The following is an excerpt from the Glow Journal Podcast. You can listen to the full interview now on iTunes and Spotify.
Istanbul in 1993. Naomi Campbell, at the height of her notoriety, sits backstage at a beauty pageant having her makeup done. Following an argument with her makeup artist, Campbell locks eyes with then hairstylist Rae Morris from across the room and says “You. Fix my lips.”
“I was too terrified to [say no]. That was when she used to beat people up.”
Rae, who at the time had no makeup experience, headed across the room and set to work. “I glanced over, saw a massive pair of lips and a clear lipgloss and thought ‘I can’t go too wrong.'” It was at that very moment that the international press flooded the room, cameras in hand, and by the next day Rae’s image, as Naomi Campbell’s makeup artist, had hit the front cover of all the European newspapers lauding Australian hair stylist Rae Morris as a makeup artist to the stars.
“It was one minute of her life, that she would never remember, that completely changed mine.”
A tomboy growing up, Rae had no intention of becoming a makeup artist. “I wanted to be a vet,” she says. “At least, I thought I wanted to be a vet. Every animal I had I would cut its hair, perm its hair, colours its hair. What I think it was was that I actually wanted to be a hairdresser, and I thought the animal was the attraction.”
It was at age 11 that Rae began working at a hair salon, but it was a birthday cake delivered to the salon by her mother on her 13th birthday that was her undoing as the boss realised that Rae had been working illegally for two years. Rather than resigning herself to the fact that she was too young to work, Rae moved to another salon and, once again, lied about her age.
Despite developing carpal tunnel in both of her wrists, Rae continued to work in hair for upwards of 10 years and eventually opened her own salon. “I hated it,” she says. “In the salon, people’s biggest dreams were what they were going to do on the weekend. I was all about finding out who Vidal Sassoon was. I wanted to be that good.”
Following her chance encounter in Istanbul, Rae returned to Australia and was thrust into life as an international makeup artist. After “faking” her way through a stint as a guest educator at an advanced makeup course, Rae spent time training under the late Richard Sharah- David Bowie’s makeup artist- who was completely colour blind. “What I loved about learning from him was that he was all about shading, toning and contouring,” says Rae. “Colour didn’t influence him. It was all about what the face did with light.”
Rae went on to spend 10 years as the Global Makeup Director for L’Oréal Paris- the longest anyone has ever spent in the role. Of her time at L’Oréal, Rae says “I learnt that a great artist knows when to put the brush down. It taught me how to let go of ego.”
It was during her time at L’Oréal Paris that Rae published her first book, despite being dyslexic. Rae left the brand in 2013 out of a longing, as an artist, to never remain stagnant. “I wanted to go out on a high.”
Rae has since written and published six best selling books on makeup, having self-published her most recent title, Makeup Masterclass, in 2016. The book itself is based on the Fibonacci Sequence and the science of beauty, as when a man or woman’s face appears more “phi,” they will look like the most beautiful version of themselves. “People [and brands] like Aston Martin and Apple Mac use the Fibonacci Sequence to design their products. It’s imbedded in our brains to find people and things that measure phi to be more attractive.” In the early stages of planning the book, Rae requested that her current and former clients send her images of their all-time favourite Rae Morris looks. “I measured the eye makeup- it was phi every time.”
How does a woman with dyslexia publish six best sellers? “Because I had nothing to lose,” says Rae. “My husband always says to me ‘The best things you ever achieve are when you have no fear.'”
Even in the early stages of her career as a makeup artist, Rae was having her brushes custom made for her. Her intention was never to create a business, however after being flooded with requests from other makeup artists and models she felt compelled to start her own brand. Rae worked with Korean artisans to design the world’s first ever magnetic brushes- an innovation born out of a need for both backstage bench space and improved beauty bag hygiene.
As with most great ideas, Rae’s work was soon plagiarised. Rather than fighting the inevitable, she gave herself a new goal- “How can I make the best brushes in the world?”
It was this question that lead Rae to Japan to hunt down one of only two living Masters of Craft. “”In Japan, to be a Master of Craft [a title only 40 people have ever been awarded], you have to be either a samurai sword maker or a calligraphy brush maker.” Rae was intent on working with a calligraphy brush maker, as the principle of a calligraphy brush is to use minimal strokes with maximum accuracy- a good brush should do the work for you. While pharmacy brand makeup brushes generally take one to five steps to create and high end makeup brushes sit at around 20 steps, true calligraphy brushes take upwards of 70 steps. Rae Morris makeup brushes, the result of a two year collaboration between Rae and an 80 year old Japanese calligraphy brush maker, begin at 52 steps per brush.
This year, after four years of refinement, has seen Rae launch her first makeup product- a mattifying powder so translucent it can be used on albino skin through Sudanese complexions without a trace. Despite the success of the powder, Rae doesn’t currently have any ambitions to create any colour cosmetics. “Unless it’s groundbreaking and first to market, I don’t want to do it.”
Where to from here? Rae continues to live by the ethos that has seen her through her entire career- “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”
To listen to the full interview with Rae, subscribe to the Glow Journal podcast now on iTunes or Spotify.
