Behind The Scenes With Makeup Artist Estelle Descard
It’s amazing when you think about it, that the Academy Awards have been around for almost 100 years, from 1929 until now, 2022. For the first 52 years of that period, until 1981, there were no Oscars specifically given to makeup artists for their contribution to the aesthetics of motion pictures and their success. Hard to believe, isn’t it. Mel Brooks’ incredible film The Elephant Man, however, changed everything. People couldn’t understand that no acknowledgement was bestowed upon the makeup artist Christopher Tucker for his awesome work on that landmark film.
After that, makeup artists were duly honored for their creative contributions to motion pictures and their wonderful work in enhancing the appearance of actors and actresses from then on. Makeup artists such as Estelle Descard, needn’t worry that her work will go unrecognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood in the future. Since she has mastered the art of makeup in the world of movies and fashion photography she has been working non-stop in films, photo shoots, magazine covers, TV shows, short films and big events and with big brands such as Lancôme, L’Oréal, Yves Saint Laurent and others.
Estelle was born 23 years ago in Suresnes, a small town just outside of Paris, and grew up in Bordeaux, France and in New Caledonia (a small French island between Australia and New Zealand). Life there was paradise: summer all year, and she and her family traveled a lot (Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Vanuatu) which gave her a larger perspective of the world and where she learned English. When they moved back to France, she studied cosmetics and aesthetics for two years at the BTS Cosmetic school in Aix en Provence. While there, she attended a lot of meetings with famous makeup brands who came to the school to show new products. She decided to become a makeup artist when Make Up For Ever showed their products, which she fell in love with, and soon after that she was given the opportunity to work with makeup artists on the movie Renoir, by Gilles Bourdos. After graduating from BTS, Estelle moved to Paris and enrolled in the Make Up For Ever Academy, where she learned everything about cosmetics and makeup such as: basics, SFX, cinema, theatre, face painting and body painting. Struggling a bit after finishing school, she contacted some celebrity makeup artists in Los Angeles, which is where she truly wanted to work and several of them responded so she flew to L.A., worked there for free for the experience and because of visa/work restrictions and then went back to Paris. After that she worked in Australia for a year and once again came back to Paris to continue working and to start the process of obtaining the artist visa to live and work in Los Angeles and make her dream true.
