Despite working and volunteering with extremely prestigious projects alongside many celebrities, Zhang considers the highlight of her career as winning not just one, but two awards at the International Makeup Artist Trade Show (IMATS). The IMATS are a trade show and competition held at various locations around the world, and give makeup artists a chance to shine. That is exactly what Shu did.
“It’s good for makeup artists to get to know all kinds of hot trends and fashion makeup tools and resources that are not normally easily found,” said Zhang.
With thousands of applications from around the globe, Shu was chosen has one of the eight finalists to showcase her work at the show. She won the first place at both IMATS Los Angeles and IMATS Vancouver, and beat out the other seven excellent competitors from all over the world.
“It is very exciting. I like to break the limitations of traditional make-up, to achieve the perfect combination of art and make-up. I am determined to make beautiful art with make-up, let the face be a canvas, with cosmetics as my oil paint and brush to show my understanding of art,” said Zhang.
To win the “Battles of the Brushes” Shu had to use her art background and knowledge, capturing the theme of “beauty through the ages.” At IMATS Vancouver, she came up with ideas of impressionism to represent Claude Monet. Using this concept of bringing oil painting art into makeup as original idea, it was the key that helped her win.
At IMATS Los Angeles, there was a low budget with a very tight timeline, leaving Zhang with only two weeks’ preparation. She has a reputation for being flexible and adaptable, and this was evident during this event. Shu built a fancy hand-made wardrobe and even a pair of all lace high heels to enhance the theme of her makeup: a whole Barbie costume.
“I made fancy Barbie dress with less than 50 dollars. I stitched 30 Barbie dolls from the dollar store into a circle base made of metal wires. When I arrived, I got lots of response and it attracted a lot of interest in IMATS,” said Zhang.
“I told myself not to feel like I was in a competition, because there always will be people better than you, so just enjoy yourself and have fun. I had the ability to show my skills, focus on how the brush worked in my hands,” she said. “I have been doing art for more than ten years. In particular, I’ve had lots of experience in hand craft, that helped a lot with a raised speed in makeup and styling.”
Zhang showed her skills while working with her friend Laura Village as her model, who has been her model in IMATS twice. Village is also a makeup artist in Colombia.
“Laura has an innocent and pure face and I love to do work on her,” said Zhang.
She also had professional film makeup artist Stan Edmond as an advisor for IMATS Vancouver. Both Edmond and Village provided Shu with a great support system for a high stress situation.
“Shu is breaking the limitations of traditional make-up. She is able to achieve the perfect combination of art and make-up,” said Village.
With winning, Zhang’s final work was published in professional makeup magazine “Makeup Artist” twice. She received a reward, and a scholarship from Cinema Makeup School (CMS). She also got lots of prizes from several famous makeup brands, which provide her with the most advanced makeup cosmetics in the industry. For her however, the greatest win is the potential to inspire others to follow in her footsteps.
“I hope my success in the international industry attracts more and more Chinese students to study, volunteer, and work in the United States and abroad,” she concluded.