Where were you born?
San Francisco, CA
Where do you live now?
New York City
What is your sign?
Pisces
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a wizard that could transform people from sad to happy. When I was four years old, I was crafting, drawing and painting. I would go through my mom’s makeup train case (which ended up being my makeup case as a freelancer years later) and would imagine what one could do with the makeup inside and how it could seemingly make my mother happier and prettier. It was like a magic wand to me. I’d then look at faces and imagine where color would be placed or see how the light would fall on the face. I was always sensitive to imperfections such as rosacea and hyperpigmentation. This is what inspired me to attend beauty school during high school where I attained my license for Esthetics. In college, I studied art via oil paint, watercolor, ink drawing and color theory; then realized few artists ever achieve great success. My love for painting and transforming led my quest for beauty to find makeup artistry. I found it most gratifying to work with people one-on-one, enhancing their individual beauty.
What was your first memorable work as an artist?
The first time I did makeup on Christina Milian. On a personal level, I’d say that I’m a firm believer in being true to yourself by honoring your intuition (emotional guidance). After working for six years at MAC, I had lost that good feeling I promised myself to be guided by – so I took a risk and quit. One week later, I was called by Def Jam Records to do a test on Christina Milian. Needless to say that turned into the most memorable two years of working and visiting 17 countries. Not to mention the best confirmation I could ask for that by honoring oneself, the best will always follow. The most memorable moment was that at 18, I promised myself to…>> To continue down memory lane with Roque Cozzette on his first memoriable work as an artist, pick up a copy of our Spring 2015 issue here.
Photos Provided by Roque Cozzette