All hail Nilo Haq, world beauty and make-up artist and absolute power house. She has worked for the likes of M.A.C Cosmetics, Toni & Guy and Alexandre Zouari, just to name a few and now she is founder of iGlow Studios, editor-in-chief of Saudi Beauty Blog as well as hosting various workshops to teach her knowledge to other young women. You go girl!
Nilo grew up with a love and curiosity for make-up, especially a teen. When she was a little older, studying at university, she felt lost. She didn’t know what she wanted to do or which way she wanted her career to go. It was after she met her husband – with his encouragement – that she started to enrol in make-up classes. She had found her passion and knew that this is what she wanted to pursue for her future. As well as that – she was very good at it!
She has worked with some of the most renowned and well-respected names in the beauty industry. In 2006, she was a make-up artist for M.A.C in Toronto, Canada and two years later in 2008, she went on to work for the exclusive Alexandre Zouari Paris in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In 2009, she pursued her dream of Director Makeup Artistry & Training at Toni & Guy in Jeddah which gave her the confidence to launch her own makeup studio in Jeddah, iGlow Studios. Since then, she has launched her own makeup workshops in partnership with M.A.C, trained makeup artists all over the world, been the brand ambassador for many acclaimed brands, launched makeup campaigns in conjunction with names like Yves Saint Laurent and become the editor-in-chief of Saudi Beauty Blog. She was named as one of the Top 5 Beauty Influencers on the list for the Middle East in 2015 and was also chosen as one of the Top 3 Strong Women from the Middle East in the same year.
Nilo’s advice to anyone who wants to pursue a career as a makeup artist is to take a course. She acknowledges that a lot of famous makeup artists are self-taught, but she believes by taking a professional course, you can truly understand the foundations of makeup and learn the basic techniques well. Once you have got that down pat, she thinks practice makes perfect. By practicing constantly, she believes, is how a true makeup artist will be able to grow and then start self-teaching.
Nilo’s personal makeup style fuses looks from the west and east together and on the contrary, Nilo actually doesn’t wear a lot of makeup herself. On a day-to-day basis, she usually wears liquid eye-liner, mascara, blush and a lipstick.
The makeup beauty is excited about the future of makeup, as she thinks it is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, so the opportunities are limitless. For Nilo, makeup means ‘colour on canvas’.
