Male make-up artist ignores stigma to follow his passion

Oshawn 'Shawn' Mallette, 36, was born and raised in one of Kingston's inner-city communities where males are raised to be rough and confined to jobs that are considered to be more 'manly'.

In his younger years, he admitted to emulating the wrong crowd. But as he grew, he said he learned that they were on the wrong path and decided to start his own journey. But he was still unaware that the journey would be in the beauty field.

"I was inspired by my close relatives and my spouse, not seeing their faces looking like how they're supposed to look. I always scrutinise them and complain so then dem start tell me seh if me can do better mi fi do better," he said. His girlfriend then allowed him to do her eyebrows.

"One day mi just tek the pencil and do it without no make-up knowledge. Mi neva use no concealer nor no brush. Mi just use the pencil and draw it and from then a me start do her eyebrows cause she loved it and praise me," he said.

He branched out and started to do his friends' eyebrows. News soon spread throughout his community of Southside, downtown Kingston, that he was a gifted make-up artist.

"You know inna di ghetto di girl dem hot. Every party and every street dance my door full up a girl fi do eyebrow and put on di likkle strip lash, and when mi done, dem look boasty!" he recalled excitedly.

The traffic that Mallette got at his home from the girls who required his services inspired him to take the craft seriously.

"After a while I started to get better, understanding shades and using highlighters to sharpen the look. People around me encouraged me to go to school but mi really did a do it fi fun because mi like fi see when the girls dem look beautiful," he said. Working in his sister's beauty store that sold make-up caused him to seriously think about being a beautician. He attended HEART/NSTA Trust and obtained his certificate in make-up artistry. Then in 2016, Shawn's Make-up Artistry was launched.

"At first mi did kinda iffy about it and started out doing it for only who deh round me cause mi did fraid a what the public might say and assume. But after a while, mi know what mi want and who mi is, so mi just start do it and nuh watch people," he said.

His clientele has grown exponentially but there are slow periods.

"The business has its ups and downs. The Corona [COVID] era when you had to distance yuhself caused things to be slow, so it just start bloom back coming up to the event season. What I do is also sell products as well as giving service, so I have a balance," he said.

"Words can't explain how my customers make me feel. They are always pleased and even get overwhelmed when I do their face for the first time. And then the whole thing fi mek a man a do yuh face, some female nuh really trust seh a male will know what to do. So when dem realise seh mi know mi thing professional, every girl a come fi di experience."

Mallette wants to start his own make-up line and intends to offer classes for make-up artists beyond the powder and brush. He also wants to use his drawing skills to teach people about understanding the line structure of a person's unique structure to give a better look.

"I am a natural at artistry. I got a scholarship at Edna Manley [School for the Visual and Performing Arts] because of my ability to draw. But as I said, I was following the wrong influence, and because of peer pressure I didn't follow through and that set me back a little," he shared.