TVISUAL: November 2017

GIVING GOOD FACE : LYNDA DLM

Visuals by Terrance

Written by Anastasia Tomkin

Lynda speaks in parables. And each little quip is more quirky, more hilarious than the last as she settles into our interview after a long, tiring day of beating faces for a wedding. She tells me that while people love the glitz and glam of makeup, what they see is the finished product, not the hours of planning and preparing and perfecting that goes into the art.

Case in point: at the wedding, she had to plan ahead. Anticipating hours of traveling from her home town Arima to San Fernando, she decided to sleep over at her sister’s instead. Then, with only a few hours to do 6 faces, she had to time herself an hour and 15 minutes max per face, working on her feet the whole time without the proper high chair …

“It’s hard work, people see the lashes and the glam and they like it, but then it’s just makeup so they don’t want to pay. And they don’t see how much work goes into it.”

Ms De La Mothe was always very artsy, drawn to colors and painting. She grew up with a lot of mischievous cousins and found herself getting into trouble right along with them. Soon she started liming by herself, reading and watching movies, before she stumbled upon the treasure trove of makeup tutorials otherwise known as YouTube.

“I think the first makeup tutorial that I watched was a Krispy video on how to do eyebrows. This bitch had horrible lighting, she had the ugliest yellow light, she was still trimming she eyebrows with a big paper scissors, and I was like omg I could do this, this is so simple, but it looks so effective, her entire face came through when she did it.”

She became obsessed with makeup ever after, and the hunt began for affordable makeup. Searching far and wide, she soon found the perfect ELF makeup palette with 144 colors, and she went “This is it! This is the shit!” That same Christmas, her friend Chanel gifted her the set. (Awww.)

“I stole my elder sister’s primer, she had a white Ambrosia primer, and that changed my life! I was like oh my gosh look at pigment! Color you can actually see!”

A new brush set came next, then her cousin became her first practice face. Every Sunday after church, they would eat lunch and go into her room to do different makeup looks. Soon everybody wanted Lynda to work her magic on their face.

Having no real favorite in terms of makeup artists, she admires anyone who takes the craft seriously, such as The Kate Project, Mario Francis, Alanna Villarule to name a few.

“I never compare myself to anyone, ya know ya girl long time, I ain’t in competition with nobody.If it takes me 5 years to reach where someone else reached in one and a half, God bless you but I’m on my own journey.”

And she admits that the journey isn’t a bed of roses. Like many of us, Lynda sometimes skeptical while building her brand - her capabilities, limitations, the saturation of the industry - all these fears surface from time to time. However, a little pep talk and a lot of love from her family and friends usually does the trick.

“Sometimes I be doubting myself and I be like, “Lynda, Lynda, shut up, shut up, you can do it. I turn it over and start to focus on everything I’ve done...to just trust in myself and just trust in my craft.”

When asked if she’ll be doing any of those crazy makeup videos with squiggly brows or dabbing on foundation with a chicken nugget ( this exists), she tells me that she’s not very big on the silly trends, it’s all about client satisfaction over fads and views.

“This is my craft, and I’m not doing it for social media, I’m actually doing it because I want people to feel confident in their look, and to be able to give somebody that smile that you see when you look in the mirror...that “WOW”...they ain’t gonna say no wow for no squiggly brows and chicken nuggets.”

Although she’s a self-proclaimed “cake face”, she believes that makeup shouldn’t drastically change your appearance, but rather enhance it.

“I’m not going to contour you a new nose, we gonna thank God for the nose you have, and I’ll cut (define) your cheek, but we not cutting it to the sky…”

Visual by Terrance, Wearing Afrodisiac Boutique starring Lynda DLM

In her early days of university she used to wear makeup everyday, but when she realised a dependency to the point where she did not feel pretty without it, she went bare faced for 6 months, renewing her appreciation for her natural beauty.

“I love a natural face, the way God made you, but ain’t nothing like a pair of lashes and a contour, yuh understand? Love yourself, be in love with yourself....but don’t be afraid to put on a lil powder, don’t be afraid to cake it up, put some glitter on them eyelids...it’s makeup, it washes off...and anybody who tells you that you’re wearing too much makeup, tell them mind your own business!”

So that’s Lynda in a nutshell. Delightfully blunt and incredibly strong-willed, she credits God for taking her through the storms of life and equipping her with the courage to pursue her dreams.