The Makeup Insider

Blog Post Richard Kavanagh calls himself an odd jobber. Fair enough. He's a session stylist who started hairdressing in Auckland in 1986. Since then he has directed hair backstage at Fashion Week, worked on around 300 shows as part of Guido Palau's team, hosted a prime time home renovation show, written a hair book, run a tech company and coached other creatives for more than a decade. He...

Episodes Blog Post Nicola Johnson has done makeup for 23 years, and she's worked in beauty her whole working life. She started as a beauty therapist in England at 16, worked a health farm, a resort spa in Turkey and a cruise ship, trained in makeup in London, then moved to Australia and built a freelance career across TV commercials, magazines, tourism campaigns and bridal. She's worked wi...

Episode Blog Post Makeup artist's Vanessa Barney and Nicola Johnson share the products they reach for in their personal routines and professional kits, and how they use them. From skin prep and foundation to blush, concealer, lip combinations, powders, and tools, this is an in-depth chat packed with product favourites and practical insights for makeup artists and beauty lovers. They discuss pr...

This month's Insider Diary is just me. I'm talking about the limiting beliefs that held me back in my career for decades, and what shifted for me. In this episode: The 3 limiting beliefs that held me back for at least 13 years: fear of rejection, waiting to be "discovered," and not wanting to be annoying Why people rarely actually say no to you. Most of the time they just don&#39...

Ellen's Blog Post  From the Opera House to Viral TikTok, with Ask  Ellen . This week I sat down with  Ellen Malone  — makeup artist, beauty content creator, and reigning Australian and New Zealand Beauty and Fashion Creator of the Year. She's also, quietly, a trained opera singer who's performed at the Sydney Opera House and played the lead in Carmen. Yes, really. We got into everythin...

Send us Fan Mail Michael Brown is back on The Insider Edit, and this time it's not a chat, it's a full face, live, start to finish. Michael's been in the industry since the early 2000s (he started at Estée Lauder back in 2000), trained under Gucci Westman during her years as Lancôme's creative director, and now works mostly red carpet and event glam: Melbourne Cup, the Logies,...

Send us Fan Mail Michael Brown is back on The Insider Edit for round two. He's a freelance makeup artist with 25 years in the industry, he started out on retail counters for the Lauder Group, then moved in-house at L'Oréal, and he's been freelance for the last 12 years, mostly doing event and red carpet work. We kick off talking about the reality of PR gifting (15 to 20 deliveries a...

Send us Fan Mail It's just me this episode. I'm giving you an update on the last couple of weeks in my world, where Project 10K is really at, and a full five-step checklist for makeup artists trying to get gifting from brands. What I cover: Why it's finally busy again in the Sydney makeup world after a slow, quiet stretch My last two weeks on the tools: five days of shoots, grooming...

Send us Fan Mail Blog post  Adam Garland is back on The Insider Diary for episode 116. He's a UK-based session hairstylist who spent five years as the face of global brand Authentic Beauty Concept. These days he's building his own path: mentoring other artists, shooting his own images, and working with heritage beauty brands he actually believes in. His first episode with us got such a g...

Send us Fan Mail Link to blog - all products mentioned linked.  Watch on Youtube Alana has been doing makeup for 12 years. She started fresh out of high school, worked the floor at Sephora's Broadway store, moved to London at 21 with zero plan and a backpack full of kit, built a career doing campaigns for Jaded London, came back to Australia during COVID, assisted the incredible Gillian Campb...

Send us Fan Mail All products mentioned linked in blog.  Watch on Youtube This week I'm joined by Sydney makeup artist Katie Moore . If you follow her work you'll know her style straight away, soft, skin focused, never overdone. We talked career, bridal work, and how she keeps things running without burning out. Then we did what we always do and pulled apart our kits. Katie Moore is a Sy...

Send us Fan Mail From Mac OG to Agency Founder with Heidi Scarlett King This week I sat down with Sydney-based makeup artist and King Co Creative founder Heidi Scarlett King — and yes. Heidi has one of those careers that sounds like fiction. She started at Mac in Sydney when the brand had just launched, assisting Fashion Week shows a season. Then she packed up and moved to London with no plan, sta...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Insider Diary, I give a personal update on how work and content creation have been going. The main focus is my Instagram growth, I've picked up almost 2,000 followers in five weeks by posting reels daily, and I break down exactly which reels worked, which ones flopped, and the workflow behind it all. I also cover my content days and open the waitlist fo...

