KaviarKosmetics

Hello everyone!
My name is Leigha. I am a wife, mother of two, and a Professional Regional Makeup Artist. I was born and raised in Ohio, but I currently reside in Middle Georgia. I discovered my love for beauty and fashion at a very young age. Well I guess you could say that I was young. I began loving fashion while just a kid in middle school. My mom was a fashionista herself, and made sure that my brother and I followed right behind her! I felt as if every other month we were in fancy new clothing making our way to another Olan Mills appointment to get our pictures taken in those fancy clothes! My mom also loved anything Vintage and antique, so she would take me with her as she shopped around for these eclectic items. This is when I began to follow in her footsteps and began to put my own outfits together. Nothing really ever matched perfectly, but somehow because of the creativity that was being "birthed" in me, it always came together! As I got older, I began to start "thrifting" on my own. I would drag one of my very best friends along with me, and got her hooked! We ended up turning into quite the punk rockers some how, and ended up taking our love for thrifting to the next level! As time grew on, I started subscribing to all of the fashion magazines to keep up on what was current, and what was up and coming. Anything that had to do with fashion, I was on it! I began to be obsessed with getting my magazines in the mail. I couldn't wait on their arrivals. I was literally like "a kid in a candy store." I could make a day out of taking my time looking through them all just so that I could put my outfits together based off of what I saw the models wearing. Believe it or not at the time, it wasn't the makeup for me. It definitely, strictly was the clothes that I was obsessed with. However, I loved the 90's abstract makeup artistry back then, only because it made the clothes look even better when paired with it! As I grew into my adulthood, and left for college, I still relied heavily on my fashion magazines. I loved Vogue, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan, Essence, Seventeen, and Vanity Fair. Pretty much, these were all over my home! My first year in college was kind of weird, because I ended up studying Psychology and not fashion. I still love the notion, because I have a strong love for people in general. Even with this, I ended up changing my major to wanting to be an Ultrasound Technician, because I was also fascinated by how babies were born. Nope, this didn't last either. I was all over the place. I ended up relocating to Chicago, finally to attend The International Academy of Merchandising and Design to do what I was obviously born to do! I studied Fashion Merchandising and Design. I can remember back then, that I had the worst time making patterns. Oh my, it was hard for me. But one day, I finally got it! I fell in love with seeing how and what it took to construct a garment. I ended up graduating and moving back home. So while looking for my "dream job" I started working in one of the major retailers as a personal shopper. After having done it for a while, I left and started my own personal shopping business. This is when I discovered that I kind of liked makeup. I started out wearing just a signature red lip. I was very basic with my makeup. I definitely wasn't interested in wearing any eyeshadow or foundation at the time. But as I grew into it, I began to experiment with skincare first, then the color came after.

I was always top sales wherever and whatever I was selling throughout my retail career. So before I really began to understand the theory behind makeup, I managed a swimwear department. Our store manager was always fascinated by how I could sell roughly $6000 in swimwear over the course of a weekend. One day he came to me and asked if I would manage a makeup counter. I told him "no thank you', because I was not interested in the politics that came with it. He practically begged me, and wasn't taking no for an answer. I told him to give me time to think about it, and that I would let him know in a couple weeks. Well, the next thing I knew, I had been thrown to the wolves in a matter of a few days! I sold more at that counter that day than had been sold all week. I basically read the descriptions that were posted at the product to the clients as I was explaining the benefits of the skincare, since that is what I learned first. It worked! I gained their trust in a very short time because of my confidence and knowing that I had no room to fail the test. I stayed for 2 years, and ran a very successful counter. During that time, I taught myself the art of makeup. This is when I fell in love with it, and I began to feel bigger than my counter, and was ready to branch off into my "dream job." I did not leave without a fight. They had no idea who would be able to come after me to produce the kind of numbers that I was producing. After lots of perseverance, I left the counter, and was offered the position as one of the Regional Freelancers who would travel with the brands International Makeup Artist. My artistry spoke for itself, and was very different. I had a gift for "laying down color." I could make a client from the very youngest to the very oldest look like a completely different person in a good way! Now today, in my career as a Regional Makeup Artist, I have been graced with the opportunity to travel with several International Makeup Artists from various parts of the world. I was offered an International position, but I chose to have the majority of my time staying near my family. I don't leave as much now, but when I do travel, we travel as an Artistry Team of 12. Our job is to "show up and show out" as a team, traveling to and from all of the major retailers that we all know and love! It is literally my "dream job", and I wouldn't trade it for the world!