Entrepreneurs come from all backgrounds – so it was refreshing this time around to take a break from high tech startups and hear the story of this award winning Toronto based makeup and hair artist.
Elizabeth Taylor, works for personal and commercial clients under the company name ‘Faces by Pureness.’
In a rush? Here are some highlights from this conversation
- Entrepreneurship and makeup artistry. (0:00)
- Music industry mastery and entrepreneurship. (2:45)
- Last-minute project deadlines in the makeup industry. (7:35)
- Makeup artistry and photography business. (10:39)
- Weight loss journey and media attention. (15:14)
- Diet and lifestyle changes for improved health. (17:43)
- Personal and professional life after pandemic. (22:54)
Spend time with this conversation - here's the full transcript
Unknown Speaker 0:00
Oh
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 0:21
where did that come from? That came from high school. It was like, I guess girls just taunting me because I always used to be like, Oh, you have to do this in life and in life. I'm going to do this and they're like, Okay, Miss Pierre in it. So that's where it came from.
Qasim Virjee 0:34
And you're from Toronto. Yes,
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 0:35
I am. Okay. I am. So
Qasim Virjee 0:36
where did you go to school? I went partying.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 0:38
I went in the east. Okay. Yeah. And yeah, actually, it was great experience. I can't even say anything bad about any of my school experiences. It was fine. But yeah, I definitely got time for that.
Qasim Virjee 0:50
So welcome to the studio. Elizabeth aka pureness, right.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 0:54
I'm glad to be here. Thank you for having me.
Qasim Virjee 0:56
It's a pleasure to have you Thank you. Start Well, you know, we're we're definitely like a place where entrepreneurs of all different types, you know, share their stories, but also come in, like, do cool things and collaborate with each other and stuff. And yeah, it's pretty cool. And so it's really exciting for me to sit down with entrepreneurs, particularly who are not in tech, because we do a lot of tech and startups that
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 1:19
was watching that. Yeah. Yeah, I'm still intrigued. But ya know, I, I'm glad to be part of the space as well.
Qasim Virjee 1:26
Well, I would love to hear kind of about the work that you do. And it also as a business, and you as an entrepreneur, kind of pursuing your work as a business. So let's get started with a little introduction. I'd like you to introduce yourself. Oh, should
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 1:42
I Yeah, okay. Well, as you said, Elizabeth, but aka pureness, I was saying earlier, I barely remember my real name. Because I've been called pureness for so long. It's just my business name. It's become my tagline and everything about me. So yeah, as known as pureness. I'm a makeup artist, celebrity makeup artist now. And I've been doing it for so many years that it's kind of telling my age. So it's been a great journey, though. And I started off from really humble beginnings in terms of artistry. Really, kind of just teaching yourself stuff as well. Exactly, exactly. self taught, trying to figure out what was going on in the industry and who to connect with and who not to connect with. Right. And, yeah, from there, I, I got the right flooding. And I really turned it into a business. And I took it very seriously early on. And I think that helped leverage me later on.
Qasim Virjee 2:33
So it's a tough one, because it's an industry based off of relationships, right? Absolutely.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 2:37
Absolutely.
Qasim Virjee 2:38
So what point in the journey? Did you find yourself kind of like really gelling with your network? And also, you mentioned like, who not to talk to or not hang out with? Yeah, if there's anecdotes in there, like, how do you find direction and stick with it to?
