The Scenestar Dozen: Stephanie Smith

"The Scenestar Dozen" is where we feature fascinating culture cultivators. Meet L.A. woman and makeup artist Stephanie Smith. Read more about her below!

 

What is the best and worst thing about your profession? 

I love getting to work with different photographers and directors - it’s inspiring to be around artists that have really mastered their craft. 

The not so great parts of my job are fairly trivial. This job requires early call times and long long days; 12 to 14 hours of work sometimes with little to no breaks. I’m aware that that formula generally applies to most successful people so I am grateful to be doing something I truly enjoy doing under those circumstances. 

What is something you didn’t know about Los Angeles that you recently found out?

 

Hmm, tough question. I’ve lived here for about 15 years so I feel like there is no stone unturned but, I know that’s not true. Occasionally when I’m driving to a new location for work I’ll experience a different part of the city - something I love about Los Angeles - seemingly endless terrain. You think you’ve seen it all but, 503 square miles of city is a lot to see and experience.  

Where is your favorite place to eat in LA?

My house. I love cooking and tend to be on the healthier side of the aisle. My friends affectionately call my apartment “Cafe Stephanie.” My dad was incredible in the kitchen and I spent my life standing by him absorbing all of his culinary skills. I also worked in restaurants as a teenager and often opted for jobs in the kitchen, close to the chef.  There is nothing like a home cooked meal and frankly, I’d rather eat at home than anywhere else on any given day. 

But, I will say - I’m obsessed with the curry at Blossom Vietnamese in Silver Lake. It’s the best curry on the planet. Even better than mine. ;)

What was the last good book you read that you would recommend to anyone?

I ping-pong between fiction and non-fiction so depending on what mood I’m In dictates what I read. I’m always reading about 4-5 books at any given time. Currently, I’m finishing Ottessa Moshfegh’s “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” and I’m in the middle of Paul Stamets’ “Mycelium Running.” The other two I’m currently chipping away at are Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” and a book about painting techniques which right now I cannot recall the title of. I picked it up at the Getty Museum shop last week. 

Have you ever seen a work of art that stopped you in your tracks?

All the time. I studied at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts as a printmaking and painting major so I spend a large amount of free time in museums. The last piece that stopped me in my tracks was a Degas painting at the Getty Museum - he’s one hundred percent, my favorite painter - he’s a master of eccentric composition. He was doing something radical in his time - shifting the art world in a way that has impacted so many other painters that have come after him. Unfortunately, I don’t recall the title of the piece but it is my current screen saver on my phone. 

I was also very moved by the Sally Mann photography exhibit at the Getty (showing now). To see fine art, large format photography, knowing each frame was labored over meticulously, demands a different level of appreciation than that of modern photographers who are able to shoot 200 frames to get the one perfect image they are trying to capture.

What is the most remarkable movie you’ve ever seen?

 

If I’m not in a museum or my nose isn’t in one of the four books I’m reading at the time, I’m in the movie theater. I’m a film junkie. To really pinpoint one film as the “most remarkable” sounds impossible to me. I’m going to dig deep and go back to my childhood for this question - and the answer to that would be the Wizard of Oz. I still enjoy revisiting it today. To be completely transported to this dream-like world as a child was transformative. The message the film sends too - an allegory for the political and social events of the 1890s - still rings partially true to our modern lives: monetary policy, the value we place on resources, social group dynamics, and the move towards transforming society from it’s drab nature to a colorful and prosperous world. I think there is an artist and creator in each person at birth and the way we are nurtured sort of dictates the outcome of our lives. The desire to create a beautiful world to live in feels inherent.

Name your pop-culture guilty pleasure? 

 

I’m a big fan of cooking and baking shows (no surprise there) and occasionally get teary-eyed over female pop vocalists (you know, only when my hormones are raging).

What is the most underrated album you’ve heard and what about it is special

 

How about everything that’s not on the radio today? I could name about 20 different artists pre-1970 but, in a way, the lesser-known artists have become “cult classics."

Who is the best rockstar who ever lived?

David Bowie. Is there really anyone else?

 

What is the scariest thing you’ve ever experienced?

 

This is such a deeply personal question but, I’ll try to keep it short. My father was diagnosed with dementia last year and it’s not really a “horror” type of scary more like an unknown sort of scary. Each day is truly a gift and the future is unsure.

Where is one place that someone can visit in LA for free that is a must-experience?

 

Sundays Live concert series at the LACMA; a free one-hour classical music concert in the Leo S. Bing Theater that is broadcast on local radio, too. It happens every Sunday between 6 and 7 pm.

What is the weirdest thing about LA?

 

That our public transportation is so limited and that there aren’t bike lanes on every single road.

 

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Stephanie Smith is a make-up artist based in Los Angeles with a lot of cool campaigns under her belt. You can check a lot of them out on her Instagram page at instagram.com/stephanienicolesmith or on her website: www.stephanienicolesmith.com (She has also been in a few bands, but we'll let you ask her about that!)