Dominic Skinner on Glow Up, queer identity and why he’ll never do ‘basics’: ‘We get to be the exact people we are’ (EXCLUSIVE)
The makeup artist has picked up the Style Award at the 2025 Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards
Already established as one of the most renowned creatives in the makeup business, Dominic Skinner has more recently become a familiar face on television, as he helps shape future generations of makeup artists on hit BBC series Glow Up.
Since joining MAC as global senior artist in 2004 to being its director of makeup artistry today, he has overseen some of the brand’s most creative moments. In that time, he has also created runway looks for his four favourite designers: Jeremy Scott, Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen. His celebrated sense of personal style and creativity leaves an unmistakable footprint wherever he goes.
When Attitude speaks to Skinner in September – recipient of The Style Award at the 2025 Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar – he is in the middle of London Fashion Week and is very much booked and busy. Looking back on his school years, he says, “I didn’t necessarily consider myself creative because I think you do compare yourself to the people around you, and I just never acknowledged there was something different about me compared to the other people in school.”
“I found makeup was part clothing, part painting. It crossed a lot of paths in that identity for me”
Before his makeup brushes and palettes became his tools of choice, he was initially attracted to the world of fashion. Even as a child getting ready for mufti day at school, his unique sense of style made him stand out. “My mum would wake me up in the morning, get me dressed, and then I would come downstairs in something completely different,” he recalls, laughing as he talks us through his wardrobe choices. “It never occurred to me that that was creative in any way, but I think as you get older you suddenly realise that actually people don’t think the same way… I remember being quite aware that not everyone thought about [creativity] as clearly as I did.”
Skinner was in his mid-twenties studying costume design when he began to understand the collaborative relationship between makeup artistry and fashion. “When I went to art school, that’s when I felt that this was my time to really learn and get a better understanding of what’s around me.”
But it was his desire to immerse himself in every aspect of his projects that became his USP. “I wanted to do everything. I wanted to be the photographer, sculptor, to design the clothes. I loved the collaborative nature of working in a team. I found makeup was part clothing, part painting. It crossed a lot of paths in that identity for me.”
“From the moment I walked in [at MAC], I suddenly could breathe”
After deferring his enrolment at London College of Fashion, where he was set to study menswear, he decided to pivot and got a part-time job at The Body Shop, which ignited the very practical skillset needed to become a makeup artist. Before long, Skinner was fully immersed in the makeup world, knocking on model agents’ doors to source fresh faces for showcasing his work and creating a name for himself.
After building a portfolio, his career began to flourish, and the world of MAC came into his sights. “From the moment I walked in [at MAC], I suddenly could breathe. I felt like I wasn’t having to pretend to be anything or to try and fit in. I could 100 per cent be myself at a brand that celebrates individualism and doesn’t ask you to conform to a specific ideology or identity,” he remembers of that first day.
This is an excerpt from a feature appearing in the 2025 Attitude Awards issue. To see the full feature, order your copy of the Attitude Awards 2025 issue now or read it alongside 15 years of back issues on the free Attitude app.