Meet Liisa-Katariina Sünter

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

Liisa-Katariina, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

I used to struggle with optimism when I was younger, I always thought that everything in my life was negative and I was destined to fail no matter how hard I try. But over time I learned to be grateful for how I grew up and for all of the challenges that I faced and opportunities that I got.
I think the biggest factor that helped me to be more optimistic was self-love. Once I realized my worth and how blessed I am, then I started to see my past experiences in a more positive light. I understood how much I had learned from the difficult moments and how important it was to overcome them for my self-development and to become the person I am today.
When I recognized how valuable the bad experiences were for my self-awareness, I also started viewing all the ongoing and future experiences from a more positive light as well. Now I see opportunities everywhere and I am no longer afraid of failure or setbacks. Optimism has made my life so much more peaceful and happy because I no longer feel the need to worry or overthink. Whatever happens, happens for a reason and I will either gain an opportunity or a life lesson, whichever I need in that moment.

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?

I am currently a Law student, pursuing my Bachelor’s in Tartu University. However, I have been doing makeup ever since I was 12 years old. I also have many other hobbies and talents that I have pursued, like singing, cooking, physical training and nail tech, but working on everything at once can get overwhelming. My biggest passion over the past nine years has been makeup. I enjoy doing all kinds of artistic and colorful makeup looks, as well as creating special effects makeup looks, and I gladly do makeup on others for movies or events.

At University, I am currently in my final year of bachelor’s studies and I am due to graduate in June 2026. It has been a very difficult but interesting journey. Law school is full of reading, assignments and exams, but every day I learn something new that I wasn’t aware of before. I’ve gotten to know many of my rights and obligations, which has affected my daily life. I am more conscious of my daily decisions and I read contracts much more carefully. I think there is a lot I have learned in law school that an average person should know in order to use their rights and feel less vulnerable. I am also planning to continue studying law and complete my master’s degree. Even though I don’t yet know the particular career I want to pursue, I am interested in law, especially international law and human rights. Law school is not easy, but it is definitely worth all the hard work.

I started my makeup journey at a very young age, practicing on myself. Just like everything in life, you have to start out bad to practice and get better. I used to get bullied in school for my makeup at first, which definitely made me more insecure about it. I kept practicing at home and invested in better quality products. I also stopped wearing makeup out until I had improved. Once I thought I was skilled enough, I started posting my work online and building my brand. I shared pictures and makeup tutorials, which even led some of my schoolmates to ask me for tips and tricks. Over time, I gained more confidence and was asked to showcase my makeup at a school talent show. It was very nerve-wracking, but I ended up winning the show – something I didn’t think was possible. After that, I was invited to multiple projects as a makeup artist. I worked on several short movie projects at BFM while still in high school. I feel honored to have been part of so many projects and for people to recognize my talent.
I am currently mostly doing makeup on myself to post online. I also do makeup on others for events like graduations or photoshoots. I am always open to new projects, events, ideas and tutorials so feel free to get in touch.

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?

I think one of the most important things that help me was building confidence and believing in my own potential. Since I was bullied and brought down at the beginning of my journey, building confidence definitely helped me see progress and not give up. It was hard when the only person cheering me on was myself, but over time I learned that I was the only person I needed to keep me going. Looking at my own progress and taking pictures of it made me realize, with every step, how far I’ve come. This helped me see my own potential and be confident in my work. Confidence also made me realize that I don’t need to wear makeup every day to feel beautiful, so I began to see makeup more as a form of art and got more creative with it. Now, I haven’t worn makeup daily for years because I have the confidence to show my face in its natural form, and I also know that I have the skills to create whatever I imagine with makeup.

The second very important quality was perseverance. With perseverance, I was able to keep going and pick it back up even after taking breaks. Especially in the beginning, perseverance was crucial to learning the skill and practicing makeup to get better at it. There were times when it took me over six hours for just one makeup look, paying attention to all the details and fixing mistakes along the way. Most importantly, I didn’t give up and kept practicing, because even when I couldn’t get it perfect the first time, I learned through the process and knew what to do differently next time.

Thirdly, I would say being creative was what helped me stand out. I looked at inspiration and tried to copy it, but I always added my own twist, so I could stand out and be different. The courage to do something extra and more creative helped me build my confidence and be noticed. I started to get more recognition when showing off and wearing my creative makeup looks. People would stare at me on the street – some giving me compliments, some looking in disgust – but already getting attention and making people talk about it gave me more recognition and motivation to keep going.

For people struggling with these aspects, I recommend keeping up the practice and trying new approaches. Seeing your progress through the process will help you understand your potential and build your confidence. Standing out in the crowd with your art and getting attention takes a lot of courage, but there will always be both positive and negative attention. You just have to be grateful for the positive attention and accept the negative. Most importantly, know your worth, know your goal, and don’t let others bring you down. Most things in life can be learned and practiced.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

Doing a lot at once can get very overwhelming sometimes. Balancing work and school while also keeping up with hobbies can drain your energy and make life feel like a chore rather than something enjoyable. That’s why it’s very important to know how to handle situations when you feel overwhelmed.
Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I have several ways of handling the situation depending on the intensity and my mood. In cases where I feel drained of energy and nothing brings me joy, I like to either go to the spa to relax or lay in bed and watch some videos, especially something happy or funny. This helps me switch my mind off and take time to relax both my mind and body.
Whenever I feel like everything is getting too much – for example, when I have a lot of deadlines, exams, assignments and several work days in a row – I like to write down each step I need to take for each task and then cross it off every time I finish a step. I also reward myself with something small every time I complete a step. This helps me feel more productive and break the overwhelming feeling into smaller pieces so it doesn’t feel as intense. Each small reward also makes me feel more proud of myself and helps me gain confidence that I can handle whatever comes my way.
My best advice for feeling overwhelmed is to take a step back and acknowledge the problem: understand what is making you feel overwhelmed and how intense it is. Secondly, think of things that could help in the situation, whether it’s taking some time off or working on the assignments and eliminating stress factors. Next, it’s just about doing what helps and eases the situation. To feel less overwhelmed, I also recommend having a weekly plan for assignments and chores and always trying to complete them earlier than the deadline to ease the stress as much as possible. Planning ahead can help prevent having too much going on at once and reduce the feeling of overwhelm.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: liisaksynter
• Other: TikTok: liisaksynter