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 2:55
It's not easy. And of course, earlier on, it's easier to be caught by those people or groups that really have no good intentions for you. So it's easier to get lost in the sauce, if you will. But now being more seasoned, those people don't even approach anymore, because they know that there's a structure there that they can't break down. So it's not as bad but there are people out there and I've always told artists, be careful, be careful of who you entrust your time and energies and products and talents to because you can get used out here. So but with that said, there are great sides to the business as well. So that's what you just have to grab on to. So
Qasim Virjee 3:34
okay, so at what point in your career where you locked in saying, This is my life, this is what I'm doing? I was, you know, I am an expert, like a master at my craft.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 3:47
It's funny, I think I started saying that to myself a little too early. But that, but that gave you the confidence. made it work. Because, you know, I guess like some people would say, you know, like the rapper. He's his own hype, man. Yeah, yeah, that's I had to be that for myself. And I was like, all entrepreneurs
Qasim Virjee 4:06
have to be shouldn't be you have to drink your own Kool Aid, right? Absolutely. You gotta stay realistic. Be real.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 4:14
Honest, I think I was tooting my own horn. But no, honestly people were telling me how great I was and how well I would do here and even in other countries, so I started realizing Okay, well maybe I should really take this seriously and that was very early on that was probably a year or two into it
Qasim Virjee 4:30
wow, yeah. Wow. So when When did you get start was this after school did you go to I boost or
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 4:35
technically didn't go to school for this? I went to school for everything but I was definitely in the corporate world. Oh really? For the government? Yeah. Oh, interest. Yeah. So I was doing that and slowly started saving up for my kid I had people you know, that we're singing that I knew and, you know, little shows and stuff like that doing little music videos. And eventually one day, somebody told me in the industry, you know what, you're really good. You should get paid for this and the light bulb went on, either
Qasim Virjee 4:59
Something I can actually do. Yeah. Like, why should I be apologetic for it? It's not a hobby.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 5:04
And that first time I had to ask for money I was, you know, am I allowed?
Qasim Virjee 5:09
Yeah. Hard something, how much you're asked for?
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 5:12
Is that okay? Is that okay asked? And they were like, Yeah, sure. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that's when it started.
Qasim Virjee 5:18
And you mentioned like, so celebrities, but I guess performers, music artists, particularly.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 5:24
Exactly, exactly,
Qasim Virjee 5:26
um, tell me a little bit about that world, and about kind of working with that world. Or customer base, let's
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 5:34
say, yes, indeed, it can be amazing. As long as you know what you're doing. And you know, you're confident in yourself, you know, sometimes the industry will try to push out, you just got to make sure you're standing strong, right. But it's honestly really amazing. And when you have the talent there that business sense and the mind behind it, you are good to go. And I've had honestly such a good track record with basically any client I've had. So not just celebrities, but anyone that I've come into contact with, because everything was in place, and people are impressed, and they really just keep carrying the name. And that's all I could ask for.
Qasim Virjee 6:08
And it's a business that I'm assuming is personal referrals for the most part, right?
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 6:12
100% I could do advertisement out the wazoo, but it will never do what referrals do for me, right? Yeah, we see
Qasim Virjee 6:20
that here on campus, because this is just one of our studios. Right? We have another building around the corner. That is Yeah, and it's a it's a film and photography studio. Gotcha. So it's like a 3500 square foot space. That's a huge ceilings and a big open white space with curved wall. So typically, it gets used for some music videos. A lot of fashion photography. Yeah, the curved wall is exactly infinite space. Let's create a just do anything.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 6:45
Anything. I love those spaces. Yeah.
Qasim Virjee 6:48
And through that lens, you know, with seeing shoots every week, it's really interesting, because the kind of like the hair, makeup, and other supports for talent. I see everyone like wheeling everything that they need for their job onto site. Yes. And with seeing that every day. It's it's interesting, because this whole idea of mastery to me, yes. Requires the tools of your trade to be yours. Yes. But there's a lot of legwork with this kind of business are shocked. And then also, it's interesting to me to consider how it scales as well. So how does your business work with working with other artists and bringing, like, let's say you get a gig for you know, you got to do hair and makeup for a music video and or makeup for music video, right? And you've got like five artists going on camera?
