Aaliyah Jay Is a Beauty Powerhouse In The Making
Aaliyah Jay is a 23-year-old beauty and lifestyle powerhouse in the making. If you’ve ever wondered how Aaliyah got started, tips on becoming a make up artist, starting a YouTube channel or what she has in-store for the future, check out our interview below.
What made you fall in love with all things beauty?
I’ve always been into beauty since I was born. Even as a little girl, I had every color of roll on lipgloss from the beauty supply store. I always had a fresh pair of press on nails every week or two. I learned how to braid and do hair at age 5 and always begged my mom to apply her makeup on me. To really answer the question: I have no clue why I am so in love with beauty! Its a love that I was born with. Anything that has something to do with beauty makes me feel in control and confident.
What was your biggest challenge when you first became a MUA?
My biggest challenge was either achieving something I’ve never done before whether it was a eyeshadow look or a skin tone, and also charging my worth. When I first became an MUA, people weren’t trying to pay me at all. I charged $55 for a full face with free lashes included and people told me I charged too much. Nowadays a full face is WAY more than $55. Especially if your traveling to the person with your own transportation.
What are some tips you have for inspiring MUAs?
Never give up. Practice makes perfect! And do what you want regardless of what others say and what you think they might say. BE FEARLESS! If you are working on being your own boss, then this is the perfect time to be CARELESS about everyone else!
What made you decide to start a YouTube channel?
Before doing makeup tutorials, I made silly youtube videos for me and my friends such as recording us throughout the day (which is now called vlogging) & I also made crazy YouTube videos singing and dancing to songs. LOL. I wasn’t popular then, but I posted them for me and my friends to watch. When I was about 11 years old, I took my sister’s camcorder in the bathroom and was doing a video of me brushes my teeth and putting on lotion, showing which lotion I used and everything. Which at the time I didn’t wear makeup and YouTube didn’t exist to me so I didn’t know it was called a tutorial… I always wanted to make girls feel pretty and help them figure things out like which product is great for this type of skin or where they can find a certain item at, and once I discovered YouTube tutorials, I knew this was my moment to make things happen!
What are some of your favorite beauty brands and why?
My favorite inexpensive/drug store brand is NYX. They are ridiculously affordable and high quality. It’s possibly the best drug store brand out in my eyes. My favorite high end brand is Laura Mercier. She makes amazing products for all skin types and she has so many shades for all types of women. That’s something I really admire about her brand.
What motivates you to never give up on your goals?
I have big dreams of taking care of my current family and giving my soon to be family an amazing life. When I have kids and a husband, I want them to look at me and be inspired. What also motivates me are my supporters, They’ll rip my head off if I ever try to give up. They always tell me how much I inspire them and it makes me realize that I have girls who are looking up to me, waiting on me… and I can’t disappoint them. I always have bad thoughts of what will happen if I was to ever give up and it really scares me.
What are some tips you having for people who want to start their own YouTube channel?
Just do it. When I started, I had an iPhone 4 and a lot of stolen beauty supply store makeup. I didn’t have any money to buy makeup (I had too much pride to ask my parents for money) and I didn’t have a computer, lighting or a camera. But Youtube is what I wanted to do and I wasn’t going to let anything get in my way of doing just that. I recorded and edited my youtube videos on my iPhone 4 (iMovie app) and I got to a point where I saved up enough money to buy my own computer, camera and makeup.
Who are some MUAs and YouTubers that inspired you to pursue your career?
Jaclyn Hill. She was one of the first people I watched on youtube. Her makeup has always been flawless and I basically watched her tutorials every single day, whether if it was a new tutorial or one I seen 4 times. She now has a product in Sephora with millions of subscribers and that makes me so happy. I’ve seen so much potential in her before and being that she is this far in the beauty community, It just proves my intuition about her was right. She is doing everything that I ever dreamed to do and I love her so much!
What are some things you would like to do in the future?
One day soon, I will be launching a cosmetic line and I hope to have my product in stores and sell worldwide! 🙂
What are some lessons you have learned as you continue to grow in popularity?
To not respond to negativity and sometimes, it’s better to not look at comments. Of course there are trolls on the internet. The internet is a free place that people can talk on. People are going to talk regardless if you do bad or good. Sometimes when I upload videos on YouTube, I can’t look at comments because I am scared there will be negative comments and regardless if their negative comment is true or not, it’s bound to get me upset or have me replying to show them how untrue their statement is, which I don’t need to do. When I was 12 or 13 in junior high school, I was cyber bullied so bad that I was addicted to looking at what was being said about me on MySpace/AIM. But my mom taught me to not look and till this day, I still follow that rule. To just not look.
What would you like your supporters to know about you that they may not already?
That I have something launching very soon! Its still in the works, I can’t give dates. But I know for sure, I will have something out with my name on it! Its a MUST! 🙂
