Meet Christina Burgess! As a graduate of Winthrop Unviersity and a self proclaimed “Eyelid Painter, Eyebrow Architect and Liquid Lipstick Mixologist”, she has blown up the Instagram and YouTube scene with her wonderful watercolor make-up looks. Christina tells Her Campus, “If you know your passion you’re already halfway there. After that just do it. Live it, breathe it, continuously pursue it and learn.” Be sure to follow her on Instagram @burdessburdess and YouTube Christina Burgess!
Name: Christina Burgess
Degree: Fine Arts Degree (awarded in August 2015) English, Language and Literature
Hometown: Dahlonega, Georgia
Tell us an interesting fact about yourself!
I surprisingly, use to be really into cars. Before I came to Winthrop I bought a little 5-speed Honda hatchback and did some work on it. I did simple things like replacing my headers and cold-intake (I had help of course). I loved that little car, bought it with my own money, including all the repairs and then my sophomore year at Winthrop something tragic happened a mere two weeks after I had paid the whole thing off. It was stolen off campus and was found a couple weeks later on the side of the road out in Waxhaw, NC. It was unfortunately stripped down to the body so I lost the car and all the work I had put into it. From what I learned later on I wasn’t the only one that semester to have had my car stolen off campus. Crazy.
Where do you get your make-up inspiration from?
Inspiration comes in many forms. I honestly feel like it depends on the day. It starts with my personal feelings and from there I usually either create something on my own or I draw inspiration from other artists or even a mixture of both. I follow a lot of really great artists on Instagram and I get inspired from them daily (depechegurl, dausell, greta-ag, and venomousvanity just to name a few) And some days I just grab random things and see if I can make them work together. I find that, for me, sometimes not thinking about a certain outcome produces the best-finished look. I posted a look on my Instagram a few weeks called “Bird of Paradise” and I literally just took a palette and used my fingers for the whole thing…I had no plan beforehand and it’s one of my favorite looks that I’ve done.
“Bird of Paradise” featured below.
When did you first start wearing makeup?
Haha, actually this is pretty funny. My Mom never wanted me to wear makeup for normal Mom reasons “you’ll ruin your skin.” “You don’t need to cover your skin.” “You’re already so beautiful” etc.
I was always fascinated with makeup though so I would frequently sneak into my Mom’s makeup bag (Sorry Mom) after she would leave for work and wear her makeup. Now it really just started with mascara and lip gloss, but as I got more adventurous I started to expand. In 6th grade, I did my usual I went into my Mom’s makeup bag to try her foundation. Now, let me preface this by saying my Mom has a nice Olive skin tone and I’m incredibly fair skinned, we are by no means the same shade. At the ripe age of 11 I was not aware that foundations were not universal. So, naturally I slathered her foundation all over my skin in the most unblended mask like application ever…. but I did not stop there. I found bronzer…and applied it all over my face. I looked like I was wearing an Oompa Loompa mask and proceeded to go to school like this. The worst part is my Dad drove me to school that morning and he told me “Oh, I knew you looked crazy but I also knew you weren’t supposed to wear your Mom’s makeup so…” (Thanks Dad)
Luckily, I ran into my best friend almost immediately and she, being the real MVP, rushed me to the bathroom and made me wash my face. I honestly didn’t touch makeup much until I was senior in high school and my interest grew a lot more in/throughout college.
What do you love most about makeup?
What I love about makeup is two-fold. I love that makeup gives me the ability to express myself and allows me to create. I also love that make-up washes off. While I love creating and wearing makeup I do not feel like I need it. Makeup is a way of expression the same way wearing a certain outfit is expression. If I’m wanting to feel edgy and a little badass I’ll wear a smoky eye or a dark lip; if I’m feeling like I want to be light and girly I’ll wearing a nude lip and a BB cream. People do the same things with their outfits. So to me, makeup is a means to showcase the person you want to be for that given day and at the end you can wash it off and start over the next day.
What are your favorite brands?
