Fashion

How Kylie Jenner Met Her Makeup Artist

by Jessica Willingham

You have to hand it to the Kardashian-Jenner fam—they give credit where credit is due, especially when it comes to their glam squad(s). While all the girls are surely makeup pros themselves, they elevate artists by working with them and giving their work endless praise on social media. In fact, Kylie Jenner met her makeup artist via Instagram, and they've been inseparable since.

Kylie Jenner reached the height of beauty fame when she made her brownish-pink, '90s lips the top makeup trend that everyone was wearing. She owns her own line of extensions and is a brand ambassador for Nip + Fab line of skin products. She takes makeup seriously, so it was crazy cool when she found 20-year-old makeup artist Ariel Tejada and asked for him to work with her. Uh, invitation accepted. Tejada sat down with Allure to chat about how him and Jenner met and how they collaborate to create iconic looks.

"Kylie and I were working on a tutorial for her new website the other day and she was telling someone how she discovered me in April and she even said out loud, 'I never do this, but I direct messaged him on Instagram and sent him my number.' Her message was a picture of a black screen and it said, 'Look, whenever you're in L.A., I want to work with you, let me know,'" he told Allure.

"I was traveling when I saw the message, and [I didn't reply until] 14 minutes later, so I was like, This is late! I'm not going to get a reply back! I messaged her back, 'I'm available whenever. I'll fly out tomorrow if I have to,' and sent her my cell number. She didn't reply for three days. My anxiety was next-level," Tejada continued. I think you can guess what happened next.

"When she finally texted me, I told her I'd be in L.A. in the next week. Mind you, I had't bought my flight. So I booked a trip to L.A. and waited for her to get back to me." Eventually they got together and created cosmetic magic.

Tejada also told Allure that while Jenner is opinionated about makeup, she gives artists the freedom to put their stamp on the overall look. "She'll tell me, 'Oh, I want a pinky-glam today,' or 'I want it more peachy,' or that she wants a more light-coverage look. Then she'll let me do my own thing," he said.

And those lips? Well, the secret is lipliner. According to Tejada, Jenner only uses lipliner to create her pout and does it herself. So if you want to recreate Kylie Jenner's infamous lips, drop the lipstick and pick up your lipliner.

To read the rest of the interview, head over to Allure.