We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Natalia Buenrostro a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Natalia, we are so happy that our community is going to have a chance to learn more about you, your story and hopefully even take in some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way. Let’s start with self-care – what do you do for self-care and has it had any impact on your effectiveness?
As a person who was diagnosed with depression and anxiety self care was something I needed to work on, it was difficult but i knew it was something that would do a great impact on my mental health. For starters I went to therapy, it was one of the greatest things i did for my self care. Some people may not see therapy as “self care” but I do! Seeing my therapist every two weeks for 2 years was one of the greatest things I was able to do for myself, I know its hard for others but I feel like taking that step has a great impact. Another thing I do for self care is having my me time, it’s one of the greatest things I’ve been able to have in my life. Sometimes you just need that alone time to yourself, just giving yourself space and being your own bubble can be really relaxing. I’ve told many people about this and some think it’s cool I’m able to do that because many others can’t. What i tell those people is that once you make the first step you start to enjoy it, but I do always get asked “what do you even do?” You can go get coffee, go shopping/window shopping, and my personal favorite writing in my journal! I can list many other things but it just all depends on what you enjoy doing. Once you get professional help and just spending time with yourself i think its one of the best self care things that can have great effectiveness on your life.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My name is Natalia Buenrostro and I am a Mexican-American Hair and Makeup Artist based in Los Angeles, CA. I’ve been a hair and makeup artist for 4 years now and a graduate of Cinema Makeup School of 2022. I mainly focus in beauty, editorial, and sfx when it comes to my work. How I first started my journey with makeup was in my teenage years when I was first allowed to wear makeup because growing up with old school Mexican parents I wasn’t allowed to wear any makeup until I was 16 years old. Once I was able to get the permission I just never stopped. At first I didn’t have the idea of becoming Makeup Artist at all, I was more focused on painting because that was something I was passionate about since I was a child but as soon as covid hit in the middle of my senior year that’s when things changed. When covid hit I was stuck in a block with my art and then just started playing with makeup even more, my parents saw that and encouraged me when things lifted up to go to makeup school. Since putting more my focus into makeup I’ve never been happier, yeah my journey has had its ups and downs to get my name out there but I was able to push through and get where I am today.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three things I can say were impactful for my journey as a Hair and Makeup Artist were surrounding myself with great people, taking opinions, and continuing to practice more. Surrounding yourself with great people in this industry can have a great impact on your career. One, you can learn more skills from those people that will greatly help your skills develop even better, I know I’ve definitely learned more for my peers because it does not hurt to continuing to learn more. Two, surrounding yourself with the right people you are able to get your name spread around, I know I wasn’t able to get where I am today without the people who I call my friends because they were able to recommend me to others which greatly helped my career and I am still till this day grateful for those people who have helped me. Taking opinions is hard for many because a lot of people see it as criticism, in reality sometimes you need to be able to take it to sometimes better your skills. Don’t see it as someone down playing your skills, see it as that person wanting you to be able to get better so you can show your talents better. Lastly, always continue practicing your skills! As a makeup artist of 4 years now I know I am always practicing new skills in my work. You can either practice new things that will make things easier with your work or practice the new trends that are happening now within the makeup industry. I know once I’ve been in this industry 10 years i will still be practicing new things because it doesn’t hurt to continue developing your skills. Those are 3 things I can say impacted my journey and can do the same for others.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I can name many of people who have helped me through my journey of becoming a successful Hair and Makeup Artist, but the 3 people I can think of are Madison Rose Summerfield(@madison.rosemua), Emma Page Bailey(@emmapagebailey), and Fengwan “JingJing” Qing(@fengwanartistry). These 3 women I’ve been able to grow closely with has been the greatest thing to come into my life. I met Madison and Emma at Cinema Makeup School in 2022, all 3 of us were in the same class and became friends and since then always helping each other in our careers as Hair and Makeup Artists. I also met Fengwan “JingJing” Qing who I just call JingJing at Cinema Makeup School but she was working as a mentor at the school, even though I was not a student of JingJing’s I was later hired to assist her on set and from there me and JingJing have became great friends and coworkers. These women are the most talented people I know and always great to work along side with when we can, I’m always so grateful to have them in my life. The 3 of them have been working in this industry longer than I have so I feel like still till this day I’m able to learn more from them which continues to make my skills even greater and have helped me through challenges I’ve had since coming into this industry which I’m always so appreciative because some people don’t have that. I am always grateful to have met these 3 talented women.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nataliabuenrostromua.squarespace.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliabuenrostro.mua/?next=%2Fjorgecazzaniga%2Ftagged%2F
Image Credits
Brandon (@_bg0d)
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