Hair and Makeup Ana B

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be behind the scenes during weddings? How the bride can enter the room flawlessly with not an eyelash out of place, even though she just bawled her eyes out during the ceremony? Hair and makeup artist and business owner Ana Buitrago of Makeup by Ana B paints a lovely picture with an inside scoop.

Please tell us about yourself:

I am a pro makeup artist who also does hair styling for weddings and events. I have been in the beauty industry for twelve years now. I own a beauty studio in Tysons Corner, Virginia. I run a team of about forty beauty artists. We specialize in luxury weddings. We work with hundreds of different brides and luxury wedding planners. We do corporate makeup as well. I love blogging and social media, and we have a great team that does that as well to get the word out about our services.

Favorite Rom-Com: Ever After with Drew Barrymore*. When I was growing up I was literally obsessed with Drew Barrymore. I loved that specific movie. It’s a very Cinderella tale. It is a period piece, midieval times, renaissance inspired. There is a scene where she goes to the ball and she’s wearing this gorgeous metallic crystal silvery dress and she has these wings on her dress and sparkly silver makeup. It’s not traditional at all, but it’s all over her face.

The Makeover—What are your favorites?

I really love makeover movies. I was thinking of Miss Congeniality with Sandra Bullock, how she was this really big nerd, but she’s smart, and sophisticated, and then at the end she is super hot as well. Everyone loves a makeover story. It’s a fantasy that we all have. We want to be the underdog and turn into this beautiful swan and become this gorgeous person. Someone would recognize our own beauty and we could become the main character. I feel like Sandra Bullock has done a lot of movies like that and she always does an incredible job of showing the transformation that we can have. The Proposal. She was in Two Week’s Notice, which I really loved as well. I am a big Hugh Grant fan.

Real life love stories doing weddings, what have been some of your favorite moments?

I have to be honest, one of my favorites happened recently and that was yours and Mark’s. When I have been around you guys together I sense this genuine love. It’s a young, innocent, beautiful love. I think it is the way that it should be, especially at the beginning. When people have been together for a long time you get into a routine and sometimes it’s hard to appreciate someone when you’ve had them for a long time, but I think at the beginning of a relationship there’s a beautiful period, it’s like the honeymoon period. I think the way you guys connected and compliment each other, I could tell that the wedding was really important to you both, but your relationship was first. And how you guys were so respectful towards each other and loving towards each other and caring I thought was so sweet.

Thank you and a PSA to everyone:

You are in the hair and makeup chair so much during these experiences, so having someone that you love and trust and someone that can give their opinion if something dramatic goes on, is imperative. If I could offer any wedding planning advice to those who haven’t done that yet, that is my number one tip. Thank you Ana for being there for that and for my beautiful makeover moment.

On your blog you also have a lot of fun lifestyle content such as “Hostess with the Mostess”, “Summer Travel Essentials”, and even “How to be Conquering the Winter Blues”, so what kind of other lifestyle advice can you offer readers?

When I think about my clientele: a lot of them are brides, and so because the events are over, and maybe they’ll get their makeup done a few more times in their lives, but it’s not an every day thing I try to find other ways to create content that is still relevant to them.What beauty items do I need? What are the things that are going to make my traveling easier and more relaxed and make me feel my very best? That is the type of content that I try to share with my readers. A lot of times my readers or followers will share information back with me and I learn from them as well. I think it is a give and take with my clients. Maybe wedding content isn’t relevant to you any more because your wedding is done, but you’re still traveling and going through life things. Even when it comes to emotional things, like a lot of people are talking about mental health.

That is a constant thing, it is an every day thing. It doesn’t matter who you are, you are still dealing with mental health challenges. Sharing how we feel as a woman, as an entrepreneur, as someone who maybe on the outside looks like I have things figured out, but I do struggle too and I find my own ways to cope. I want to share that with whoever is interested in reading.

How long did building your clientele take?

I did work for Mac for a year. At the time, this was back in 2010, Mac was a premiere beauty brand and it was a prestige brand. It was also really hard to get a job there, so I had to go through four interviews to even get the job there. It was quite exclusive feeling and since I didn’t have any professional beauty experience at the time I really felt honored that I got to work there and get a job there. In one year I learned a lot. I felt like one year of working there was enough for me to launch myself as a freelancer and to build my own clientele. Once I started working for myself it was a little bit of a slower build and it took some time to make connections to network. I kept in contact with other artists, with previous clients that I had at Mac and little by little I started to build my own clientele. I started to get so many requests that I could not fulfill and I was starting to have to say no a lot to people, and that’s when I knew that I had to build a team and make it bigger than just myself. That’s basically how I got started. Over the last twelve years we’ve gotten pretty big in doing 300 weddings a year and working with forty artists.

For anyone starting out in the beauty world, what advice would you give?

Continue to work on your craft, be consistent, you have to knock on doors, and you have to be uncomfortable. I think it’s okay to put yourself out there and be a little vulnerable. Know that someone might say no to you and then down the road someone else will give you a chance. You have to be comfortable with hearing the word no. That’s okay because it will lead you to a yes.

What misconceptions do you think people have about the hair and makeup world and artistry?

I think people think it’s a glamorous job. I would say that maybe 50% of it is because we get to work with really amazing clients and we get to travel and we’re in the beauty industry which is on magazines and on TV shows. It is a hard job. First of all, you are carrying a load of products and heavy bags to different locations, so physically it is an exhausting job. When I travelled to Greece, I looked like I was moving there. I think as a freelancer, beauty artists are doing their own contracts and bookings and negotiation and coordination, so there’s a back end, a business end of the job. A lot of artists are doing that by themselves. Luckily I have a whole team that focuses on the administrative side of the business, but I had to build that from scratch. And once I built that, I was able to hand that over to people who I trained to do the job well. I think it’s better for the artist to focus on the creative or their craft, which is the actual beauty, their artistry. It’s not as easy as people think it is, but it sure is fun.

If you could start a hair and makeup trend, bridal or non bridal, what would it be?

I personally like red carpet styles over Instagram trends.I know that a lot of people try them. I think they’re so fun to look at on Instagram. I definitely watch them. I kind of think that the best beauty trends are the ones that make you feel the most beautiful in your own skin. So I am more romantic and timeless and I don’t necessarily jump on every trend that comes out. I think that as long as it reflects your personal style, I say go for it. I see people that do a really strong black wing liner or others that will always wear a red lip. I think it is signature to them and it is what makes them feel comfortable and pretty and I think go for it.

Is there a beauty or wellness ritual that you love to do?

As I mentioned we have a studio, and I have an esthetician in my studio Bianca. I do a facial once a month with her. It is like heaven on earth, my skin feels and looks glowy afterwards. I also just love the time that I spend with her, which is probably how my clients feel when I am doing their hair and makeup. Getting pampered by my esthetician, laying down and knowing that my face is going to be glowing and pretty afterwards makes me feel really good. I also get my nails done every two weeks and I usually try to get a hand massage during that time, which is good for me because I am always using my hands doing makeup and hair and all that. Those two things are my main things.

Closing remarks:

I wish you luck on your magazine. I love the nostalgia of it. Looking back on things that make us feel good. Movies, we can all relate to them and they inspire our lives. I think it’s awesome.

*After this interview Ana B did makeup and hair for some clients who went on the Drew Barrymore Show.