NASHVILLE, TN — JK Hunter is one of entertainment’s premiere celebrity makeup artists since 1994. The Nashville-based artist is a native of Jackson and Brownsville, TN. Hunter graduated from Tennessee State University with a BA in Business Administration and Management. A short time later she studied makeup artistry at the prestigious Joe Blasco Make Up School in Los Angeles. She overlapped her makeup jobs with work in the corporate world where she went from Executive assistant to purchasing director of a major corporation. Eventually, Ms. Hunter finally left to work only as a Makeup Artist.
Over the years her repertoire of work has included the following events: “SOLOMON BURKE & FRIENDS, LIVE IN NASHVILLE, PLAYBOY “STRIPSEARCH”; 38TH Annual GMA Dove Awards, 23rd Annual Stellar Awards, 22nd Annual Stellar Awards, 21st Annual Stellar Awards, Larry King Live for CNN – Mindy McCready, Inside Edition – Mindy McCready, Comedy Central: Laffapalooza and others.
Ms. Hunter not only does beauty makeup, airbrush, special fx, barber cuts/styles, hair, makes custom made wigs, theatrical costuming and costuming/styling.
Here, she chats about what are some of the latest trends in hair and makeup for the Spring/Summer 2017 season.
TRIBUNE: So, what’s cool, hot and hip for hair and makeup styles summer for 2017?
JK HUNTER: The big thing is the shimmer. Everybody wants the shimmer, shine, highlight. That’s been the thing for a little minute now as far as face, look, eyeshadows, all of that. What fashion week tells you is hot is never really what’s hot on the street?
TRIBUNE: So, shimmer is good but what about eyeshadow colors? What colors are hot? JK HUNTER: “Regular working everyday women are wearing multiple colors. It really varies by region, district, it just depends on locally, what somebody’s wearing. There’s no one big color right now. One of the things that a lot of people are doing are a lot of warm hues, brown, tans with a little bit of pink, something kind of leaning towards the burgundy, blended into it, in the crease. And then people are doing pops of color on the lid heavily, some of its shimmer, or highlight it, or if they’re really getting fancy, there might be glitter on the lid if they’re going out to do something special maybe.”
TRIBUNE: Lots of African American women are now going au natural with their hair. Is this also a trend when it comes to makeup? JK HUNTER: “I find there’s a lot of women who are just not into makeup. There are tons of women who are still not into makeup. They feel like they don’t need it, or they have husbands and boyfriends who tell them, ‘You don’t need all that,’ they want them to be natural. But the problem begins when you feel like you need makeup and you’re now hitting age 40, 50 or sometimes thirties. These ladies may want to look a little more professional depending upon what type of job they have, but they don’t know how to do proper makeup techniques. It’s far more of a struggle than it is to learn this than when you’re younger.”
TRIBUNE: What’s the first thing you tell them to do? JK HUNTER: “I tell them, okay, if you don’t like makeup that’s fine. If you like makeup, and you want to wear it, but you’re trying to appease someone, then you’re going in the wrong direction. It’s better to start with something if you like it or you’re interested in it. I say start with mascara or lip color. Do one or two steps at a time. Ease your way into it and learn how to do it. Everybody’s watching YouTube videos, that’s good and bad, because there are a lot of YouTubers who don’t know what they’re talking about. There are good YouTubers, but if you don’t know, then how do you know when they’re telling you something wrong?
TRIBUNE: So, are there any new trends with hair as far as techniques, and weaves, and wigs and stuff? What’s the latest on that? JK HUNTER: “Well, as far as African American women, if they’re wearing wigs and weaves, a lot of people are into this new thing called the 360 Frontal. It’s a 360-degree frontal. So, instead of a closure – which more people need to know about, because they’re losing their hair in the front of the head. But instead of a closure that goes from the front of your hair from ear to ear, now there is a frontal that goes all the way around your head, and then you can sew weave in the middle in the top. That’s the hot thing right now. A lot of people are loving that. The glue is what’s making a lot of women to lose their edges. It’s too many women who don’t have hair edges. So, some people are using this product called Got2b Glue Styling Gel. It’s a really strong gel, that when you use it, it lays down the edges of the hair, and it can make the weave stick, without you using all the glues that they used to use. So, they call it Got2b glue, but all it is, is a gel that dries instead of a glue that lay down so hard that it’s hard to get off. A major problem with a lot of the glues, is they don’t have removers to release that glue. But Got2 Glue is a product that I like using.”
CONTACT: https://www.modelmayhem.com/JKHUNTERcom
