How This Former Hippie Became a Royal Makeup Artist

Mary Greenwell has painted the faces of many celebs and models like Cindy Crawford for Vogue in the 1990s. Photo: Instagram

Known for her work with actresses like Cate Blanchett, Uma Thurman, Jessica Chastain and Amanda Seyfried, not to mention the one and only Princess Diana, makeup artist Mary Greenwell has been working behind the scenes at photo shoots, runway shows and red carpets for over three decades. Based in London, Greenwell is also a Chanel Beauté brand ambassador and has an eponymous line of fragrances. Here, she chats about how it all started, and why trusting your destiny is the way to go.

I grew up in England in the country, about 60 miles outside of London. It was a beautiful, idyllic childhood that was surrounded by beauty. My mother had very good taste and a certain awareness, which also gave me a sense of beauty. I was privileged in that respect. 

Mary Greenwell and her mom. Photo: Instagram

Then in the ‘70s, when I was 18, I moved to Los Angeles to escape my beautiful but rigid British upbringing. The ‘70s in L.A. was the best time in the world. It wasn’t all about celebrity. It was incredibly creative. It was pre-AIDS and pre the heavy hideous drugs. I used to hitch up and down Laurel Canyon with bare feet. Who does that now? But I was a little bit lost, like Dazed and Confused to be honest. Like a lot of young adults, I wasn’t really clear on what direction I was going in my life. The lesson I learned from that is to trust your destiny and always look to the future. Things do happen for a reason. So I was working at Joe Allen’s, this movie industry restaurant, and having a lovely life. (I was doing the seating. I couldn’t be a server; I couldn’t take the orders, I’d get it all wrong.) My friend came in one day, and he happened to be opening Fiorucci in L.A. He said, “You’d be perfect at the makeup counter.” I was like 23 and I’d never worn makeup in my life—I was basically a hippie. But I agreed and they sent me to New York to work with Ilana Harkavi for training. She founded Il Makiage—the first makeup artist brand ever. There was a full-on gorgeous color range. It’s inspired so many lines since then; Francois Nars always said Il Makiage inspired him when he was creating his line.

I worked there for a month and had my one and only makeup lesson with Ilana, which was in her basement. She did my makeup and would explain to me what was what. And by the time I went back to L.A., I thought I was the coolest makeup artist in the world. I thought I knew everything because I’d had all of one lesson!

Greenwell’s makeup on Kate Moss. Photo: Instagram

Then, the disco era started and it was the best time. After three years, I felt strong enough to come back home to England. I thought, “I’m going to be home now with this newfound gift and talent.” So I came back and started working.

I had some incredibly lucky breaks. One of my firsts was when a dear childhood friend of mine was opening up Take 2, a modeling agency back then. They said, “You’d be perfect to do the makeup for the tests of the girls. That’s how I met [the photographer] Pamela Hanson. She said, “Come to Paris, you’d do so well.” So I packed my bags in April and really never looked back. I stayed at this tiny hotel on Rue Saint-Honoré that summer of 1984. All these models arrived and they all stayed at my hotel: Linda, Christy, Stephanie Seymour. Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz were around the corner. So we all grew up together. It was the beginning of the supermodel era.

Photo: Greenwell made up Christy Turlington for Vogue. Photo: Instagram

That same year, I worked with a model called Marpessa for the cover of Madame Figaro. Hans Feurer, a huge photographer then, saw the cover and said, “I want that girl, the one who did Marpessa’s makeup. I’ve never seen Marpessa look so good.” He booked me on spec for an American Vogue cover and then we worked with Grace Coddington, who was at British Vogue then. That was the beginning of a wonderful time, working with Grace and Liz Tilberis.

The industry changed dramatically with the supermodels. It was a very small industry when I started. There were five or six of us: Francois, Kevyn Aucoin, Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier. And there were about five hairdressers: Oribe, Sam McKnight, Garren, Julien D’ys, Didier Malige. It was like a very small club. We were traveling around the world: London, New York, Paris, Milan, Toyko. We were having the best time.

Photo: Greenwell with hair stylist Sam McKnight. Photo: Instagram

Then with the supermodels, we automatically became famous with them. They really changed the careers of all of us. They made it more open. The supermodels would do photographic work and the runway. Before, it was just beautiful skinny runway models, who were a bit older. But now some of these girls could walk and also be in pictures. The one moment that nails it for me is when Gianni Versace came out on the runway with all the supermodels and it was, “Bang! They were there.”

So in ’84 it was just the beginning of the era and by ’89 we were all pretty much established. Then in the ‘90s, the supermodels just confirmed their positions and became huge. It was a really busy time. I was living between London and NYC and had apartments in both cities. I also had an apartment in Paris. We were running around the world doing tons of shows. I did everything from Armani to Gucci to Vivienne Westwood. Most of the New York makeup artists who are successful now assisted me at one point; I’m the mother hen. I also worked with British Vogue a lot. I became known for classic beauty or really about enhancing someone’s looks so they look their best.

Photo: Greenwell worked with Princess Diana for years. Photo: Instagram

In ’91, I met Princess Di. That came about because Sam [McKnight] and I are both English and we were part-time living at home and the shoot we met on was for a British magazine, British Vogue. After that shoot, I worked with her until she passed away. She wasn’t the first celebrity I worked with—supermodels are celebrities too—but the whole idea of celebrity was different back then.

When I was living in L.A., Clint Eastwood would go to the restaurant (I’ve been surrounded by celebrities from day one), but they didn’t used to be so cut-off from the world and they didn’t walk around with bodyguards. That’s before all the social media and everything. The world wasn’t so greedy and it wasn’t so media-based. Actually, “celebrity” is a very ugly word. I don’t like that word at all. It destroys people’s talent and gift and what they stand for. It should be kept for the B-list people and not used with the A-list crowd. Those are the wannabes. If you ask anyone who is doing something with their talent what they do, they’re not going to say, “I’m a celebrity.” They’re going to say, “I’m a model,” or “I’m an actress.”

Cate Blanchett’s beauty enhanced by Mary Greenwell. Photo: Instagram

The beauty industry also changed in the ‘90s. Before, you didn’t have all the sponsorships for shows you do; you weren’t swamped by a huge company, we had our own teams and used our own makeup. But in the mid-‘90s, it became a big business. The sponsorships started coming in and at one point, the magazines would only put actresses and not models on the cover because they reached a larger audience.

My career also started shifting. In the 2000s, I began working with a lot more actresses or people who did something else rather than just standing in front of the camera. Or maybe they did, but they would speak or have a role too. I work with Cate Blanchett a lot. The beauty world also became a huge, huge business and the machine just got bigger, but I think it’s fabulous. The technology part is interesting. I resisted technology longer than others. I do some videos here and there, but I don’t have a YouTube channel. It is so much more about social media and getting your name out there. There are also so many different brands now and the industry has expanded in every way. There’s a choice out there for everybody. What’s not to like?