Interview With Sephora PRO Beauty Member Sara Biria

Our very own Sephora PRO Beauty team member, Sara Biria, was featured in the New York Times! Read on... and go Sara!

Sara Biria, a 24-year-old makeup artist at Sephora on Fifth Avenue, has twice — in 2007 and 2008 — won the company’s national makeup competition to become part of its 15-person traveling beauty team, plying her trade at fashion shows and other events around the country. She was born in Tehran and moved with her family to Germany and then to Portland, Ore. She began working at Sephora in Portland in 2006 and moved to New York, where she is based, in 2007.

Why makeup? It made me feel good, and boosted my self-esteem. I felt fun and flirty. And growing up, having your basic teenage insecurities, it was just a way for me to express the way I was. If you’re not a cheerleader, makeup still always made you feel beautiful.

Age you first wore makeup: Eleven. I put on hot pink eye shadow and Wet ‘n’ Wild hot pink lipstick, but my older sister saw me, and I was in so much trouble. She said, “You can’t wear makeup — you’re too young.” So I took it off. And then put it back on, on the bus to school. I did that until I was 14.

Mother and daughter beauty school: By the end of freshmen year, my house would be where everyone would get ready for proms and dances. Mom was the hairstylist, and I’d do the makeup. We were the glam squad.

Worst look you’ve worn: Hot pink eye shadow mixed with baby blue and dark chocolate lip liner mixed with frosty pink-beige lipstick. I will never show pictures of that to anyone, ever. I think I was 13 or 14.

First job on the makeup on counter: I was 15, and it was a part-time job, inside JCPenney.

How you won the national competition: In the first round of auditions, 600 Sephora employees tried out. We had to create perfect skin. Then I got a call back for the second audition, in L.A., where we had to create a Marilyn Monroe look. Then I was called back, to compete in New York. It was so surreal. We had to create an editorial and runway look. I was terrified. When I saw my model come out, which meant I had won, I was just like, “Oh, my God.”

Most poignant on-the-job moment: I did makeup for a girl who had cancer, in Portland. She lost her eyebrows, and I showed her what she could do with her eyebrows so that the pencil stayed on. Her mother cried, she cried, and afterward, I cried, too.

Biggest misconception about makeup: It doesn’t create someone else. It brings out your inner beauty.

Must-have makeup item: Mascara. Because eyes tell everything.

Read the full interview here>