Celebrity Makeup Artist Sir John on Working with Beyoncé, His Favourite Products and the Best Makeup Tricks

He's part of Beyoncé's entourage and is one of the most sought-after editorial and celebrity makeup artists. He trained with Charlotte Tilbury and Pat McGrath. He's an ambassador for L'Oréal Paris, and in 2016, was crowned InStyle's Makeup Artist of the Year.

You'd think all that success would go to Sir John's head, but I've gotta say—he is one of the most down-to-earth and genuine people that I've ever had the pleasure of interviewing. 

Let's get one thing out of the way first. The name on his birth certificate really IS Sir John (last name Barnett). ("I've had to explain my name every single day for the last 33 years," he told Fashionista in 2015.) As one of the few artists who straddle both the fashion and celebrity worlds, he lives up to that title, and more. 

Thanks to L'Oréal Paris, I got to sit down with New York-based Sir John when he was in Toronto last month—and found out how he got started, his favourite makeup tricks, and what it's like to work with so many famous faces. I hope you love him as much as I do!

How would you describe your aesthetic?

I love glamour. But I like a minimalist approach to glamour. With some people, it's very Jersey, Long Island—like excess, excess, excess—whereas it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. 

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I feel like glamour is any kind of aspirational quality in a look. Someone should want to wear what you have on. Just like they want to wear your dress or your haircut, they should want your eyeshadow or your lipstick. 

I love symmetry, I love contrasting visuals. Anything that is visually arresting and not too busy on the eyes. 

What type of makeup do you think you're known for?

I think I'm known for skin, so they say. A lot of makeup artists, they're not necessarily well-versed in [working with] different complexions. But when you're a makeup artist or a hairstylist in 2017, you're like a doctor. When someone goes to a hospital, they don't necessarily say, "Oh, I don't know if I can work on that kind of body type" or whatever. No, they just go to work. 

In this multi-culti world we live in, you should really know how to deal with every hair texture, every complexion, and not even think about it. Everything else is the icing on the cake. If I can give someone a beautiful complexion, everything else is going to look so much better. The lip will be more impactful, her eyes will be easier to do. Skin is the basis for everything.

So that would be my look, I think. That or using one colour to give a sense of impact. For example, that Met Ball purple lip back when no one was wearing purple. It's that one statement—having that one thing that adds an exclamation point to your look. 

I think many women can relate to that, because when we look at social media and we look at makeup trends, there's a lot going on. But if you can take just one thing—your eye or lip, or even your skin—you can make it the focus.

Also, I want whoever I'm working with to turn heads a bit. It's not popular to say this nowadays, but that doesn't always come from doing more. That doesn't always come from the extra contouring and lashes. It can actually come from pulling back. In a sea of everyone who is wearing short, tight dresses, it's actually refreshing to see a woman who has a dress that's long. Or when everyone's wearing big hair, wear a top knot. It's that contrast.

Who are some of your most famous clients?

Well, we have Beyoncé, but we also have Joan [Smalls], we have Karlie [Kloss], we have Chrissy Teigen, Viola Davis, Serena Williams, Liya Kebede...

Do you prefer doing editorial or red carpet?

I prefer editorial. I like to be on set. I like being under good light. I'm not a fan of music videos at all—I don't like the hours. It's too much time commitment for me. I've been on video sets for 17, 18, 22 hours. At that point, you're just like, riding on fumes.

Is it more fun working on celebrities or models?

The world I live in is more model-based, not celebrity. Celebrity is very Los Angeles. The work we do that's creative is never on celebrities, because celebrities have a formula they like to stick to. They are very safe. Celebrities are very much like, "I can't do that because that's this person's look." They have a formula they don't move in and out of. But models are like, "Bring on the looks, bring on the looks." 

Which makeup looks are you most proud of? 

My favourite look would probably be something I did on Joan. Any of the work I do on Joan is when I get to really, really have fun. I loved the blue smoky eyes I did for the CFDA Awards a couple years ago. 

I loved the Vogue Mexico cover we did. And Joan and I did a video for this website called Nowness with this videographer named Barnaby Roper. That was one of my favourite jobs to date. 

How do you change your approach when you're on set versus something like a concert? 

If you look at Bey for example, concert makeup is completely different from editorial. If you look at her Elle cover, it's so soft and subtle. There's a freshness that we wanted to keep, to make her look youthful. 

On stage, in concert, we go all out. We just go for it. I don't have the liberty of doing that editorially because those photos are going to live forever. She's like, "I want to be fresh-faced, I want to be young." So I say, "Okay." But in shows, I have to do more of a look because she's dancing, she's moving, she's sweating and we need more lip, we need more cheek.

What is Beyoncé's favourite makeup look?

She loves a statement lip. She's a girl who loves lips and minimal eyes. She's not really a huge fan of eyeshadow. So whenever we do an eye look, you can tell that I convinced her to do it. I gave her a glossy lid for a video that we were doing maybe four or five years ago, and she's been obsessed ever since. Sometimes, she'll even do it herself. She'll be front row at a game with her husband, and she'll be like, "Look what I did, I did it myself!" 

