Eagle Rock local Veronica Lorenz loves makeup. With perfectly winged eyeliner and bright pink lipstick, it’s literally written on her face. The inventor of successful products like the Beauty Blender and the viral sensation The Vamp Stamp, a brush which allows you to nail a cat eye in one fell swoop, Lorenz has established herself as an entrepreneurial figure in the beauty world. Vancouver born and raised, Lorenz currently lives just a few blocks from Occidental’s campus with her 7-year-old daughter. In her light sundress, at a small table in Cafe de Leche, Lorenz spoke about makeup, movies and overcoming life’s challenges.
Lorenz has been playing with makeup since she was a teenager. Mastering the craft while perfecting her costumes during a brief stint as a figure skater, Lorenz found makeup as a form to express her creativity and artistic side.
“I’d do one side of my face one way and one the other. And say, ‘Mom, Which one do you like better?’ And she’d say ‘You look too old,’” said Lorenz.
A professional makeup artist for over 15 years, Lorenz’s portfolio ranges from television shows such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Pushing Daisies,” to celebrities like Sofia Vergara and films like “The Hunger Games” and “The Pirates of the Caribbean.”
Lorenz concocted the idea of the Vamp Stamp while working on The Hunger Games with Academy-Award winning makeup artist Ve Neill. While walking through a craft store looking for ideas for creative makeup application to use on The Hunger Games Capitol citizens, Lorenz encountered craft-stamp brushes, the initial inspiration for the Vamp Stamp. The prototype was created in 2013, the slim sharp stamp design inspired by a dandelion-shaped stamp.
The Vamp Stamp is not Lorenz’s first entrepreneurial venture. The Beauty Blender has become the hottest tool in the makeup business since 2013, with the sponge’s signature teardrop shape championed by professionals and amateurs alike. Lorenz created the tool during an exercise of cutting orange stipple sponges into helpful shapes while attending Cinema Makeup School. According to Lorenz, she received an A + for innovation from her instructor.
“I thought he was being sarcastic. I guess he wasn’t,” Lorenz said.
After the Beauty Blender’s success, beauty fans have flocked to the Vamp Stamp for its ability to make the difficult process of drawing a cat eye into a single, easy step.
Outside of just being a tool for eyeliner efficiency, the Vamp Stamp was inspired by Lorenz’s own personal health. In 1995, Lorenz underwent her first surgery a benign tumor on her cervical spinal cord. The tumor eventually caused partial paralysis in her right hand and arm, forcing Lorenz to learn how to apply makeup with her left, non-dominant hand. In 2011 she went through her first round of radiation. The first Hunger Games film, where the stamp was theorized, was Lorenz’s first job post-radiation. After her work on “Catching Fire,” the second Hunger Games film, she lost the feeling in her left hand as well.
“That is when I actually needed my invention,” said Lorenz.
Lorenz still retains minimal use of her hands, working extra hard to do makeup as well as she used to.
A self-identified problem solver, Lorenz spoke to the radical change in perspective her tumor brought her.
“It made me more empathetic to women’s plight to look good and express [their] creativity through makeup,” Lorenz said.
The Vamp Stamp has been featured on websites such as Allure, Cosmopolitan, and Huffington Post as well as all over Instagram. It will be released in early 2017. Lorenz can be contacted through her website.
Love makeup and beauty gurus? Email weekly@oxy.edu or Tweet us @OxyWeekly
