
Celebrity makeup artist Vincent Oquendo is adding a new medium under his belt.
On Tuesday, Oquendo will introduce “Backseat Beauties,” a YouTube talk show that sees him carpooling with guests from Nicole Richie to Misty Copeland as they do their makeup, exchange beauty advice and pull back the curtain on guests’ respective careers and life journeys.
“As a makeup artist, I get to see a beautiful, intimate side of people that normally the public doesn’t get to see,” said Oquendo, whose clients include Jenna Ortega, Katie Holmes and Rachel Zegler. “Celebrating that human connection is part of what propelled me to start the show.”
All six episodes of season one, which will drop on Tuesday, were shot between Los Angeles and New York, where Oquendo is based. “The cities almost feels like characters in the show, because each one has a different energy,” said Oquendo, adding that season two will begin production in May, with select episodes likely to be shot in Cannes, where Oquendo will be working with attendees of the Cannes Film Festival.
Oquendo and model Soo Joo Park, one of six guests featured on “Backseat Beauties” season one.
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The show’s pared-back setting aims to evoke an intimacy similar to that of a makeup artist’s chair — which, as it would happen, sometimes is the backseat of a car. “When we’re on press tours, in-between appointments or on the way to a red carpet, oftentimes I’m doing makeup in the backseat — there’s always this element of travel involved,” Oquendo said.
“Backseat Beauties” looks to combine the informative appeal of beauty podcasts — which have soared in popularity in recent years, with “Gloss Angeles” and “Fat Mascara” being among the most prominent examples — with a more pared-back take on a makeup tutorial. “Makeup is meant to be fun, and I want to communicate that in my series,” Oquendo said.
“I want my energy, my campiness, my light-heartedness and that feeling I bring to the room when I’m doing makeup to translate to the show,” he continued.
“‘Backseat Beauties’ does something on the surface-level, but it also tells stories — you have Misty Copeland talking about dancing with Prince and what that did for her artistry, how it gave her a newfound sense of freedom — and that is important. That feeling that, ‘you can do it’ — we need that now, even if it starts with just the makeup process.”
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