Cherise Renee is an artist in the truest sense. She found her passion for makeup unexpectedly, a pivot from her original path in Fine Art, pushed by her mother’s insistence on doing something constructive during a year off. “That was the first time I truly loved going to school,” she recalls, finding the real thrill in transforming faces rather than canvases.
Despite her quiet and reserved nature during her early years, Cherise blossomed into a balanced personality who now thrives in social settings yet relishes her time alone. Comfortable in her own company, she finds solace and inspiration in solitude, often retreating to her own space to create and “zone the world out for a bit.” From graphic eyeliner looks spanning the rainbow to full faces of makeup that draw inspiration from artwork, nature, holidays, or something from a completely different planet, Cherise absolutely does it all.
Even beyond her viral looks—which, trust us, there’s a lot—Cherise has done makeup on a plethora of musicians and celebrities. Many people will likely recognize her work on Tiana Major9, who she’s been with ever since 2019. However, if you don’t, the creator has also lent her skills to acts like Tamera, Ray BLK, Äyanna, Joyce Wrice, Baby Rose, and plenty of others. “It’s a completely different ballgame,” she says. “There are certain aspects of doing makeup on others that feel easier and some that don’t.”
Every new look is an opportunity to explore and refine the 26-year-old’s style, inspiring others to explore their own artistic paths through makeup. Below, we speak with Cherise Renee about her early beauty memories, the pressures of going viral, doing makeup on others, and more.
It’s so nice to meet you, Cherise! Can you tell me a bit more about what it is you do and how you got into it?
I’ve always been super creative and artistic. I studied Fine Art in school and really loved painting, particularly portraits and oil painting. However, the way education was set up, I never really saw it as feasible to turn that into a career path, especially after not having the best experience education-wise. I decided to take a break before going to university. During that time, my mom insisted that I couldn’t just sit at home doing nothing. She knew how much I loved makeup.
So, my mom found a makeup course for me to do during that year off, just a couple of days a week. That was the first time I truly loved going to school—I was excited about doing my homework and coursework, and I looked forward to it every day. The reactions I got from people when I enhanced their looks were incredibly fulfilling, and that feeling is completely unmatched. That’s how I really got into makeup professionally.
How would you describe your childhood and teenage years? What were you like as a kid?
Honestly, I was very painfully shy for a lot of my younger years. I went through a lot of things, and I think that kind of fed into why I was like that. It didn’t really hit me until maybe my late teens that I’m probably both an introvert and an extrovert. I don’t stop talking now, and I’ve realized that I really love speaking to people and meeting new people constantly. But I’m also very much my own best friend, and I’m comfortable being by myself. Yeah, it really shaped me. I find it easy to retreat into my own space, and I think that’s kind of where the makeup aspect comes in as well. I’m very happy to just sit with some music and create, just kind of zone the world out for a bit.
Both beauty and fashion-wise, what styles were you surrounded by while growing up?
I obviously grew up in the 2000s and I’ve had some interesting phases in my life. I started off being a huge tomboy, honestly, in the sense that I wasn’t the biggest fan of makeup. I had a best friend in my early teens who loved wearing eyeliner, and I think I was always a bit scared of it. Then, as I started to consume more beauty content online, I began to experiment with it more, but that experimentation tended to mainly focus on my eyes, which probably plays a big part in why I do what I do now.
I was also heavily on Tumblr in my teens and went through a bit of an emo phase. I was obsessed with the scene kid aesthetic. I thought it was really cool how much they loved color, and I always kind of wished I had the confidence to fully pull that off. So I would do little things, but it never really translated massively in my makeup, maybe just a black eyeliner. That’s the most I pushed it. And I had one of those really aggressive side fringes. I’m really glad I’ve deleted most of the evidence. But yeah, I think that also plays a massive part in why I love playing with color so much.
In 2018, you would post a lot of vivid lip looks, usually matte or metallic. Can you speak more about your early years as a creator?
Oh, you’ve been going back in the archives? Yeah, that was a lot of just bedroom work. I used to do a lot of those lip looks when I worked at MAC during quieter, less busy times; we’d experiment on each other a lot. At that stage, I was really focused on honing skills in very particular areas, and I found lips were a very easy way to get creative without it feeling too detrimental if it didn’t work out. I’m probably my own worst critic.
I found it a lot easier to get creative when it’s more focused on a particular area, for example. I’ve gotten a lot better, but often I have to send a look I’ve done to a friend and be like, “I think this is hideous. But can you confirm that it’s not?” Creativity is just about expressing it any way you can, even if it’s not perfect. So, I’m really trying to get myself out of that mindset.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask, but how do you typically conceptualize your makeup looks?
