PEOPLE · KUWAIT
Hanouf Mohammed
A certified makeup artist with seven years at MAC Estee Lauder, and a former MAC technique facilitator. After a decade in beauty, Hanouf turned the chair into a wider practice, working not only on the surface but on how women feel about themselves underneath the brush.
ON THE WORK
Ten years, beginning at MAC.
How did you start your career?
At MAC Estee Lauder.
How long did it take you to get here?
Ten years.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
I love creating art on people’s faces.
What motivates you?
How happy people are once I put my brush down.
CHARACTER & SUCCESS
Crazy. Weird. Special. Strong.
How would others describe you?
Crazy. Weird. Special. Strong.
Proudest accomplishment?
Being a MAC technique facilitator.
Would you consider yourself successful?
I do not believe in success. It is a state of mind.
DAILY LIFE & FAVOURITES
Anime, five languages, and her grandmother.
Languages?
Five.
Tidy or messy?
Tidy.
Favourite movie?
I love anime.
Last book you read?
101 Ways to Stop Anxiety.
Do you collect anything?
Books.
Favourite childhood memory?
Being with my grandmother.
What can you not go a day without?
Nothing. Life taught me to let go.
LOVE & LIFE
You are in competition with no one but yourself.
Define love.
When two people have so much to give, and so much to compromise.
Motto in life?
You are in competition with no one but yourself.
Warning label?
Do not provoke.
Most daring thing you have done?
Speak my mind.
FOR BOUJEEZ
A Gulf makeup artist who treated the chair as a conversation.
What makes Hanouf Mohammed interesting to Boujeez is the philosophy. A decade inside MAC and a stint as a technique facilitator gave her the craft. What she did with it is the part worth recording. Hanouf treated the makeup chair as a place where women could be reminded of who they already were, and she said it plainly. No matter the size, shape, or mindset, you are beautiful. The Gulf beauty industry produces many artists. It produces fewer of them with a stated point of view.