Pircilla Pae: Makeup Artist, Shu Uemura : No Rules

With her striking look, dramatic doe eyes, and trendy two-tone hair, it’s hard to imagine that wild makeup artist Pircilla Pae initially planned on becoming a schoolteacher. She escaped her hometown of Huntington Beach and headed to San Francisco to study for a career in education while doing makeup artistry on the side. But eventually she realized she would have to follow her heart, and started doing makeup full time. After three years of freelancing and holding positions at Nars and Becca Cosmetics, Pircilla got offered her dream job: makeup artist at innovative Japanese brand Shu Uemura. “It is an honor to work for Shu,” says Pircilla. “Shu stands for quality and innovation. Mr. Uemura is a true pioneer. I love the whole concept.” She is especially inspired by Shu’s melding together of art, nature, and technology into makeup perfection. Pircilla’s already considerable makeup knowledge and skills are furthered through training sessions led by talented Shu Uemura Education Manager Misumi Kitano.

Pircilla is a self-professed adrenaline junkie, who loves working on fashion shows because of the level of nervous energy. She loves working in the “high-fashion supermodel industry,” even calling it her “guilty pleasure.” But she also enjoys the Zen atmosphere of the Shu Uemura boutique on Fillmore Street, where she and her close-knit group of colleagues specialize in relaxing clients with a soothing skincare ritual before collaborating with them on a unique look. Pircilla herself cultivates a unique look that gets her noticed when she heads out on the town with her friends. “I know cat eyes are super trendy right now, but I have been wearing that forever,” she says. “I’m inspired by ‘40’s pinups, I love red lips.” Indeed, this talented young Korean-American often works on pinup shoots. In addition to the usual fashion shows and boutique clients, Pircilla enjoys having the opportunity to create super dramatic looks for clients in the LGBT community such as Shake! Radio, and work on special effects, such as zombies. “Last shoot was so fun,” says Pircilla, because “after giving the model a pinup look, we decided to play around with a Edie Sedgewick look, with fake lashes and lots of eyeliner. She looked gorgeous, transformed.” The transformative powers of Shu Uemura’s “Tokyo Lash Bar” line of false lashes are what has Pircilla’s creative adrenaline pumping these days. “You can create all different looks with lashes, from avant-garde to classic,” which is perfect, as this makeup artist enjoys working with a variety of clients, from the one who wants to play it safe and merely emphasize a feature, to the wild one who wants to “look like a peacock.” It’s clear that Pircilla enjoys the multitude of opportunities to work both with and outside of Shu Uemura, from the photo shoots and runway shows to weddings, which often include the added bonus of travel. But the absolute best thing about her job, according to Pircilla, is the opportunity for unbounded artistic expression: “With makeup, there’s no limit, no rules, you can really express yourself.”