One of Baton Rouge’s makeup artist can transform a simple girl into a real-life superwoman; however, she knows there is a true beauty that can never be touched.
Marissa Mizell is a makeup artist in Baton Rouge, who started out not knowing anything about makeup. Her journey started when she walked through the mall and decided to apply for a job at Sephora, a makeup store. As she stood behind the cash register, she watched customers’ faces light up as they found the right foundation to match their skin color and saw the result of their mini-makeover.
She decided to leave Sephora in June 2015 to start freelancing.
Mizell said when she started working at Sephora, she didn’t know anything about makeup.
“After working at Sephora for a while, I advanced to doing makeovers in the store,” Mizell said. “I found a passion that I never knew I had.”
Mizell said when she left Sephora to freelance, she learned that being self-employed comes with many struggles. Unlike working a nine to five job shift, Mizell said she creates her own hours. Her business is run solely by clients that choose to make an appointment with her. One month may be booming and the next month she may only have three gigs, she said.
Mizzel said she doesn’t feel safe and secure with money, and often feels uneasy at the thought of not having a steady pay check. However she said she believes if something is your passion, you should never let fear get in the way.
“I believe that if you do what sets your soul on fire, then all the bad things that come along with whatever you do will make it worth it,” Mizell said.
As customers sit in Mizell’s makeup chair, they feel the neon light from the makeup stand shine onto their skin. In the mirror, their skin looks radiant and their eyes look brighter than ever.
Mizell said making people feel beautiful about themselves is one of her greatest rewards of pursuing a career in makeup. As she goes through each step of the makeup process, the puzzle pieces come together and confidence is created in each woman. Mizell said she loves watching her customer’s attitudes change, and a sparkle in their eye start to twinkle.
Sometimes clients who are cancer patients will book an appointment with Mizell. She does lessons with them and teaches them tips on doing their makeup. Most of those clients ask Mizell to teach them how to draw on their eyebrows in a way that makes them still look natural.
“This warms my heart more than anything because it makes them feel beautiful in a time that may make them feel down about themselves,” Mizell said.
Ella Clark, 17, a student at The Dunham School and former miss teen Louisiana is one of Mizell’s most loyal clients. Clark said she feels like brand-new when she looks in the mirror and sees Mizzell’s finished product.
“I feel so confident. I feel like superwoman,” Clark said. “I feel like I can just take on the world.”
Mizell said a lot of customers hire her to do their wedding day makeup. Mizell said weddings are her favorite events to work because she gets to take part in making women feel beautiful on their special day. Tori Friedman, a Baton Rouge native said she trusted Mizell with her wedding makeup.
“Worrying if my makeup was going to look good was not an issue,” Friedman said.
Friedman said based on Mizell’s experience with large wedding parties, she had confidence that Mizell was going to be able to do 14 bridesmades’ makeup on time. Friedman said wedding days can be a little stressful, but Mizell’s attitude was calming.
“She is such a genuine person, Friedman said. “We still keep in touch.”
Even though feeling beautiful is powerful, Mizell said she believes beauty goes deeper than surface level. Mizell said that girls and women who go into get their makeup done complain that their nose is too big, or their chin isn’t small enough, but Mizell tries to remind them that what’s inside of them, over powers any blemish on the outside.
“I try to impact them in a way that lets them know beauty isn’t always just about what you can see with your eyes,” Mizzel said. “I think the main thing is self-love, accepting you and not being so hard on yourself.”
For some women, it’s easy to feel confident with makeup on, but it’s not as easy when their face is bare and all of their insecurities are showing to the world. However, Mizell said she believes that when a woman’s personality is loving, humble and she has a radiant light about her, no one notices that her nose is slightly crooked or that her smile isn’t centered.
“I can perfect your imperfections with makeup and a brush,” Mizell said. “But what comes from within you is something that nobody will ever be able to touch, not even Baton Rouge’s finest makeup artist.”