Janine Schmenk
I am usually the one. . . drooling over makeup on the cover of W, counting down to Fashion Week, telling random stories, crying at your wedding, speaking in abbreviations, painting face!, asking about your “how we met” story, compiling a list for every imaginable reason, laughing, dancing, organizing every last detail, strolling around the Denver Art Museum, telling you the truth, speaking french, eating my bf’s delicious meals, coming up with a creative solution, watching way too much tv, giving advice, sending more texts than you thought was possible, eating brunch, changing my hair, getting lost driving, forever excited to meet new people, crossing my fingers for sunny weather, in a stressful situation and loving every minute, planning a vacation, sharing with others their environmental impact, reading restaurant guides, accessorizing other people, taking responsibility, singing in the car, getting overly excited about little things, having deep conversations with preschoolers, looking on the bright side, and loving life.
janine Schmenk is a freelance makeup artist in Denver, Colorado. She enjoys diverse and varied assignments: editorial or commercial photo shoots, agency bookings, runway, teaching classes, retail guest artist appearances, and applications or lessons with private clients and brides. Painting Faces: America’s Next Top Models Janine is the Key Makeup Artist at Wilhelmina Denver, the Colorado Branch of the internationally recognized modeling agency. In this role, she is responsible for design and execution of all makeup looks for agency shoots. This includes Fashion, Beauty and Commercial photography. She also serves on the Agency’s image consulting panel for the New Development Program, advising Fresh Faces on changes to their look. Along with the agency President, Director, Hairstylist & Photographers, Janine helps to conceptualize inspiration for model portfolio images. With this amazing team of industry pros, she “creative-directs” Wilhelmina’s New Development test shoots. In September and February, Janine works with the AVEDA NY Academy team backstage at New York Fashion Week, doing makeup for the runways. Previous clients have included Bodkin, Stem Designs, and BCBG. One of Janine’s favorite roles is that of educator. Her extensive customer service background, training experience, and passion for teaching combine to make her classes both enjoyable and effective. She creates customized retail and makeup classes for salons including “Makeup for Retailing: the Finishing Touch”, “12 Points of Difference for Spa: Consultations, Rituals, and Product Solutions”, and “Bridal Makeup: From Trial to Aisle”. Janine has been lucky to teach classes at several salons in Colorado, as well as the AVEDA Institute Denver. Janine began her makeup career in 2001, starting as a Retail Advisor at AVEDA in Scottsdale, AZ. What started as a part-time college job quickly grew into a career, as she moved into the management team. After graduating from Arizona State with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, she accepted a Team Leader position in Paradise Valley, AZ. During her time there, she coached the team to a record average sales growth of 12% in one year. Janine also worked with the Retail Education Team, helping to develop the New Advisor Training program, the Retail Coaching program, and the AVEDA Ambassadors program. Janine next moved to Denver’s Cherry Creek AVEDA, one of the top volume Experience Centers in the country. After coaching the team to achieve their sales and service goals, she auditioned to become an AVEDA Freelance Artist. She completed AVEDA classes with several makeup Pure-fessionals, and trained with Rudy Miles at the Denver Academy of Makeup. Janine left AVEDA to became a freelance artist shortly after.
Janine continues to work with the AVEDA network, where she started her career. As an AVEDA Freelance Artist, she appears as a guest in AVEDA Salons across the country, giving
45-minute makeup lessons to clients. She is an active part of the AFA program, averaging five salon events per month, with retail sales averaging $700-$950 per event. She broke the AFA sales record of $1448 at an event in Boulder. Janine receives requests from other brands to appear as a Special Guest Artist at retail events. Her experience includes Smashbox, Yves St. Laurent, Armani, Kiehls, and Shu Uemura. Janine provides private lessons, consultations, and applications to many women. She finds her success comes from her ability to connect with people, and draw from her varied experiences, providing a superior level of service. Her clients are diverse: busy moms with five minutes to spare; the makeup novices who want to take the first step into an easy, minimal look; a woman addressing her concerns about maturing skin with an age-appropriate routine; or a client searching to update her style with new trends. Janine begins every makeup application with an extensive consultation: considering her client’s current routine, lifestyle, challenges and concerns, experience level, wardrobe, skin type and tone, eye/hair color, goals and desired results. She then hands her guest a mirror, and walks her through every step, instructing in an upbeat and informative style. Her guests always learn the “why” behind their look, learning things like color theory, principles of texture, application techniques, use of tools, and balancing face shape, to name a few. Janine ensures her guests leave the appointment with a uniquely customized look that they feel confident about recreating at home. Janine works with select brides; she was voted “Top 5 Wedding Makeup Artist” by Channel 7’s A-list in September 2009 and 2010. She has written articles about bridal makeup featured on Brides.com and the Knot. When working with a bride, Janine prides herself on considering all aspects of the wedding: location, theme, dress, hairstyle, color palette. . . even lighting. Her photo shoot experience comes in handy when creating a look that perfectly compliments both the bride and the overall wedding concept. A full trial is included for all bridal applications. At the trial, Janine performs her signature consultation (see above), then works with the bride to create the look. A bride must look beautiful both in her photographs and in front of her guests, so Janine uses both a mirror and her camera to view the final look. 
The trial ends only when the bride is completely thrilled with her application. The final decision is documented both by photo and also a makeup map, listing color choices and application. The bride can then relax and enjoy her wedding day, knowing that every detail has been previously considered. Janine especially enjoys working with the entire wedding party, to ensure that the makeup is cohesive and beautiful for photos, and, of course, that the bride stands out as the focus she should be.
In Spring 2010, some of Denver’s best wedding professionals and Channel 2’s Everyday Show partnered to produce a Dream Wedding Giveaway. Viewers selected a winning couple from many applications, to be awarded a wedding worth close to $100,000. Each week, viewers voted on their favorites from three choices. From cakes to flowers to invitations to the dress, each element of the wedding was chosen by the home audience. Janine was honored to appear on the Everyday Show and debut three makeup looks for the Dream Wedding bride, as well as beautifying her on her big day. Janine is passionate about makeup and fashion, and spends her downtime in research. She reads magazines, watches runway video, visits websites, follows blogs, tries new products, attends fashion shows, and enrolls in classes constantly. When not working, Janine can be found trying out new restaurants with friends, visiting art galleries, practicing yoga, and indulging in her guilty pleasure: watching reality competition tv shows! Janine is available for individual makeup applications or lessons, weddings, salon events, and classes. She can be reached at 602.541.7729 and [email protected].
