Name: Merrady Wickes
Known For: Natural skin, effortless makeup, and ethereal smoky eyes
Where to Find Her: The VIOLET GREY flagship on Melrose Place
Years in the Industry: 17
Instagram: @merrady
Beauty Essential: Face oils—specifically, Vintner’s Daughter and African Botanics Neroli Infused Marula Oil
Mentions in The Violet Files: Solutions for Color-Treated Hair, Approved By the Violet Code: African Botanics Marula Skin Repair Balm, Best New Year’s Day Masks, Melrose Place All-Stars

Unlike many of her contemporaries, Merrady Wickes first discovered the transformative power of makeup not through her mother or her three older sisters, but via her dad—specifically, his involvement in the local theater. “His makeup kit was bigger than my mom’s,” the VIOLET GREY makeup artist remembers. As a tomboyish pre-teen, she tagged along to her actor father’s rehearsals at local universities and playhouses, where she was meant to look after the stage animals. But while backstage, she also received an unexpected crash course in prosthetics and old-age makeup from the theater students, thus inspiring her beauty philosophy: Anyone can be anything. 

Wickes spent her teenage years tearing through every beauty book her local libraries had to offer, and landed her first makeup artist gig for an independent film when she was only 15. After several years in the industry, between editorial, beauty counter, film, and TV (she also moonlighted as an indie musician), Wickes learned that her real passion lay in her connection with the woman underneath the rouge. “Anyone can make a 16-year-old model look beautiful,” she says. “I’m interested in the everyday woman and what makes her feel her best.”

After moving to Los Angeles with her husband in 2010, Wickes continued her work as an artist, joining VIOLET GREY in 2014 and managing the Melrose Place flagship. As store director, she spends her days researching organic skincare ingredients, swatching the latest lipstick shade additions, and creating dozens of the “woke-up-like-this” makeup looks that Angelenos crave for her droves of satisfied clients. When not working, Wickes can be found focusing on the other beauties in her life—three rescue terriers she and her husband adopted. “They are my happy thoughts,” she says.