Mary Phillips Celebrity Makeup Artist Is a Master of Her Craft

“That feeling of helping someone feel good about themselves? That was always very addictive to me.”

They say you can tell a lot about a person by how they take their coffee. Myself? Hot, cold, room temperature, a day old — it doesn’t matter, I’ll drink it all. What does that say about me? (Don’t answer that.) Makeup artist Mary Phillips, on the other hand, likes her coffee to be “either really, really hot or really, really cold.” I overhear Phillips place her (very respectable) order as I walk into the room to interview her, and she insists she’s never understood how people can make a cup of coffee and leave it out before returning to a lukewarm cup an hour later. (Guilty…and ashamed.)

So, what does it say about Phillips that she takes her hot coffee scalding and her iced coffee freezing? If you’re down to read into it as much as I am, then you’ll agree it means she’s committed, sure of what she wants and does things the way they are supposed to be done. And as I learned during my chat with the celebrity makeup artist, this is all totally accurate.

With over 2.5 million followers on TikTok and Instagram combined, and an A-list client roster (think Hailey Bieber, Kylie and Kendall Jenner, Jennifer Lopez and Dua Lipa), Phillips is one of the most booked-and-busy makeup artists in Hollywood. Her underpainting technique (a method of doing concealer and contour underneath foundation, rather than on top) exploded to such an extreme level on TikTok last year that calling it viral feels like a wild understatement. And given her extensive list of celeb clients, her work graces pretty much every red carpet there is.

How did this all happen? Like I said, commitment, self-confidence and precision. Which brings us to the makeup. Over the last 18 years, Phillips has become known for her masterful makeup application on some of Hollywood’s biggest names. In fact, she’s the artist behind some of their signature looks — think: J.Lo’s glow and Kendall’s sultry eyes. She was recently in Toronto for a L’Oréal Paris masterclass (Phillips is a brand ambassador and did the makeup for Kendall Jenner’s first L’Oréal Paris campaign last year), but her love for makeup started long before she completely and utterly mastered the art form.

“I knew from a very young age that I wanted to do makeup,” says Phillips. “Like, a very young age. My friends would come over and I’d do…