Dear Misfits! I’ve mentioned in my intro I will be giving you stories, advices, cautionary tales of what not to do and my reviews on books, movies, travels and such. This post is a real life story of a real person I’ve met one day and who left such a positive impression on me. That doesn’t happen often so since she was kind enough to have a chat with me, I get to share it with all of you.
Like most little girls I have been fascinated with make up since I could hold things (so much so that I almost burned the house down playing with my mom’s eye pencil; story for another time), but unfortunately my brain failed at the eye- hand coordination and I’ve never quite managed the skill of applying makeup. Very much unlike me, Michelle is a natural at this particular skill.
Like I previously mentioned, I met her a while ago at work (mine,not hers) and we exchanged Instagram info and I started following her. It’s her skill to make women look not better, but their best self it’s what got me hooked on her work and her personality was the original reason I started following her.
Michelle Stern was born on West coast and raised on the East coast. When you first meet her there’s that combo of joie de vivre and straightforwardness, in my opinion a perfect balance between working hard and playing hard. She fell in love with makeup at the age of fourteen,when she bought her first makeup set and thought herself how to do her own makeup. When she started NYU, there was a MAC store near by where she used to go and thought how great would it be to do that for a living. She left NYU for FIT, where she got her bachelor’s degree, but after several internships she did during college, she still had MAC on her mind more than fashion. Call it determination or faith, after graduating college she managed to get an interview and a real paying job at MAC where her career and passion for makeup started.
After a while she got a job with Bobby Brown at Bergdorf Goodman and stayed with them for years. The reason she was at that job as long as she was, before starting her own business full time, was great work environment,schedule, benefits and their flexibility that allowed her to do her business on the side. It’s rare and nice to hear someone being grateful and humble for the entire journey and that’s how Michelle is. She enjoyed the comfort of a steady job and everything that comes with it, but when the time came to make that leap of faith into less certain work she also didn’t hesitate.
Michelle credits Instagram as a tool that helped her jumpstart her business, but it’s her work ethic and artistry without which it all wouldn’t be possible in my opinion. That being said, it’s the fact that she does work she is very passionate about truly shows. There’s never a day when she feels like it’s a job she ‘has to do’ , she makes her own schedule and loves every moment of it. When I asked her what’s her favorite part of bridal makeup ( that makes the most of her work) she said ‘reveal’ ,without any hesitation. Since then I have been paying more attention to that part and it shows. The looks she creates are timeless, elegant and beautiful. She elevates and emphasizes bride’s natural beauty with her artist’s touch. She’s also a one woman show: the artist,the social media person, the manager, the whole of Michelle Stern Beauty is an incredible one woman that does every aspect of it. The bulk of her work is indeed a bridal look, but she also does events, lessons in how to do makeup, photo shoots and other makeup related things you can book her for and that guarantees great experience and results in my humble opinion. While chatting for this post I also got an insight of what her lessons look like. She was kind enough to give me an inside look of how she does makeup lessons in this case of how to do a ‘no makeup’ makeup look.
The reason why I vibed with her is her relaxed and yet direct approach to work and life. I mentioned earlier about the balance she possesses when it comes to work and play. She has healthy boundaries in place, that allow her to work very hard and to take time for herself. If you take a look at her social media you will see great work she does and amazing places she travels to. She has been all over the world and does that with same joy and excitement she pours into her work career .
If you are in a need of makeup lessons,bridal makeup or anything else makeup related Michelle is a perfect person to contact. I don’t say that lightly; I had a pleasure of seeing her work and getting to know her on a personal level and she is one of the easiest and knowledgeable person to be around.
*** Pretty Girls’ by Britney Spears