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 7:39
Do you mean the artists or artists like myself makeup artist like yourself? Like, okay, yeah, that is where I think the business gets the most sticky, unfortunately, because it gets a little Catty, you know, people are fighting for the top spot. And in that sense, we're not working together anymore, we're working against each other, you know, and I've tried to help facilitate that in the background and let people know when I come on set. It's not competition, we're here to work. So that does help in my spaces. But in general, it's still, unfortunately, a little bit of a toxic space to be in sometimes. So
Qasim Virjee 8:14
does that mean that like, typically, if more than one makeup artist are required for a project, then they're not hired together, or you're not asked to most
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 8:23
of the time. Most of the time, they're hired individually. Yeah, there are teams out there. But more than not, it's normally individuals with the space and how we all work together. It can be amazing, and teams can be great. But even within teams, there can be that fight for the top spot. So you know, it is what it is. And we just, you know, got to work with it the best we can. And
Qasim Virjee 8:47
and so how does I'm most intrigued by this right for like kind of gig work in the sense that when? Okay, wait, is it gig work in the sense that like, gigs come at you when projects come at chance? And you have to be a bit Agile to like, respond like you've got? How do you manage your schedule, and like how rapidly are leads coming in for different projects,
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 9:13
people have said that they don't understand how you do it, you're nice, you're always by the phone, you're always responding. And I think that's what made me that way was because I knew when something came out there were going to be 5000 Other people responding. So I've got to get somewhere close to the top and then stand out with whatever it is I'm presenting to them. So you know, whether it be competitive pricing really good services, telling them that I'm very sanitary, telling them you know that here's my talent here are all these pictures and videos you can see. And then I'm versatile with race and age, then I've got my shoe in but still getting to the top of that list is a bit better because they're not going to go through all of those 5000 names so yeah, you gotta be quick.
Qasim Virjee 9:52
Yeah, I can imagine because also like for at least from our lens for like on camera stuff yeah. You know, projects come together very last minute. I don't know how they do it. Like you, even if they're corporate gigs, and it's like a fashion shoot for a rent. They know they have to do they're like seasonal shoots, but they don't organize into like a week before never understood
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 10:14
that it hurts my feeling Yeah, heart. It's crazy. Come on, you guys did this whole thing and you just figured out you need to make up artists a week before, right? Yeah, yeah, even
Qasim Virjee 10:23
talent, right? They'll get like, models
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 10:27
week before that too. And then they'll still be trying to figure out okay, so do you have availability? Okay, hold on, we're gonna ask the other people if they're available. I'm like, Come on, guys. We should have known this already. But yeah, it's always last minute. It's always rush.
Qasim Virjee 10:39
So let's talk about this. One thing you mentioned, which is interesting to me, and especially being here in Toronto with our with our diversity in the city, the city being per capita, maybe that most diverse city in the world told, right? We're working with different skin tones working with different looks.
Qasim Virjee 10:56
How is that something unique to Toronto? Is it unique to Toronto is the diversity that you've worked with a cause of what's in front of you, or something that you've pursued?
