Perceptions of beauty with makeup artist and creator Aoife Cullen

This week’s guest is someone I’ve wanted to have on BeautyMe for a while. I have so much respect and admiration for Irish makeup artist and creator Aoife Cullen. The first time I discovered her on Instagram I was blown away by her eyebrows. They were and still are, super skinny, almost like slashes that she uses to frame her amazing looks. Looks inspired often by the runway – you have to check out her brilliant fashion-themed video content – but also by requests and suggestions from her followers on social media. Nothing is off-topic for Aoife, except perhaps anything that’s too traditionally pretty or beautiful. For me she’s this stunning alien-type creature, and I think she’s cool with that description. During our chat we bring up another makeup artist who thinks beyond the beautiful, Isamaya Ffrench, and I can totally see why she would be an influence on Aoife’s own work. 

A recent post by Burberry makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench. She’s also on YouTube!

Aoife’s based in London and I’m still doing most of my podcasts via Zoom, so I finally invited her onto the podcast because I wanted to be super nosy and delve into how she became the inspiration she is to so many.

I’m obsessed with these ruddy cheeks Aoife created!

During our chat I ask Aoife about the recent backlash to Kanye West’s ex girlfriend Julia Fox’s high fashion black eye moment – let me know if you guys have seen that look, what you thought of it. I personally loved what makeup artist Daniel Kolaric created for Julia and don’t get why people are so quick to criticize it. Some of the comments on TikTok in particular are just mean and rude; so what if the look makes her look older? Makeup washes off! It really got me thinking about how, no matter how far we’ve come, women are still expected to perform the role of beautiful object.

So many online magazines have credited Julia’s ex Kanye West with the makeup look, but while he might have given direction, the look was executed by makeup artist Daniel Kolaric using Pat McGrath makeup.

Feel free to let me know what you thought of the look; you can either email beautymepodcast@gmail.com or head over to my DMs at @beautymepodcast. I also wanted to find out how Aoife got her start in the makeup industry, what it means to feel like you don’t fit in and what her creative process entails. 

Aoife’s answers are honest, fun and refreshing and I can’t wait to share them with you. I hope you love it, be sure to follow Aoife on Instagram and TikTok. She also has her work account on Instagram too: https://www.instagram.com/aoifecullen.otherfaces/

As always it would be great if you could show support for the podcast by leaving a review or rating anywhere you like to listen. And check out my newsletter at beautymenotes.substack.com. See you next time.