From Lens to Lipstick: My Journey as a Photographer and Makeup Artist that inspired me to start my beauty blog

Have you ever walked into a toy shop and really, truly looked at the things they create for little girls to play with?

It’s makeup, mirrors, nail kits, little heels, tiny handbags, dolls to dress up, princess crowns, glitter, tutus and fairy wings—to name just a few. And let’s not even start on the baby dolls and cooking sets… that’s a whole other blog post!

Ok now back to the subject... Do you remember how difficult it was to walk in heels for the first time?

When you were finally allowed to put on mascara or any kind of makeup?

And let’s not forget the first time you were allowed to shave your legs… that’s also another blog post! (High-fiving myself for all my cool ideas… this is going to be such a fun journey.) Back to the subject... again... Do you remember when you had your first dress that moved so amazingly when you twirled? Soon it became your favourite dress in your closet, right? Mine did.

I remember that dress so vividly, and somewhere deep inside, I wish I had kept it… to remind myself of that little girl who just wanted to feel beautiful.

That’s who we are as women, if you look at it simply. Deep inside each of us is that little girl who is inherently drawn to beautiful things and to feeling beautiful, and we all express it in our own way

The Signs were there all along... The start of my journey

I am a professional photographer and makeup artist now, but it wasn't always that way. I used to work in corporate and eventually took the leap of faith to start my own business. Feel free to check out my work, my main photography website is www.amoriearts.com and my boudoir website is www.boudoirbyamoriearts.co.za. That is a story for another day, let's start at the beginning...

I wasn’t always the best at makeup… that came with training and experience, I’m still learning every day. My love for makeup started in my childhood. My mom used to give me her old or almost-empty makeup to play with… unfortunately, I’m also an artist (yes, I paint) and I decided to leave her some beautiful artwork on my duvet cover, the walls, and even in the bath. Needless to say, my mom learned her lesson the hard way and stopped giving me the makeup. I got pencils and colouring books instead. Yes, there were some very creative canvases involved as well… but the signs were there all along.

I didn’t know that I loved photography, that happened because I did makeovers and needed photos of the before and afters. Looking back, there were signs all along… I used to dress our dogs up and give them creative haircuts, so much so that my parents had to hide them when we had visitors. I thought my work was amazing; apparently, I was the only one.

I took my mom’s film camera, posed the dogs and took pictures until I couldn’t anymore. My mom only found out about my little photoshoot when she went to develop the mysteriously full film roll. Needless to say, I waited forever to see the results of my photoshoot... and today, I never make my clients wait too long for their photos. I think it’s low-key of childhood trauma.

I always say, if you ever wonder what you are meant to do one day, there will be some form of sign in your most authentic self: the person you were as a child, before the world put you in a box and told you who you couldn’t be… and you started to believe it. I started doing makeup on myself, then on my friends. The same thing happened with photography: I started doing it for my friends, and people began to notice. That’s how I ended up here. It has been the most amazing journey, and to this day, I have worked with well over 1200 clients...and I’m still going strong!

The "Why" behind my blog

My "why" is the love for all things beauty - the DM asking me where I bought my dress, the random woman in line at the shop asking if it’s my own hair and how I got it so thick, the client asking how in the world I don’t look my age, when I get asked if my lashes are real, the new products that make me so excited when I see the transformation and when it works for me, I want to share it! No gatekeeping here… because I love helping women feel good, beautiful and confident.

With the well over 1200 clients I mentioned, that doesn’t even include all the random chats I’ve had with women. I cannot think of a single woman I’ve met who isn’t, in some form, interested in something to do with beauty. Every woman has her own way of expressing it, in her unique way, that makes her feel beautiful and confident. A funky hairstyle, nail color, interesting eyebrows, lashes, or even the woman who feels beautiful because she finally embraced her natural curly hair or the no-makeup look, and her skin is glowing… she finally found the products that work for her. And that woman knows ball! She will beat you at the game.

So all of this to say...

This is a new part of my journey, some of you will enjoy my content and follow along on my journey, others won't and that is 200% ok! I just decided to do it anyway!

I am not only going to blog, I am going to make videos and post it to all my social media platforms on a regular basis. If you want to be updated about new videos or blog posts, please follow me on social media, tune in and subscribe to my email list.