19/99       Tell us a bit about yourself. 

Pati Dubroff    I’m a makeup artist, I am a mother to a teenager, and I am pretty much a nature hippy when I’m not glamming girls up for red carpets. I’ve been obsessed with beauty and makeup since I was a little girl, and am really grateful that my interests as a young girl have paned out into a long-standing career as a professional makeup artist, which has been over 30 years now.

19/99      How did you get introduced to makeup as a little girl? What sparked your interest? 

PD      My mother had some nice products, and I remember being ten years old, sitting at her vanity, being fascinated by the product as objects; by the packaging, the colours and what they would do when you put them on. I distinctly remember thinking at that time that when I grew up, I wanted to do this. Through high school, I was always the girl who would do everyone’s makeup for the school plays, the dances, the parties and I realized that that was where the most fun was to be had; those environments of getting ready. I started to pay attention to fashion magazines, this was early to mid 80s, and realized that there were names attached to all of the images I was seeing. That gave me the insight that there was something there I could do. The obvious first step for me was to go and work at a makeup counter, and so the second I graduated from high school I moved to New York City. I got myself a job at a good makeup counter, with a great brand; I was 18, working at Bergdorf Goodman selling makeup to very elegant ladies and doing really well because I loved it. At that time I started to realize I could assist other makeup artists and offer myself to work on music videos, at MTV, and assisting, and assisting. Assisting was a big deal for me; I assisted a lot of great artists, and ended up becoming Francois Nars’ first assistant for a solid two years. Francois was the master of all the shows, he did everything from Valentino to Calvin, and Versace. I was going to Europe with Francois four times a year, for couture and pret-a-porter and doing the whole show run, and assisting on shoots with Avedon, Irving Penn, Patrick Demarchelier and Ellen von Unwerth. Weeks would be being in Penn’s studio one day, and shooting a Madonna video the next; it was amazing. Francois was such a great teacher and a very generous teacher, which taught me a lot about being a generous teacher. Then I moved to Paris to do my own thing, I assisted other great artists there, and stayed for a while to build my own book. I ended up moving back to New York, and after a few years I realized that I wasn’t really a fashion girl, I didn’t feel like it was my world so much. Celebrities were becoming more evident as they started to appear more in the fashion world, I was starting to work with celebrities more on fashion shoots. With my husband being in LA, it made sense for me to move here without it jeopardizing my career. I realized that I have this thing with actors, that's cool, and they are doing fashion stuff, that's cool, and I could be in the same house as my husband, that is cool. So I made that move the end of 2001, and it was amazing because Hollywood really opened up for me. I realized that that is what I am good at; working with actors and helping them feel like the best version of themselves, and it could still be elegant, and glamorous and fashion, without the theatrics that the fashion world sometimes thrives on. And I am still here. 

19/99      What does makeup mean to you? 

PD      It is creative expression. It is something that gives people extra boosts and confidence. I never want makeup to be oppressive or a burden, I want makeup to be an accessory, and an expressive accessory that can be used when you feel like.

I was playing around in my makeup room the other day, and I had this moment where I looked around and thought, “Holy, if the younger me knew she would have all of this, she would die.” I had such a moment of gratitude that my dreams came true; I wanted to become a makeup artist, and this is beyond my wildest dreams. And there are no boundaries for what it can look like. I’ve thought about moving, I don’t need to live in Hollywood forever, if I go live somewhere else off the beaten path, I could still do makeup. I could do brides, and that would be wonderful. I can always be a makeup artist, it just doesn’t have to look like today’s version, and tomorrow’s version would be great too. I can still be a makeup artist in the craft I love. 

19/99       Can you take us through your daily beauty routine, morning and night? 

PD      I have always been on the go, and travelling, I’m never in the same city for more than a few days, so the fact that I haven’t left this time zone in a few months is crazy, it hasn’t happened for so long. So with that said, I have a routine now and it is minimal. In the morning I do oil pulling, which is an Ayurvedic technique of detoxifying; I swish the oil in my mouth for a good 15 – 20 minutes, while dry brushing, then take some supplements. I drink a lot of water, which is my main thing. If I am going to work out, I will put on a little bit of serum, and after will cleanse with Furtuna’s Micellar Essense. Furtuna is a brand I discovered recently and am using all the time; they have really gorgeous products. I use Augustinus Bader, for moisturizer – I am a huge fan and have seen an incredible difference in my skin from using it. Night time is when I will use more products, and mask, either a cream mask or sheet mask, and really give myself that time to chill out, have a bath, and mask up. I love Tata Harper’s Resurfacing Mask, True Botanicals’ Resurfacing Mask, 111Skin for sheet masks, Knesko has beautiful sheet masks too. And I’ll usually do some sort of serum for resurfacing, I really like the Pro-Heal Serum from iS Clincal. I have a light panel that I do to sleep with every night, which is crazy. It is a panel that I put over my head, and I end up knocking it off the bed after a half hour. 

19/99      Do you wear makeup day to day? 

PD       When I was young I did, and then I didn’t for a long time. Especially to go to work – I didn’t think it was appropriate; I didn’t think that clients wanted to see a makeup artist with a face full of makeup in front of them. Because then it looked like I was caring more about myself than them so I wanted a blank slate. I thought that as long as my skin looked great, that was enough. During COVID, being home so much, and not having as many clients to do makeup on, I find myself doing makeup a lot more, playing with makeup, trying out new things that come in, like your gorgeous pencils. And it’s also a bit of a boost; it makes me a little happier. I’m not the girl that wears makeup every day; I want my skin to be the focal point.