For VIOLET GREY makeup artist Jamie Keller, beauty was a true vocation. “I had always wanted a feel-good job, and makeup is so rewarding to me,” she says. Upon graduating from high school in the small town of Tehachapi, California (“It has one stoplight,” Keller deadpans), she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her passion for enhancing clients’ best assets. That, and to be closer to the ocean.
After spending the next nine years working as a makeup artist on fashion editorials and red carpets, Keller joined the VIOLET GREY team in 2015. Patrons at the Melrose Place flagship seek her out for her laid-back California beauty looks and attitude to match. (After a session in Keller’s chair, you’ll probably want to go to the beach with her.) Whether playing up a client’s chiseled bone structure, full and pouty lips, or sharp, defined brows, she specializes in spotlighting their best features in her signature relaxed style.
Appropriately enough, Keller loves to surf, and characterizes her makeup aesthetic as “bronzed and dewy.” She says with a laugh, “I’m a product of my surroundings.” But her ultimate golden goddess inspiration is not of the surfer variety, but rather a Bronx-born music megastar. “I’m obsessed with Jennifer Lopez,” she confirms. “Her beauty is always on point.”