Porche Cooper
The editorial makeup artist who believes in everyday glamour.
Written by LAURA REGENSDORF
“‘Look better, feel better’—I don’t think that’s just some silly quote,” says the makeup artist Porsche Cooper, who divides her time between Los Angeles, Paris, and New York. “I’m so committed, every time I step out the door, to looking like myself.” That means an omnipresent red lip and a calligraphic cat eye, usually done in a few minutes flat. In Cooper’s on-the-go life, including recent press tours with her clients Andra Day and Niecy Nash-Betts, efficiency and glamour go hand in hand.
The Texas native had an early introduction to the performance of beauty. “The women in Dallas love to put themselves together from head to toe,” Cooper says, citing her mother as the definitive inspiration. “She has given me such an appreciation for the art of getting ready for the day.” That inherited wisdom extends to a fundamental love of skin care—because the quality of the canvas affects the artistry on top—and a belief in putting special-occasion niceties to everyday use. “I don't believe in saving it for later,” she says of a philosophy that extends to the gift-worthy picks in her expertly edited BAG. “You should enjoy what you have in the present moment.”