The Baltimore make-up artist discusses his beauty icons, from Kim K to Rihanna to... Elle Woods
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From make-up intern at a mall kiosk in Baltimore, Maryland to creating colourful bold looks as key make-up artist for punk rapper Rico Nasty, Scott Osbourne is the 20-year-old make-up artist making his mark through the unordinary.
“At first I was doing regular soft glam, and your normal beauty make-up. But there wasn’t a WOW-factor to my art, until one day I wanted to try something way out of the box so I tried drag make-up on Rico Nasty, one of my number one clients. When I did that it went crazy. My aesthetic grew from that.”
You’ve probably seen 20-year-old Scott Osbourne’s colourful make-up looks on Rico as he currently tours alongside with her as her key make-up artist. But Osbourne has more strings to his bow. He grew up in Baltimore Maryland where he was encouraged at a young age to model, dance and act. He always had an urge to do his friends’ make-up and worked his way up from intern to MAC cosmetics employee, to NYFW and now captures a different character on Rico Nasty with each brush stroke, as well as your other favs including Slick Woods and Tommy Genesis. Below, we caught up with Scott to catch him just after Coachella and to find out more about his perspective on beauty.
Where do you live and where are you from? Tell me a bit about yourself and where you grew up?
I currently live in Los Angeles and I grew up in Baltimore Maryland. In elementary and middle school I always had this passion for fashion, I used to want to be a designer with a big household name when I started middle school I got back into dance. I trained in ballet, modern, jazz, tap, lyrical, and other forms of dance. I attended Carver Center for the Arts, where we had a Black awareness group that used to put on a school fashion show. The show used to feature the hottest kids in school performing and modelling. I remember wanting to do all my homegirls make-up for the fashion show but nobody trusted me!
In 10th grade, I started looking for a job and it was a small make-up store in the mall called Star Faces. I went and applied, interviewed and got hired as an intern. So for three months, I trained, bringing in my friends with me to work every day practising and although I wasn’t that great, each day I got better. By the time I got in my senior year of high school, I had gotten way better in make-up and decided to freelance. I now started getting booked for jobs and had people calling me every day for make-up appointments. Once I turned 18, I applied to MAC cosmetics, I was working at MAC for about nine months and decided I wanted way more than what MAC was allowing. Thankfully while at MAC I got booked to be a key artist for NYFW and LANYU couture AW17.
What’s your earliest beauty related memory?
One of my earliest beauty memories I have is when I did my first beauty shoot. I booked my own models, photographer and I did everything from the make-up, to creative direction and even down to the hair. It was a candy theme photoshoot and I shot it right in my kitchen and everyone was beyond amazed when I dropped the photos.
How did you and Rico Nasty meet?
Me and Rico met through a Instagram post. Her old hair stylist was looking for an artist who could do her make-up to go with her new hair and everyone was tagging me. It was January 14th, 2018 and ever since then me and her clicked and I’ve been doing her make-up since.
What has been the most challenging make-up look you've done for her?
One of the most challenging looks I ever did on Rico was the drag make-up look. We were on her second tour in Chicago and I had seen this girl have the best, wildest-looking drag make-up and Rico said she wanted to try it next for her show, and we did!! It took me four hours to transform her into drag make-up, but it turned out super amazing and now I can do whole drag look on Rico in less than an hour!
What’s been your career highlight so far?
One of biggest careers highlights thus far is travelling. Also getting my work on the cover of The FADER, Oyster Mag, Crack, and CLASH. Along with a Spread in Paper Magazine.
Describe your beauty aesthetic in three words.
Club kid. Original. Unordinary.
What’s your favourite smell and why?
A perfume called Lolita Lempicka. When I smell it, it takes me back to when I used to live in Baltimore City and my mom and aunt had a house together. My aunt used to spray it on her. It’s like a very sweet, charming scent. It’s a scent that lingers, one small spray will last you the whole day.
Which fictional character do you most relate to and why?
The fictional character I relate to the most, I would say, is Elle Woods. My favourite colour is pink too and also she was the underdog. They doubted her and she still came out on top. Woods also proved with there’s no career path or industry too serious for playful, fun fashion. And that’s like me and make-up. Why stay in the box? It’s make-up – have fun!
Tomorrow you wake up with another face of your choice. Whose is it and why?
Tomorrow if I were to wake up with another face I would want it to be Kim Kardashian because she has a perfectly symmetrical face. She looks beautiful with or without make-up and it would be fun to try different make-up looks and see what I could create.
Who is your beauty icon/favourite look of all time?
My beauty icon is Rihanna, I love what she stands for and the fact that she is a female artist that not only does music, but beauty and fashion as well. She also isn’t afraid to take chances or get creative with her looks. My favourite make-up look is Rihanna’s Met Gala 2017 make-up look. She had a very dewy and glowing face, and pink blown out from her eyes to her cheek, with a white silver inner corner highlight, with the perfect reddish maroon lip to complement the pink on her eyes.
When do you feel most beautiful?
I feel most beautiful when I leave the barbershop with that fresh haircut, freshly snatched eyebrows, beard trimmed and lined up, and my skin glowing from my serums!
What does beauty mean to you?
Beauty to me means expressing yourself, wearing who you are to your fullest potential. Beauty isn’t just a look, it’s your overall aura and how you carry yourself.