EQUATE Meets Athena Efstathiou

Words & Interview by Danielle Temeng

EQ: Hi Athena, welcome to EQUATE. Can you tell us a little about yourself, and would you say a career in beauty was always imminent?

A: Thank you so much for speaking with me! What a pleasure! I’m a London-based, fully qualified makeup artist. I’ve been in the industry for around 7 years now (wow how time flies). I started off working on makeup counters such as Tom Ford and Mac for years until I finally took the plunge and went freelance a few years ago. I work on all aspects of makeup covering everything from TV to red carpet and weddings…lately I’ve been working with my celebrity client on The Voice Kids.

My career in beauty found me. I didn’t even realise being a makeup artist could really be a job; growing up in a Greek family the only careers that were really acceptable were in law, medicine or accountancy, etc. Makeup found me, it started off as my escape when I wanted to get away from reality and it ended up being my dream job. I truly feel blessed to be able to help women feel more confident for a living!

EQ: When did you discover your love for makeup? Was there a person or look in particular that captured your attention?

A: I always loved the art of makeup I would always steal my mum’s makeup (now she’s stealing mine aha) and I’ve always been very creative, but I never realised I could make it my profession. I used to watch makeup artists transform themselves or their clients from sleepy to bright-eyed and think ‘wow they really have the secret and cheat sheet to life!’.

It wasn’t until I was in a dark place feeling lost, I used makeup as an escape spending hours and hours in my room practicing looks, using that time almost like meditation. From there people started asking me to do their makeup, I realised I loved the feeling it gave me to help transform someone’s confidence and produce art at the same time. Then I decided to get professionally trained!

EQ: What 3 skin or beauty products could you not live without?

A: First of all, concealers – these bags aren’t going anywhere without it aha especially being on a last-minute all hours of the day schedule.
Bronzer – we live in London where sunshine lasts all of 3 minutes, so I need that golden glow.
Moisturiser – If your skin feels good it looks good, you glow from within!

EQ: Aside from aesthetics purposes, what does makeup mean to you and for your clients?

A: Makeup is more than art for me. It’s a form of self-expression and a way to help women feel more confident and comfortable in their own skin. It’s more than just the makeup, it’ll help enhance someone’s natural features while at the same time it being a little therapy session. As a trained Reiki healer when a client sits in my chair, it’s an energetic as well as aesthetic transformation. They could sit down bearing all the troubles and stresses on their shoulders and leave feeling amazing from inside out.

EQ: You’re one of the UK’s most in-demand MUA’s with almost 100K followers. With such a large platform do you ever feel like it’s a lot of pressure to always look/appear your best - particularly being in the beauty space?

A: This is a really interesting question. There is definitely a pressure to look a particular ‘perfect’ way with the ideal hourglass figure and pore-less glowy skin. My feed is filled with ‘perfect’ women with hundreds and thousands of likes but it’s so important to remember social media is not a true representation of someone’s life, it can be a mix of flattering lighting, filters, and good poses! It’s so easy to choose what you want people to see.
I am who I am, and people will only get the authentic me through my social. There’s no such thing as perfection.

EQ: Social media has come under a lot of scrutinies in recent years for its effect on people’s self-esteem (particularly young women) - being an influencer in this space what have your experiences been like and do you agree with the statement?

A: I agree with this statement…again it’s so hard seeing hundreds of images of the most beautiful ‘perfect’ women and it’s hard to not compare yourself. You can get yourself in a rabbit hole of looking at profile after profile and end up feeling so unhappy with yourself and depressed! In those cases, I try to have a bit of a social media detox. Remember Instagram is not real life. It’s important to only follow people who inspire you and make you feel good.

EQ: You’ve worked (and continue) to work with some incredible personalities including Pixie Lott & Vogue Williams - what’s been your favourite beauty look to date?

A: My favourite look was Pixie Lott’s pre-COVID look at the BAFTAS, she was in the white dress. I created a beautiful, winged liner with a sparkly charcoal spotlight eye which was featured in the Daily Mail!

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