About the Founder

About the founder



MEET SHAWNELLE PRESTIDGE

During the impressionable years, makeup artist Shawnelle Prestidge abandoned her affair with sketch pad and pencils for "mom's 'electric blue'  jumbo eye crayon" and the planes of the face, which sparked her obsession that continues to burn.

Celebrated for her eyebrow arching prowess, and trend forecasting for product development at Benefit Cosmetics, Shawnelle furthered her skill set in training, and conducting makeup seminars for beauty behemoth MAC Cosmetics. Shawnelle is widely recognized both behind the scenes and backstage, for her keen and creative eye, steady and spry hand, as well as her charming and disarming demeanor, all of which garnered her the position of Blackbook magazine's Beauty Editor, early on in her career. She has appeared as the "Makeup Expert" on TLC's celebrated makeover show "Cover Shot",  as well as for Sephora, HSN, QVC & Mary Kay in videos, commercials & live broadcasts, etc...  Shawnelle created a 'HOW-TO' series called The REAL Makeup Show-for Youtube, as an answer to the great many lacking in  'how-to' instruction.

She has painted the faces the likes of: 
International icons Jane Fonda, Sharon Stone, Katie Holmes and Pamela Anderson to R and B's wunderkind John Legend and Alice Smith, Hip Hop's hipster Kelis to 80's pioneer Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banchees, Academy Award nominee Samantha Morton to Tony award winning Anika Noni Rose, starlets Kerry Washington, Molly Simms, Elizabeth Banks, Zoë Saldana and Solange Knowles to rock-n-roll royalties Jane's Addiction, undergound god's Sonic Youth to songbird Regina Spektor, heartthrobs Joaquin Phoenix, Ethan Hawke and Dylan McDermot to naughty but nice (to her) supermodels Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell and the list goes on.

Her work has graced the pages of such fashion magazine notables as W, Vogue, V, Harpers Bazaar, Marie Claire, Italian Flair, Elle and Elle girl, Jane, Details and T (The New York Times-Style Mag) just to name a few. 

Miss Prestidge has enjoyed a diverse client roster, from a bevy of beauty clients such as L'Oreal, Lancôme, Sephora, Dior, Redkin, Clairol, Avon, Nivea, Olay & Mary Kay to popular and luxury goods companies like Nike, BCBG, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks 5th Ave, Anthropologie, Victoria's Secret, Bloomingdales, Target, Vanity Fair Lingerie, Warner, Olga, Tommy Hilfiger, Banana Republic, Gap, Bebe, Amazon and Anne Taylor as well as tech and financial giants, Apple Macintosh, HP, IBM, B of A, Amex, Microsoft, Charles Schwab and so on. Shawnelle more recently held the position of Creative Beauty Director for Gilt Groupe, before deciding to return to her beloved freelance career and creating PRESTIDGE beaute' Active Organics.

The native Californian has been residing in NY since 1995.