55 Secret Street : 55 Q&A with Celebrity Makeup Artist Sam Fine

Ladies I know but I know that you know the name Sam Fine!

Sam, of course, is the makeup genius behind some of our favorite iconic beauties like Iman, Naomi Campbell, Patti LaBelle, Halle Berry and his good friend Tyra Banks (affectionately referred to as "Five-head." His words, not mine!) Check out her comments on Sam’s new blog. Yes, he has a blog!

I've been acquainted with Sam for some time now but this is the first time that I have interviewed him - however briefly. This was not a typical Q&A and that is why it is in two parts. It was a MAC Pro event for professional makeup artists only at the MAC store on Harlem's immortal 125th street. It was also Sam's birthday and he served red velvet cupcakes to everyone!

Okay - they're not the greatest shots - but it's hard to snap pictures and eat! You know how I feel about red velvet cupcakes.

Sam has also worked his magic on just about every beautiful black woman you can name in Hollywood and fashion, from Gabrielle Union (he did her Neutrogena commercial) to Veronica Webb (her groundbreaking Revlon ads) to Mary J. Blige (just about all of her Essence covers) and on and on and on!

Look at the magic he worked on Mo’Nique for her infamous, instantly legendary “Beyonce-ish” performance on The BET Awards.

His friend Vanessa Williams has been a client for years. He recently did her for the Emmy Awards (Sam took the shot below as she departed for the ceremonies).

And will you look at this!

That's Vanessa and her oldest daughter Melanie at the SAG Awards in the first picture and her middle daughter Jillian in the next shot heading to her Senior Prom - Sam "bronzified" her for the occasion. Check his blog for the details.

For the presentation, Sam didn't hold anything back. He gave up product names and everything - none of this, Uh, I don't remember.. I think I picked that up in Paris stuff. Although it was a MAC event, he used products from other lines since it was a pro session. His model was Marie Powell. I'll bet you recognize her.

I know she does this with Sam all the time, but Marie was really a good sport. Very patient with all kinds of camera phones in her face and lots of "Over here, please!"

Naturally, I was full of questions for Sam. However, I only had about 5 minutes to talk to him before the presentation (Erin of Scandalous Beauty was also in the house - all the way from Maryland!) so I had to get creative. I decided to ask two of my fellow makeup junkies if they had any questions for Sam. Silly me, of course they did!

Part 2 (tomorrow!) will be the actual Q&A along with the products and techniques Sam used on Marie.

Oh my... this is gonna be fun!