MEET AMERICAN CELEBRITY MAKE UP ARTISTE, THOMAS DYE

Thomas Dye is a 47years old American celebrity make-up artist who has worked with a lot of American superstars like Tony Braxton, Beyonce Knowles, Alicia Keys, recording artistes’ Destiny's Child, supermodel Iman, and at Christian Dior and Dolce & Gabbana runway shows. He was raised in Columbus Ohio, USA and lived in Atlanta Georgia, USA for 23 years he moved out to Las Vegas to work with Tony Braxton on her show and moved back to Atlanta when the show was over. When he got back, he decided he needed to do something more, since he has accomplished everything that he wanted to do, so he sought to make himself known internationally. His first stop was Ghana and now he is in Nigeria as the International makeup artist of the Iman cosmetics line In this exclusive interview with BUNMI ODUNOWO he spoke on his project in Nigeria, his plans to work with Miss Nigeria beauty pageant and the high point of his career working with Oprah Winfrey on her show as a makeup assistant of Reggie Wells, Oprah Winfrey’s long-time makeup artist.

What do you do basically?
I’m an international make up artist, my name is Thomas Dye, I do celebrities, I do fashion shows, I do concerts, I do big events and I’m looking to work with Miss Nigeria while I’m in the country I want to make contact with her so when Miss Nigeria Pageant comes up, I’ll be able to work with them.

For how long have you been in the business?
I’ve been a makeup artist for almost 14 years


How did you start the makeup business and what were you doing before then?
Before I started makeup, I was working with Delta airlines, in corporate America, I decided that I wanted to change my career and do something different than working in corporate America.

So why did you choose makeup

I chose makeup because I was an artist doing drawings as a kid so I knew how to draw. So I met one of the ladies that I used to date who was a makeup artist for Revlon and I went to California to help her do an award called the Soul Train awards. So the flight of three of her makeup artists got cancelled so they couldn’t get out there and she needed help immediately so she taught me how to do makeup in the hotel room for the weekend to help her out and once I learned it I realized I had a passion to do something different and I learnt how to do it, that was around ‘95 or ’94 or somewhere around it. And ever since then I’ve been doing it non stop as a career

What’s your experience been like so far?
It’s been wonderful over my 14 years, I’ve covered the Caribbean’s the United States, now I’m here, I’ve been to Ghana now I’m here in Nigeria.

So what’s the deal with Ghana?
In Ghana I worked with the biggest modeling agency Exopa, we did a photo shoot and we did the mass graduation and I’m going back on the 24th to do a fashion show.

Why are you in Nigeria?
I’m in Nigeria as a representative of Iman cosmetics and since she is a co-sponsor of the Face of Africa and the finale is here in February and I’m here to represent the line and introduce the line to more people and get people to understand the colours that Iman offers which is for women of colours.


Why were you chosen by Iman?
Em... because I was coming to the country, I was going to Ghana and she asked me if I could go to other parts of Africa to teach people and get them to understand Iman cosmetics and I knew Michael and his wife Yinka Bodyline were here as distributors of Iman cosmetics and I came to connect with them to spread the word about Iman cosmetics and Face Of Africa coming here in February.

While here, are you going to run makeup classes for interested people?
Yeah, I came to train people here, we are going to recruit people through Michael and to train distributors on the brand, and anybody else who wants to know about the brand.

What’s particularly unique about Iman cosmetics?
Iman cosmetics is a true cosmetic line for women of colour, it has 14 different colours and ranges so it goes form the darkest person right to the lightest person and the colours are true to colour, the undertones are beautiful undertones of women of colour. You don’t have to mix 4 or 5 different colours to get your skin tone you can find one colour in Iman and the line has been around for years. You know Iman is from the continent, she’s from Africa so she’s bringing her line back to her home, her people and making it affordable to people to wear her brand. I really want everybody to know Iman’s cosmetics, because it’s a line and it’s a brand that is universally wide. I want it to be the number one brand in the country.

