INTRODUCTION;

Hi Everyone,

My name is Julio Sandino, and I am a make up artist based in NYC.  I've been living in NYC for quite some time now, since 1992.
Before I live in this magnificent city, I lived in South Beach.  But not the South Beach that we know today, but the one from the late 80's when Ocean Drive was nothing but older people, sitting in fold out chairs in old abandoned looking art deco buildings.  My parents used to call it The Cotton fields, because of all the white hair going on.  LOL
Early 90's there was a huge movement in South Beach.  The elderly got kicked out of their apartments, and those buildings were remodeled into  a colorful strip.  Full of restaurants, shops and oh, modeling agencies.
That's when my interest in the fashion industry started.  I met a group of talented kids from Montreal, who actually made a living on putting make up and dressing gorgeous models for photo shoots.  This was the early era of the supermodels, (Linda, Naomi, and Cristy).  There was no Kate yet or Claudia.
I couldn't believe people made a good living and got to travel for doing this. I was very intrigued.
I was 20 years old when I flew to Paris with $5 dollars in my pocket to visit a boyfriend who had many other boyfriends, but that's another story of its own.  The reason I mention this, is because on my way back to the states from europe, I had a lay over in NYC, were I met a friend of mine from Miami and took me for the first time to a night club that would change my life and view of New York.  This legendary night club was called the Sound Factory, and many of you who live in NYC in the early 90's will know what I'm talking about.  It was a gathering of creative people with fabulous costumes, make up and hair.  A mix of trannies, body builders, banjees, latins, whites, blacks... you name it.  It was a soup of glamour and house music that I had never experience before anywhere else.
Needless to say, that night changed my life.  I went back to Miami, packed a bag, sold the little things i had in my south beach studio apartment, (including a vcr  that I rented from Blockbuster videos)  Oops!
"Hope i dont get arrested for saying that", and moved to NYC with $300 dollars in my pocket and a head full of dreams to be involved in the fashion industry.
I began my career in fashion as an assistant fashion stylist.  If you dont know what that means, dont feel bad, my mom didnt understand either, that someone will pay you money to put clothes on them.  She would say, "you put clothes on people?, cant they put the clothes on their own?"  Good point!  :^)
My first job was assistant Santiago, a well known fashion stylist who gave me my big break in the industry.  We worked together in fund raisers, catalog work, editorial, and television show.  One TV show you may know with John Leguizamo called "House of Bugging".
This is were my love of being a stylist came to an end.  Is not as glamorous as people think it is.  Is a lot of borrowing clothes from designer showrooms, picking them up, taking a cab, putting them up in racks, steaming them, removing and putting back labels, and shopping and returning clothes in different stores during your days off.  Needless to say, I was over it!
But this was just my stepping stone to my introduction to the world of cosmetics without me even knowing it.  I made connections while working in fashion and one day out of the blue, i received a phone call that would change my career from stylist to make up artist.  It was Kate S who first call me to inform me, that world renown make up artist of the stars, Francois Nars, was starting a make up line with 12 lipstick out of Barney's New York and if I would be interested to be a make up artist.
This puzzled me, because I was not a make up artist but a stylist, so when I presented the obvious to Kate, she said not to worry, to come to her place on a Sunday afternoon, were she had all her make up lied out and said, "you see this, this is foundation, put it all over my face. See this, is concealer, put it under my eyes... This when on and on, until I finished all the steps.  Then she said, "see, now you're a make up artist, you can start tomorrow."
So I began to work from Barney's New York on 59 street as a make up consultant at Nars cosmetics.
I practiced every day on a different subject and this gave me the confidence to start assisting Francois for backstage shows such as Versace, Dolce & Gabbanna, Miu Miu, Marc Jacobs, etc...
After one year, I started traveling for the company as a trainer and stylist nationwide and soon enough, I became international traveling to europe, London, Paris, and Germany.
Needless to say, this has been a wonderful journey til this day, were I continue to travel for Nars on a freelance basis.  I also work in NYC as a freelance make up artist for all types of occasions like editorial, catalog, music videos, red carpet, weddings, etc...  www.juliosandino.com
I would like this blog to be about make up and how it influences different cultures world wide.  I get to travel to different continents and experience multiple types of cultures and want to share this with all of you.  You'll also get to experience my love for photography of the different cities I visit.