My parents took me to see Cads! For my eighth birthday, and to be honest, I hated most of it. It’s like it’s pretending to have a story when it really doesn’t, and all the characters are just bad caricatures of subcultures that the writer thought existed. Not that I thought that at the time- little me was just incredibly confused by it all. I told my parents that I loved it, they seemed happy, we went out for ice-cream and it turned out to be a pretty good day. But something ate at me, the whole time. Their stage makeup was immense, bold, vibrant. I might not have enjoyed the show, but it was a sight to behold, how they went about their business on stage, looking amazing. I’d later learn that they didn’t just slap it on themselves; there was a person who actually specialised in stage makeup. Courses around Melbourne and everything!
Not that I rushed out to do one, but I was curious. You know how it is in early teen years…all makeup and boys and all of that, until you figure out that life has so much more to offer than acting like a stereotype. But still, I had a glancing interest in makeup, and how it can really transform people, especially on stage. And then something crazy happened: my friend got into short films, noticed that I do pretty good makeup artist stuff (thanks, Instant-Gram!) and wanted me to work on his film. Sure, it was a pretty small-time thing, but I got to be on set for a really fun day and use my hobby. He could’ve picked someone who’d done an actual makeup course, but he chose me, which was really cool. After that, I thought I might as well just go and get a diploma, because specialist makeup could be a viable career path. Maybe. Guess I’ll just take a bit of a leap of faith and see.
-Sara