Southwest of Trinidad, the larger and more populous part of the twin-island republic, Trinidad and Tobago, is the Siparia region. This is the area that singer Montano’s family moved to from Carenage, and where the musician would blossom into a transcendent performer. It’s also the home of Austin "Superblue" Lyons, a legendary calypsonian and lyricist. What were the odds of these two young boys from the same corner of the island going on to become luminaries and stalwarts of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival — the country’s largest and most renowned festival?
“There's a couple of creative people from down south Trinidad,” laughs Besos, another Siparia native blessed with the artistry and innovation gene. Besos is a carnival make-up artist who uses the face as a blank canvas for her brilliant and bold beats. It’s a skill first awakened during carnival arts classes as a youngster in Trinidad. Admittedly, Besos didn’t truly explore her love of carnival until later in life, despite growing up in the thick of Siparia J'Ouvert and San Fernando carnival celebrations. What she always had however, was a flair for make-up — even in a culture that frowns upon cosmetics in a school setting.
“I was always kind of a glamour girl in high school. You know school in Trinidad and the Caribbean is strict: uniform, crest. I was a total rebel. When they said long skirts, I'm like, just above the knee. And the one subject that I super loved in school was art. It was my bae, my everything,” Besos says.
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It’s never too late to pivot
Like some parts of the world, arts and the creative industries tend to be underappreciated. The popular refrain for many considering this pathway is to lean into sectors like medicine, law, or business. Like many, Besos was discouraged from dabbling in the fine arts past the hobby phase.Trinidad and Tobago are unique in that the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies offers a bachelor’s degree in carnival studies. Reports suggest that revenue from Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival exceeds US $100 million on average.
“Your family just kind of pushes you in a direction of a career and profession that is guaranteed to make money and you should never rely on the arts ever,” Besos explains, “that's been grounded and pounded into our heads from a very young age. Not just myself but a whole generation of us. So I really had to fight my way to be the artist that I am today. It didn't just come easy. It wasn't something I was encouraged to do whatsoever.”
Besos started studying nursing in Trinidad straight after high school. She migrated to Canada in 2004 to continue her education, but when she arrived in Toronto, the budding healthcare professional had access to make-up like never before. She was always into sketching, drawing, and painting, and now she had the opportunity to experiment with other materials. Besos started playing with colours and prints around the same time that Facebook launched, and this new platform enabled her to share her work and draw interest from outside. It wasn’t long before her calendar started filling up with photoshoots and carnival-related event bookings. Besos describes the feeling of working with her first band launch as “intoxicating.” She rode this wave of energy and began learning new techniques, immersing herself in different environments, and soaking up every morsel of knowledge she could from senior makeup artists. She eventually ditched nursing and decided to pursue being an artist full-time.
“I just had to take the plunge because everything in me was screaming ‘just be you, don't force yourself to do things that make you unhappy’. I started to feel sick about it. And then once I started partaking more in the arts is when I started to thrive, not only as an artist but as a person,” expressed Besos.
You can never have too much glitter
That first band launch boosted both her confidence and her business. Masqueraders imitated the tribal look she had created for the Maasai-themed costumes, and as pictures circulated on social media, the Caribbean media in Toronto started inquiring about the talent behind the art.
It’s not surprising her work attracted attention when Besos explains her carnival makeup philosophy, “Once you love Carnival, and you love your culture, and you love the whole vibe — the whole industry of Carnival, that fuels my inspiration. When you see a big front-line costume on the main stage in Trinidad and Tobago, I look at the costume, I look at the model and I'm like, ‘I know what I could do with that face. I know the look that needs to go with this that will perfectly slay this costume,’” she added, “You can do beautiful glamour makeup, but then you have to think okay, how can I take this to the next level? That is the key to doing carnival makeup.”
That, and liberal amounts of glitter. “Is it ever too much? Is it ever enough? That is the question,” Besos jokes, “Carnival is such a glamorous, vibrant expression of art and the human spirit in general. That is the ultimate freedom. I mean, the very basic history of Carnival is celebrating freedom that was fought for and rebelled for. So naturally, a rebel like myself will revel in the beauty and glamour of carnival.”
Her fervour for all things Mas has not gone unnoticed. Curtis Eustace, a well-known designer for Toronto’s 20-time Band of the Year Champions Saldenah Band, contacted Besos to help work on the Big Mas costumes for the prestigious King and Queen of the Bands competition. It was a full-circle moment for the little girl who grew up in Siparia watching the spectacle that is Dimanche Gras on television.
“It was such a dream to me. It was like my Hollywood. It was like, I want to build things like that. I want to be in a big costume. I want to put my hands on that. I want to create something,” gushes Besos — her emotion palpable, “So you know, when you see people like [renowned Trinidadian Carnival artist] Peter Minshall and the Eustace family and all these Big Mas families, the inspiration is ever flowing.”
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Advice for future makeup artists
Besos is a huge proponent of making connections and collaboration. It’s how she’s managed to get to this point in her career and she encourages aspiring artists to do the same in addition to continuously sourcing opportunities to improve their craft. “Once you learn techniques, you can do any kind of makeup,” she shares, “I've worked backstage of [on] Toronto Fashion Week with massive brands, and I got there because when people see my technique with carnival makeup and the fact that I take it to another level, it just opens the door to opportunity. So I'd say definitely master technique, be brave, and put yourself out there.”
Sharing other advice, Besos added, “Curate a professional social media page, don’t take rejection personally. It is not you. Keep it moving — and charge clients according to your worth. To not just survive, but thrive, it’s also important to diversify.” That nugget of wisdom has served her well during the Covid-19 pandemic where carnival events have been cancelled for almost two years. While she suffers from carnival tabanca, it hasn’t stopped her from securing the bag. “Do weddings. Let me tell you — they are seasonal and they can pay the bills. You have spring weddings, summer weddings, fall weddings, winter weddings, and you have bills all those months. So you know you could get paid,” Besos points out.
Lastly and above all, Besos encourages confidence and dreaming big, “Do not dream small, because you won’t be going anywhere if you dream small.”