Chelsea Uchenna is the makeup artist beating the faces of all your fave Black artists

The first time I was working with Bree was for her music video “JUST LIKE THAT” and she called me and said she wanted to do zipper eyebrows. I didn’t know how to do it and I’d never done that in my life. I was in New York frantically running around fabric stores trying to find skinny little zippers I could make into eyebrows and it worked. I’m a little bit chaotic and spontaneous so it honestly works for me.

What advice would you give to an upcoming makeup artist who wants to get into the beauty industry?

Chelsea: It’s so generic and cliché, but ‘keep doing your own thing’. A lot of girls ask me how to start as a MUA and it’s just honing in on your own style – building your personal style like your personal wardrobe.

The more that you practice, the more it will start to tailor itself and you’ll build it without even really knowing. I didn’t really know I was building a style, I was just doing makeup every day all the time and all of a sudden I noticed a pattern. So I say, keep honing and doing your own thing and eventually the people that love it will find you.

What have you learned about yourself throughout your career?

Chelsea: Growing up, when I went to school they would ask about our career choices and when I said I want to be a makeup artist they would tell me to go into nursing or be a teacher instead. I realised this was my thing and I don’t think the passion or obsessions will ever really die, it just keeps growing and growing. So, I’ve learned that it’s OK to have your thing and not to change for anybody else’s idea of what they think is correct or the best way to move forward. For a while, I thought that maybe I should have a backup, but beauty is my thing and I’m gonna stick with it.

What are your current beauty obsessions?

Chelsea: This is so random, but I’ve been so obsessed with making eyes really pop with lashes. Lashes can shape an eye and especially on Doe – she loves a cat eyelash, but we’ve been switching it up recently. Her eyes look so lifted with a different sort of lash, so I stack a bunch of manga lashes. A lot of the K-pop girlies do it, so the Asian beauty girls put me onto manga lashes. They’re tiny little spikes and you can get them on Amazon, so that’s my main beauty obsession: a spiky manga lash.

Last question – who is still on your bucket list to work with?

Chelsea: I feel like one day I’m gonna find myself working with Beyoncé. I feel it in my spirit because I’m the biggest Beyoncé fan in the world. Even if it’s not Beyoncé and it’s a dancer, I can see it so clearly. Call me for Act III.