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 11:05
It is unique in Toronto, I will say there are some other cities I've touched on that have that as well. parts in the US as well there, you know, markets there, but honestly, it's made it better for my business. So I definitely am happy I started here because had I started somewhere where there was only one or two, you know, skin tones to work with. I would only know those one or two skin tones. And now I know everything so I can go anywhere and do what I need to do. So I'm I'm so happy I had that start off to work with. So
Qasim Virjee 11:39
are the projects you work on mainly in Toronto, or do you it sounds like you said International. So Okay, give me some anecdotes. Craziest, craziest gig plate or craziest place that you've been to? To do your work, please.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 11:51
You know, it's so funny. craziest place doesn't come to mind. I'm thinking sometimes I'm doing makeup in the bushes. Okay, I've done it on the beach. Okay, that sounds bad. But
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 12:07
overall else, I don't know. I've done it the beginning of movie theaters like the front. Okay, and and bring my ring light and you know, yeah, and good to go. And I've been to so many different spots. I can't even think of all of them. But you know, so international law international gig internationally. I have done the Bahamas, I have done Cancun, I have done a whole bunch of the United States, the UK, and a lot of Canada. And
Qasim Virjee 12:34
that's give me the range of different kinds of like, I guess, what do people need your services need them for? Is it personal as well as commercial, there
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 12:45
is some there is a lot of personal, that's more my filler. And I would say like, I could get great music videos, great artists, events, all that stuff. But it's still going to be those individual bookings that come in. Honestly, leverage the business
Qasim Virjee 12:58
is funny because we had a photographer in front of our eyes named Brian. And he's an amazing photographer. And there was something that he released recently, which was some photos from his and I used to live in Kenya. So I love anything about Kenya. But like, he released some photos of a trip that he did for I think it was a UN mission with Selena Gomez. Mm hmm. And just because the documentary just came out, and so he posted that just to say, hey, you know, like looking fondly on these times together, blah, blah, blah, right. And then I looked at it and I posted you know, comments with elephants saying I miss Kenya I was oblivious to the right what was that? Yeah, like Selena, go who? But, but he was saying this when he was in the studio a few months ago, talking about the life of a photographer. He was like, I can go on these crazy trips. I can work with the United Nations. I can work with celebrities. I can do big commercial projects. Like he's shot. I think it was Fendi or Chanel. He shot a collection. But he was like, Yeah, but he's like, I can't wait for those gigs to come in. So my cash flow comes from doing what I do. Yeah. He was like, I'm a photographer first. Yes. And there's no, it's funny, because the people who sit outside of that work my throw stones, or people ask him all the time, why are you doing weddings? Right? Right? Why are you doing wedding has that too. And he's like, I get to spend the day with happy people. And they're celebrating, and that's fun. And I can catch so many moments on camera. And so he was like, not only as a necessity to like, have the cash flow come out of that work, but it's fulfilling as well. And it shouldn't be stigmatized. It
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 14:37
shouldn't be at all and lots of people say, oh, we'll only do celebrity work. Only do this. I'm like, okay, that's awesome. That can be stressful. And I'd like to have that variety to be honest with you. When one thing is just tiring me out. I have the other thing to go to. So I'm all over the place. And I don't get tired out of one category, if you will. So I'm happy with it. That's awesome. Yeah, absolutely.
Qasim Virjee 14:57
So as a kind of a solopreneur like You're doing your own thing. What are the toughest aspects Do you think that you've lived through of fighting your fight?
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 15:07
Honestly, this is gonna seem silly. My paperwork needed
Qasim Virjee 15:11
paper or Hi, who doesn't hate paperwork?
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 15:14
As soon as I have to sit down for invoices, I start having heart compulsions, like, I don't even know how to feel. But yeah, you know, I deal with customers really? Well, all of that stuff. For me, it's naturally just flows. Yeah. But when I have to sit down and do the the office work, if you will, that's that's when I start getting a little antsy, a little frustrated, but it's part of the work.
Qasim Virjee 15:35
And are there any projects that you're working on that are like for your own, that are asides from client, you know, gigs, there are.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 15:44
I mean, other than sitting down here with you today, I have been now on my own journey. So I've, it's been a hard juggle, I'm not gonna lie to you to try to do the business and put myself out there. But now because of my life journey, and my weight loss journey, also, I've been getting attention. So now I've got to kind of shift focus into myself. So I've been getting interviews and, and things of that nature and publications and things like that coming out. So there's a bit more traveling that may be coming in, and we'll see what happens. But I'm ready to take this in its own
Qasim Virjee 16:20
path. So tell me a little bit about this. Yeah. Because I don't know much about this. Okay, so the weight loss journey story. What, what's the snapshot here? What do you what are you becoming famous for? That's right.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 16:31
And we're not just make up new? Well, apparently, during the pandemic, or a little bit before the pandemic, I was trying to take care of my health, but I wasn't focusing properly. And again, always kind of pushing back into the business and using it as an excuse to be quite honest. But with that said, pandemic happened, I slowed down and I was like, You know what, there's no excuse. I had a lot of health issues that were going on, okay. And instead of just going to the doctor everyday, which I didn't feel comfortable doing during the pandemic, so I was like, let me start
Qasim Virjee 17:05
researching what isn't working. There you go, like, at least not in clinic, not like that
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 17:09
was telemedicine? Yeah, there was telling me that's right. That's right. Wife's
Qasim Virjee 17:13
a doctor. And even she was frustrated with that. Not being able to see pay. Yeah,
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 17:18
that's just weird if you're not used to that. But yeah, I, I started researching about my health, and then kind of started stumbling upon things that I should be doing that would also help weight loss. And then I started my weight loss journey. And now I've lost almost 250 pounds. So what sorry, how much? Almost 205? Yeah, congratulations.
