Meet The Makeup Artist Redefining “Instagram Skin”

For some, a lipstick is just a lipstick. But for others, it's a source of strength, creativity, and expression. In our series Power Faces, we'll explore the relationship between strong women and the makeup they choose to wear — or not. Our latest subject is makeup artist and influencer Katie Jane Hughes. This story was told to Cat Quinn and edited for length and clarity.

“I will not show an unrealistic beauty standard because that’s not fair.”

I come from a working class family, and we’ve always been self-employed our entire careers. To say the word "hustler" in the U.S. is to say the word "grafter" in England, and I come from a family of grafters. The work ethic my parents instilled in me was to get my foot in the door somewhere and work my way up. My mom suggested I get a job in a nail shop and learn my way through doing nails, acrylics, and gels. The owner of the shop taught me everything. I started taking my own clients, and eventually left the shop to do nails on my own.

I was really good at it, but I decided I wanted to do something else. So I went to work at a makeup counter in my hometown. I remember using my fingers to paint my eyes with the eyeshadow from the shop floor. I told a customer to do that, and got kicked behind the counter from a girl at work. "No, no, no, don’t tell them to use their fingers. You can sell brushes!" she said. It irritated me, and from that moment on, I knew I did not want to play by the rules. I didn’t last at that counter very long.