Gina Brooke

"The concept of creating beauty is inseparable from that of creating art. It is from artistic conviction that beauty emerges."
-Gina Brooke

With masterful precision, artful technique, and a uniquely visionary spirit, internationally acclaimed makeup artist and beauty expert Gina Brooke elevates the craft of beautification beyond the boundaries of industry and convention.

Gina Brooke is currently the Artistic Director to "Hourglass Cosmetics" one of Sephora’s leading brands as well as the Ambassador to "Intraceauticals" an Australian based skin care and oxygen skin treatment company with written endorsements from Naomi Campbell, Madonna, Katie Perry, Fergie, Justin Timberlake, fashion photographer Steven Klein and designer John Galliano.

Known for continually reinventing the "Queen of Reinvention"- Madonna - since 2003, Brooke cites the pop icon as her creative "muse" precisely because they are fueled by the same fire: the constant drive to "defy the norm."

Achieving her greatest notoriety for reviving false lashes from the 1960's, Brooke had everyone from Madonna, Oprah and Lady Gaga wearing her customized false lash creations. "I don't believe in trends," Brooke says simply. Famed for her miraculous feats of lash architecture and transformative contouring, she clearly bears the markings of the iconoclast - while a maker of icons as well. The notorious diamond-encrusted mink Diamante lashes, conceived in Madonna's bathroom for her '05 Confessions Tour, are a pure testament to Brooke's improvisational brilliance. Once Madonna's radically ultimate glam gaze reached the stage, it seemed the whole world was watching - and the Diamantes exploded into the '60s retro revival of ultra-femme faux lash mania still raging today. Bearing a $10,000 Neiman Marcus tag, they were an instant, international media hit, touted as the most expensive and sought after lashes in existence. Ultimately they galvanized L'Oreal's launch of ultra-chic lash bars in department stores and boutiques around the world, for which Brooke served as Artistic Director and creative driving force behind L'Oreal's Shu Uemura Brand from 2005-2010.

Invoking the words of the late Uemura as her mantra - "Never stop thinking, improving, innovating" - Brooke approaches her work as a fantastic ever-evolving quest. It was this innate sense of adventure that propelled a path in the world of beauty where adventurousness would grow to verge on revolutionary.

Never without her magnifying glass, utilizing her own customized lighting equipment in all her travels, Brooke is an unusual combination of humble and confident who seeks perfection in the minutest of details. Particularly renowned for her expertise in skin care and eyes, Brooke has mastered "Beauty" - which may, to some, seem at odds with her whimsical, at times, outlandish feather and twill constructions in radioactive hues. This, however, is one deeply influenced by French Impressionists Degas, Monet and Matisse, who once modeled an entire cosmetic collection on bakery confections, who created a line intended to radiate the heart, strength and soul of the struggle for world peace, and who succeeds in finding sublime inspiration in Sesame Street's Snuffleupagus. In seeking to render subtlety and fantasy, transparency and mystery, the real and the surreal, Brooke sees no contradiction. "There are no rules to makeup. With makeup, the possibilities are endless."

In Brooke's compositions, the world through her eyes, we may see freedom from the vagaries of faddish pop culture; piece-of-life renderings that shake our notions of art, beauty and representation; perhaps even cosmetics converging with politics, Impressionism and pastries. With Gina Brooke, the possibilities are endless.

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Brooke has now collaborated on three of Madonna's world concert tours and numerous music videos, including "Hung Up," for which she was awarded the coveted MVPA Award for Best Makeup. Her talent with the living canvas has graced the pages of Vogue, Vogue Italia, W, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Allure, In Style, Rolling Stone, Elle, Marie Claire, Glamour, Interview, Numero and GQ. Working with the most renowned and influential photographers of our time, such as Steven Klein, Mert and Marcus, Miles Aldridge, Jean Baptiste Mondino, David LaChapelle, Deborah Tuberville, Tom Munro, Greg Kadel, Annie Liebovitz and Sølve Sundsbø, Francesco Corrozzini, Brooke has produced stunning campaigns for D&G, Dolce & Gabbana, Lanvin, Giorgio Armani, Akris, H&M, Furla and L'Oreal while her list of celebrity reinventions reads like a who's who of Hollywood and supermodel A-listers, from Ann Hathaway, Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bundchen, Cindy Crawford, Fiona Apple and Britney Spears, Katy Perry to David Beckham, Justin Timberlake, Bob Dylan, Goldfrapp, Gwen Stefani and of course, Madonna.

Brooke has appeared as a beauty expert and makeup artist on the Today Show, Fox News, Good Day LA, Extra, E, Daily 10, San Francisco's "View from the Bay" and many local TV stations across the US, as well as beauty blogs such as Bella Sugar which receives over 12 Million viewers monthly. It was Brooke's innate sense of adventure that propelled the once inspiring fashion designer into her first photo shoot while attending FIT in New York City casually standing in as a makeup artist for a fellow student/model's portfolio, her artful stroke was uncanny and soon thereafter she found herself careering down a new path working for fashion magazines, music videos, television commercials, films and creating products for various cosmetic companies.

Brooke resides in Greenwich Village, NYC.