HOW THIS NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY MAKEUP ARTIST TURNED CHILDHOOD PASSION INTO A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

BY AMANDA McCOY

In the years since Gabrielle Gentile, founder of Makeup by Gabrielle G, began her studies in makeup artistry, she’s witnessed how heavily the rise of social media has affected the beauty industry overall, perhaps most pivotally in the forms of “Instagram makeup” (i.e. heavily con toured faces with perfectly penciled eyebrows the result being, as the New York Times put it, a social media world in which “makeup enthusiasts become facsimiles of one another all some version of Kim Kardashian West.”) and the ever increasing number of people touting highly variable skills online and self describing as “makeup artists.”

“With the way media platforms are, it can be challenging to stand out in the business,” said the certified technician. Luckily, Gentile had already built a clientele before the online feeding frenzy took off.

“To be a great makeup artist, it’s important to incorporate the client’s desired look, but with a realistic approach,” she explained. “I’m honest with my clients about what will look best for them, and I avoid doing ‘Instagram makeup’ because that’s just not my style of work, and I feel they appreciate that.”

The daughter of a freelance makeup artist, Gentile first experienced a passion for the profession as a young girl while sitting in on multiple appointments with her mom. As she grew older, she began experimenting with different techniques using her own face (and those of close friends) as a canvas.

“When my mom would do someone’s makeup, I used to sit across the table and just watch her. I was fascinated, with both the technique and the before and after. This fascination grew, which led me to start doing my own research and exploring what the Internet had to offer in tutorial videos. I would practice looks on myself and friends, and fell in love immediately. I knew this was my calling.”

News of Gentile’s skills quickly spread among her inner circle, and she quickly became the local go to authority for prom and event makeup among friends and friends of friends. After graduating high school, her vocational direction was clear. She attended Christine Valmy International School just across the Hudson, where she acquired her esthetician license first in New York and then New Jersey before earning a Multi Media Makeup Artist certification from Make-up Designory in lower Manhattan, studying beauty makeup artistry, special effects makeup, and hair styling.

Today, Gentile specializes in all areas of the field, from special occasion to high fashion. She freelances with private clients throughout Monmouth County and beyond, and frequently travels into Manhattan to work alongside famed headshot photographer Barry Morgenstein. Future ambitions include working regularly on a television series, but Gentile quickly adds that she’s happy with her current standing.

“I just want to continue making each of my clients feel their most beautiful selves,” she said. “That’s my business goal right now.”

Makeup by Gabrielle G
732.425.9810 / makeupbygabrielleg.com