HOLR is chatting with celebrity makeup artist Allison Kaye about her journey in the industry so far.

Allison Kaye is taking the beauty industry by storm with her growing list of celeb clientele. Best known as the makeup artist for WAGS of the NFL and MLB, Allison recently attended the Super Bowl LVII to get the Kansas City Chiefs wives ready for the big game day.

Today, HOLR is sitting down with Allison to get the inside scoop on how she got her start in the industry, the best tips and tricks she’s learned to date, and some of the top makeup products she can’t live without!

How did you get your start in the makeup industry? Tell us your story.

I loved doing hair and makeup as a kid. I was kind of running a salon out of my neighbor’s bathroom! All the other kids in the neighborhood would come over and I really felt like this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I had kind of convinced myself of something else- however, it all came full circle when I started doing hair and makeup about 10 years ago professionally.

I also own a pageant coaching business so I started doing pageant clients’ hair and makeup. That’s really how I got started doing glam. I started doing pageants and figured that I could do those I could probably do weddings. When I was doing weddings I was doing 60 weddings in a year- which was crazy! Then, I had an opportunity that launched me into the celeb/influencer space. Now, that’s the clientele I exclusively work with!

You’re best known as the makeup artist for WAGS of the NFL and MLB, Allison most recently traveled to Super Bowl LVII this past February to get the Kansas City Chiefs wives ready for game day. Talk to us about this experience. 

So, I- back in February- didn’t originally have any plans to go to the Super Bowl. However, people from the NFL started reaching out asking if I was going. I took that as a sign. I thought if I could book enough clients I would definitely go. I posted on Instagram and all of a sudden got a ton of bookings for the Super Bowl. When I was out there, I was able to do people for NFL Honors and I had 7 clients that day who were on the TV screen. I also did other people for parties or appearances that they had to do with their husbands, who were players. Then, I did the Chiefs’ Wives for the Super Bowl game. We started at 3:45 in the morning! I did 6 or 7 girls and then they went off to the game. It was an early morning but a lot of fun.

We hear that you’ve spent the past decade building your luxury makeup and hair styling beauty company creating stunning everyday looks that combine the hottest trends with elevated techniques. Tell us more!

I never saw myself getting into the clientele that I work with now. I fell into this situation. What’s hard is I get a lot of questions asking me how I do what I do. I don’t feel as if I have solid advice because this life chose me. Back in 2021 in April, the NFL draft was in Cleaveland, Ohio. Mac Jones’ girlfriend had emailed me telling me that her boyfriend was getting drafted into the NFL and that she needed someone to do her family’s makeup. My husband told me I had to do this so I took this as an amazing opportunity. I flew there, glammed their family for the draft and he turned out to be a top draft pick which was a big deal and they got really great TV time. From there, things just skyrocketed. More NFL clients found me this way and I just started to really connect with people on social media.

What are some of your top beauty tips?

There are so many! My makeup is really long-lasting- for the Super Bowl, my clients wore their makeup for up to 24 hours! First off, make sure you’re using products with the same base to them. Some products are water-based and some are silicone-based. If you mix the water-based products with the silicone-based products together, they can begin to separate and do weird things on your skin. Stick with the same base.

Another thing I do is when I do lips on clients, I always do a lip contour. I typically go in with a lip liner that is a contour color. I like to use the ones from Dibs Beauty. I also love Oak by MAC Cosmetics and Iconic Nude by Charlotte Tilbury. I overline the lips first and then go in with the lip liner color. This helps the lips diffuse better into the skin rather than having a solid lip color on their face- it looks more natural and blends better.

What are 3 beauty products you can’t live without if you were stranded on a desert island?

This is so hard because if you saw my makeup stash you would probably fall over. After all, I have so many things! Some things I find so versatile and great to have are Dibs duos, like this one. Those are the Dibs sticks that have one side as a contour and one side as a blush. I also love that it’s compact!

Another would be mascara- I feel like no look is complete without mascara.

The last thing is any kind of lip gloss. I love all lip glosses and oils, but my favorite lip gloss is by Tower 28 in the shade Magic. 

What’s next for you?

Art Basel was just in Miami so it’s been pretty crazy. This year I was happy to work with new and repeat clients. Next year- no secret- I’m looking forward to going to the Super Bowl again!

Published by HOLR Magazine.