Lyric Mariah is Not Your Average Model

Being a makeup artist is the best job in the world. I'm convinced of this for a few reasons. Number one, I get to play with makeup all day (that's pretty obvious). Number two of course is that I get to hang out with beautiful, cool people and make art. I really wouldn't trade it for anything else.

But hands-down the best part of being a makeup artist is the people I meet and the relationships I build. This summer I flew down to New Orleans to do makeup for a friend's wedding. I decided to make the most of it and try to find some photographers to work with. One that I met and worked with is Tiffany Bailey of Lush Boudoir. We worked together, did a cool Halloween editorial for a magazine, and promised to keep in touch. I knew right away she was one of my soul sisters.

She called me up a few weeks ago and said she was in Chicago doing some boudoir sessions at the Hotel Chicago, could I come and do hair and makeup? Chicago is only a one-hour flight from me so I was definitely going to make it happen. I asked her if she could find us an amazing model with a unique look so that we had something for our books. She was down to do this and found Lyric Mariah, a Chicago native. The whole shoot was serendipitous. Tiffany's mission is body positivity, and often times we think of body positivity as plus-size models. Tiffany is committed to representing as many body types as possible. Lyric Mariah wrote us back and said she has Amniotic Band Syndrome. This means she is missing the bottom 1/4 of her leg, and has smaller fingers on one of her hands. She loved the mission of Lush Boudoir and wanted to do her first photo shoot without her prosthetic leg, and without hiding her hand. We were so excited about the idea of collaborating with her. 

I never even saw a photo of Lyric Mariah before I met her to do her makeup. I didn't have any expectations, I totally trust Tiffany and knew whoever she chose for our trade shoot would be great, but I was blown away by Lyric Mariah. Not only is she stunning, she was sweet, funny, and completely confident. 

Most of our clients need some time to warm up in front of the camera (even models), but Lyric Mariah was ready to go right from the start. She had said she was nervous before she came, but if she wasn't feeling herself she was an expert at faking it. I looked at the back of the camera and my eyes just glazed over with tears.

It wasn't some self-righteous ableist sentiment of "this girl is so brave." There was no "in spite of." This girl was just murdering the camera. She was graceful, she was poised. She said she wanted to do the shoot to tell other people to love their bodies and I knew she truly meant that. "When I was growing up I was getting made fun of at school and then I'd go home and watch 'America's Top Model.' Those models didn't listen to Tyra but I listened to everything she said. I know I'm underrepresented but I don't want to be a disabled model. I want to be a model, straight up. I want to be the next Tyra."

I felt like she was giving this gigantic middle finger to the world and doing it while looking soft and feminine, being totally devoid of combative defiance. In these photos she didn't need to defend herself, her nay-sayers will have to do that for themselves.