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For Ernesto Casillas, eyes are where he goes for impact. The longtime celebrity makeup artist has had a season of internet breaking beauty moments\u2014from Zara Larsson\u2019s rosy lids at Billboard\u2019s Women in Music event in April to the white and blue washes on Zendaya\u2019s rounds of press for The Odyssey<\/em> and Spiderman: Brand New Day<\/em>.<\/p>\n But what a quick scroll through the artist\u2019s Instagram doesn\u2019t show you is his hectic schedule (when chatting with Allure<\/em>, Casillas was coming off of eight weeks of travel, except for a few hours in his native Los Angeles) and what a slow build it\u2019s been to those viral red carpet moments. If you weren\u2019t familiar with Casillas before Zendaya walked out with flushed cheeks and barely a whisper of eye makeup on July 14, you are now. The makeup artist\u2019s DMs were flooded immediately after The Odyssey<\/em> premiere in New York City with people begging for the tutorial and product breakdown, while hundreds of beauty lovers tagged him in their recreations of the look.<\/p>\n It was an overnight success, although it was years in the making. Casillas has followed the same creative process for years. Citing Zendaya\u2019s dress, designed by Mati\u00e8res F\u00e9cales, the look came about in similar ways to his past work with Zendaya, with little outside inspiration needed. \u201cI was thinking of beautiful, sunkissed, bronzy skin,\u201d he explains. \u201cI knew that she was going to wear a lot of white, so I started thinking about how to incorporate color in order to break that up.\u201d Typically, he consults with both Zendaya and her longtime stylist Law Roach on the day of, and they flesh out the vision for the look. \u201cWe have a dress, and we all have a similar vision. It’s been about beautiful, bronzy skin, and if she\u2019s wearing a blue sapphire necklace, maybe we\u2019ll use a pot of blue eyeshadow, just for a pop of color.\u201d<\/p>\n While the film was set in mythical ancient Greece, Casillas didn\u2019t need to look there for inspiration. \u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019re doing makeup for the carpet, not for the film,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want to create a moment on the carpet that is both a fashion and a beauty moment, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Casillas\u2019 journey with makeup started in a Costco, flipping through Kevyn Aucoin\u2019s books sold at the big box retailer. \u201cSeeing those transformations really had an impact on me,\u201d he remembers. His upbringing and heritage also formed his tastes. \u201cComing from a Mexican background, there was a really big emphasis on pageant culture, telenovelas, and glamour. So, through college, my goal was to become a beauty and fashion photographer, but I fell in love with makeup. I was doing the makeup for the models, who were my friends, and I decided I wanted to pursue makeup over photography.\u201d<\/p>\n Casillas also grew up in Los Angeles in the early 2000s.\u201d Hollywood was my playground, and basically my backyard,\u201d he quips, and much of his work harkens back to that period, albeit with a twist.<\/p>\n \u201cFashion [back then] was very dark, smoky eyes, barely-there brows, a lot of contour. I was very into that but at the same time, I had that touch of glamour to me,\u201d Casillas says. Eventually, he was able to find his own take on the styles he grew up admiring. \u201cI put a lot of emphasis on fashion and editorial with very clean makeup, clean skin, an interesting eye. But if I wanted to work with celebrities, they want the glam, they want the beat. That\u2019s where the money is, too. I started leaning into it more because I thought I had to be more fashion and clean and editorial, but I realized there was a market for full glam.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For Ernesto Casillas, eyes are where he goes for impact. The longtime celebrity makeup artist has had a season of internet breaking beauty moments\u2014from Zara Larsson\u2019s rosy lids at Billboard\u2019s Women in Music event in April to the white and blue washes on Zendaya\u2019s rounds of press for The Odyssey and Spiderman: Brand New Day. 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