How and why creatives do what they do has always intrigued me. As a creator myself, I appreciate the dedication and persistence it takes to develop one's craft and the courage it takes to put your art into the world. Standing out, building your tribe, and carving a space in what can often be an oversaturated niche is difficult – but doable if you want it bad enough.
As someone who isn't a makeup connoisseur but appreciates the beauty of a well-done beat, I've noticed how the glitter trend popularity continues to rise. I've found myself scrolling through the #glitterglam hashtag and makeup artists' feeds, wondering, "How would I look like with a glitter glam? What's the process like to achieve this look anyway?"
However, the storyteller in me is just as curious about the question: "What's the story behind these creatives creating these looks?"
I decided that I wanted to try this glitter trend for myself and get to know more about the person behind the glitter along the way.
[ia_video https://s3.amazonaws.com/roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/runner%2F9125-glitter%2Beye%2Bshadow_1.mp4 source="https://s3.amazonaws.com/roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/runner%2F9125-glitter%2Beye%2Bshadow_1.mp4" autoplay=true feedbacks=true shortcode_id=1550773760639 expand=1 ]Meet Beneseth H. – a 20-year-old NJ-based makeup artist and hairstylist, known by her fanbase on Instagram as "@beautyby_bene". Her mother, a hairstylist in Benin, passed on her love for hair to a young Beneseth. Though she loved beauty, as a child Beneseth never saw herself doing makeup or hair. "I always saw myself pursuing a career in the medical field."
Meet Beneseth H.
Credit: Andrew Pompey
When Beneseth arrived in New York from Benin at the age of 14, hair became her first hustle to get extra money to support herself. She practiced on her sister and later began volunteering in a local braiding salon to advance her skills.
"My friends in high school started seeing my progress and told me I should make it a business. In 11th grade, I started doing it professionally. I managed the salon for a summer when my boss went back home. I started getting up to six clients a day. I moved from the salon in New York to New Jersey and continued seeing clients."
The love for makeup came while developing her hair braiding skills. Beneseth was an avid YouTube viewer and loved practicing achieving the perfect eyebrow look. "Sitting down and watching YouTube forever wasn't my thing. These YouTubers are showing you how to do the [look] and are doing the same thing over and over and it got tiring. I told myself if I can put my mind to it, I'll try something myself. So, I started practicing on myself, [my] sister, and friends."
Again, her friends urged her to take these newly developed skills into a business. She started out doing clients for free, then worked her way up to charging for various services including soft glam, full glam – and her signature glitter glam look.
Most of her clients give her creative freedom during makeup applications, but Beneseth also loves to use a client's outfit color or pull from photos for inspiration.
The Process
xoNecole writer Rana Campbell - Before
Credit: Andrew Pompey
I arrived to Beneseth's makeup studio with a freshly-washed, moisturized and bare face. I told her that she could do whatever she wanted. I'd be her muse. "Do you like blue?" she asked.
The rest was history.
For the next hour, my face became the canvas and Beneseth's hands were brushes – transforming my face into a sultry, yet sparkly work of art.
Beneseth worked quietly – but paused from time to time to talk about a few of her favorites. "I love JLaRue pigments when doing my glitter looks. Maybelline SuperStay is a great foundation because it's affordable and available in a wide range of skin tones. Blending is crucial for creating a smooth look. But, eyelashes really transform the face."
It was inspiring to see just how much she loved what she was doing.
In the end, I understood just how magical a full beat can be. Beneseth was able to capture my essence through blue pigments in a way I had never experienced.
You couldn't tell me ANYTHING for the rest of the day. I felt fierce, fly, and ready to take on the world. I took that confidence and was inspired to create my own art with it – something that I've been pushing myself to do more of lately. The worst part of the experience was having to wash my face at the end of the night.
xoNecole writer Rana Campbell - After
Credit: Andrew Pompey
xoNecole writer Rana Campbell - After
Credit: Andrew Pompey
If you’re an aspiring makeup artist, or trying to succeed in any creative entrepreneurial endeavor, Beneseth recommends a few things:
1. Take your craft seriously. Don't be afraid to invest in yourself, tools, and product. On her booking page, Beneseth ensures that she emphasizes her requirements for booking, late fees, and cancellation policies to all clients. Then, there's the smaller details such as having comfortable studio chairs to sit in, glam lights for the application process. Beneseth was creating an experience.
