Serial/Moving to Okinawa ② "Make-up Artist" Rie Morimoto's Case 2/4

Rie Morimoto graduated from a famous French make-up school at the top of her class, worked in New York and was a make-up artist for trendy magazines, actresses and celebrities in Tokyo.
After the earthquake disaster, when she was at the forefront of her industry, she moved to Okinawa, and started a completely different lifestyle.
We will tell her story in four parts.

In this second installment, we asked about the start of her new work here, and the changes in living since relocating.

This is your third year since relocating, so what was your impression of Okinawa before moving here?

Morimoto: The first time when I came here to shoot, I thought it was like a foreign country. The buildings and the food was completely different.


Did you have any worries about the difference in culture?

Morimoto: In my early twenties I lived in Paris by myself.
I didn't know anyone at the time either. I just wanted to study make-up!
Before going to France, I studied two to three times a week at a language school in Japan while working, but once I went there, everyone around me had studied at language schools there in France and then entered the make-up school,
so it was hard to keep up with the speed of the class and was really hard in the beginning.

But having friends around to help with studying was really fun.
After going back to Tokyo, I then went to live in New York for training, and I also had a lot of difficulties there too but learning abroad was fun.

Okinawa is Japan, right? You can even speak in Japanese.
I was with my husband and child so there wasn't anything to worry about.


That makes sense. With so much experience moving around, the sense of safety relocating within the country is completely different.
So what kind of work are you doing now here?

Morimoto: I do make-up counseling and make-up lessons from basic to party make-up, make-up for advertising and magazine photo shoots and make-up for events like weddings. I also do lessons on how to make homemade cosmetics from natural products within the prefecture.

I give lessons on how to make homemade cosmetics, which can be a beauty gel made from aloe vera, mozuku (a type of seaweed), and water from steamed shell ginger or a blend of pomegranate oil and Argan oil to make a milky liquid that can be used in face packs that have a healing effect on the skin.

 

There are a lot of ingredients made in Okinawa!

Morimoto: Yes,　I focus on that, like using noni, papaya and using goya flesh in face packs. There are really alot of things that are good for the skin in Okinawa.


I didn't know that!
But in a tropical place like Okinawa thanks to the sun there are a lot of ingredients that seem to have a great deal of nutrients.
Did you start doing this once you came here?

Morimoto: Yeah. I taught make-up at a culture school in Naha, but I took a course in handmade cosmetics and it was really fun.
That made we want to learn something more specialized, so I took a professional homemade cosmetics course.
After that I studied by myself.
I can make foundation and mascara and anything else as well.

There's mascara!?

Morimoto: You can do it with bamboo charcoal.

That's amazing. You can even make homemade coloring cosmetics.
So did you like to use organic cosmetics on yourself when you used to live in Tokyo?

Morimoto: I did. That's what made me want to do it after coming here. Other than cosmetics I noticed there are a lot of everyday things that you can make at home. Cleansers like shampoo, soap and rinse can all be handmade, so I don’t throw away orange peels. I boil them down and when I add the citric acid, it can get out grease stains.
After living like this, you start feel really sensitive to the smell of market cosmetics.
Recently I started pottery, and I like cooking so I like to make miso.
I am aiming to live surrounded be homemade things as much as possible.
 

Did you want to do this when you lived in Tokyo?

 Morimoto: Not at all! That was since coming here. When I lived in Tokyo, I thought that it was only natural to buy lots of things if they were good, but after coming here, I've put in time and effort with all my heart and little by little I have started to feel the value of it.
Among the friends I have made there are a lot of them that make things, so I learn a lot everyday.

Now that I think about it in Okinawa there are a lot of people who live off of knowledge from the days of yore. Can the general public learn from your lectures?

Yeah. For average people there are basic things from skin finishing foundation techniques and eyebrow care to lesson curriculums like party make-up techniques.
And for professional beauticians, I do mode make-up lessons.
Other than that I also go out to do make-up for people.

It's a rare luxury to learn from a make-up artist who has been on the forefront both inside and outside the country.
Did you ever teach when you were in Tokyo?

Morimoto: It is along the lines of "doing make-up" but I have never taught before, so it is definitely a new challenge.

(Picture taken during time working in Tokyo. Taken with model Ai Tominaga)


Rie started living in a new land and found a lifestyle and work completely different from anything she had done before.
Always curious, she tried more and more new things and took root in the new land, and you can feel her strength and flexibility from her experience working and living abroad.
In the next installment I will ask her about her starting a farm here and her impression of Okinawa since relocating here.

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Currently the make-up artist Rie Morimoto holds make-up lectures for average people in Okinawa.
This could be your only chance to learn make-up and the key to homemade cosmetics right from someone who was a make-up artist at the forefront of Tokyo and abroad!

●Natural Homemade Cosmetics Lecture Moisturizer Edition~Making Face Cream, Face Pack etc.
●Adult Skin finish "NUDIE" Make up Lecture
The way to make natural feeling skin that doesn't feel like foundation,　Beauty skin make up～party make up、etc.
●Traveling make-up work

Profile:
Rie Morimoto

Graduated from Tokyo Max Beauty College, then went to Paris, France to graduate from the Christian Chauveau's Technical School of Artistic Make-up at the top of her class.
After coming back to Japan she studied under the make-up artist YUKI.
Went to New York to work as an assistant to a famous make-up artist, and came back to Japan in 2004 and worked at FEMME management produce.
She did make-up for several magazines, fashion shows, celebrities from abroad and models.
From 2011, she relocated to Okinawa and now does make-up  counseling and guidance that connect the earth and the mind,
and conducts lectures on the healing effects of homemade cosmetics.

Inquiries
Rie Morimoto
Mobile #：080-5056-3006
E-mail：riesekinemakeup@gmail.com

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Okinawa CLIP Photo Writer Sandy