Art

Sharbel Hasbany | Inside Beirut’s Beauty Industry

By JDEED Team | 13 July 2018

JDEED sat down with Lebanese Make-Up artist Sharbel Hasbany to know more about him and his work but also to get his insights on the beauty industry in Lebanon.

Photography/Bachar Srour

Beauty/ Sharbel Hasbany

Styling/ Cynthia Jreige

Model/ Maria Valerievna

Can you tell us how you got into the make up industry?

I have been in the industry for more than four years now. I learned the make-up artist job at a French accredited atelier where we focused more on theatrical make up. How did I find out I wanted to do make-up? I’ve been attracted to make-up ever since I was a kid. I loved playing around with it and trying it on myself at home. I never knew I could do this for a living. I realized that I was very comfortable coloring things, creating color gradients. I love colors, I try to look for them everywhere around me. When I went to college, I started a media/advertising degree, but didn’t really like it. I told my parents that becoming make-up artist is what I wanted to do. They weren’t supportive at first, asking me how I was going to make a living out of it…but they accepted eventually and helped me get into make-up school. Personally, I always think about the future, I don’t like to be settled in one place. I thought that the make-up artist life would help me achieve that. It is a fun job where you can create a lot of beautiful things. You don’t need to please everyone to make it. Always be true to your style.

What can you tell us about the make up industry in Lebanon?

Lebanese people are always afraid to lose their jobs and not to make any money, this is all due of course to the rotten economic situation in the country with the rise of unemployment. This creates a lot of tensions and competition between make-up artists. No one is willing to help each other.

What do you do when someone asks you to create a “natural” look?

Usually people come up to me with a picture of a look that I’ve already created. What I try to explain is that we cannot use the same look for different faces. I always return to earthy tones or peachy tones. It also depends on your features, if you have a larger face or bigger eyes, I will have to shape them differently.

What is your style, your signature?

I used to enjoy doing theatrical looks. But with time I found my signature. It took me around two years to create my identity. I was lucky to find mine relatively quickly. The main idea revolves around the way I use flashy colors in a very subtle way. For example I love the corner of the eye, it is always a good spot to add a surprising color. As well as the waterline. I try to steer away from basic black and brown looks. And let’s not forget the greatest invention: the highlighter. It helps embrace every face’s shape.

Who is your dream client?

I would LOVE to do Bella Hadid’s makeup, her skin is amazing. It’s the perfect canvas.

I like Natasha Poly too. Oh and Coco Rocha.

Did you ever have a bad experience with a client?

Once, I got kicked out from a set in India under the pretense that I was very slow. What happened that day is that I started doing the make-up for an editorial of a very popular shop (that I won’t mention), and when I completed the looks, the models were sent back by the photographer because “it was not the image he had in mind”. After several attempts at adapting to his vision, the models kept coming back to us. They didn’t like the hairstylist’s work either and sent him home immediately. I was shocked. My agency called me in the middle of the shoot and told me to pack my bags. They told her that I was slow and unfit for the job.

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