2. Showcase your work. Use social media, specifically Instagram, as a way to attract new clients. Convert to a business profile so that you can get added audience insights. Using industry-specific hashtags is also important for growing within your niche. Videos are good for showing angles and also a way to show how makeup really looks on a client's face. After each booking, she encourages clients to share on social and tag her work in order to drive referrals and new customers.
3. Learn from your inspiration, but never copy. Use your own creative abilities to create your own twist on an industry signature. Beneseth credits @beautyby_melissa and @shirley_beats as makeup artists that have influenced her style.
xoNecole writer Rana Campbell with makeup artist Beneseth H.
Credit: Andrew Pompey
This has become more than makeup for Beneseth. It's a way to support her family. It's a way to pursue her dreams. It's also a vehicle for realizing her own potential for greatness and economic empowerment through her creativity.
The dream for Beneseth, is complicated, yet evolving. While she was in school to pursue a nursing degree – she decided to take the semester off to see what can happen with her career as makeup artist.
"Believing in myself and believing that my work is worth it has been challenging at times. When you're running a business, you need growth in order to [succeed]. Sometimes I feel like my growth is slow, but other people are looking at me and telling me I'm actually growing really fast."
In less than a month, she's added more than 10,000 new followers on Instagram. With a laugh, she adds, "I guess I am growing!"
After I returned to the normal makeup-less Rana, I realized something: It's not the trends that define us. We define the trends. The power lies in our ability to create something special from one small idea acted upon.
Keep creating.
To check out more of Beneseth's work, visit her Instagram @beautyby_bene and website here: https://beautybybene.as.me/
Featured image by Andrew Pompey.
In a xoNecoleexclusive, the iconic actress opens up about embracing this season of her life, new projects, and overall being a “bad motherfucker.” Gabrielle reveals that she was 37 years old when she was diagnosed with perimenopause and is still going through it at 51 years old. Mayo Clinic says perimenopause “refers to the time during which your body makes the natural transition to menopause, marking the end of the reproductive years.”
“I haven't crossed over the next phase just yet, but I think part of it is when you hear any form of menopause, you automatically think of your mother or grandmother. It feels like an old-person thing, but for me, I was 37 and like not understanding what that really meant for me. And I don't think we focus so much on the word menopause without understanding that perimenopause is just the time before menopause,” she tells us.
Gabrielle Union
Photo by Brian Thomas
"But you can experience a lot of the same things during that period that people talk about, that they experienced during menopause. So you could get a hot flash, you could get the weight gain, the hair loss, depression, anxiety, like all of it, mental health challenges, all of that can come, you know, at any stage of the menopausal journey and like for me, I've been in perimenopause like 13, 14 years. When you know, most doctors are like, ‘Oh, but it's usually about ten years, and I'm like, ‘Uhh, I’m still going (laughs).’”
Conversations about perimenopause, fibroids, and all the things that are associated with women’s bodies have often been considered taboo and thus not discussed publicly. However, times are changing, and thanks to the Gabrielle’s and the Tia Mowry’s, more women are having an authentic discourse about women’s health. These open discussions lead to the creation of more safe spaces and support for one another.
“I want to be in community with folks. I don't ever want to feel like I'm on an island about anything. So, if I can help create community where we are lacking, I want to be a part of that,” she says. “So, it's like there's no harm in talking about it. You know what I mean? Like, I was a bad motherfucker before perimenopause. I’m a bad motherfucker now, and I'll be a bad motherfucker after menopause. Know what I’m saying? None of that has to change. How I’m a bad motherfucker, I welcome that part of the change. I'm just getting better and stronger and more intelligent, more wise, more patient, more compassionate, more empathetic. All of that is very, very welcomed, and none of it should be scary.”