Qasim Virjee 17:38
Thank
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 17:39
you.
Qasim Virjee 17:41
That's an amazing accomplishment. Right. I never thought I could do that at all. Was it something that you know, because it's such a large amount that like, in the sense? Well, it's one of those things, you know, like, I think, I don't know what the example was, I was in the gym this morning. And there was something that came up. I was talking to my trainer about and it was one of those things Oh, yeah, I was like, about a watch that I need to like send in for a repair. Okay. Okay. And so it became his metaphor. We started talking about things that you know, you need to do, but like you put them cuz it's not, it feels like it's not immediately important. So you put it off. And they can be something that's so like your health. Yeah, right. Yeah. And it can be it can hit snowball. Yeah, it snowballs to what's the what was the catalyst for you in there, like pandemic hits. And you're like, I need to do something about this.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 18:29
Like, what it was basically that the health and all that and then I just had the aha moment, like, I have no excuse, like, every single excuse I've used is exhausted at this point. And I'm sitting here doing nothing. So let me just try. Let me just see what happens. And after I found a couple of things and realize that it was keto going and whatnot. And it was working and I was like, I am not going to stop no matter what it is. I don't have a goal I don't have a number I'm just not going to stop whatever it is that I'm going to do. And it worked like it just kept going and the weight was just dropping and I was getting more energetic and now I was able to work out the way I hadn't been in years and diet. Yep. Diet was definitely for all lifestyle stuff like diet. Yep. Even just checking myself mentally, you know, and making sure that everything was you know, clicking there. And honestly, it was like a no brainer like wait a healthy diet and working out can actually make you lose weight. Who knew? But yeah, it was that simple and it just fell off
Qasim Virjee 19:34
amazing. Yeah, amazing. And so diet was let's dig into that like what yeah, what did you Yeah, how did you change your diet?
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 19:41
It was so different because I was eating all the things all the you know, Chinese buffets, and pizza says and McDonald's all the all the fast food and a lot of it. A lot of it. I said this on another show as well. I realized I would, you know, do a takeout it would cost $30. And I could put some in the fridge for tomorrow. And now I was paying like $60. And I was still hungry. And I was like, Whoa, I have a problem. So yeah, I definitely cut down portion size. That's the biggest thing, right? And yeah, I took care of like my healthy fats and all that good stuff. And I got rid of carbs.
Qasim Virjee 20:24
Yeah, yeah. Who needs carbs? Yeah. Right. It was so good. Once a while. Oh, my goodness. It's so funny. Like, yeah, diet. I mean, so again, going back to like, my wife's work. She's a lifestyle medicine doctor. And this is the whole thing. This is what it's about. Okay. Right. It's all about like lifestyle factors. That are that's this. Yeah, that's like inhibiting people's health and quality of life. Right. It's a major thing that we don't think about, especially in North America. Like, it's funny, because like, I know, this is like tin hat, you know, social critique, but like, everywhere you go in the city, there is advertising. Yeah, everything being advertised to you, you know, is being sold to you. And has a profit mandate behind it. Which inevitably means you mentioned fast food. Yeah. Costs have to be low margins have to be high. And volumes have to be as high as they can. They're pumping crap into their customers blood, whatever fillers they can. And then yeah, and it feels like it's all that's in front of you. Once you get used to it. This is the only food option. That's the only food on these are my optional
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 21:31
that way. Yeah.
