Ariel Tejada recalls the moment Kylie Jenner changed him and changed his life | Special

Although any beauty lover knows Makeup By Ariel as Kylie Jenner’s amazing makeup artist, she didn’t get this dream client overnight.

When Ariel Tejada arrived in Los Angeles, he only had a few bucks and a big dream – to become a makeup artist.

Tejada was raised in a Dominican family in the suburbs of New York where he nurtured a love of music as well as art. What started as a love of art grew into an obsession and a natural taste for makeup.

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“I hid that part of me for a while and I would play with makeup in secret,” Tejada told 9Honey Celebrity.

After teaching himself makeup by using his mother’s and sister’s makeup as well as working on willing family members, Tejada finally came clean to his family that this was his passion. and that he intended to follow him.

The budding makeup artist signed up to a website called Model Mayhem that connects makeup artists, models and photographers for opportunities and shoots.

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“I put myself off like no other, I said ‘I’m the best makeup artist you’ll ever use’,” Tejada says.

“But I was crazy enough to believe in myself because I knew that whatever I was going to do, I was going to try my best and I was going to do my best.”

In the end, a photographer took a chance on the young Dejada and took the young makeup artist to a shoot where he eventually built a substantial portfolio.

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However, Dejada was hungry for more and became convinced that he would make up beauty guru and entrepreneur Lilly Ghalichi.

“When I first started doing makeup, everyone wanted to do Lily’s makeup,” Tejada recalls.

“So I was reaching out to her every day and I was like, ‘I’m going to kill your makeup’, ‘let me do your makeup when you come to New York ‘.”

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Tejada’s relentless appeal finally worked when Ghalichi came to New York and took a chance on the young makeup artist – and he wasn’t let down.

“She was so shocked, it’s so emotional to think about because I was scared to do her makeup because I knew the best of the best so I was like , ‘how do I compete with these people? ‘”

“But I did her makeup and she loved it.”

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And this is where Tejada’s life really changed. As a result of the crazy experience the young makeup artist gained from doing Ghalichi’s makeup, he checked his phone one day to see that he had received a message from none other than Kylie Jenner.

“That’s when I got my audition from Kylie and she was like, ‘Hey, if you’re ever in LA I’d love for you to do my makeup'”

Tejada, seeing the opportunity of a lifetime, told the makeup mogul that he would indeed be in Los Angeles next week – there was just one problem. Tejada had no money, no way to get there and no reason to be in LA.

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“When I answered her, I said, ‘I’m going to be there in a week and I’m like, oh my, like, how am I going to get the money to go there?'”

Tejada scribbled, saved and worked hours off for the next week to secure flights to Los Angeles for Jenner’s glam opportunity.

Once he was there and proved his powerhouse talent to the reality star, the two became an inseparable duo and all these years later, Tejada still glams Jenner.

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“I’m living my dream and I’m proud to be able to say that, the people I work with are literally my family and I couldn’t be more proud of that.”

Tejada now has millions of followers on his Instagram, has recently partnered with Morphe for a signature brush collection and recently attended the Aussie brand’s Naked Sunday event to discuss how the importance of sunscreen and skin care.

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