Community Corner

'Living the Dream': Yorktown Makeup Artist Makes Women Feel, Look Beautiful

As a young child Meredith Hayman would always play with her mother's makeup or watch her do it herself. All along, she wanted to become a Broadway performer.

Even though she never saw herself as a professional makeup artist, Hayman is definitely living her dream now.

"I really envisioned myself as an actress," said Hayman, who described herself as a beauty expert for the everyday woman. "When you're young, you don't realize you have to adjust your dreams to something else you love."

Hayman, a celebrity makeup artist and one of the most recommended bridal artists in the Hudson Valley, attended Syracuse University where she was studying musical theatre. After graduating college, she moved to New York City in 1998 where she appeared in two off-Broadway plays and even did stand up comedy. 

But not wanting the typical struggling-actress job as a waitress in the Big Apple, she found a job with Trish McEnvoy. She was selling makeup and teaching people how to apply it themselves, using the products they buy. Hayman said people trusted her and she established loyal clients.

Hayman, who used to put on her friends' makeup while still in college before going out, had the natural ability to make women look and feel beautiful.

"I'm very artistic," Hayman said. "That's just where I'm happy at."

After having worked at various makeup counters, as well as in corporate, the big break came. 

A friend and fellow makeup artist Colleen Sandler, who worked at VH1 at the time, suggested that Hayman should use her ability and work as a professional makeup artist. Shortly, Hayman was hired as a freelance makeup artist for VH1 where she applied the makeup to celebrities, for shows such as the "I love the 90s."

"It was the most fun I've had and it was very easy," she said. "I was living my dream," she said. 

She worked as a freelance makeup artist from 2003 to 2007. During that same time, she met her husband Marc Hanson, whom she married in 2004. They both knew they wanted to start a family and move to the suburbs where they could be closer to his job in Purchase. Hanson is a senior marketing director at Pepsi. 

The couple found the perfect home and moved to Yorktown in 2006. 

They now live in the Bridle Ridge Development, a neighborhood with other young families, where they are raising their two children – son Spencer, 6, and daughter Lainey, 3. 

"I like knowing I'm living in a safe neighborhood where my kids could safely play outside and I can watch them while I'm working inside," Hayman said. 

During the last three month of her pregnancy with her son, Hayman said she stopped commuting to the city for work and instead she began making a name for herself. She started out small and was hired as a makeup artist at a few weddings. 

The rest is history. 

Her husband initially wanted her to be home with the kids, but she said, she liked staying busy and working. She was able to create a business for herself where she could be at home with the children during the week and still work. 

"It's just meant to be," Hayman said. "I'm so lucky."

"I'm thankful that my husband, who is a hands-on dad on weekends when I'm working, and our lifestyle has allowed me to have a home-based business, working in my community and doing what I love and it doesn't feel like work," she added.

During her career, she has worked with celebrities including Whitney Cummings, Channing Tatum and Christie Brinkley. Her work has been featured on VH1, MTV, and Bravo. Her credits also include ABC “The View,” Spike TV, and CMT.

She also specializes in makeup for special occasions, weddings, private party services and group workshops. Her work has been recognized by the popular wedding website, the Wedding Wire, where she has received the Bride's Choice Award for the fifth consecutive year. 

"It's the most important, special day in someone's life," Hayman said of why she loves doing bridal makeup. "I'm so honored to be a part of their special day."

During her workshops for the "everyday" woman or consultations, Hayman said she likes to get to know her clients and learn about their makeup routine. That way she could recommend the best products or ways of applying makeup that fits your lifestyle. 

"I want to get it right and I want them to love their face when they leave," she said. "I want them to have the confidence they can achieve that themselves."

Beauty, though, starts on the inside, she said. 

Being a makeup artist, she said, has made her more sensitive to the way people see themselves. She wants to help them change the way they see themselves and see the beauty from within. 

The positive comments and reviews Hayman has received from her clients, who often become friends, has validated her work. 

"Success is putting your hard work and your positive energy into creating something that only you have the power to create and then living it, and growing it and just knowing you did it your way and it's the fruit of your labor," Hayman said. 

For more information about Meredith Hayman visit her website, check out her blog posts on Yorktown-Somers Patch or email her at meredith@meredithhayman.com. 

Editor's Note: The article was originally published on July 22, 2013. 


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