Qasim Virjee 21:33
A lot of us did often was part of this also kind of like taking a bit more onus to cook and then oh, yeah,
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 21:39
yeah. And I think almost pandemic made it impossible to really do a lot of those things. Or you. I mean, you could do it, but it wouldn't be as safe you wouldn't feel as safe. So, yeah, I got rid of takeout all together. The drive thru was not a thing. So yeah, definitely was cooking, and getting those veggies and yeah, grocery store, I would just get lump sums of things instead of going for one little thing, you know, and letting them rot in the fridge. pretending as if I was gonna do this thing. But no, I got really serious. So yeah. And
Qasim Virjee 22:10
it's quite an incredible story in terms of the commitment that it takes to be able to like, stick with it and know that you've changed your life forever.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 22:20
Everyone keeps saying that. How did you get the termination? I don't know. I mean, I guess it's just anyone something just clicks and it's right. I really don't know what that thing was what that fuel was. I just,
Qasim Virjee 22:30
yeah, I mean, like, in a way it should be. It should feel the same as getting a job in a new sector and or moving to a different country. Right, right. It's like you're on a different path. Yeah, that's okay. That's part of life. Yep. And then you do it. And then you do it's who you are. Yeah. No, you work out you eat. Well, no, that's what you do every week. Yeah. You're new. And
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 22:52
that's the lifestyle change. And that's it. Yeah, this is just what I do for like, they're like, when are you going to stop? I'm not gonna stop. Yeah, exactly. It was they're supposed to be a finish line. Stop when I'm in. Yeah, yeah,
Qasim Virjee 23:06
it's incredible. Thank
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 23:07
you, thank you,
Qasim Virjee 23:07
um, the perseverance as well through the pandemic, just in terms of your work must have been difficult to work was it difficult to find gigs where where things kind of on pause
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 23:17
and I was really It got scary at one point, and I remember having thoughts. What if people forget me? Yeah. What if I no longer think I mean, people are learning online how to do makeup now. Now. They're doing their own hair and nails at home. Right? Tick tock. They won't need me anymore. Yeah, tic TOCs out there. They've got YouTube videos to watch. They don't need me. And right when the first lockdown kind of eased up, it was still kind of goes down. And then after the second one or so eased up, everybody on the face the planet called me and I was like, Okay, this is gonna be overwhelming. Yeah, I didn't know what to do with myself. But I was happy. They still remembered me literally. Yeah, such
Qasim Virjee 23:57
a weird experience. It was so crazy. Like to just have everyone disappear. Be very insular. And everyone is feeling the same way. But we can't just all be digital instantly. Exactly replaced like conversation
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 24:12
as if we were born this way. Like, no.
Qasim Virjee 24:15
I hate zoom. And I think it's terrible. Like I
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 24:18
was okay with it a couple times. And then I was like, Yeah, this is it for me. I'm done. I don't want to zoom anymore. I like
Qasim Virjee 24:23
since the beginning of the pandemic would be on calls with people. And I'm like, let's just have a phone call. Now like, why we can do this video and I'm like, I'm sorry, but I don't want to look at you through through a video camera. Like I've been Skyping you know, since Skype had video which was like 2000 or 2000 early Yeah, yeah. Like this is no new to me. Yeah. And it's not because of that's not cool. Like it's let's just talk I can hear your voice. Let's
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 24:49
go funny are people that go on zoom but then they have a profile picture. So you're still just using your voice anywhere else. We could just call
Qasim Virjee 24:55
each other Okay, while we're talking about this, I do have one gripe with Zoom and Oh, that is the fake background.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 25:01
Oh, terrible. Well,
Qasim Virjee 25:05
I'm sorry. So obviously fake and yeah, and when you move it's or you're on a call and then there's three people with the same background. It's okay, you could show us your bed.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 25:17
A little mess on the bed.
