Today we’d like to introduce you to Christie Baez.
Hi Christie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
To be honest, the way my journey started is actually quite comically ironic. I grew up more on the tomboy side due to being bullied in school and always being around my brothers. So you can imagine that hair and makeup were not my go-to choices as a kid growing up. I did instead have a strong passion for art. I loved everything that was color and design. Unfortunately, as much as I loved art and wanted nothing more than to be a great drawer and painter, that also didn’t fall through for me. I wasn’t terrible, but honestly, I wasn’t as good as I thought I would be.
Eventually, with talks from my sister about how pretty I am and how I should explore more and be happy with my feminine side with my mother always asking for my help, whether it was coloring to trimming her hair, I soon found a new way to explore and express my creativity and artistry. I became obsessed with the excitement of changing how I wanted to look every day with fashion and beauty. I loved doing it for fun, eventually, with others aside from just myself, whether it was my nieces, my sister or especially my mother. I had nothing but happiness while creating these bonding moments and wanted to create these moments with others as well. I then realized that instead of seeking all these realistic jobs, I would pursue a career in which, being artistic, creative and having an eye for all things, beauty is accepted, wanted and needed. That’s where my cosmetology experience began at 21 years old, in which I decided to go to a well-known beauty school, such as Tricoci University of Beauty Culture in Highland, IN.
During this process, I found myself halfway through receiving my license, and my true calling and deeper passion was my love for makeup and makeup applications. Within makeup is where I finally felt I found the perfect paintbrush and all the diversity of beautiful women and men were my canvases. I couldn’t be happier to feel at home with what I knew I was destined to do. Soon after graduation, I had the honor of meeting and working under an amazing mentor, Monique, at MAC COSMETICS. At a young age, with so much talent, you sometimes can think you know it all. Thankfully, with her by my side for 3 years at MAC always giving me all the tips & tricks, I honestly became a better artist, but overall, in my career & life. Unfortunately, I didn’t remain with MAC for too long for personal reasons, but my love and appreciation for the company inspired me to build and create a company, a masterpiece of my own. I then moved to Florida after leaving my hometown of Chicago, IL to start completely fresh and, to my surprise, I landed another opportunity with MAC for only a year until COVID. During this time of quarantine and with artists all around the world, including myself being on a hiatus due to CDC guidelines of social distancing, I decided it was time to build my own brand from the ground up and kick start my own cosmetics company.
After being in the beauty industry for 9 years, I felt like it was now or never. Also, by getting booked picking back up on hair & makeup, I wanted a company in which you don’t find many of. A company that has the capability of creating custom colors and containers for personal to big event requests. I wanted a safe product that’s available for everyone. That’s why I specifically chose that most of my products are Vegan, Cruelty & Gluten-free. I desired a company that had a story, a heartbeat and a uniqueness to it, such as myself. With love & dedication was how Bella Luna Cosmetics began and is still growing until this day a year later.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wish I could say that I made it on a smooth road, but thankfully it wasn’t. I say thankfully because those bumps along the road taught me a lot about myself, my passion and my dedication to seeing my dreams come to light. For one, I almost became a beauty school drop-out. I let my workaholic self at 21 become too scared to chase my dreams and I worked myself so much that by the time I was done with work I didn’t or wouldn’t want to come into school with the excuse of being tired. Sure, that was eventually becoming my blanket of an excuse as to why I wouldn’t see this dream through. Almost on the verge of not graduating due to so many absences, I had a couple of amazing instructors who saw my potential and skills and would not let me give up on myself. Because of them, I am a proudly licensed cosmetologist as of 2013. Building Bella Luna Cosmetics also had its obstacles. For one, I started a company in the middle of a pandemic. From products being delayed or held for production to financial issues and not being able to continue and fund Bella Luna Cosmetics, I also found myself also almost wanting to throw in the towel on my second dream. But with all these bumps and with what I had, I took a leap of faith and launched my first set of lip products, which were a hit. From there forward, Bella Luna has been getting recognition little by little, thanks to great supporters.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a professional makeup artist with a license in Cosmetology. I specialize more in the makeup world, creating either beautifully natural looks such as for Bridals or Fashion, to creating theatrical looks such as with special effects or Halloween freestyled looks. I’m known for a little bit of everything these days. I offer and can do a range of services, from facials, eyelash extensions, waxing, braiding, updos and so fourth, you name it. I can do it properly and professionally. When I started in my career and worked for MAC, I was known as the brow, cut crease & winged linger queen. I literally would have regulars weekly coming in for one of or all three services from me. As I’ve continued on in my career, I worked for a lot of fashion shows and even had the honor of being the artist for an entire show in New York Fashion Week. It was a mixture of fashion beauty and freestyled theatrical looks. My two favorites meshed together as one showcase. This moment was one of my biggest dreams coming true and working on set during NYFW was definitely thus far my proudest moment. I am very empathetic, so, for me connecting with someone, listening to them intently, being really attentive to detail and making them feel heard and appreciated during a makeup application aside for my patience to educate comes naturally to me. Not only that, but to be equally talented at makeup as well as hair and other services, being anyone’s one-stop shop is definitely what sets me apart from others.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
To be honest, I’ve met many talented artists and I’ve known many in the industry to plan out or pre-sketch their looks they have in mind for shoots or runways which I admire and have attempted in the past, but honestly, every runway, show or shoot I’ve done I’ve created each look off the top of my head with the inspiration of the theme on set.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bella_luna_beauty_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BellaLUNACosmetics111
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BellaLUNACosmeticsUS?ref=shop_sugg
