Inspirational Interviews - Dvora Divine

Another week has quite simple flown by, which means it's time for another Inspirational Interview. This week I'm bringing you the fabulous Deborah from Dvora Divine. I fell in love with Deborah's blog when I was searching for photos of MUA kits (like you do) and soon got to know her through twitter and email chats. She is so sweet and lovely and helpful, and has put up with lots of my questions and frets about starting out as a freelance MUA. Anyway, enough of me - lets get on with the interview!

Thank you so much for agreeing to let me interview you! First, can you tell us a little bit about yourself please?

Hmmm....lol! That's a loaded question. I'm a Zimbabwean born chocolate sister who  calls the sunny town of Stockton-on-Tees home. I'm loud, bubbly, dramatic and borderline crazy at times but most of the time I'm pretty happy. I came to the UK to study.  I have a degree in Business Finance from Durham University but somewhere along the line I met this lovely vanilla dude who has been my husband for a fantastic 2 years and 4 months. I've always been attracted to doing "arty" things so it's no suprise that I ended up being a make-up artist. 

How long have you been blogging for and why did you first start a blog?

Ehhh I'll be honest, I can't remember when I started blogging....something about November 2008 rings a bell. I started blogging because there just weren't many chocolate sisters at the time and I thought perhaps I could fill a niche market in the UK at least.

What inspired you to become a freelance MUA?

Truthfully, I was fascinated by what other people could do with their faces. I like the colours and the fact that if you made a mistake you could just wipe it off. Eventually I started to recognize all the dodgy make-up in this world and I wanted to do something about it. Now don't get my wrong, I used to wear EXTREMELY dodgy make-up and back then I thought I was fly!!! But I have since learnt from my ways and I wanna help other women too. Faces are a great canvas to work on. It never comes out exactly which is inspiring. 

How are you finding freelance life?

Exciting, daunting and downright difficult at times. I love it. But you really have to put your back into it. You are constantly haveing to prove to people that you are capable and when you are black its a little bit harder sometimes. It's not a racist thing, it's just people can think you don't know how to cross over at times. I remember one vanilla lady really wanting my services but expressing concern because she wasn't sure I could deal with her skin tone correctly. At that point in time I was carrying a good selection of foundations. Nothing could persuade her and she ended up going to someone else. If she had at least had a trial with me perhaps she might have changed her mind. But it's things like that, that keep me on my toes really.

At the moment business is building and I think 2011 is going to be a smashing year by God's grace!

One of the things that lead me to your blog was your amazing post on your MUA kit - has it grown much more? What are your must have items for professional use?

Why thank you! I love my kit!!! Since my kit post i've only added bits and pieces to it. My hair kit is the one that has grown the most if I'm honest with my lastest purchase being a purple pro hairdryer! (Sadly i'm quite excited about this!)

My biggest haul of the year - IMATS- is coming up in 2 months so it shall grow then most definitely! My wish list is stupidly long and I feel like I should have it ALL!

What are my must have items?! How can you make me choose?! I guess if I had to narrow it down it would be:-

Yaby and RCMA foundations

Tweezers and Eyebrow pencils/Powders
False lashes
Gosh Black Ink Eyeliner
Yaby Eyeshadow palette
Any decent mascara (no favourites)
My LaFemme Blush palette
My OCC liptars in primary colours plus black, white and clear
My Dermalogica Active Moist moisturiser.
and my beloved Brush Roll

(I've left so much out! but that would be bare minimum!)

What sort of things do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I love to sing. I'm very active in my church choir so I devote a lot of time to that. I love  to watch action movies. I love cooking for my husband but most of all I like doing crafty things. I make jewellery, occasionally knit and I've just gotten into facepainting when I can find a child to practice on. 

How do you find the balance of being a Christian and being an MUA? Does it affect any of the decisions you make in terms of clients etc?

Well the first thing I do is that I make every effort not to work Sundays. I try to keep that day for God and for being with my Church family. It's not always possible to do this because sometimes you have Wedding fayres and they ALL fall on Sunday regardless so that can't be avoided but I'll still make an effort to be in church. I also don't work Halloween. The goriest work I think I'll ever do is paint myself a transformer. I'm not a fan of all the blood and gore of Halloween so I just let it pass. If I'm working on a shoot, I don't do anything where nudity or anything highly suggestive is involved. I don't want to lead anyone into temptation with the content on my website. 

What are the best and worst bits about being a beauty blogger?

Best:- knowing that someone out there likes what you write enough to keep track of what you do :)
Worst:- being organized enough to blog more

What can your readers look forward to over the next couple of months?

I really would like to be able to blog more. So I hope that I can figure out a work life balance that will do just that! I'd like to review things that people might not have considered or at least show it in a differing light. That would be nice for the following year. 

Ok time for some quick fire questions:

3 Favourite Items of Make up:

Foundation
Eyebrow pencil
Lipstick

3 Favourite Foods:

Chicken wings
chilli
ready made polenta

3 Desert Island Items:

my husband
my bible
and ehh....my phone!

3 People who've inspired you:

Pat McGrath (Ah-mazing make-up artist)
Catherine Harris (My Pastor who is the most organised person I know!)
My Hubby (For being so methodical and keeping my grounded!)

3 blogs you'd like to recommend:

Tough one!

www.jessicajeanmyers.blogspot.com:- Fabulous make-up artist and she keeps it real
www.theresafrancinemakeupartistry.blogspot.com:- her work is simply amazing. I wanna be her when I grow up
http://facesfromaziajs.blogspot.com/:- she's plain fierce.

3 words of advice:

Pray
Love
Eat gooooood food!