STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE: LILLY POLLAN

Enhancing natural beauty is subjective because each person interprets its definition differently. Based on our aesthetical judgments, we build routines in nourishment and nurture. Maintaining our skin, body, and overall wellness become daily rituals, and for many, this includes makeup.

Makeup artist Lilly Pollan has honed her comprehension of natural beauty as a whole body, mind, and spirit. With an emphasis on clean ingredients and an understanding of her environmental impact, she moves through her practice - polished and skin forward.

Her work with MINERAL communicates a shared fundamental view on the quality and effectiveness of natural products. Our interview with Lilly reveals her beauty philosophies, foundational inspirations, and staple products.

Explain how you started with makeup and how your career came about.

Ever since I was a little girl I had a fascination for makeup, I loved watching my grandmother apply that vintage rouge lipstick on her lips and cheeks , and I can still remember the smell of that gold tube by Max Factor. Anything related to cosmetics I wanted to touch and put on my face. Growing up in Mexico City, in a strict catholic home and school, I was not allowed to wear any makeup until reaching the age of 14, but since my mother kept her makeup in the bathroom, I would pretend to take a long shower, play with her makeup and then wash it right off.

Later on, I was obsessed (and still am) with 90’s runway makeup -- the looks that were created by legendary artists such as Kevyn Aucoin, Pat McGrath, and Francois Nars, for designers like Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. Those artists have definitely inspired me throughout my career.

I always thought that makeup was a fun, joyful, creative outlet and I mainly looked at it as a hobby, I never looked at it as a career at the beginning, so I decided to go to school for graphic design and then quickly changed into an art history major.

How did your Art History Major help evolve your interests, if at all?

While studying Art History, I always paid particular attention to facial features and expressions, color theory and shapes, which have been a major asset to the aesthetics in my career as a makeup artist.

What do you appreciate most about your practice?

What I love most about my work is being able to bring out the most beautiful features of someone’s face by polishing and accentuating their natural beauty. My favorite part is working the skin, making it look youthful and healthy. Depending on the kind of makeup my client wants, It’s very rewarding seeing how good they feel or how excited they are to see the best version of themselves.

I also love that you can transform yourself with makeup, be creative, paint and express yourself using a face as a canvas.

How do you keep your work interesting for yourself and your clients?

My inspiration comes suddenly, depending on what look or what client I’m working with, whether it is a fashion editorial, red carpet, or a client going to an event, I usually go for a cohesive look with the rest of the styling, hair and what the brand or client is about. Mostly prioritizing the enhancement of the skin and most beautiful features of their face.

My favorite step in the creative process is prepping the skin, using natural products that nourish and hydrate the skin to make it look healthy, plumped, rejuvenated and ready for makeup application. It’s like having a blank canvas ready to create art!

You seem quite down-to-earth. What do you do to keep yourself grounded? Are you proactive about your personal routine?

Non-negotiable activities for me: spending a few minutes every morning and every night expressing my gratitude for everything — health, abundance, earth, peace, love, and family.

I also love working out, it makes me feel strong and healthy and ready to keep going, so I must exercise as frequently and as non-negotiably as possible.

Your previous work for MINERAL felt like a natural fit. Do you feel that your brand develops organically based on your connections, or do you do something to refine it through particular opportunities?

I think it’s a combination of both, working for MINERAL does feels like a natural fit, where we have aligned views on the quality and effectiveness of natural products, and value our clients however, I do tend to lean towards and attract clients that have an understanding of the natural beauty as a whole, body, mind, spirit, clean ingredients, and our planet.

Which MINERAL product(s) do you incorporate into your routine and why?

HYDRATE is a must in my skin care routine and it has become a staple in my makeup kit. I use it on my models and clients. I absolutely love it! It’s the best, you can truly feel the properties and ingredients working on the skin, nourishing and hydrating without leaving an oily residue that allows me to apply makeup after, or better yet, just go to sleep with it on at night.

I also love SLEEP , it’s incredible! I have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep when I’ve had a stressful day or I have a lot on my mind, when I take SLEEP, it absolutely works and I wake up feeling rested without that groggy tiredness feeling. It’s amazing.

And last but not least I love SOUSA, after a hard workout, especially when doing kickboxing, I apply it after I shower and it truly helps reduce the inflammation, allowing me to get back at it the next day. And can’t forget MAISON, when I overwork my knees or my back at one of my workouts, I apply it and it helps reduce the pain, it really works!