Hello, everyone. Hi, it's me, Jen. Jess is off this Friday, but welcome to Fat

Mascarra. It's interview day. Today, I'm joined by Gabriela Hernandez, who is

probably best known as the founder of Bessamay Cosmetics, a line of

historically inspired cosmetics that was founded in 2004. She got it started

out of the little shop in Glendale, California, but she actually began her

careers as a photographer and she's become a well-known makeup historian with a

huge collection of vintage cosmetics that she uses to inspire new products she

creates, but she also loans out as resources to Hollywood film and television

designers. Plus, on top of all that, she's an author. Her book, Classic Beauty,

The History of Makeup is now in its second edition. It's such an invaluable

resource with tons of images of vintage cosmetics, many of which are from

Gabriela's archives in her own collection. She's also a podcaster. I'll put a

link to her Bessamay podcast on our blog, and she works regularly with

companies like Disney and the Marilyn Monroe Estate to create limited edition

collections and collaboration. So I'll put links to her company, some of the

people and products we mentioned, all of that in the show notes. So check that out

if you want more information, and I hope you enjoy the interview.

Gabriela, I don't even know where to start though because you're a designer of

photographer. Like a color chemist, consultant type person, author, historian,

podcaster. I feel like you're multi-hyphenate, but the one thing that ties

your work together is of course a love of makeup. So I have to ask you, do you

remember your very first experience with makeup?

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