Send us Fan Mail Adam Garland has worked backstage, assisted Sam McKnight, and had two shots at getting onto Guido Palau's team. Right now he's in his dad's garage in Somerset, UK, building a hair education platform from scratch. In this episode we talk about how he broke into session work (Model Mayhem, zero plan), the real cost of working for free, imposter syndrome, addiction and...

Send us Fan Mail This week I sat down with Sydney makeup artist Max May . Nearly 30 years in the industry, self-taught, Armani Australia ambassador, Charlotte Tilbury Glow Squad, and one of the first artists in this country to build a blog and digital presence when the industry told him it would ruin his career. In this episode we cover: How Max got started — growing up in the country, moving to S...

Send us Fan Mail 3. The Inside Edit  Tannia T has been doing this for over two decades. She started at the Napoleon Perdis counter and worked her way to global artistry — training staff, creating content, and travelling to LA and New York for major industry events. Today she runs her own home studio, takes one-on-one clients, does bridal work, and has some clients who have been with her for over t...

Send us Fan Mail Kiana has been in and around the makeup industry for 13 years. But her path wasn't straight. She started on the Mecca counters, stepped away to work in disability support, and came back in 2022 through The Iconic's e-commerce team. Since then? Sydney, Milan, Paris Fashion Weeks. A freelance career built on cold calls, genuine connections, and trusting her own eye. In thi...

Send us Fan Mail What A Stylist Actually Does with Kate Lauren Harper Recently week I sat down with Sydney-based stylist Kate Lauren Harper for a refreshingly honest conversation about what stylists really do and what that means for us as hair and makeup artists on set. If you have ever wondered what the stylist is actually doing while you are in kit, or how to build a better working relationship...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 2 of  The Insider Edit | The Makeup Insider It's just me this week — and I'm bringing you 10 products I genuinely can't live without. Five from my kit, five I use on myself every day. Plus a quick chat about PR gifting, asking for what you want, and why a 'no' is never the end of the story. Full list of products  Also in This Episode How Vanessa ge...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to The Insider Diaries. This is the first of a new monthly segment where I sit down solo and chat through what is going on in my world, in the industry, and the conversations I think we should be having as makeup artists. In this episode I am pulling the curtain back on the last six months, sharing why I went quiet, and unpacking two big topics: visibility, and the Yana an...

Send us Fan Mail This week on The Makeup Insider, I sit down with Sydney based makeup artist Molly Warkentin for a chat that covers more than two decades in the beauty industry. Molly takes us from her UK beginnings at Chichester College, through her time at Mac and the tight knit crew she calls the Makeup Mafia, all the way to the moment she chose to step back from bridal work to make space for f...

Send us Fan Mail Magazines have fallen. So what does a beauty or fashion editor actually do now? In this episode, Vanessa sits down with Sadaf to unpack how the role has changed, what "cross channel pollinating" really means, and why your favourite beauty experts are now on TikTok instead of glossy pages. What we cover: The traditional beauty editor role and why it no longer exists How e...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Vanessa sits down with Julia from Co Contour to spill the products they reach for on every job. From skin prep to setting spray, this is a full walk through of what's actually inside a working makeup artist's kit. What you'll learn: The skin prep routine Julia uses on every bride Why Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter is a non negotiable The foundati...

Send us Fan Mail Lottie — makeup artist, educator and co-host of We Speak Beauty podcast Episode summary: Vanessa sits down with LA-based makeup artist Lottie, who made an unlikely leap from an accounting career into the beauty industry without any formal training. Lottie shares how she taught herself through magazines and hands-on experience, got discovered by Pat McGrath on MySpace, and built a...

Send us Fan Mail SHOW NOTES Episode 100: Celebrating 100 Episodes with Vanessa Barney This week we flip the mic. For our 100th episode, I'm the one being interviewed — and honestly, it felt strange and wonderful at the same time. We go deep on what it's really been like building The Makeup Insider from the ground up, the lessons that have stayed with me, and where this podcast is heading...