I dream of Agnes...

Welcome everyone to my new blog!

Who the heck is Agnes you ask? I'll get to that in a second.. after I give you a little insight in my life and how it progressed.
At the tender age of 11, after years of playing with my big sisters makeup, it dawned on me that there was actually a profession called "Makeup Artist", and from then on that was all I ever wanted to be.
This was back in the day, way before the internet (yes you guessed it, I'm OLD lol) and all I had to feed my interest was my monthy fix of fashion magazines, Vogue UK, Italy and US mainly.
I read the credits with the pictures, and became familiar with the likes of Mary Greenwell, Charlie Green and even Way Bandy.

With no idea of how to realize my dream and no one around to tell me, I did ..
the next best thing (or so I thought).
I enrolled in beauty school. Not an awfully big mistake, because I actually did learn good things, but it gave me no heads up towards getting where I wanted to go.
Long story short, I ended up taking some makeup classes at Mieke Petiet makeup school (the only decent one at the time).


Idealism is all well and good, but I was never prepared to sacrifice comfort and living standards for dreams, so in the meantime I took a job that paid the bills without actually making me unhappy.
In 1991, I finally made the decision to quit my job and go freelance, and never looked back.
It wasn't all as easy as it sounds of course, but that's what it boiled down to.
I'll show you some of my older work in later posts and if you're good maybe I'll share some "fun" test assignments from when I started out, just for laughs ;)
Well into working freelance for print and TV, I started taking classes in SFX, period hair design and wigmaking and stage makeup for about 3 years.
I was always into finding new professional grade makeup and tools to make my work easier and more beautiful. Traveling to the US often, I found so many exciting things to try out and take home! I always left with an extra empty suitcase to take home all my new goodies ~yay~. And to my shame I have to admit I often had to buy a extra weekend bag on the spot lol. So to say that I have a problem.. neeehh.. occupational hazard I'd say.. and one I love to indulge in!


My fellow makeup artists always wanted what I brought home, so during the slow summer of 2008 I decided to take the plunge and start my own webstore,
http://www.promakeupstore.com/ from my home in Amsterdam.
To say that things got out of hand pretty quickly is an understatement.
My office and my inventory is at home which creates major chaos, specially during busy days and on days when new shipments of product arrive.
I am forever searching for more storage space and ways to organize things!
Besides the store taking up loads of time, there is also the small issue of my makeup jobs ~lol~
For the past 18 years, I have been booked on average 3/4 days a week at our national public tv network called N.O.S. where shifts run anywhere from 5:30 am to 13:00 to midnight. And all in one week, including weekends.
The rest of the week is filled with print jobs and national celebs for public appearances.


Soooo.. what does my average day look like? Let's see..
If I'm lucky I get to sleep in until 10 am, but most times I get myself out of bed around 9 am, after having coffee with my sweetheart Jaap.
We have been in a relationship for over 5 years now, living together 3,5 years.
He's a film- and tv producer with his own business, but funny enough we didn't even meet through work.
He was the drummer in my band (I'm also a singer), and you know what they say about the drummer always getting the girl ;)
But I digress...
The next coffee is usually consumed in my office, behind my laptop, checking mail, processing orders, checking inventory, doing accounting..
I never imagined it would be this much work but I'm sooo loving it! Breakfast and lunch are usually at my desk, in between work.
Most days I will have some kind of job to go to that day too, so it's off to get myself together, drop off the orders at the postoffice and drive to work.
Work will usually last until midnight at least, and there is always a lot of down time, so during those hours I will also get some work done for the store.
It's like a fellow mua said the other day "tv is hurrying up to wait". So true!
I get home around 1 am, and try to relax and have some quality time with my sweetheart. And checking my blackberry for email from customers with questions to answer of course ;) It drives him mad, poor thing.
Then it's off to bed, and the next day it all starts again.


Notice anything in particular about this schedule?
That's right! There is NO time to clean and keep the house tidy! Ughh! We manage to vaccuum and keep the dishwasher running and such, but boy
this place could use a good going over and more importantly.. some regular upkeep.
And this is where Agnes comes in :)
Agnes is the wonderful help of one of my clients at the network. She is forever telling me about her and has now promissed me to ask her to take a position with us.
YESSS!!
Finally this beautiful house of ours will be saved from neglect and destruction and restored into it's former glory!
I can't wait to welcome her! This wonder woman will save my life I swear :) Fingers crossed she will take my offer!


So yes.. I dream of Agnes my lovelies..