Qasim Virjee 25:21
So for all that to be ending and people to be like getting back Yeah, to like hanging out and doing projects, and that must be so amazing. So refreshing.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 25:28
I was, unfortunately, I mean, I know we were supposed to be social distancing, but I was hugging everybody. Like I miss people. Yeah, you know? Yeah.
Qasim Virjee 25:36
And then so the personal and the work life kind of now, do you feel like there's a gel in your life, everything kind of flows better
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 25:44
flows together, but schedules do not. I'm going to be quite honest. And quite frank, it's difficult trying to figure out like, Now there'll be like, Okay, come do some makeup. And then right after I have an interview to do, and I'm like, well, now I've makeup all over me. Now. I gotta go get changed. I'm in public washrooms changing rushing to the next place. So it's been interesting. Yeah, it is very busy. Very busy. So
Qasim Virjee 26:03
have you been thinking about the scale idea? Like, are you? What what does that mean? If and in your in your work? Like,
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 26:10
I have thought of even just scaling back in a sense, honestly, because of how pandemic treated the business. I was like, It's not time yet. But there's also things I'm thinking of broadening in my branding, in terms of selling products and doing things like that. That will take over some of those hours that I have to put in. So cool. Yeah, that's exciting. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited. Wow.
Qasim Virjee 26:32
So have you been prototyping stuff? Yes. You're working on product? Yeah,
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 26:35
I'm working with labs right now. So excited. Super excited. Oh,
Qasim Virjee 26:39
my God. Okay, so we're definitely going to do a little follow up. Oh, I can't wait. I would love to do that. We have Yeah, we're planning to do I'm planning to do some roundtables on the industry of kind of like fashion beauty. So I'll include you in that. And I think we can have some interesting conversation.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 26:55
I'm loving this. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Well, it
Qasim Virjee 26:59
was amazing to spend some time chatting. Thank
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 27:01
you for having me. I'm so excited. This was awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
Qasim Virjee 27:04
I really enjoyed it.
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 27:05
Thank you.
Qasim Virjee 27:08
If people want to reach out about your craft, you know, or your journey, where would you send them? What are the what are the main ways to console
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 27:15
the main way I always go back to my own portal, www dot faces by pureness.com. And then, of course, Instagram is my next baby. And it's at faces by pianists and pretty much everything social media, everything online is faces by parents.
Qasim Virjee 27:28
Cool. Yeah. And then let's end on a question. Okay. Okay. So the question is, what advice would you give to other people, younger people maybe coming out of school or otherwise, facing this question that you you were presented with, which is, you know, they love this work, they love makeup, they love, you know, aesthetics. But it seems to be everywhere these days. You know, and they want to get involved in this work. Any advice?
Elizabeth Taylor aka Pureness 27:56
I have to say, and I just spoke to someone last night about this. Go back old school. And I feel like it will never do you wrong. I was in laundromats posting my posters. I was talking to people I was at events, I was doing weddings, I would attend weddings, and then, you know, advertise my stuff. I would go up to people and handle my business cards. I went to stores, I put my business cards in there. And eventually people started recognizing my imagery, and it was starting to embed into their minds and my reach started to grow. Honestly, I know social media is an amazing thing. But I feel like it should be a backup plan. Anything that helps give that solidification. So when they go to your website, they're like, Oh, this is her work, you know, but in terms of just sitting there and thinking that I'm just going to post a lot that can do some things. But I'm telling you that person to person connection is amazing. They will never say yeah, it's great advice. Thank you. Absolutely. Again,
Qasim Virjee 28:54
thank you for that. Thank you. Awesome, awesome. Yeah, that's good.