I spread my love for brands out all over anywhere from drugstore and high end, even to little indie companies. But, my overall favorite brand has to be Colourpop Cosmetics. If you don’t know them, definitely check them out (you can only order them online from their website)! They are an indie makeup company based out in LA and have gotten a lot of hype from Beauty Gurus on Instagram and Youtube, because of this a lot of people (including myself at first) stayed away thinking the hype was because of paid sponsorships. When I finally bit the bullet and ordered something from them, almost two years ago now, I was amazed at the products. They are super affordable and super good quality for the price. I wear a Colourpop product almost daily. I highly recommend their supershock metallic/shimmer shadows and their Ultra Matte lipsticks…but I really haven’t gotten too many things from them that aren’t good and hey have something for everyone.
I also really like Kat Von D products, TooFaced, and Lorac as for high end. And if we are talking drugstore then NYX is up there and L’oreal has actually stepped up their game and I’m finding I’m buying and enjoying more of their products.
Who or what inspired you to start your YouTube channel?
I had been talking about starting a YouTube for about 6 years…. and after talking about it that long I just broke one day and made myself do it. I have had my YouTube channel for a little over a month and it has been a great experience. I currently work two jobs and having something like creating looks and videos gives me something to look forward to whenever I have a spare moment. And I’m also very lucky that I was surrounded by people who have supported me throughout my makeup journey… from my Instagram to the start of my YouTube channel.
How do you feel social media plays a role in makeup today?
I feel like it is huge. The industry has been brought to the forefront because of makeup artists on social media…and I feel like it makes makeup and the art form a lot more accessible to the everyday person. Also, if it wasn’t for those early days of Michelle Phan on YouTube I don’t think I would have ever learned how to blend my eye shadow correctly!
How would you describe your style as a make-up artist?
I honestly don’t really know what my style really is. A lot of the looks I post on Instagram I call avant-garde…because they aren’t normal wearable eye looks. A couple of my followers on Instagram have said I have a watercolor kind of style, too. I think I’m getting into my niche a little more now and I do gravitate more to watercolor, editorial, avant-garde types of looks.
What are some common make-up mistakes you see others doing?
Now, I am in no way perfect either and I still have days where I can’t get my eyeliner even…the struggle, so I don’t want to say that I think I am better than someone else because I think these are mistakes. But for me I notice two things on a person wearing makeup immediately. Eyebrows and eye shadow. Eyebrows are my favorite thing to do…which might be strange but they really do change the face and I see a lot of people who don’t know what shape looks best on them or they over pluck their brows and I also see people who overfill their brows in a color way to harsh and dark for them (aka Sharpie brows). Now, if that’s what makes them happy and feel their best then by all means do you, booboo.
I also see people who don’t blend eye shadows. (I still struggle with this, too.) But blending is super key to a good eye look. Even with a simple, everyday look it’s very important to blend out eye shadows to be seamless. No one should be able to see where each color starts and stops… again unless that is the look you are going for.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
This question…so innocent and simple and so hard to answer. I honestly don’t know where I want to be in five years. I used to have super concrete plans all the time and the older I get the less I find myself doing this (probably because my plans never go the way I planned them). To dream big I guess I will say I will be working from home, blogging and doing YouTube full time maybe in the process of releasing a product at Sephora. Living the dream.
What has been the biggest challenge of pursing your passion so far?
Now that I am pursuing it I don’t find it as much of a challenge because I want to do it so badly. For me it was starting the entire thing that was the biggest challenge. I was way too much in my head and cared too much about what others thought of me if I started doing it. I was honestly terrified when I started posting more makeup related things to my Instagram because I kept thinking “Oh god, what are people going to think.” I’d almost be scared to see the people I knew in real life after I would post something on Instagram, thinking they would look at me differently or treat me different because I was pursuing something I wasn’t overtly telling everyone about. I was lucky though that a lot of my friends and a lot of people who started following me were super supportive of what I wanted to do.
What advice would you give to young women who have a passion but may not know what the next step is?
Honestly, this could vary and my advice may not work for every passion…but if you know your passion you’re already halfway there. After that just do it. Live it, breathe it, continuously pursue it and learn. For me personally the biggest thing was finding people who had the same passion as me and surrounding myself with those people. Then, just continue to drive for more. Try new things, learn new things, and meet like-minded people.
If you could only use 3 make-up items for the rest of your life, what would they be?
Oh dannnnnnnnnnng, what kind of torture is that? haha!
I think if I had to only use three products for the rest of my life it would have to be:
1. My Holika Holika Clearing BB cream
2. Anastasia Dipbrow pomade
3. Milani Luminoso blush
As long as my skin and my brows look good all is right in the world!