I love that she tries. She's actually a really good makeup artist. Her and Joan. Joan is so good at makeup. You have to realize that these woman are photographed every single day for years, so they know makeup better than most makeup artists.

What was your inspiration for Beyoncé's Met Gala makeup that upset so many of her fans?

They hated me! Riccardo Tisci, who is the designer for Givenchy, sent me a picture and was like, "Hey, listen, I want it to be like this." It was this runway look of Kate Moss in the '90s at a Gucci show. The whole eye was covered in this dark colour. So Bey and I were like, "Let's make it more graphic." But the pictures on the red carpet are different from the pictures at nighttime. Daylight pictures don't capture the essence like nighttime pictures do.

Long story short, she was happy. I saw her the next day and I thought she was going to be so upset with me. She was like, "Babe, I felt good. I liked it." And I liked it, so that was it. The 'Fashion Police' and all these other people were very, very happy. But Instagram makeup artists were all, "We need to find him and obliterate him!" It was a little intense. 

How much time do you usually have to do the makeup?

I usually have anywhere between 11 minutes to about 40 minutes. You're supposed to be really, really quick.

I'm going to tell you how I got my speed down. When I started doing makeup, I was working for Charlotte Tilbury during the daytime. But I needed money. I had a friend who was a makeup artist at MAC. One day, she's like, "Hey, listen, I'm working at a strip club in Queens. Can you come to the strip club and do some makeup with me?" I'm like, "Uh..." She's like, "It will be cash in your pocket every night." "Alright, I'm in!"

So I started doing makeup at a strip club on these girls, and this is how I got really quick. I met some really amazing women who happened to be in bad situations. So, it was just part of the journey.

How did you first get into makeup?

I got into makeup completely by accident. I didn't set out to be a makeup artist at all. I was in school for arts since I was six years old. What happened was I was at a photo shoot for a friend of mine who was a model. I only did [her makeup] because the makeup artist had cancelled on her. She was like, "I want to do this job. Can you do this for me?" Then the photographer asked me to come back the next week and do the same face. 

And so I started working at MAC Cosmetics when I was very young. Like, 18. I got fired from MAC at 23 for being late. Then I started to do windows for Barneys and Bergdorf, and I was the men's merchandiser for Gucci for a while. I didn't do makeup at all for a couple years. I didn't even hold a brush for like, three years.

How did you make the leap to assisting top makeup artists?

A makeup artist I had worked with—we were buddies at MAC when we were very young—asked me, "Can you come to this show with Pat McGrath?" So I met Pat at the show. I didn't have anything to lose. I'm like, okay, whatever. Then she asked me if I was going to be in Europe at the Italian shows maybe a week later. So I said, "Hey, yeah, I'm going to be there. Sure, I'll be there." Mind you, I had no passport. I had no way of getting there. And not enough money to get there and stay there! 

But I made it work, and I met her there in Italy. We went to Dolce. After Dolce, she took me to Prada, and then Blumarine, Versace, and all these other Italian shows. I did 70 shows that season with her. 

How did you start working with celebrities?

That week in New York before I left, I also met Naomi [Campbell] backstage at one of the shows. Everyone was like, "Don't talk to her, leave her alone!" But I'm like, "Well, listen, I got this far, whatever." So I went and talked to her. She brushed me off. But she saw me at the shows in Italy and was like, "Oh, can you come to my hotel and do my makeup before this event?"

So I went to her hotel. Mind you, she broke me in. [laughs] But everything happened for a reason. With me, what you see is what you get. I'm this guy all the time, and you're either going to like it or you're not. Hopefully you like it. So it just worked.

When did you meet Beyoncé?

I met Beyoncé later on, when I started working for Charlotte. Back then, Bey was actually with a really great makeup artist. I did the best I could do; I just let it go, and I didn't hear from her for like, a year. In that time, I keep working, I keep assisting, I keep doing my thing.

Then I got a phone call from Parkwood offices. Parkwood is her company. I thought it was the IRS. I didn't know what was happening. Why was I being summoned to this company? [laughs] Basically, they asked me to sign a contract for a couple years to go on tour with her, to do videos and that kind of thing. The confidentiality agreement was like, so thick. Then I said, okay, I need an agent, I need a lawyer, I need all these things. 

Bey's been great and I've met some other really amazing clients. Serena Williams is awesome. She's one of the loveliest people I've ever met. 

Since you signed a confidentiality agreement with Beyoncé... what was it like working with Pat and Charlotte?

Finding a team that worked for me, which happened to be the Charlotte team, was crucial early on. I did appreciate the intensity and the "go, go, go" environment that Pat's team offered. And also the knowing that every job we did influenced the market. I said to myself, "This is a great place to learn a trend or technique. This is a great place to score a few stamps on my passport." But I found Charlotte Tilbury more my speed.