned 18 so I could FINALLY get a tattoo. I wanted to experiment with fashion and not be criticized. I demonstrated resilience during these years because I refused to conform to what they wanted me to be. I still wore some makeup, even though I got in trouble for it. When everyone was telling me to be something else, I still found ways to be myself. One example revolves around one simple chain. I wore this silver chain in 7th or 8th grade. My Mom had told me that they may say something about it. We were only allowed to wear religious jewelry. I got all excited and I told her if they did, I was prepared. I flipped the chain around to the toggle clasp. A small silver cross hung from it. My Mom just smiled. No one ever said anything to me about that chain. It was my way of saying; I’ll follow the rules on my own terms.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

TRIGGER WARNING (Mentions of Suicide)

For me, makeup has always represented something bigger than just a beautiful look for one day. It represented freedom and in a way rebellion. You could say my creative journey stemmed from rebellion and living out childhood dreams. Earlier this year, I saw a quote that said “Everything I do is for my 17-year-old self”. It stuck with me because I related to it. Around the ages of 13 to 14, I struggled with suicidal ideation and survived multiple attempts to end my life. Back then, I didn’t think I would make it this far in life. My mission not only in my creative journey but in life is to live out my wildest dreams for my 13-year-old self. I owe her that much because she deserved better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/theprettyybitch
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theprettyybitch/
• Other: Photography Instagram @jewels_portfolio https://www.instagram.com/jewels_portfolio/ Author’s Instagram @stories_by_sj https://www.instagram.com/stories_by_sj/

Image Credits
Jade Jewel. Mom (J.J.N.)