The Being Mary Jane star hasn’t been shy about her stance on therapy. If you don’t know, here’s a hint: she’s all for it, and she encourages others to try it as well. She likens therapy to dating by suggesting that you keep looking for the right therapist to match your needs. Two other essential keys to her growth are radical transparency and radical acceptance (though she admits she is still working on the latter).
"I was a bad motherfucker before perimenopause. I’m a bad motherfucker now, and I'll be a bad motherfucker after menopause. Know what I’m saying? None of that has to change. How I’m a bad motherfucker, I welcome that part of the change."
Gabrielle Union and Kaavia Union-Wade
Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images
“I hope that a.) you recognize that you're not alone. Seek out help and know that it's okay to be honest about what the hell is happening in your life. That's the only way that you know you can get help, and that's also the only other way that people know that you are in need if there's something going on,” she says, “because we have all these big, very wild, high expectations of people, but if they don't know what they're actually dealing with, they're always going to be failing, and you will always be disappointed. So how about just tell the truth, be transparent, and let people know where you are. So they can be of service, they can be compassionate.”
Gabrielle’s transparency is what makes her so relatable, and has so many people root for her. Whether through her TV and film projects, her memoirs, or her social media, the actress has a knack for making you feel like she’s your homegirl. Scrolling through her Instagram, you see the special moments with her family, exciting new business ventures, and jaw-dropping fashion moments. Throughout her life and career, we’ve seen her evolve in a multitude of ways. From producing films to starting a haircare line to marriage and motherhood, her journey is a story of courage and triumph. And right now, in this season, she’s asking, “What’s next?”
“This is a season of discovery and change. In a billion ways,” says the NAACP Image Award winner. “The notion of like, ‘Oh, so and so changed. They got brand new.’ I want you to be brand new. I want me to be brand new. I want us to be always constantly growing, evolving. Having more clarity, moving with different purpose, like, and all of that is for me very, very welcomed."
"I want you to be brand new. I want me to be brand new. I want us to be always constantly growing, evolving. Having more clarity, moving with different purpose, like, and all of that is for me very, very welcomed."
She continues, “So I'm just trying to figure out what's next. You know what I mean? I'm jumping into what's next. I'm excited going into what's next and new. I'm just sort of embracing all of what life has to offer.”
Look out for Gabrielle in the upcoming indie film Riff Raff, which is a crime comedy starring her and Jennifer Coolidge, and she will also produce The Idea of You, which stars Anne Hathaway.
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Feature image by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images
During the event, the socialite spoke to the outlet about the importance of “friendship and trust” in her three-year relationship that started in the midst of the pandemic.
“We were really good friends before we started dating, and COVID gave us that free time in our life to really get to know each other,” Jordyn said. “Because a lot of people don't really get to know each other and they go into this relationship.”
She continues, “So, we've been through a lot together. We've seen each other at all different ways, times, phases, so I think we have a very strong foundation.”
Jordyn also notes that “quality time” has been a means to bond and keep their relationship thriving. Despite the NBA star’s demanding schedule, she expressed her desire to attend as many of KAT's games as possible, including his upcoming birthday game with the Minnesota Timberwolves. “It's his birthday in a few days, so I'm going to go to that game,” she says.
Quality time isn’t the only love language that the couple speaks.“We love gift giving and... What is it? The love language? The love language is quality time. We love everything,” she says.
The couple was introduced by mutual friends many years ago, and in May 2020 decided to move forward from a close friendship to a romantic relationship. Jordyn and KAT went public with their relationship in September of that same year and have since become young Hollywood’s discreet “IT” couple.
“I'm excited. Every holiday, we like to really go large for each other,” she explained. “He does so much for me. I do what I can for him. I want to say it's a lot. So when it's time to show that appreciation, we like to go all out.”
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Featured image by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
