*~Sephora Watercolors~*

[Julessss14]

Working day-in and day-out on the Sephora site and apps, I am often seeking additional ways to be creative, and have fun, with beauty products. 

I’ve started a series that I dub *~Sephora Watercolors~*, mixing pencil, watercolors, a variety of shiny gelly roll pens and deco markers, and, of course, a healthy assortment of Sephora-sourced lip glosses, sparkly nail polishes, glittery face pigments, and more.

In terms of inspo? It’s a mix of the charming illustrations of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and the (precious) watercolors of my grandmother, an artist in her own time, known for her Asian-inspired and tropical tableaus, mixing watercolor with fine pen marks. She also designed and merch’ed up the windows for the historic West Coast department store I. Magnin & Company in Los Angeles, which I think is pretty cool. 

So, without further delay, here is the series. I will post whenever I have a chance, hopefully bi-weekly. I’ll note out the date of creation, link to the products and list out the materials used in the work. 

Can’t wait to hear what you think! 🙂 ❤️💄

Note: Worked with product management @ / contracted for Sephora previously.

***

Left: 

• Sephora product: CHANEL Chance Eau Tendre Eau de Parfum 
• Date of creation: 4/19/23
• Materials: Watercolors, pencil, pink gelly roll pen, gems, rapid tone repair dark spot corrector, Sephora Collection eyeliner, Dior lip gloss, Sephora Collection nail polish

Right: 

• Sephora product: JVN Complete Nourishing Hair Oil Shine Drops 1.7 oz/ 50 mL 
• Date of creation: 4/20/23
• Materials: Watercolors, silver deco marker, gems, gelly roll pen

[Julessss14]

Some additional experiments with sequins… collage is a WIP but definitely a Dior motif is emerging! 

The brown is a milk makeup foundation stick that I tried to blend almost like an oil pastel. Definitely think this is a good area of inquiry… 💖

[Titian06]

@Julessss14 - This is so different from what you've been doing.  Very cool looking! 😎

[Julessss14]

Thank you! <333

[Julessss14]

Experiments with foundation and sequins...

Composition a bit more lyrical and geological...

Of course, the cute lil' star motif re-emerges. Kind of love the brown / pink / purple color story? 

  

[Titian06]

Very cool, @Julessss14 ! 😎  I'm fascinated that you made this with foundation and other makeup.  It looks celestial to me, but what do I know? 😄

[Julessss14]

Definitely luvz a celestial vibe 🌌🌌🌌 or, alternatively, a renaissance sunset 🌅 @Titian06 thanks for being so supportive of my little art hobby ❤️

[Julessss14]

• Sephora product: DIOR Le Baume Revitalizing Multi-Use Balm Original  
• Date of creation: 7/27/23
• Materials: Watercolors, silver deco marker, nail polish, pencil, black glitter gelly roll pen, gems from the French General

[Titian06]

@Julessss14 - These three are are very pretty!  This is definitely my fave! 🥰

[Julessss14]

• Sephora product: MILK MAKEUP Mini Hydro Grip Dewy Long-Lasting Setting Spray With Hyaluronic Acid + Niacinamide 1.69 ... 
• Date of creation: 7/27/23
• Materials: Watercolors, silver deco marker, gems from the French General, pencil, black glitter gelly roll pen 

[Julessss14]

• Sephora product: Bumble and bumble Bb thickening dry spun texture spray 
• Date of creation: 7/27/23
• Materials: Watercolors, pencil, silver deco marker, gems from the French General, nail polish

   

[Julessss14]

(sample size)

[Julessss14]

Yay frames arrived 🙂

[Titian06]

These look great framed, @Julessss14 !  Love seeing them arranged and hung too. 🥰

[Julessss14]

💞💞💞

[Julessss14]

And speaking of varnishing or sealing glitter, I added a lightly-tinted pink-clear nail polish:

Btw, the black is some smudge from palo santo - feel like it is charcoalesque, non? - I was inspired by the metaphysical guys at Spellbound Sky, a local crystal store on LA's eastside.... 

