Choose Beauty: Ramy Gafni

.

Year I Obtained My Beauty License: 1996 in Sydney, Australia

Why I Chose Beauty:
I'm the first professional make-up artist in my family, though my parents were both in the gem industry. My mother was a buyer of precious stones for a jewelry manufacturer and my father was a diamond dealer. In the gem industry you need to have a good eye for color, and color selection has been one of my major strengths as a make-up artist. I believe I inherited this eye for color from my parents.

I used to doodle over the models in fashion magazines, perfecting their eyebrows and make-up and do makeovers on my sister's Barbie dolls with magic markers. Although I knew I had this passion, I still went to law school in New York. Meanwhile, I continued to apply make-up for friends and family for special occasions and always loved doing elaborate make-up costumes for Halloween. I eventually dropped out of law school and moved to Australia. I needed to get away from those trying to convince me to finish law school, and to make my own decisions regarding my future. While there I decided to put my passion to the test and enrolled in beauty school in Sydney, strictly for make-up. I knew the moment I started that I'd found my career.

Throughout the years, I've had some very interesting clients, including Cher. I grew up watching her in the media, so meeting her was incredibly exciting. To have her like my work and buy my products is completely surreal. The most satisfying client I have worked with was Britney Spears. She was at a crossroads in her life and I think the brow shaping and make-up completely transformed her at the time. But my most rewarding clients are cancer patients. I love how empowered they become when they learn how to address the physical side effects of treatments. I never tire of the "before and after."