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TIFFANY WILSON

Hair & Makeup Artist, Educator

Tiffany has been a full time hair and makeup artist since 2010. Creative and personal expression in its various mediums has been a fundamental interest of hers from as far back as she can remember - she has loved to paint, draw, sculpt, write, sing, cook, play the piano and play dress up since childhood, and has kept those strong into adulthood by working most of them into her current life and work.

 

After school she studied fashion design at LISOF, where she gained an understanding of trends, and started to develop an appreciation for how people express themselves, through the context of culture, worldview and self perception, and how we view the external world in the same way. Specialising in corsetry, she also gained a deeper understanding of third dimensional perspectives, and  translating visual proportion across a range of shapes. 

After her final year, she decided to expand her skill set and study makeup artistry. It became a medium between sculpting and painting for her, and a different place to explore the nuance of self expression.

 

She started working for MAC Cosmetics after graduating, where she gained exposure to a vast array of consumer categories, undertones, concerns and perceptions. She stayed for a year and a half until she decided to focus on her expanding freelance career, just before summiting Kilimanjaro in December 2011. She has since become a recognised name in fashion and media, working with stills, media and live event productions, as well as bridal and personal makeup. An interest in hair styling came while on the job, often out of desperation on smaller sets, and she has since become adept at creating a wide variety of styles with all hair textures, approached as another artistic medium. Some of her most noteworthy clients include Coca Cola, FNB, Cartier, Avroy Shlain, Carolina Herrera, Heineken, Adidas and the mini-series Madiba, along with working alongside some of South Africa’s best musicians, TV personalities, performing artists and fashion designers.

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Tiffany’s makeup ethos is to preserve the line between “they are so beautiful” and “their makeup is so beautiful” - beauty exists in every face, and her ideal application is one that celebrates and adds to the personality behind it, no matter the makeup style. This is the ethos that has gone into creating MakeUpSkill - refining techniques without overcomplicating things for the level her clients are at, making it fun, impactful and applicable to the wearer, exactly as any makeup look should be. With the understanding of shape translation gained through pattern design for clothing, the understanding of how shapes can be created in different ways is imparted to the students. The methods in the modules took three years to validate, and soon after their completion in 2020, the pandemic settled in.

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Having considered everything about her methods just before the world stopped, the opportunity to expand her knowledge presented itself in the pause. She completed the COSCHEM cosmetic science course in 2022, transitioning into a scientific understanding of the products we use on a daily basis, and gaining knowledge of product design, formulation and interactions, marketing, scaling and supply chain.

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The deeper she has moved into her art, the more her appreciation and want for knowledge surrounding the science behind her field has grown. The opportunity to refine and share that knowledge is exciting to her, in an ever-changing and expanding arena, and hopefully bring understanding and empowerment through communicating on multiple different levels.

INSTAGRAM: @TIFFANY_WLS

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