[Julessss14]

Btw I thought it could be fun to share some of previous artwork since it's significant to see what a through-line glitter has been in my artistic explorations. 

Honestly, and I have to say that my absolute favorite product Sephora sells is the Sephora Collection nail polish in glitter (https://www.sephora.com/product/color-hit-nail-polish-P435832?skuId=2110765) 🙂

So here's a little deep-dive into some of my previous artwork since I have been sharing so many of my recent creations.

***

i may have mentioned before, but my grandmother was an artist so from a young age she encouraged my art education (a very important cause, btw). Studying acrylic painting, oil painting, drawing and the like were all part of my pre-high-school life. In high school, every day after lunch, I either had studio art, figure drawing, art history or this other slightly-hippie class called life skills. That was all to say, I spent a lot of time early in my life on the art foundations / art 101s. 

In Georgetown, my freshman year, I placed into the most advanced painting class and from there kind of took the senior seminar open thesis work exploration class whenever my schedule could afford. At that time, I was primarily studying Mandarin Chinese and international politics and my specific school did not allow for an art minor. The professors in the painting and drawing department were extremely supportive of my inquiries into painting.

I have a lot of oil painting work from the period, but I will just share a few. Oftentimes, they were with animals and cute and colorful.

A giraffe:

Giraffe

A pug:

Pug

By senior year, art had become my primary intellectual interest. Yet, I was feeling that oil painting was a little out of tune with the machinations of modern society and I wanted another, more contemporary and exciting, medium to explore. There were many experimentations one Summer with bedazzles and other such sparkly objects, but eventually, I landed on glitter and paint as my pilot materials. 

At this point, I wasn't varnishing, or sealing my glitter paintings. I would only learn that later at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from a girlfriend who (brilliantly) recommended that I use varnish to seal the glitter. Game-changer! (Btw, today I use clear Sephora Collection nail polish to seal any sequins or loose bedazzles...)

Initially, inspiration found me in terms of iconography, very Warhol-a, American-a influenced. The concept of celebrity and image (glittering figures in society) - maybe it was something I found alluring. 

Of course, I had to do an homage of the beauty icon herself, Ms. Marilyn: 

And, one of my personal favorite icons, Snookie, from the Jersey Shore:

Also, the Paris Hilton-inspired Chihuahua iconography. A diptych, here, in silver & gold:

I also went backwards a little and brought in some oil painting. Here, a majestic tiger serenely swims through a river of glitter: 

A lot of animal explorations here as well, with tigers, peacocks and leopards (oh my!)

Also, some fun references to art history. 

Here are Van Gogh's sunflowers, in green:

A pink buddha:

A hello kitty angel wing diptych I made for a friend's younger sister:

I was asked to do the Snapchat logo in glitter. Fun fact is I have invoice 1/1 from Snapchat for this piece.

I went to grad school at SAIC (School of the Art Institute of Chicago at this point).

Still trying to weave in the nature of digital communication and digital narratives into my work, I opted for a text message,  fun Internet language series of text messages. 

(in site on the studio floor before a critque^)

There was something about the content that I wasn't sure about, so at this point I pivoted to pure abstraction (as I have been known to do...)

This glittering California sunset is, I guess, out of everything, my favorite. I love the visual blends and, to me, it reads in a very painterly fashion:

It also took almost 3 weeks to dry....

[Titian06]

@Julessss14 - I don't know what to say!  My jaw is on the floor!  Your work is stunning! 🤩

[Julessss14]

o-m-g!!! 😆😆😆

[SportyGirly125]

@Julessss14 @Amazing work 😍

[Julessss14]

Thank you! 💖💝

[Julessss14]

• Date of creation: 7/14/23
• Materials: Good Dye Young Poser Paste Temporary Hair Makeup Narwhal Teal (in pink), pink jelly roll pen, pink marker, vintage French teal sequins, extra bedazzles from a Hello Kitty mirror