Gleb Atamanenko about participating in competitions and working with his fears

Yesterday there was a live broadcast on the Instagram profile of our resource Pro Hair&Makeup, during which we talked with Gleb Atamanenko - GA makeup artist, author of the Comics Makeup direction, make-up artist for We Did It Production, LimeLite Production and member of the jury of Pro Beauty Battle Makeup ! The conversation turned out to be incredibly inspiring and energizing for action, so we are sharing the most interesting moments with you!

About the formula for success

I came to creativity thanks to my childhood dream. If you try hard and follow the rule “20% talent, 80% work”, then everything will work out! It is important to work hard, practice and not give up. In my career, I am inspired not by artists, but by athletes. I myself played different sports and participated in different competitions, so the spirit of competition has been developed in me since childhood.

About how to go to victory

I am always determined to win competitions. Second and third places don't interest me - I might burn out. But then time passes, I calm down and get back to work. I can lose a battle, but then win the war.

The main thing is to make a competent analysis of what you are weak in and what you are strong in, in order to balance these qualities in your work. It is important not to focus on one thing - then you will not be able to go further. You need to be flexible, be a generalist.

About support and motivation

The most important competition in my makeup career is the NYX Face Awards, which taught me to work with my fears, pressures and insecurities. Through this competition, I gained incredible support from my family and friends, and also met many other participants abroad who were also very inspiring, motivating and supportive.

About fears in the head and how to deal with them

All our fears and complexes are in our head. We program them ourselves, put them aside in our consciousness and do not allow ourselves to do something. I have been studying psychology since I was 18, focusing on personal growth, discovering my potential and my hidden talents. I read a lot of books in this area, watch videos on YouTube and thus form my character, personality and core.

There are many aspects that are important to work out for every make-up artist, be it a guy or a girl. The main thing is to understand what you really want and what you need in order to realize it. Additional information from the field of psychology helps you understand how to activate ambition and desire in yourself, how to start working on your goals and making your dreams come true.

About the first attempts to win the NYX Face Awards

I started participating in this competition in 2017. I came across it completely by accident. Masha, who helped me with editing my videos on YouTube, offered to participate in the NYX Face Awards, which I knew nothing about at that moment. We dropped our video and unexpectedly made it into the top 15 of Ukraine.

For the next stage, we started preparing a video and decided to make it shorter, more emotional and with an interesting plot. The work turned out really cool, but we didn’t think to read the rules carefully. According to the regulations, the video must last at least five minutes, and ours was 4 minutes 43 seconds. Because of 17 seconds it did not go further.

I flew by and decided that next year I would succeed. And I spent this whole year working through my fears. Then there was a second attempt...

You can listen to the continuation of the story on our Instagram account and find out how Gleb still managed to win the NYX Face Awards!