Find Your ORB

Marcelo’s unique approach draws on his lived experience as a queer person, celebrating the fluidity of identity and the power of makeup to tell stories beyond the surface. His work has been featured in leading publications like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and i-D, and in campaigns for brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Luar. Whether backstage at fashion week or collaborating with photographers on set, Marcelo develops characters based on his understanding of the subject rather than projecting his own narrative onto them. His is a practice that extends far beyond artifice. For this cover story, we visited Eiron's Cut, Marcelo’s barbershop in Ridgewood, where, much like the characters he brings to life, he dons his own armor.

Do you have any daily rituals? 

Waking up without an alarm, actually, which is usually still around 7 a.m. Then, I'll make some celery juice with a little grapefruit and pineapple. I'm most creative in the morning, so I just let my mind wander to figure out what I'm feeling after that. Around 11, I'll go to the gym, and then I just kind of let the day take me where it's supposed to take me. 

When do you know that you’re going to have a really great day? 

When I don't wake up anxious, don't check my phone — when I don't have Instagram installed on my phone — I wake up feeling great.

Describe your perfect day. 

My perfect day is one where I have nothing planned, and I can kind of just forget about the day. I don't even know what day it is, I don't know what time it is, and I can kind of just go with the flow and do everything I need to do to get my body and mind right. I’d usually end the day seeing my friends or just coming here to get my brows done. 

What’s your relationship with your barber like?

Intimate. He's the only one who touches my eyebrows. If he's not in town, I have to pretend I know how to do it, but it never works out. I have one here in New York… in Paris, and I always go to the same one whenever I travel. I still need one in London. Raul Lopez always puts me onto the right barber.

Are you a spiritual person?

What leads me in life is definitely my intuition. I feel like my intuition is always right and whenever I overthink it, I fuck up. That goes for makeup, that goes for work, that goes for relationships, that goes for everything. Second guessing yourself is like the end of you.

Why do you love what you do?

I love working in what I do because it keeps my soul present and it keeps me young. It keeps me young because it keeps me curious. It challenges me every day to try and be a better version of me. You have to constantly find inspiration which keeps you engaged in life versus robotically working a 9 to 5 you know? No offense to the 9 to 5ers, but freelance forever — unless I get the right contract.

For you, what does it mean to get into character? 

It’s like the development of armor. I mean that’s what fashion and beauty are. And in a city like New York, we all build these like sub personas of ourselves that get us through — now with the internet, like, we all have these digital personas and it just keeps you safe.

What’s your creative process when working with a team on set?

I always look really closely at the photographer’s work — their lighting, what they usually shoot. Then, in my head, I create a narrative to their work. I think about it like an actor, like who is this character? What have they gone through? Maybe it’s just moisturizer because that’s all the person should have. Maybe it’s freckles because they’ve been in the sun a lot. 

I don't like moments where it's just about the makeup. I always ask what the shoes are. Shoes say everything about a person. Is it a stiletto? Is it a sneaker? If it's a stiletto, maybe she has eyelashes. If sneakers, maybe just some cute liner or a lip liner. Head to toe only. 

If you could only work with lips or eyes for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

Lips hands down. Eyes just take so much time. Eyes are also so personal. You have to really read the person to understand what they should carry in their eyes. For a lip, it’s like, what do you want? Also people look at lips a lot when you’re talking so it’s very sensual. Lips can be very provocative.

How do you approach working with a new client? 

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with people that I share universes with, so we might also share the same language. When I’m working with a new face, I just go into it with an open mind, assuming that they're a wonderful person. You have to be able to just be their friend for the day. 

When's the last time you made something that felt truly magical? 

My new book. It's called Nothing Precious, and it comes out in November. So get ready. 

What time period does the work in the book span?

It's all new work shot by Renell Medrano and Aidan Zamiri. It’s made up of like 25 people that make up my family here in New York, like Raul Lopez, Lola [Leon], Evanie Frausto, and other muses that have been so intrinsic to my experience here. I wanted to make a book that felt like the laboratory of NY, that we can look back on with nostalgia — the same way we look back at New York in the 80s and 90s — because it's worth documenting.

If you weren’t a makeup artist, what would you do instead? 

If I wasn't a makeup artist, I would be a filmmaker. And if I wasn't a filmmaker, I'd be unemployed. I just wouldn't have a job. I can't keep a 9 to 5, I have too many opinions. And then I get fired.

How do you want to be remembered? 

As a very intentional artist whose focus was community and beauty through the lens of identity, rather than through the lens of artifice. I celebrate and enhance beauty, creating characters based on someone's identity — not projecting identities onto people.

How did you find your community here in New York?

So I got here when I was 20, I had no money, I didn't know a single person, and I just found myself in a way. Well, I did my research. I was a Tumblr kid and I knew where I wanted to land here. I found myself in spaces that were super creative and queer from the beginning. Seeing  people I know go from bartending to being some of the most famous fashion designers, photographers, supermodels in the world and all of us being part of it together has been really beautiful and kind of remarkable. 

The beauty of New York is that it's a place where everybody just goes after exactly what they want and at the same time, we’re figuring it out as we go. 

What was the last 9 to 5 you had? 

I was a host at the Soho House restaurant in Meatpacking. That’s when I was just getting into makeup and I kept calling out of work because it was impossible to do both. One day, Tinashe called and booked me out for an entire week. I had no money and just jumped the gun. I quit my job and worked with her that week. I had like $15 to my name for two months. It was a good job too — working in retail, in restaurants really teaches you how to deal with people. 

Were you afraid? 

Yeah, but you have to take risks — to do things that are uncomfortable in order to get you to the next level. Not taking risks is the equivalent of sitting on your couch constantly. You’re comfortable. It’s easy. I’m constantly taking risks every day, working with people that intimidate me or that I’m excited to work with and the risk is fucking up — but you don’t fuck it up.