What’s your favourite Iman product?
My favourite products in Iman are the bronzers and the luminous foundation because they have gold particles in them, so you could just dust it on your skin and give your skin a nice glowing look without caking your skin with a lot of foundation. Bronzers are always gorgeous because here in Africa you just dust your skin with the bronzer and it gives you a gorgeous look without putting a whole lot on and it is the perfect thing for people who don’t love to wear a lot of foundation

Apart from Iman cosmetics, who else have you worked for?
I’ve worked on the Oprah Winfrey show, Oprah’s makeup artist’s name is Reggie Wells and I worked as his assistant and I’ve done women on her show with him, I’ve worked with Destiny Child on their House of Blues tour, I’ve worked with Kym Whitley the actress, I’ve worked with a lot of celebrities and there are a bunch of names, Alicia Keys on one tour, I worked on one of her shows and a whole lot of other people.

What’s been your highest moment in the course of your career?
My highest moment was working has probably been working on the Oprah Winfrey show, I think that’s my highest achievement because that’s global. It’s my greatest achievement working on the richest black woman in the world’s show.

You work with women all the time, especially celebrities. How do you cope with their mood swings and occasional tantrums?
Laughs, I keep my mouth shut and I listen and let them speak because they are speaking for a reason, I really don’t voice my opinion because if they are talking to me, they are talking because they want to talk about something, I just listen be a kind ear and just speak when necessary, dealing with women there are so many different types of personalities, so you have to treat each individual separately. My philosophy is I’m quiet until they ask me their opinion and when they ask me their opinion that’s when I speak out.

Why are you still single?
It’s hard to be married when you are in my profession because for instance, like this venture that I’m doing now, if you tell somebody your going away for a month or more, they might have plans, like now I’m going to miss Christmas, I missed thanksgiving, that’s hard to deal with when you are in a relationship or marriage because they want you there with them and it causes lots of problems.


You are a man in a woman’s business people view men like you as being probably gay, can we say that about you?
In the United States too they think that way, the perception is the same. I get that all the time there too, because make up artists there that are men are gay. I have that exception of being a straight guy doing make up, which is a benefit because most women want a make up artist who is straight because they are so used to gays so when they see I’m straight, the immediately gravitate towards me so it’s a benefit to be a heterosexual person doing makeup.

How do you ward of advances from women mostly your clients who would love to date you?
Easy, “not interested” laughs. In my career you just don’t have the time to put that into you, so if I don’t get you 100% then I’m not going to give you anything. A real woman would understand that. That’s how I’ve been for the last 10 years. When I first got into the industry, it was flattering but then you start realizing you can’t mix business with pleasure because they would cross out each other

You’ve worked your entire career with black Americans and this would be your first time with full African women, is there any noticeable difference in the skin tones?
The only difference I see is that there’s more rich colour, darkness in African skin, I’ve worked with a couple of African’s in the united state and they had good skins but seeing all the different colours of skins gave me more awareness of what true African skin really is . I love deep dark chocolate skin I don’t see that there, you have to search for a needle in a haystack to find a true dark sister like that, but here it’s like a playground and every time I see on I just go like “Oh my God look at her skin” I just want to work with that skin so I’m happy to be here because I can work with so many ranges of skin tones.

So what do you think of the Nigerian women, at least you’ve met a few of them?
You’re right, I’ve met some of them, I think Nigerian women are very beautiful people, they are lovely, they are happy, bubbly and aggressive, their skin is beautiful, the ones I’ve met take care good care of their skin and the really like fashion and that’s really impressive to me because I love woman who really takes care of her skin and her fashion.


Is Iman herself going to be here for the finale of the Face of Africa?
Yes, she will be here in February.

Did you undergo some kind of training yourself?
Yes with Joe Blasco in Las Vegas, I took some online classes with Mac but I’m mostly self taught and picked up things to help me build my business.


Can you compare Iman to other big brands like Mary Kay?
Those brands are a white line, and they don’t perfectly fit the black skin. black women in America spend almost two billion dollars per year on cosmetics, most lines saw this and started going after that black dollar by taking powder and putting it in the white powder, they didn’t make any new powder, they try to darken it so they can sell it to us but it doesn’t fit us. Iman is true colour, it’s made with brown powder its chemically organic made to fit our skin tone, there’s no colour added to it, it’s true to colour and it fits everybody