Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mykey Reed. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mykey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’m a self taught makeup artist. I started to teach myself all about makeup by constantly watching makeup videos/tutorials on YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok. I’m still learning and studying to this day! When I finally dove deep into learning and practicing makeup, I took the opportunity to do so during the COVID lockdown. It was a GREAT time for me to speed up my learning process because, what else was I going to do with all the free time that I had? Over time, the skill that I would say is one of the most essential to learn is learning to shade match all different skin tones, from light to medium to deep, to cool to neutral to olive and to warm undertones. At the beginning of learning my craft, the biggest obstacle to learning more was definitely not having people to practice makeup on. I only knew so many people who I was able to practice on, but I didn’t know enough people, let alone people who had other types of skin tones. I finally was able to find a job position that I was able to practice my craft and learn how to shade match all types of skin complexions.

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.

I am a 24 year old makeup artist. I’ve been doing makeup for over 7 years. I was born and raised in Minnesota and I recently moved to California in June of 2024. Growing up, I’ve always been an artsy kid. I always liked to draw, sculpt, paint, etc, at home and in art class in school. Over the years, growing up, I did dabble in different types of art. Growing up being friends with mostly females, makeup slowly started to show up in my life. Over time, I played with it with my friends, then I started to experiment with it by myself. I wanted to keep learning more about it. So I decided to search up videos and tutorials on the internet. I found many different influencers that I did end up looking up to. Through the influencers and other makeup videos, I learned that makeup can be used as an art form. I kept on playing and practicing, and the more and more I did, the more and more I fell in love with doing it, and wanted to do it on others as well. This form on art has been the main form of art that has stuck with me throughout my life. Being where I am at now, I offer all types of makeup services. I offer editorial, soft glam, wedding, run way, commercial, etc. The main things that do set me apart from most makeup artists is that I am a male working in a female dominated industry. I am a fair skinned individual who is capable of giving a perfect shade match to every skin complexion. I do sanitize and organize my makeup kit and station while working on my client’s. I can have a great connection when working on my clients. Not only do I do makeup, but I do study makeup, like how others do the applications, I pay attention to what tools and products other artists use, I listen to what every day people say with their struggles when working with makeup and other makeup artists. I take all of that into consideration to learn and make myself a better MUA with application and teaching my clients. I am proud that I have made it as far as I have in my career and how much better my craft is compared to when I first started. I currently have huge projects that I am working on that will be brought to life, to the public, very very soon!

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

When I first purchased my makeup kit, I didn’t start taking many clients until a year later. I was just stuck on how to find clients. After talking with multiple people, I was finally told, by a family member, to start networking, mostly on Facebook. I started to join groups and start reaching out to other creatives in the photoshoot world. Ever since then, my career started to take off!

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

The most rewarding thing is being able to connect with my clients, have a lot of fun, and being able to see their big smiles when they see the final results.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mykeyreedcosmetics.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mykeyreed/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076846986011&mibextid=wwXIfr
• Other: https://linktr.ee/Mykeyreed

Image Credits

@kriziastudios
@ten21portraits
@lovaamirandaa
@dopeashdancer
@cristalchant_
@itsnatalietran
@ashleydavvis
@katyisshady