“I do normal people from normal places.”
Who better to launch our Beauty Hygiene Plus Artists In Residence programme than Lisa Armstrong, one of the UK’s most talented, high profile and award winning makeup artists. You may not know her name, but you will definitely know her work, as, since 2007, she has been Chief Makeup and Hair Designer on the BBC’s flagship Strictly Come Dancing show, where she is responsible for creating the amazing celebrity hair and makeup looks that help define the show’s mass appeal.
Whilst admitting to being interested in makeup since the age of six, Lisa didn’t initially envisage a career as a professional makeup artist. That’s because she was too busy dancing! With her head set on a career as a professional disco dancer, she enjoyed success winning several international dancing competitions. This then led into a different type of success, when she was recruited to help form the 90’s pop group Deuce, which despite releasing four UK top 30 singles, eventually split in 1997, when Lisa was just 19.
A career re-think led Lisa to decide that there had to be a reason why her teenage years had been spent experimenting with rainbow colours, putting pink mascara on her eyebrows, wearing blond wigs or playing around with lipstick shades. She quickly realised the life of a professional makeup artist beckoned, and she signed up for formal training at London’s prestigious Glauca Rossi School of Makeup.