The résumé of New York–based makeup artist Dotti reads like a dermatologist’s wish list: The Aussie native is responsible for Alicia Keys’ lit-from-within glow, Emma Watson’s fresh-scrubbed flush and Cate Blanchett’s age-defying luminescence.

“My obsession with skin borders on Hannibal Lecter territory,” says Dotti, who uses only her surname professionally, with a laugh. “I always need it to look alive, no matter what texture I’m trying to achieve.” Raised on a sugar-cane farm near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Dotti came to makeup by way of the special-effects department, “making body parts and veins and things like that,” she explains. After realizing her preference for beauty over gore, she took an apprenticeship under Richard Sharah, the Australian makeup artist who rose to prominence in the 1970s collaborating with David Bowie. “He was my first great teacher and a true mentor,” she says. She also sought the tutelage of Pat McGrath, enlisting as one of the makeup guru’s Fashion Week assistants for several seasons.In 2006, after years of studying her craft, Dotti landed her first assignment for Italian Vogue. It was the equivalent of graduating with honors. “I had to pinch myself,” she says. “That’s when I realized I’d really made it.”

Today, Dotti’s schedule is a nonstop mix of celebrity appointments, ad campaigns (past clients include Olay and Estée Lauder) and editorial shoots for publications like Vogue and W. To stay balanced and keep stress at bay, she does “loads” of yoga and Pilates and maintains a strict vegan diet. But don’t mistake her healthful lifestyle for a boring one. “I love a good vodka and a night out dancing,” she says. “Trust me.”