Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Fall Look with Skincare & Makeup From Shelby Nairy
Photography: Emilia Callahan
For Shelby Nairy, esthetics is more than styling a makeup look—it’s helping someone look and feel their best, inside and out.
Hailing from Webster, NY, Shelby has been running her own business, Glam & Co Beauty, since July 2020, offering makeup, waxing, lash lifts, brow laminations, and facials. Her path started after creating an Instagram account in 2015 to share glam looks that spawned into her first client, and attending and graduating from the Continental School of Beauty for Esthetics in 2018, combining self-taught skills from high school with knowledge gained in college.
With fall here and weather and trends shifting, we asked Shelby for her take on makeup and skincare tips and trends for the season, as well as her experience in running her own business.
Do you have any advice for someone just starting out trying to find a makeup or skincare routine that works best for them?
Approaching skincare and makeup can feel super overwhelming, so start small and slowly add new steps/products into your routine. You’ll notice right away if your skin does not like something!
For makeup I highly suggest watching videos, getting a makeup one-on-one lesson, and starting with a solid set of products. You don’t need it all, and you don’t always need to use what everyone else is! Try things and slowly find the brands that fit for you.
For every beginner’s bag, I suggest staple pieces: primer, foundation, concealer, setting powder, bronzer, blush, highlighter, maybe a brow gel/powder, eyeshadow palette, mascara, setting spray, and eyeliner, if you wear it. Practice, practice, practice! It took me years to perfect how I like to do my own makeup.
With skincare, less is more. For AM, I suggest a cleanser based on what your skin needs, and a Vitamin C serum, moisturizer, eye cream, and an SPF. For PM, I suggest a cleanser (you can use the same as AM!), hyaluronic acid, moisturizer, and eye cream.
If you are over 25, I highly suggest starting a retinol treatment in the evenings to combat signs of aging. Start with a small percentage, only use it a few days a week, and work your way up from there.
I also recommend a facial by a professional quarterly to keep up with your skin changes and have a second opinion on your skincare regime.
Any tips for makeup/skincare for work vs. casual settings? My favorite is to use a tinted SPF in AM skincare, throw on a little blush and mascara, and you’re ready to head out the door! Simple but classy.
Shelby’s take on trends this fall season!
The “latte” eyeshadow look is all the rage. It’s essentially a tan/brown eyeshadow all over the lid with a little darker depth on the outer corner, and most opt for a brown winged liner that can be done with a shadow or liner. I can also see this “latte” trend becoming more of a terracotta trend in the fall, adding in more reds/rusty/orangey tones. A half or 3/4 lash will also make your natural lashes pop without overdoing it.
Any ideal practices to follow with the changing of the seasons?
It’s important to be in tune with your skin and what it needs. When seasons start to change, we notice our skin change too. When it gets colder, our skin tends to get a little drier, and a thicker moisturizer and a bedroom humidifier will help with this. During warmer months we tend to get a little oilier/have combo skin, but it’s important not to stop using moisturizer. A lot of people think moisture equals oil, but that’s not the case! Using a lighter weight moisturizer (gel or aloe based) will give the hydration you need. If you strip your skin of natural oils/hydration, your skin will actually start producing more oil. Also, drink water!
How would you describe running your own business? Have there been hurdles to overcome?
Running your own business is tough yet rewarding. The hardest part by far is finding a work/life balance. For me, it’s hard to find that balance during the week because 99.9% of the time I work weddings on Saturdays and Sundays. (There were many, many weeks in the beginning that I never had a day off.)
Also, finding time to do book work, clean the studio, meet with a CPA, be involved in the community, run through Quickbooks, assess goals/income/overhead, and plan what comes next comes at a cost — our time. Burnout is so, so real and finding a balance to do things you enjoy and fill your cup back up is really important. Hustle culture took over for a brief moment, and I think we shifted to realize we need to take care of ourselves and that self care is essential.
Do you have a favorite work experience from the past year or an event that really stands out?
Wedding days are so special for so many reasons. Each bride is so uniquely different, and I love the women I get to work with! Some of my favorite experiences are going to new venues on wedding mornings; I love to see different ones and how they accommodate bridal parties. My favorite thing is bonding with a bride so well they become a friend, and I keep up with them after their wedding day.
Follow Shelby on Instagram for inspiration @glamitup_shelbs.
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