It's about time you meet Jessica Carvalho, MESH’s go-to makeup artist based in Porto. With a lifelong love for beauty, she's turned her passion into a career, collaborating with the coolest national brands and fashion magazines like VOGUE. Her secret to success? Being available, resilient, taking risks, and a lot of networking. But things really took off during the pandemic, booking more jobs in fashion due to a higher demand in the digital space.

We sat down with Jessica to get to know more about her and her journey navigating the fashion industry…

WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO PURSUE A CAREER AS AN INDEPENDENT MAKE-UP ARTIST?

From a young age, I was passionate about makeup, started as a hobby that brought me both income and a sense of fulfilment. At 15, I experienced the backstage buzz of the fashion world for the first time, and I was hooked. I fell in love with the energy and creativity of these productions. Eventually, I launched my own atelier, initially providing makeup services for events like weddings.

WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE ON HOW TO MAKE IT IN THE INDUSTRY?

I’m someone who likes to create short term goals, once you know where you want to go it’s super important to make yourself available and know when to take risks. I’ve mainly learned everything by myself but I also invested and putted a lot of hours in perfecting my technique, and then it’s also about building good relations and networking with the creatives around you.

WITH SUCH A BUSY SCHEDULE, HOW DO YOU MAKE TIME FOR SELF-CARE?

Today I’m at a point where I know I can’t be everywhere at the same time so I’m working on putting a team together. Other than that, I try to spend my free time doing things are slower paced and keep me grounded, to balance my always on- the-go work flow.

FAVOURITE PROJECT TO DATE

Working with Vogue on their May editorial. It’s The Mother Nature Issue and all the make-up was done with natural pigments which involved a lot of testing, it was challenging but so much fun!

YOU CAN’T LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT…

BB Cream, it protects your skin against sun damage and enhances your skin providing a healthy and lively glow.

WHAT’S YOUR SIGNATURE LOOK?

A natural face with a brown smokey eye.

3 PRODUCTS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE ON THEIR MAKE-UP COLLECTION THIS SUMMER

The Sephora all-in-one cream colour blush, the REFY brow gel and the Clarins lip oil.

A MAKE UP ARTIST THAT INSPIRES YOU

I love Sophia Sinot for her unique and irreverent style.

GO-TO SONG WHILE YOU’RE DOING YOUR MAKE UP FOR A NIGHT OUT

Anything 90s R&B!

OUTFIT OR MAKEUP FIRST?

I mostly do my make up first and choose what I’m wearing second. Although I look at make up as an accessory just like jewellery, both always complement each other so well.

YOUR FAVOURITE MESH'S JEWELLERY

Anything MAXI! Right now I’m loving the AELLA necklace and the LINKS bracelet.