“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”


— Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words)

Make-up and Hair by Ayumi Komiyama
Model Yuka Saito

Ayumi Komiyama is a Make-up & Hair Stylist whose work has been published in the covers of the Vancouver Sun Style Section, Reach Magazine, and Klip magazine. I asked her a few questions about her work, inspirations, and aspirations.

Q: What inspires you as a make-up and hair artist?
Ayumi: I gain my inspirations from my 5 senses, which are what I see, smell, taste, hear and feel.

Q: What do you think about when doing make-up and hair?
Ayumi: I think about what is the best for the client and strive to bring out the unique qualities of that person. Ultimately, I like to create something that is best for my clients. Also, I like to have different stories attached to different styles that I create.

Q: Please tell us your approach and experience in make-up and hair styling?
Ayumi: I always have the fundamental ideas and basic skills in mind. I also like to keep in mind that nothing can be done without a practical approach and I like to utilize my observational skills to replicate work that has been done by others. From the replicated works, I like to add my own ideas, which may not have any significant relationship to the art itself, to make a whole new piece of art.

I obtained skills in the areas of hairstyling, makeup, nails and kitsuke at the hair dresser school in Tokyo. Then I worked at a hair salon and learned the basics in working in a professional environment. I also obtained socials skills, which I require to interact with my clients. I often seek for advice from my fellow staff members and my customers regarding any potential improvements I could make in any areas of my specialty. I am a person who values individual differences, and after working for a while, I was at a position to teach others. I always only teach the basic skills necessary to the new staff members and let them improve from there using their own unique techniques, since it’s no fun having the exact same stylist.

Ayumi Komiyama, Make-up & Hair Artist – Images by Tommy Zablan

Q: What do you think is important for the Art of make-up and hair in the future?
Ayumi: Currently, CG (Computer Graphics) is becoming big and I would like to work with this wonderful technology, however, I would also like to preserve the beauty of the Art itself in that I want everyone to appreciate the natural beauty of the art (No CG or other editing).