It depends. Honestly, sometimes life, in general, inspires me. I love being outside, in nature, so even just seeing the colors of nature can inspire me. I’ve done a couple of floral-inspired looks, for example, or botanical-inspired looks. I’m also a big Pinterest user, which is always helpful. Sometimes, I’ll set myself a challenge, like looking at my feed to see a color I haven’t used in a while, then sit myself down and decide to do something with that color combination.
I’m grateful to some followers I have as well, who sometimes send me things they want me to recreate. I don’t like doing exact recreations, so if I come across something I like, I’ll try to put my own twist on it, elevate it in some way, or change the color combination. There are so many of us doing what we do, so it’s easy to find inspiration. I try to keep my circle of people I follow filled with those who inspire me.
Walk me through your base! Do you have a specific process before the cameras begin rolling?
I definitely tend to go a little bit heavier when I’m filming because I think it looks better on camera. I always have an idea of what color scheme I’m going to use, so the only thing that tends to change pre-filming, because I usually do my base before I start filming, is my blush. That’s something I’m really enjoying experimenting with at the moment, using untraditional colors like yellow, which I’ve been obsessed with. I’m also trying weird things to tie together whatever I do on my eyes and lips. I’m making an effort to stay away from just doing nudes, which is what I’m comfortable with day to day, but I’m trying to be a bit more experimental where I can.
Considering how often you’ve gone viral, whether it be your freehand liner look from 2022 or last year’s gold dust, does that put any pressure on you?
Oh, yeah, definitely. I think, going back to what I was saying about being my own worst critic, I feel a constant need to outperform myself. I don’t ever want to feel like I’m disappointing people. Unfortunately, I hate that I have that mentality. Especially if something does blow up or do really well, I then think it has to at least be on the same level or better than the last thing. Sometimes, that will happen, or I’ll get on a roll of about two or three things being to that standard. Then I find myself going to sit and do something else, and I just find I’ve got a complete brain block because doing things that are simple, I feel like they aren’t good enough.
I’m trying to make more of an effort to try things that I wouldn’t have thought to try or even jumping on particular makeup trends just to get me out of that funk. It’s something that I’m working on. I can definitely be my own worst enemy in terms of feeling like I need to outperform myself, but it’s also good to be in competition with yourself rather than others.
How often do you wear some of your more intricate looks out in public?
I never do, honestly. No, my favorite part is taking it off. I get really excited to take it off after I get my content done. I don’t know if you’ve been on my TikTok, but I really enjoy filming these sort of reverse removals. I’ll take a cleansing balm and just rub it all over my face, then I’ll reverse the video so it looks like the makeup is coming on gradually. But something about just the removal of it is so satisfying to me. I think that’s what I love about makeup so much because it’s just so easy to remove once you’re done.
I know that you’ve also done makeup on other celebrities such as Ray BLK, Tiana Major9, and more — how does doing makeup on others differ from doing it on yourself?
Oh, it’s a completely different ballgame. There are certain aspects of doing makeup on others that feel easier, and some that don’t. I’m very lucky to work with someone like Tiana, who I’ve worked with for the longest time and who is so open to letting me have creative freedom and loves trying out-of-the-box makeup. The only kind of scary thing when working with a new client, which I think most makeup artists should learn, is that at the end of the day, people are comfortable looking the way they want to. You can advise to a certain degree, and there are things you’ll do differently with your own style, but you’re providing a service to help someone feel their best.
It can be scary not knowing if someone likes something a particular way and trying not to take offense to that. But if you’ve worked with someone a couple of times, it’s cool to adapt constantly as you find out if somebody does like something in a particular way. It always brings new challenges and is great for replenishing the skills that you already have. I always love working on new people, or even those I’ve been with for a long time who love being more experimental with their makeup.
Over the past several years, we’ve seen a lot of skinalism and the clean girl aesthetic. Do you think there will be a return to “makeup” makeup and people doing more graphic looks in the future?
I think we’re definitely heading in that direction. Going back to the people I listed, for example, and others like Bree Runway, there’s definitely a lean towards being more creative with the way that they look. I’m also really happy that we’re moving into a space where artists, especially in music videos, are enjoying the process of creating and going all out with the way that they look to make them meaningful, not just visually appealing. I love music so much, so I’m super grateful to be in an industry that I love. It’s really exciting to see that artists are becoming more experimental with the way they look.
What other beauty creators do you think people should keep with and why?
I love Makeup By Chelsea. She’s Irish and one of my biggest inspirations, absolutely adore her. She’s someone that inspires me to try new lips and definitely been a big trendsetter in terms of using color a lot. My friend Michael, also known as Brooks Brothers, is incredible. We used to work together back when I was at MAC, and it’s so incredible seeing his trajectory. He’s always been an incredible inspiration for me, and it’s really amazing to see how far he’s come in his career, especially as a man of color in the industry.
Published by Malcolm Trapp
