Looking for beauty inspiration for your next party or night out? Or are you hoping to scare the crap out of your friends on Halloween?! LetzMakeup has the perfect harmony of glamour and horror on her channel! Siobhán is a professional makeup artist and for over seven years has been gracing YouTube with her tutorials for people who are looking to learn makeup techniques regardless of their skill level or budget. Head over to LetzMakeup to find all your beauty needs mixed in with a good dose of super spooky SFX makeup looks to top it off! We got a chance to chat with Siobhán about her journey on YouTube, what inspires her, and what to expect from her for Halloween in our latest Creator Q&A below:
Hi Siobhán! Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions!
First off, for any viewers who aren’t already familiar with your content, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your LetzMakeup channel?
I’m born and bred Irish living on the West Coast of Ireland. I have been working in makeup professionally for about 10 years but had my start in the world of art. My YouTube channel is based on beauty and makeup of course, but I also try and incorporate the art side of things in there too mostly through my Halloween videos but also sporadically throughout the year as well.
How did you get started in the makeup profession?
I was always interested in makeup as a teenager and good at it too! I was really alternative growing up so I used to do really fun and colourful makeup looks, especially when I went through my Cyber Goth phase. While I was in Art college I used to help friends who were studying Film & TV when they needed makeup done for a project or film and I also was doing makeup on family and friends for special occasions and it snowballed very organically from there. I started to work on makeup counters and eventually got a job with MAC Cosmetics where I worked for five years before going freelance.
What was your inspiration for starting a channel? What was your biggest influence when you started making the ‘scary SFX’ tutorials?
My inspiration grew from a lack of what I was seeing rather than anything else. It was seven years ago when I discovered YouTube and it really wasn’t very big or well known in Ireland yet at that stage. I discovered a few people from the US & the UK who were doing makeup tutorials, there was literally such a small number of people doing it back then! I thought it was great and so new but after watching them for a couple of weeks I noticed that the teaching side of the tutorials was lacking. They were just applying the makeup and creating these lovely looks without explaining the whys and hows. So I thought I could do what they were doing but add more of a teaching element into my videos. The Halloween videos and more artsy videos were an artistic outlet for me as art has always been my first and greatest love! I am not trained in SFX makeup though so I’m learning as I go along, which I enjoy.
What has been the biggest change in your life since becoming a YouTuber?
Probably getting to work from home, which might sound a bit mundane, but I have worked in retail since I was 15. Since leaving MAC earlier this year, I have been doing all my work from home and I’m still getting used to it! That and of course getting to know so many people from all over the world through the amazing community of YouTube, which is something that wouldn’t have happened without. The funny thing is that before YouTube I had zero interest in computers, now they are like an extra limb!
Do you have a favourite video (that you created)? Why?
I have over 750 videos in my library, so I’ve forgotten about a few of them, but I’d say the ‘Elaborate Masquerade’ look I did a couple of years ago. It’s not that the video itself has amazing production quality or loads of views or anything, but I was so happy and proud of the makeup. Probably one of my favourite makeup looks I have ever created and it took me hours to complete because of the detail. It’s really whimsical and fantasy based so it fed my love of art.
What is your favourite Halloween themed look that you’ve created?
Apart from the look mentioned in the previous comment, I’d say maybe my ‘Melted Mutant’ look, just because I even found it genuinely scary and I like Halloween looks to be really freaky!
What is the biggest challenge of making both everyday make-up tutorials and SFX-themed tutorials?
For me with beauty looks it’s trying to find the balance between being original and still putting out videos that people want to see. Especially with the beauty side of YouTube being so saturated now, it can be hard to make content that stands out. It can also be hard to compete with these channels that have a lot of money behind them with huge production value and really elaborate sets and super professional editing etc, but you just do the best you can and hope it’s good enough! I only do very basic SFX looks as I’m not trained in special effects makeup so I’ve taught myself everything as I go along. There are obviously challenges there sometimes trying to figure out how to make the idea in my head work as a successful SFX makeup look.
What do you want to say to people who are looking for inspiration from your channel?
That it’s about passion mixed with genuine hard work. I love the quote about the difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in something you do it when it’s convenient, when you are committed to something you will always find the time and means to make it happen! It’s that commitment that has me still knocking out regular content after nearly seven years.
What can we expect next from you?
I will be keeping up my more artistic videos after the Halloween period has ended, not as regularly as on the run up to Halloween but a couple a month anyhow. I love doing the straight up beauty looks but I think I get a little uninspired by them after so long on YouTube that I need to start adding more of the creative content into the mix. And I just hope to be able to continue to be able to keep creating regular content for as long as I can!
Lastly, any hints on what you’re going to be for Halloween this year?
Something really simple! ha ha. I’m always so Halloween’d out of it by the time the 31st comes about that I can’t be bothered doing anything too elaborate on myself. Plus I usually work doing makeup all day so I am limited with time… or I might take the night off all together and collapse on the couch in my PJ’s 🙂
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