General information
Jilladair always says, "In photos - makeup lasts forever so it had better look amazing! That is why makeup artists were created."
Her life's work is designing faces for women who want to look amazing but aren't sure how to apply their makeup in ways that enhance their natural beauty. She teaches them as she works so they can recreate the look.
She enjoys working in film, print, beauty, runway and editorial. Oh, and she adores bridal. Who doesn't love a good wedding especially when the bride looks fantastic because she is walking down the aisle with Jilladair's work on her smiling face!
Email work requests to info@jilladair.com or call for additional information. Toll Free 1-877-783-7516
Local (360) 588-8201
Jilladair has been in the industry for over 23 years and has studied at Elite in Barcelona, Spain and Madrid. Master classes: MAC, NARS, Lauder, Dior.
"We have all done celebrities. Names don't matter as much as how you look in my work. Take a peek and see if you like what you see."
She enjoys working on charity projects ... so if you have an event and need some expert help then submit your request to info@jilladair.com and we'll see if we can be a part of your event.
We need to support our communities and our local businesses. If you are local to me and are shooting a new ad or commercial call our agency. We will be happy to work at a lower day rate. Simply ask for our local rate.
BIO Jilladair knows what it is like to feel self conscious. She knows firsthand what it does to a woman’s life to gain 150 lbs. and lose her hair. Back in 1986 she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She had been having symptoms since 1984 with years of misdiagnosis. Within 7 months of being diagnosed she went from walking, to using a cane, to using two canes, to a walker, forearm crutches and finally an electric wheelchair. She underwent IV steroid treatments causing her to gain massive amounts of weight. Living in a wheelchair became her way of life for over seven years. For the next decade she moved to Toronto where she worked as a producer/engineer in the music industry. She loved her work and loved helping artists who had no money to fund their projects become successful. Let’s fast forward to the winter of 1994. Jilladair was already deemed a paraplegic in the US and Canada. Now her doctors were seeing declined sensation and movement in her hands. Oranges had to be taped in them while she slept so they would remain open avoiding hours of physical therapy and massage each day. She knew she had to act fast and find something to help her or she would soon be in a sip and go chair. This meant the controls of her wheelchair would be done through a straw like device in her mouth. This is what happens to people who lose the ability to use their legs and arms, a quadriplegic. She began an eight month journey visiting every major hospital and neurological center in the United States and Canada. In the eighth month of her travels she found herself sitting in a doctor’s office in NY getting experimental chemotherapy for MS. She traveled back and forth from Toronto to NY for four months every three weeks. She never missed a day of work. After the first round of chemo she had her friends duct tape her into her Nordic Track while she used her stomach muscles to move the machine attempting to get some response from her legs. Nothing worked but she kept it up for nearly two years. During this time she was diagnosed with two different types of cancer and went through more chemo and recovery. All of the chemo caused her to go blind in her left eye. One day while Jilladair and her friend were out shopping he came around to the passenger side to lift her out of the car and put her in her wheelchair. When he opened the door to get her she told him to wait. She was very excited and said “My foot moved!” He said “Yeah, right.” She insisted so he crossed his arms, un-amused and said “Okay, then do it again.” She used her arms to push herself as high in the seat as possible and then stared at her left foot so hard he told her later that he thought if nothing else happened she could have started a camp fire in his car from that stare! She kept concentrating and staring and trying and then it happened … her left foot moved about a half an inch on the floor. They both screamed! Within seconds she was trying to do it again and when she did they erupted in tears and laughing. This finally turned to emotional sobbing due to the years of waiting and hoping that this day would ever come. The next two years proved to be the biggest challenge Jilladair would ever face. Now she knew movement in her legs was possible. What next? She began a rigorous physical therapy regime and worked on every aspect of total recovery. One of her cancers came back and she had to have breast surgery and chemotherapy again. After all of these years of treatments, therapies and doctors … walking seemed much too close to let a little cancer stand in her way of standing!
Today, Jilladair walks amongst us. She retired from the music industry in 2004 at the age of 41 and began pursuing her other lifelong dream. In 1989 she had gotten her cosmetology license. She cut hair and did makeup to fund her college expenses. She always kept her licenses up to date and did makeovers on people all the time. She decided to go back to school (even though she was already licensed) to make sure that her skills were up to date and contemporary. She worked on editorial, commercial, beauty, runway and bridal. She loved airbrushing and especially loved how delighted her clients were with their new skills. Skills, you say? Yes, Jilladair has always taught since her days in the music industry. When a client sits in her chair they are taught how to reproduce what Jilladair is doing to them. She explains every detail empowering them to become their own makeup artists. She gives them the skills to make their long nose appear shorter. She shows them how to contour their face, how to create the all elusive smoky eye.
She opens the door of makeup as an art to them. She teaches them about skin care and skin types. After years of filling her makeup kit with other lines of makeup she sat at a job for a television commercial one day and read the ingredients on a popular lip gloss. It only had the top ingredients listed. She went online and looked for the full list. Intrigued she began looking up the foreign names that were listed in the ingredients. To her shock it was loaded with animal fat. She was disgusted.
She immediately thought about the fact that women ingest 6-8 lbs of lip gloss a year. What if they are vegan? Do they know they are eating this? That was all she had to ask herself. She began researching cosmetic companies and their manufacturers. She spent over six months reading about them all and getting information sent to her. She finally decided that she knew too much to turn back now. Jilladair Cosmetics was born from that knowledge. It was born from the belief that women should not spend their hard earned money on products that will either not work like they were advertised or sit in a junk drawer! She has created a lip gloss that is vegan. No animal fat or other animal parts. She decided that in quality as designer cosmetics that she would move the price point as close to her cost as possible. She knew that if she continued to teach women how to make themselves beautiful with skill and not makeup covering up their natural beauty that she would be successful. She would tell women the truth about makeup.
