We recently connected with Yzabella Balette and have shared our conversation below.
Yzabella, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
Usually when I tell people I’m a Makeup Artist, the first picture that comes to their mind is either Fashion Shows or Bridal. When I tell them I’m a Special Makeup Effects Artist, they either ask me what that means or they look at me completely bewildered. I think it’s definitely grown in popularity over the years than when I first started back in 2006.
Covering people in blood and sculpting wounds to create prosthetics, only to paint like oozing, infected and grotesque pieces of skin, with the aim of making people queasy, really made me the black sheep of the makeup world for a long time. But, every artist finds their groove eventually! I worked at a haunted house and networked with a lot of other creatives to find a small crowd like myself who made scary movies, or metal music with dark music videos- people who actually wanted my particular skillset. This helped me focus and develop techniques I’d been dying to showcase.
While, of course, I still took “normal” makeup jobs over the years, from photoshoots to film productions, I still longed to work SFX, which at the time, was more difficult to come by back then; but I didn’t falter. I still managed to find one or two shoots a year that allowed me to gore people up, and I took full advantage of October for any and all Makeup applications. Social Media really helped me out, even though most of the time I was painting myself up with these weird characters I had designed, the images became more well known; the signature of my extensive medical background and my ability to offer hyper-realistic looking effects became more notable. While it didn’t get me as many jobs as I would have liked, it did get attention from some other SFX artists in the Industry who reached out to me to work with them in NYC, LA and Vancouver, which did, in fact, change the trajectory of my career.
Over time, and as gore became a new norm, I found myself receiving a lot of requests from themed photoshoots, film productions and music videos, to hosting my own workshops to teach some of my more basic or all purpose SFX skills to students in Cosmetology and Esthetics classes, and even training makeup departments for haunted houses in 4 different states.
I think the moral of my story is perseverance. Never putting down a passion, but constantly aiming to improve it by any means, no matter how many people tell you that you can’t or won’t make a living off it…that if you can manage to stand by that one hobby or talent, nurture it, improve it and eventually, it will pay off. Eventually, there will be someone who recognizes it and can find a use for it and that is what opens the doorway to a fruitful career; a career that doesn’t feel like work because it’s truly a passion.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Like I mentioned, I’m a Hair and Makeup and Special Makeup Effects Artist. I love everything about what I do! I can make people feel beautiful and I can make you look scary beyond your worst nightmares, by special request only, of course! I love what I do so much, that I feel I can never truly learn enough; to the point that I enrolled into Cosmetology School at the top of 2023 to get my Cosmetology License so that I can expand my services to include haircutting and haircoloring to nail services and waxing on top of my current services of makeup applications; I’m very excited to be obtaining that license hopefully early 2024
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?
Fast learner, adaptive and consistent.
In my field, there’s no “practice until you get it”, there’s “get it or don’t, if you don’t get out”. You have to pick things up quickly, and be able to adapt. Not every job is the same, which means the clients are different, the locations and tools are different and so it’s hard to know exactly what to expect and you can’t even expect 2 days on the same set with the same people will be the same!
Consistency; regularly showing up early, prepared, ready to work (including those 16-18 hour film schedules), showing that you’re always a consistently dependable and qualified worker has been another big key to success in any field. Time Management, knowing how to prioritize, these are all skills every professional should have, no matter what your industry is.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I think being well rounded presents more opportunities than focusing solely on what your strength is. Granted, this doesn’t mean to stop working towards improving your greatest strength. I think working to expand your field, and at the very least understanding the different parts of your field is beneficial. In my field, take Special Makeup Effects for example, as much fun as it could be to “create” wounds and other effects; how accurate are these or how accurate do they need to be? This means you should also be somewhat familiar or proficient in the Medical Field- you should have a good understanding of medical terminology, anatomy, forensics and procedures to be able to fully understand how to create a specific wound, from a specific injury, that could be fresh at 72 as opposed to healing 10 days in.
I think this also extends to beauty makeup- being able to be proficient in different fields like Fashion/Editorial, outside of Bridal or Every Day “no Makeup, Makeup” styles, just as it does from makeup to skincare.
So knowing the fields that are covered in your industry and understanding when being able to benefit from certain knowledge or techniques can better suit you in being well rounded as opposed to focusing solely on your strength.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yzabellabalette.com
- Instagram: @ybalette
Image Credits
Yzabella Balette
