Ready for Your Close-Up?

Photos By Rachel Carrillo

Camille Ariane loves working with entrepreneurs who have business goals and want to look good–– whether in front of the cameras or behind the scenes.

The Los Angeles mom of two is a makeup artist who’s had celebrities and high profile fashion entrepreneurs as clients. In February, after years of feeling like her creative ambitions were being limited by the beauty companies she worked for, Camille took a leap of faith, quit her corporate job and launched her namesake makeup service.

 “I’ve been busy ever since,” she says. “I’ve come to realize that what drives me is working with growing entrepreneurs…. That’s my movement.”

Her growing clientele base probably doesn’t know that Camille never studied cosmetology. She gained most of her make-up application experience working at beauty counters and offering makeup services, free-of-charge. But when customers started calling her back for more appointments, she knew she had the skill required to make women feel good about their look.  But she was still lacking the courage to leave her nine-to-five.

“I still wasn’t fully believing in myself so I couldn’t let go (of the corporate jobs),” says Camille. “Friends were telling me I needed to quit but it was still my side thing.”

After the arrival of her second child, Camille decided to go to back to school full-time to become a licensed aesthetician.

“I felt like everybody was doing makeup and I needed another component,” she says.

The Earlier Years

Camille Ariane was a college student in New Orleans studying communications when Hurricane Katrina hit the region. The unprecedented natural disaster devastated the state and forced her campus to shut down.

Camille, who was born and raised in Inglewood and was eager to finish college and start working— decided to return to Los Angeles instead of waiting for classes to resume in Louisiana.

Once home, she attended several colleges, including Pepperdine University until she obtained her undergraduate degree.

Then she jumped into the world of makeup artistry.

“I knew there were a lot of makeup artists and I felt like everyone was trying to be a makeup artist…but I wanted to keep doing it because I really loved it,” says Camille.

First, she worked for Estee Lauder. Then she got hired at the neighboring MAC Cosmetics counter inside Macy’s at the Westfield Shopping Center (formerly known as the Fox Hills Mall).

Camille worked at MAC for four years but when she realized the company wouldn’t be giving her an artist promotion, she lost hope.

“I’m a makeup artist but I was in a rut,” she recalls.

So she took a new job applying makeup for customers at the Burberry store on Rodeo Drive.

Still, Camille felt that her creativity was being restricted.

“I wanted to get into something bigger where I could have my business but I kept getting into jobs that weren’t my brand or my vision,” she says. “Every time I got into these situations, I felt enclosed…as if I couldn’t create.”

Fortunately for Camille, everything came full circle when she quit her job in February.

Currently, she’s working on developing an eyebrow cosmetic product and plans on collaborating on a fashion blog in the coming weeks.

“I told myself, ‘you have to fake it till you make it!” she says.

As far as tending to motherhood, she’s glad she can now set her own hours and give herself more time to spend with her kids.

“When you’re a mom, you’re permanently tired. You don’t get a break. You know what my syndrome is? I’m a mom,” she says. “But we have to get it done!”

Connect With Camille Ariane!

Website: www.CamilleArianeMakeup.com

Instagram: @CamilleArianeMakeup

Mommy In Los Angeles® Magazine spent an afternoon with Camille learning about her educational background, her makeup experience and her road to gaining enough self-confidence to branch off and become her own boss. We look forward to watching Camille continue to succeed! Every Mom Has A Story.