Far away in an eastern European country, a 30 year old girl is living her life like everyone one of us. She works daily and travels long way in the dusty Bucharest just like so many other people do, trying to face every day for living. Her life see...
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The next two weeks were filled with hard work and meeting new people, filled with color and light, with laughter but also with tiredness. A tiredness which I was longing to feel and which I have missed so much all these years. It was that result of having done what you love so much and that brings you satisfaction. Definitely, I had come to notice that the time was passing so fast and I wasn't even realizing I was busy from early in the morning up to late in the evening. When I was arriving at home, all I needed was a shower, maybe a cup of warm tea and sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.
The more I have been exercising and learning the new makeup techniques, the more I was updating myself with everything that was new and all the tendencies and secrets and the tricks which were new. Also, it was getting clearer than ever that I was getting further away from what I used to do in the past and that I was stepping into a new life.
I often thought that maybe some people do not know the path they're meant to walk on immediately and need some guidance, maybe some are lucky and have the determination and strength to move faster than I did, after all it didn't matter that much anymore. All that I knew in that moment was that I was crazy enough to let my life in the hands of an inner voice, a guidance which I had no idea where it was coming from. In the end, how many would have this courage?
Maria was by my side all the time, day by day, pointing every mistake I was making, praising me when it was the case and letting me know when I had to work more and make some corrections. She used to tell me that if I didn't go home with my clothes full of makeup shades in the evening, that day must have been a wasted one, so I could not stop admiring the rainbows I was having on my t-shirts and pants every evening and I was filled with pride and happiness. It was a work and an effort showing a result bit by bit.
In these past two weeks I had the opportunity to meet new people and making new friends, always feeling that I needed to learn more and, as the days were passing by, to be better than I used to be the day before.
I used to spend the breaks from the courses talking to Laura and trying to know each other better, as we've decided from the evening we met. Divorced and mother of a child, we found out we had many things in common, as I told her about my dreams, she told me about hers and I did not seem to recognize myself because I opened so quickly in front of a stranger. But I didn't feel Laura as a stranger, even if we were living miles away, I was sure she thought the same about me and I knew her encouraging and support were real. She constantly kept on telling me to never give up to my dreams and to believe in myself; which I thought it was exactly what I was doing from that moment on. She was keeping me updated with the news about my band, with all the concerts the boys had and what was going on; being so busy I could hardly find time to check anything. I must confess that I would have liked to go to one of their concerts so badly, but I knew all the tickets were sold out and for sure I would have had to wait until the next year or who knows when another tour would have been released. That had turned into one of my biggest wishes back then – I could not have even imagined how it would have been for me to be in the crowd, to see them closely and sing along all the songs which I knew by heart already.
When the course ended, Maria came to me, hugged me tight and said with that wide smile of hers which lightens up all her face:
- I have noticed you all along this time and I have to tell you I am very proud of you! I have always known you're talented and you love this job, but seeing you coming back with so much determination and strength, makes me, as said before, proud and happy! We must decide upon the next step and what you're going to do next. You simply cannot afford making the same mistake you made years ago and abandon this.
Always my friend and my real support, I would never be able to find the necessary words to thank her. I knew she could have kept me by her side, inside the makeup school or turn me into her assistant, but she saw in me more than this. She wanted me to show my talent on a bigger scale and make it big, somewhere. I had to admit that sometimes I was even afraid to see myself the way she saw me, but as I have always been told, I needed to have more courage and believe it would all be alright.
- Thank you, Maria. I have noticed a change in my skills as well and I think this has always been in my heart, so I have never got away from this job actually. The first thing which comes to my mind is that I want to try to work in parallel with the job that I have now and try to have them both for the moment, so the makeup stuff as well. I feel I have a lot of things to prove and show the others and I can't wait for it to become reality, just that I can't leave the other place for now.
- OK, we will see each other in the weekends and continue working. Meanwhile, when you have time, read as much as you can about what is new in this, buy products and update yourself with all that you can. I will take you to all the fashion and TV shows and we will make it big someday, you will see.
My eyes were filled with tears. Tears of happiness.
Day by day I was getting closer and closer to something amazing; I knew it, I felt it.
All that time I managed to find various makeup artists on social media and I was following them, watching their tutorials and trying to learn new techniques and improve my work. Needless to say, Lou Teasdale, the makeup artist and hairstylist of One Direction was in my list as well and I could not stop admiring everything she did. Besides of having the opportunity to travel together with the band all over the world, she always managed to create incredible makeup and hair works. She had various collaborations and organized make-up courses in London - "one day I want to be like Lou", I was saying to myself and I giggled. It was such a great opportunity for the girls who were living in London because they could participate to her workshops and attended her courses. I inspired myself a lot from her works and watched her tutorials and I could say I liked their team a lot as well. I knew it was only in my dreams where I could get to know their crew, to get to personally know the boys. But I was dreaming and dreaming again. And no one could take those dreams away from me. They made me smile and they made me move on. I knew something like that would have been so beautiful, that I would have never believed it could have been true. For sure it was difficult to be part of their team and get to know them...who knows, maybe a VIP ticket to a concert in another life would have helped.
Just when I was thinking of this, I received a message on my phone and when I had a look I saw it was Laura writing me with many exclamations and smiles and emojis, asking me to have a look at the last Instagram post of a makeup artist with whom Lou Teasdale had a collaboration with because they were organizing some kind of makeup competition. There would have been ten winners who would get a free makeup course in London very soon. I opened the page and read; all I had to do was to send a resume regarding my activity and some photos with some of my works. Laura was writing insistently asking me to tell her I was registered as soon as possible otherwise she was about to come all the way to my city and would have beaten me up. I could not help reading again and again what they were saying on that post. A makeup course in London? Hold by Lou and her friend? Was that for real?
I would have liked to call Maria and see what she thought about all those events, but then I knew that it was time for me to take all that in my own hands. She has guided me all the way up to that moment and I was sure I already knew her answer. I wanted to do it by myself.
There was no time to lose. I took my phone and answered back to Laura, who maybe was already laying somewhere, exhausted in despair: "I am in - in maximum 15 minutes I will be sending them all they are asking for!"
