Today we’d like to introduce you to Elvira Ramirez.
Elvira, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My passion has always been ART. As a child, I always told myself “I’m going to be a painter.” It all started with drawing. My mother was my biggest fan when it came to my drawings. She always encouraged me to never stop creating because she never wanted me to “lose my talent.” I was an “art kid” elementary through my senior year of high school. I did everything from drawing, painting, and ceramics.
It wasn’t until my senior year spirit week where we had to dress up for decades day. I chose to do an 80’s-90’s look but I wanted to do something out of the box and what greater idea than to dress up as Michael Jackson. I started to do my research and came across the talented Promise Phan’s YouTube channel and saw that she had a Michael Jackson makeup transformation. I remember standing in my bathroom trying to perfect every step of her tutorial a week before until I got it right. I woke up super early the day before and I was so nervous almost backing out thinking what if I look stupid?!
I got compliments left and right in the halls. I was so relieved and from that day on is when I got into makeup tutorials. At the time, Promise Pham focused on makeup transformations but I also wanted to do regular makeup and that’s when I came across beauty influencers like Patrick Starrr, MannyMua, Jenny_69, and a few others. Started doing makeup ever since.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not a smooth road. I always questioned if my work was ever good enough. I contemplated sharing my work online. The beauty industry is extremely competitive and didn’t want to get my hopes up. I came across beauty influencer Daisy Marquez on Twitter, I believe and saw that she was doing snapchat tutorials. So, I decided to give it a try. Did a few here and there and was told by some friends “why don’t you create an Instagram?” Took a leap of faith and said you know what I’m going to do this. My biggest struggle was comparing my self to other creators. I focused myself too much on just one makeup trend rather experimenting others and trying to find what were my weaknesses and strengths.
Along the way, I learned that consistency and discipline played a big part. Balancing school, work, and creating was a big task for me. I questioned if going to community college was even worth my time if that wasn’t something I was passionate about. I stopped going to school and focused on perfecting my makeup technique.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I am currently a freelance makeup artist and content creator interested in further building up clientele. I can perform from my home or travel to my clients depending on what best fits their needs.
As a makeup artist my main focus is to ensure that every person is as comfortable as possible and completely satisfied with the final look. I strive to go above and beyond to bring my client’s vision to life.
I am a detailed artist. I like to get to know what my client does or does not like to make sure everything goes smoothly.
I take pride in being able to do anything from a natural, evening, prom, or bridal. I can do it. I’m very proud of how much progress I have made in the past 3 years and it’s just the beginning.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I wasn’t doing as good as I wanted to be and was looking to better myself. I pretty much knew the basics but I wanted to advance my skills. After I stopped going to college I started looking into beauty schools. I was lucky enough to have some extra money at the time, took a leap of faith, and I signed up to take classes at the Boss Beauty Makeup Academy. That is when I met the talented Eloy Guerra (IG: @e.g.beautystudio). I swear that he was an angel sent from above. Taking his class corrected the way I applied makeup on myself and others. I learned how slow of a makeup artist I was and how sloppy my technique really was when it came to doing makeup on someone else. Eloy taught me how to be open to positive and negative feedback as it would only allow me to learn from my mistakes. Makeup is all about trial and error.
If meeting Eloy Guerra counts as luck, then yes. The role of luck has definitely played a role in my life. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to be my instructor for those 15 weeks of school if it wasn’t him. I learned so much from him. I am a better artist thanks to him. I am forever thankful.
Contact Info:
- Email: virabeauty01@gmail.com
- Instagram: @virabeauty_
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