Interview With Sam Fine -
Part One
What do superstars Patti Labelle, Vanessa L. Williams, Halle Berry, Brandy and supermodels Tyra Banks, Veronica Webb, Iman and Naomi Campbell all have in common? They've relied on the expert hand of makeup artist Sam Fine to look their most glamorous.
(SamFine.com)
Let me start off by saying ... I am such a HUGE fan of your work.
Aww, thank you.
I can tell that this is going to be a good interview already.
Thank you, I hope so. So Mr. Fine.....
Oh stop that, Sam......
Sam ( laugh), I’ve read that you started off as an artist and illustrator. So how did you get started in the beauty industry, and what peaked your interest onto the counter?
Well, I'm from chicago, ...the south side of chicago, and I've always been interested in art. I've always been artistic through out grammar school, high scool, and I even attended the art institute of chicago in the summer of my junior year. It was very exciting for me and helped me to understand that I really wanted a career within illustration . It wasn't until I moved to New York, b/c I wanted to go to Parsons, that I realized that I had a talent for makeup. I took a job at a cosmetic counter to make ends meet, and all my friends kept saying that, " You really have a good hand at this,..you should really give it a try,..this could be something else you do." I was a little hesistant, because it's a different medium. But I was open to it, b/c I'm still drawing on eyebrows, still drawing lip liners, ....so it wasn't such a jump or change for me.
My best friend , Joseph Hanten, was a NYC makeup artist at the time. He was a working makeup artist, and he helped to bridge my one dimensional artistic abilities to the three dimensional world of beauty. It helped tremendously. He also taught me about the business of beauty, putting a portfolio together, and how to best market myself. Whether it was a composite card of your work , or testing to make sure that you have work in your book to speak to clients -all of these things helped to guide my career, once I began to take it seriously.
I had been here for 2 years working at a cosmetic counter, and within that time, I started assisting other makeup artists ...taking it seriuosly, and really seeing where this would take me. Little did I know, while assisting a makeup artist at a fashion show, that Naomi Campbell was watching me work.
WOW!
I know, but I always say that you have to be in it to win it. So whether I was working on her or not, that wasn't the BIG break. The big break is showing up to do your best. Someone is going to take notice. She called me behind the cosmetic counter, and asked me to work with her on one of my first big assignments, People's Magazine- Most Beautiful People Issue. That was kinda the beggining of my professional career.
WOW!
.....I left out all the parts about ...me getting my apartment broken into 3 times , the air mattress, going to work and getting fired, getting on unemployment to help to bridge my free lance career from a day-to-day job (steady check) to a free lance career ,......I left all that out (laugh). So I dont know, if it's quite WOW - worthy (laugh).
So it was a long journey until you got up to that point...
Well, I was 19 though. I moved to New York when I was 17, ...fell on my tail in NY, and moved back home. But during that time, I had met a few people within the industry ...worked at the counter..met great people...worked with other artists...it was interesting, and fun for me. So when I moved back home to Chicago, Naomi Simms Cosmetics called me, and said," that we have a position opening in Manhattan. Would you like to come interview for it?" And it was always my dream to come back to New York, but of course, this time with a job. So I got the job, and I moved back when I was 19. Stayed behind the counter 2 years, an I've been free lancing ever since.
Most interesting counter experience?
The cosmetic counter was wonderful, b/c being in New York, you run into so many people. You deal with real women, but you also deal with a lot of makeup artists searching for their kits. And because Naomi Simms was one of the leaders in doing olive and gold toned foundations, thanks to Byron Barnes, so many makeup artists and models would have to come to this single location to purchase makeup. So I had everything- from real women to professionals shopping at the counter. It was a wonderful opportunity for me.
Who’s been your favorite client to date? Or can you really say?
Sure, there are always favorites.. who often have contributed the most to your career, and your learning experience about business...who are such examples of multi-dimensional careers. I work with Iman, Queen Latifah, Vanessa Williams, and Tyra Banks. When you look at these women, they're synonymous for multi-branding - they're singers, acters, dancers, talk show hosts, models- they can do it all. I never learned as much as having worked with those women.
When I think of a favorite, I would say Vanessa Williams. She's my longest running client- 15 years. I've been to the Super-Bowl, grammy's, Oscars, commercials , L'Oreal, ...I've done everything with her. And she's done so much, and conquered so much with grace. So intelligent and to have 4 children , and being an example and teaching me how to balance both professional life and personal life. She does it so well, and make sit seem so effortless.
Other favorites- Iman, such a style icon. So beautiful, graceful, and such a wondeful business women as well. Tyra Banks...it's really hard to choose when you work with the .....
..... best of the best...
...Yeah! What you really end up liking them for, are their attributes that are personal. Knowing them as friends , and not just seeing them as celebrities. Seeing them as real women who take care of their husbands, and take care of their kids...who come to birthday parties, and are my theater buddies...those are the highlights for our relationships, and make me like them more. Not just because they're fabulous entertainers or beautiful women.
How do you initiate a makeover? Do you ask preliminary questions about the person’s general style or do you just go FINE- free- style and execute what look you feel would look best on the person?
Both. I don't consider it a makeover. I would probably call it a makeup session. I would like to think that it's a collective effort, and that I'm chosent to do what I do best. So most people kinda know what my look is, it's classic. Something that I can look back 10 years from now, and still say that it's beautiful. I'm not very trendy, and I have a very distinct hand. Most of my friends wills say," I can tell you did her." It's kind of a laugh, it's my signature. It's not something that I try to do.
But when I approach a new client, I always ask what it is that their looking for. I've been working with Queen Latifah a lot lately, and she will often say, " I want really dewey, shiney skin. I want to look natural, but I want beautiful long lashes. That's easy to acheive. I'm flexible. At the end of the day, it will always look like something that I like b/c I'm doing it. It's almost like me asking you to sign your name 10 different ways. It's still going to be a basic, consistent thread in that. So whether it's my foundation, powder, or brow, ..whether it's mascara or a nude lip, it's still got a little bit of me in it.
I heard that you were once working on a cosmetic line of your own. Is this true and what’s in the making?
I've been working on cosmetic lines for a very long time. I've had many contracts, and many conversations about it, but I have yet to find the right partner. Ten years ago, I released "Fine Beauty", and that was my entree into consumer's homes. People that didn't study makeup or know that I was working with Vanessa or Brandy, had a chance to see what my life was like as a makeup artist, and also learn how to apply makeup. I've always enjoyed giving information.
I just finished an instructional dvd, Basics of Beauty, that comes out in May. Creating product is wonderful, but until you learn how to apply makeup and you're comfortable with it, ...and feel empowered to wear a look, you're not going to approach the counter. You can't keep throwing great product at women, when they don't know how to use them. We don't have a great history of having cosmetics, so education is crucial in creating a cosmetic line.
So offering a book and a dvd, showing step-by-step, how to beautify yourself at home and make the most out of your cosmetics are really important items to have.
Part 2 of the Sam Fine interview will be posted in next month's edition.
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