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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 Sydney, falling into hairdressing by accident and discovering makeup on set
- Why he never did formal training and why he still thinks assisting is the best way to learn this industry
- What it was actually like to assist in those early days — it was tough, the industry was different, and he got on a bus to pick up dog poop for the person he worked under
- His years doing fashion weeks in Paris, New York and Milan
- Being the Australian Armani ambassador and what that role actually looked like
- Directing fashion shows in Australia for ten years straight
- Working with Jennifer Hawkins, Laura Bingle, Sarah Murdoch, Cheyenne Tozzi, Miranda Kerr and Mel B on The Masked Singer
- Why he finds editorial more creatively satisfying than TV
- Being one of the first Australian makeup artists to go digital — he lost work and friends over it and did it anyway
- His social media formula: how many times he posts a week and what the algorithm actually wants right now
- Why he has zero interest in TikTok and is not sorry about it
- His thoughts on AI and staying relevant in a changing industry
Full list of products mentioned over on The Makeup Insider.
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