Makeup-artist, editor-in-chief and NOTOBotanics creator Gloria Noto talks about her latest endeavors and teams up with The Riveter in an exclusive giveaway.
by Kaylen Ralph, photo by Rick Rodney for Into The Gloss
Gloria Noto is a woman to watch. We are enamored with her approach to skincare-first beauty, and her ability to spin all the plates at all times. In addition to working as a makeup-artist to the stars (stars such as the Haim sisters and Shailene Woodley, no less), she’s also the editor-in-chief of The WORK Magazine, which she founded. Her latest endeavor is a botanics-based line of makeup and skincare. One lucky newsletter subscribers will win an assortment of items from Gloria’s NOTOBotanics line, as well as a copy of The Riveter Issue 5, featuring Of a Kind, the Internet’s hottest and hippest Internet bazaar, where you can find more of the NOTOBotanics line!
Kaylen Ralph: How do you stay 100 percent present in each of your freelance capacities? How do you balance the work, especially when one project becomes paramount over the others for a period of time?
Gloria Noto: In the morning, I wake up — I try to set my mind into a clear place and then list out the most important tasks for the day. I generally break it down in categories: MAKEUP / NOTO / ART, then write down my most important tasks for the day in each and then go down the list; if I accomplish it all, I feel like a damn superhero. When I am in a task I try to be that category, i.e. when I am doing something makeup related, I am “Gloria Noto the makeup artist,” when I am doing NOTO, I am “Gloria Noto the art director, business woman and maker” etc. etc. It’s important to be in that frame of mind otherwise it gets very sloppy and confusing.
KR: What’s surprised you the most about owning your own business since launching NOTOBotanics earlier this year?
GN: How to wrap my head around the proper way to market your company and the different avenues that you can take. Trying to hear my voice and stick with it through all of the madness of running a business. Learning the importance of delegation, so I can focus on what I like to do best — create and engage with my customer.
KR: Aside from the obvious difference in “products,” what’s different about running a magazine verse running a skincare company?
GN: It’s a completely different type of audience. With WORK magazine, I can get as out there as I please, and love to do. Also, I am the editor-in-chief, so I have to put together an entire issue of a magazine, connect with artists, follow up etc. But with a skincare line, you have to put on a bit of a different mind set; just the fact alone that it deals with ingredients and the outcome of that vs. only visual stimulation. They are so different in so many ways but similar in the art direction department, where I have to put that hat on, and it is a hat that I love.
KR: If you had to describe your makeup style in terms of a painting or other work of art, which would you choose?
GN: Minimalism with moments of Cy Twombly.
KR: Where do you seek inspiration? How do handle dry spells?
GN: Where don’t I seek inspiration? It can come in the form of a lover, a quiet moment in my own mind, walking through the park, or at a loud sweaty music show. I handle dry spells by sitting down with myself and putting the pen to the paper – then push.
KR: You’re often asked about your morning routine. What does your evening/bedtime routine entail?
GN: That can range…dramatically …Sometimes it can be a quiet meditation to relax me, sometimes it can involve other people’s company — sometimes popcorn in bed with a film…always my incredibly comfortable bed.
KR: What’s on your bedside table?
GN: Robinson Jeffers selected poems and Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth.
Kaylen Ralph is The Riveter’s cofounder, editorial development director and brand director. She works as a personal stylist for Anthropologie. Follow her on Instagram @kaylenralph for books, fashion and a lot of content blending those two subjects. You can also find her on Twitter at @kaylenralph.
