We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sierra Collins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Sierra thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
Yes, I am a happy artist. When you are a creative, life is always in motion. Which is perfect because stagnation gives me the ick. I am continuously learning, growing and evolving with my art. I love working with my permanent makeup clients. Tattooing faces is challenging but incredibly rewarding. Helping people feel more comfortable in their own skin is priceless.
I do wonder what it’s like to work for the man when it comes to things like health insurance. In this sense, being an artist has its caveats. I am a business owner, accountant, content creator and ultimately, healthcare provider. No one else is responsible for those things.
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 have a split origin story, spent half my childhood in Florida and the other half in New Mexico. The question of where I’m from always gets answered with the latter. For the last 3.5 years I have been tattooing makeup in Colorado Springs, CO. I typically say I got into the biz because of supply and demand but, it is a little more romantic than that. My long term, life partner, is a tattooer and years ago he made me tattoo him for his birthday. I had absolutely no experience. So naturally, like any sensical person, I tried to talk my way out of it. That didn’t work but I ended up thoroughly enjoying tattooing. At the time the shop was looking for a cosmetic tattooer. There was the demand and I was willing to supply. Now, I am continuously perfecting my craft, learning new techniques and testing my comfort zone. That’s where the real magic happens. Recently, I tattooed rainbow colored eyebrows. Rainbrows – they look bomb! I never imagined taking on a project like that. I feel like I have one foot in the beauty industry and one foot in the art scene. Kind of like being from the ocean and the desert. Anyway, most of my clients want more natural looks but all of my clients want to feel better about themselves. And that is the real goal. How do I help boost their confidence? When I’m not tattooing faces, I’m feeding my other artistic outlets. Currently, my partner and I are collaborating on our biggest project to date. Finally bringing this lovechild into the world is going to be a dream come true and a ton of work. I’m ready!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My two favorite services to do are lip blush and freckle tattoos. I am especially passionate about lips because I got botched lip blush while I was in permanent makeup training. I love my natural lip shape and wanted to experience a face tattoo before I started giving them to strangers. So I volunteered for my teacher and co-student to do my lip blush. It was so terrible I called my partner freaking out on my way home. I sent him pictures of my overdrawn, thick red lip liner with tears still on my face. How did I end up with lip liner instead of full lip color? I was devastated. More than anything, I knew I couldn’t let this happen to any of my future clients. I finished my training and immediately started diving deeper into lip blush techniques, tricks and further education. Finding artists on Instagram who specialized in lip tattoos and shared their knowledge was paramount. Of course, I struggled with lip blushing when I first started because, surprise, tattooing lip skin is difficult! Especially in a dry, arid climate like southern Colorado. However, nothing was going to stop me from nailing this technique. I trudged on, finding more friends to practice on. In the process my frustration turned to obsession and it eventually clicked. At that point I was hooked. As for my botched lips, the pigment faded significantly over the years and a colleague is helping remove the last bit of color. I’m definitely going to get them tattooed again, by someone else.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
That experience doesn’t equate to excellence. I have seen some great talent in younger artists than myself and I have seen the opposite from people with more experience than me. For example, I had one client come to me for a brow correction because her brows were unevenly saturated and two different shapes. Her original artist had been doing permanent makeup for 20 years. Just because someone has been doing something for a decade, or two, doesn’t mean they are better than someone who’s new. A person is only an expert if they continuously push themselves towards perfection.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @inkcupmakeup
- Other: [email protected]
Image Credits
Alexandra Cancro Alexander Cullen