“We need to de-dramatise beauty!”: meet 3D make-up artist Ines Alpha

While working as an art director in advertising, Ines Alpha, like many other creatives, started playing around with 3D renders. Falling down a rabbit hole of programmes, she “discovered the limitless world of CGI” while watching “a zillion video tutorials on how to make organic iridescent blobs and weird creatures,” she tells It’s Nice That. Skills sorted and an aesthetic identified, Ines decided to “unite two of my favourite things in this world: 3D and make-up,” she says. “I realised I could create anything with my imagination and a lot of patience. Since then my fascination for 3D, make-up and cosmetics has been growing bigger and bigger every day.”

Now with an Instagram following of over 10,000, Ines’ practice involves creating “enchanted and fantastic versions of reality,” but in a relatable way, moulding her renders into make-up applications the same way you’d apply lipstick or a flick of eyeliner. By developing a range of 3D make-up applications users can apply personally, the artist pushes “further the boundaries of makeup, working on ‘digitised’ bodies, allowing for more freedom with the concepts of beauty,” she explains. “In today’s — and more importantly tomorrow’s society — people will express an ever-expanding desire to transform themselves.”

An “illusion”, as Ines puts it, of how we look online is already everywhere from “automated social media filters, advanced make-up techniques or for the more privileged, plastic surgery,” she points out. In turn, the artist considers her work to be an exaggeration of this current and on-going trend by “trying to fantasise what complete aesthetic freedom of one’s appearance could look like.” Her goal, therefore, is simply to “encourage a fun and creative approach to make-up,” she says. “We need to de-dramatise beauty!”

Collaborating with creatives, make-up artists and models has been the natural next step for the artist, as the pool of people intrigued by her work grows and grows. For Ines, this is the most energising part of her digital art endeavour, stating that “there is nothing better in this world than finding the right artistic connection.” Inspiration follows these collaborations too, whether it’s with artist and model Sheidlina or musician Yelle. “Their faces inspire me, their visual features and graphic universe inspire me, the way they dress and present themselves to the world, sometimes it’s their beauty and sometimes, it’s something I really can’t explain.”

As individuals still try to figure out how they want to present their true or digitally rendered representation of themselves to the world, Ines is too hoping that one day her dream of developing an app “where everyone can wear my 3D make-up,” comes true.