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How Erin Parsons Got Started in Makeup

Erin Parsons developed her makeup skills through self-directed study and ten years in cosmetics retail before moving to New York to pursue assisting work.
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Erin Parsons began by experimenting with makeup in her small Ohio hometown, then built practical skills in cosmetics retail before moving to New York in 2008 to pursue assisting work. Her path led from makeup-counter customers to assisting established artists, including Pat McGrath, and eventually to working independently.

What first drew Erin Parsons to makeup?

Growing up in Ohio, Parsons became absorbed in makeup and old movies. She was drawn to makeup as a way to transform a face and create a character, rather than describing a single formal-school credential as the starting point of her career. In an interview with British Vogue, she recalled the influence of glamour and said, “The way she used make-up inspired me because I knew it could create a character.”

She developed her eye through self-directed study, including years spent copying looks from Kevyn Aucoin’s makeup books. The Vogue interview does not identify a particular title, so her early learning is best understood as sustained practice with beauty imagery and books, not a specific named course.

How did she turn practice into professional experience?

Parsons moved from practicing on her own to working with customers at cosmetics counters. She described spending ten years in cosmetics retail, first at Lancôme and then M.A.C.; the counter work gave her repeated hands-on experience applying makeup to different people. Daily Front Row’s 2017 interview records her account of that retail period, while Vogue also describes her Lancôme counter experience.

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That customer-facing stage was a bridge between self-directed learning and backstage work: it meant applying skills in real interactions, while she continued building toward a career as an artist.

How did Parsons get from a makeup counter to assisting Pat McGrath?

In 2008, Parsons moved to New York to look for assisting opportunities and build a portfolio. She recalled carrying her kit on the subway as she pursued work. “Finally, I decided to move to New York in 2008 with a dime in my pocket and a dream in my head, and it was not easy!” she told Daily Front Row.

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Her early assisting included work with Gucci Westman and Mark Carrasquillo. About three months after arriving, she joined Pat McGrath’s team, according to that interview. Parsons later described working with McGrath for about six years before leaving when she felt she had learned what she could and had gained confidence.

A later NYLON profile describes seven years of full-time work with McGrath and says Parsons went out on her own in early 2016. The accounts differ slightly on the duration, so the safest description is that she spent roughly six to seven years working with McGrath before becoming independent.

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What came next in her career?

In 2017, Maybelline appointed Parsons its global makeup artist, a notable milestone in her career. The appointment was reported by the Los Angeles Times. That announcement establishes her role at the time; it does not, on its own, confirm her current professional position.

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What aspiring makeup artists can take from her route

Parsons’s account shows a progression built across several kinds of experience rather than one leap into high-profile work:

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  • Study independently: Practice with images and books can help develop observation and technique.
  • Work on real people: Cosmetics-counter experience gave her repeated customer-facing practice.
  • Build a portfolio and seek assisting work: She moved to New York with those goals and pursued established artists.
  • Learn through collaboration: Assisting provided a route into demanding professional settings and mentorship.
  • Move toward independence: Parsons left McGrath’s team after gaining experience and confidence.

Her story is an individual career account, not a guarantee that the same sequence or city will suit every artist. Its clearest lesson is the value of combining deliberate practice with practical experience and persistence in seeking opportunities.

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