Jen Murphy ~ Founder
Accidental Makeup Artist and Beauty Expert
The question I’m most often asked, usually with a wide-eyed look of wonder, is “How did you get into this business?” Well, I didn’t get into the business in any purposeful kind of way. How I found myself in this business is an unraveling of events, very much like stumbling down the rabbit hole and following it to see where it would take me.
It all started in Boulder’s thriving performing arts scene in the early 1990’s. I was terrified to perform on stage and wasn’t particularly good at set building, but I had an interesting aesthetic. So, they stuck me backstage in makeup. I enjoyed being part of making art, and when I was asked to assist on a music video or be in charge of makeup on a commercial, it seemed like a natural transition from live performance to film & video and then to still photography.
I learned everything I know on the job (the fake-it-till-you-make-it method) or by asking someone who knew more than I did. I was fearless in the name of art and created some looks and effects that I would refer to now as special effects, like extreme bruising. I practiced that on my daughter and knew I had mastered it when every person looked like they wanted to see harm come to me for what I it appeared I had done to my daughter. She and I laughed the whole time!
Eventually, I realized that I had become good at this and could make some money at it. It was a fun side job as I put myself through college and graduate school. I never thought that it would become a serious career. I thought, “I’m getting a Masters degree in Philosophy. What does makeup have to do with that?” But as I became less entranced with academia, I became more entranced with the idea of fame and fortune. Once I started treating makeup as a career, my focus became “How can I be recognized?”, “How much money can I make?”, “How famous can I become?” I had fallen for the fantasy.
Fortunately, I never moved to Hollywood to fulfill that fantasy. I stayed right here in Boulder, and over the last decade my focus has shifted significantly. I don’t particularly want to be famous. I make enough money. My true desire is to enrich every person I work with and to help them in whatever way I can. I am in service to others. After receiving my esthetician training and working for two incredible companies that offer alternatives to the mainstream cosmetics industry, it became apparent that people need insiders in the industry that they can trust to tell the truth about it.
People who know what’s pure and what works.
That’s when I the idea for this website came to me. All of my training, knowledge and experience in work and life contribute to the services I offer. It’s about finding your own healthy, authentic beauty and living it. That’s what I’ve discovered down this rabbit hole and that’s what I want to pass on. Being beautiful is a way of life. For more about Jen visit TheJenMurphy.com
