Hello IMPO readers and
subscribers! I wanted to let you in on some very exciting news that our very
own Melissa Street has been keeping secret until recently.
Melissa and her very good
friend and professional colleague, Kim Greene, have combined forces to form a
new company called Greene Street Beauty. This duo brings 40 years of experience in
the beauty industry to consumers, students and professionals via YouTube,
Facebook,
Twitter
and other social media outlets.
Currently, Greene
Street Beauty is “under
construction” while forming their first beauty app for both the iPhone and
Android, which will be available in 2013. In the meantime, these ladies are
bringing their knowledge of the film and television industry, proper makeup
application, as well as providing support to students by filming tutorials and
how-to videos for their YouTube Channel.
In order to get the word
out about this new venture, Greene Street Beauty is running a
contest on their YouTube Channel right now for all subscribers – please see the
video below and make sure to subscribe in order to be entered! Also, make sure
to “Like” their Facebook page because a
little bird told me that another contest is forming over there too!
But, let’s give you a
little bit of background info on both Melissa and Kim, just in case you are
scratching your heads and asking yourself, “Who
are these ladies?”
Melissa Street has been a freelance makeup and FX artist in the
film, television, print and live event industry for the past 20 years. She attended
the acclaimed makeup school, Joe Blasco in Los Angeles, California, and as luck
would have it she would be mentored by the late, great Stan Winston, who gave
her the opportunity to apprentice in his lab and help out on some big blockbuster
movies that became iconic films – Terminator,
Aliens and Invaders from Mars!
In 1992 Melissa moved to
Las Vegas, Nevada where she worked on several live shows at the MGM Grand and
Monte Carlo Hotels, as well as other live productions and music videos. There
she met an amazing makeup artist, Jim Sacca, who took Melissa under his wing
and helped form her career by giving her the opportunity to work with the
incredible James Earl Jones.
In 2001, she relocated
back to Southern California and began to form and build relationships within
the freelance production community. Melissa would spend the next 12 years
working hard to expand her business Epic Makeup, which now serves clients such
as NBC, CNN, CBS, Food Network, Telemundo, E!News, ESPN, HBO and Comcast to name just a few.
She has worked with
celebrities from Ron Howard, Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Rock, Jeff Bridges and Suzanne
Somers to famous musicians like Carlos Santana, Foreigner, Kenny Loggins and
Chris Ledoux to comics like Carrot Top and Louie Anderson.
Currently, Melissa works
on national and local commercials, non-union films and television shows,
YouTube web series, industrials, corporate videos, news media productions and live theater. She
also co-owns InPoint Productions, owns and writes for this blog, as well as
her industry blog, Epic Makeup and she has her own personal YouTube Channel.
Kim Greene is first and foremost a “filmmaker!” She has been Union Makeup Department Head on some of
the biggest and most memorable films of the century, including Terminator Salvation, Anchorman, Superbad, Charlie’s Angels,
The Wedding Singer, Scream 4, The Three Stooges, The Green
Hornet, This is 40 and the soon
to be released Identity Thief, to
name just a few.
Her IMDB credits read like a “who’s who” in the film industry and she
has been a personal makeup artist to Woody Harrelson, Drew Barrymore, Christina
Applegate and Neve Campbell.
Kim began her career by
studying under Vincent Kehoe, who was among one of the best makeup artists of
his time, as well as an author and teacher. Mr. Kehoe would help Kim
development the foundation for her skill set and prepare her for a tremendously
successful makeup career. She would then move forward to meeting and working
directly with Ron Berkley, who was so impressed with her that he brought her on
to the Black and White music video
set with Michael Jackson.
Kim is also an innovative
entrepreneur and developed a very successful line of cosmetic bags both for the
professional and consumer. The Kim Greene Line was originally formed
because she realized there was a need within the professional makeup artist
community for sturdy, easy to clean and comfortable to wear set and actor bags
used to store and transport makeup from the trailer to the set for touch ups
during filming.
There was nothing available
at the time that wasn’t heavy, canvas and dark, which when you combine those
three elements make it difficult for an artist to find the makeup or tools that
they need efficiently. She became so frustrated with the bags that were on the
market that she set out to change the standards.
Today, almost every
professional makeup artist in the film and television industry uses The Kim Greene Line of bags at work everyday and they have helped many
other Department Head’s keep organized even on the most hectic sets, like American Idol! Her bag line is great for travel and can easily fit inside your carryon luggage and because the bags are "clear" passing through TSA with those 3 ounce liquid bottles is a breeze!
When Kim is not on a film
or television set, she teaches at professional makeup schools, writes
incredibly informative blog posts on Kim Greene’s Tips from the Set and
films tutorials for her personal YouTube Channel. She has also been a
guest judge on season 2 of the SyFy Network’s makeup artist show, FaceOff, hosted by McKenzie Westmore.
So as you can see, these
two are really the Dynamic Duo of the
makeup world (I’m just not sure which one is Batman and which one is Robin).
Together they hope that their passion to educate the public about the beauty industry is welcomed with open arms.
I hope that you take the
time and opportunity to subscribe to their YouTube Channel, interact by sending
them a comment, suggestion or question and “Like”
their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter. They are always
willing to reach out and answer your most pressing beauty questions and help
ease your frustrations, so give then a shout!
