Beauty School Didn’t Teach Them This. Lorin Cole Does.

3 min read

The Ford model who did her own face, then everyone else’s on a French Vogue set, has a blunt message for New York: stop chasing the “in color.”

Nightlife Report · Who’s Who in New York · Lillith Magic · Directed by Anthony Perlas

Hello, Upper East Side. And downtown. And everyone in between with a ring light and a dream.

Here’s a secret the beauty counters won’t whisper: some people graduate beauty school and still can’t land the job. They can’t blend. They can’t draw a straight line. And when they finally admit it, they end up in one chair in New York: Lorin Cole’s.

From the runway to the brush

Cole’s story starts in art school. “I attended the Phila. College of Art when I was offered a modeling contract with the Ford Agency,” she told Nightlife Report. Then came the move most models never dare make. “Shortly thereafter, I realized that I excelled in applying makeup to my own face and requested to do it myself.”

The turning point came on a set most artists only dream about. “I began contemplating a future as a makeup artist when I was booked for a beauty shoot for French Vogue the photographer requested I do the makeup for the other models on the shoot.”

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Read that again. The model was booked for the camera, and the photographer handed her the brushes.

The uncomfortable truth about beauty school

Today Cole teaches, and she doesn’t sugarcoat who walks through her door. “Many aspiring artists come to me after attending beauty school and unable to find work in the industry,” she said. “Unfortunately, many are unable to blend properly, achieve drawing a perfectly straight line, or have the knowledge to correct features and flaws which is imperative moving forward.”

It’s a quiet indictment of a whole industry pipeline, and it’s the reason her lessons fill up: she teaches the fundamentals that get you hired.

Trends? Hard pass.

Ask Cole for this fall’s big New York night-out look and she refuses the premise. “I never follow fashion trends or the projected “in color;” hence, the fashion victim scenario,” she said. “My goal is to formulate a look which best compliments each individual client.”

In a city that changes its mind every season, that’s practically heresy. It’s also why her clients look like themselves, only better.

The hit list

Cole names names, product-wise. “I’ve never been an advocate of airbrush spray foundation as I find it too heavy as well as overly exaggerated false lashes,” she said. “I prefer a lighter more natural foundation (flaws can be easily corrected with the proper technique).”

Translation: if you need a spray gun and a pair of awnings on your eyelids to look finished, the problem may be technique.

Dinner to 2 a.m., no touch-ups

Her staying-power rule is refreshingly unglamorous. “Providing foundation isn’t applied too heavily, there is no reason why it shouldn’t last for hours,” she said. “Regarding products such as pencil liner or lipstick, by applying a thin wash of powder over the area will help keep the makeup in tact as wax dissipates.”

Thin wash of powder. Write it on your mirror.

The moment it clicks

For all the bluntness, what moves Cole is her students’ independence. “I teach private makeup lessons to clients as well as makeup students and it is most awarding when they find the confidence and know how after discovering they can do it themselves moving forward.”

She isn’t building dependence on a chair. She’s building artists who walk out and do it themselves.

So the next time someone at the bar asks who did your face, the right answer might be: I did. Lorin Cole taught me.

You know you love her. XOXO, Nightlife Report.

Quotes are from Lorin Cole’s written answers to Nightlife Report, Oct 28, 2026, reproduced as written. Nightlife Report has not independently verified the Ford Agency contract or the French Vogue booking; they are presented in Cole’s words. Photos: courtesy Lorin Cole (lorincole.com, lorincoleart.com).
Lillith Magic · Directed by Anthony Perlas

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