Flawless skin. Shimmering eyes. Gentle smiles that say, “I know I look good.” That’s what you’ll find on Bre Khounphinith’s Instagram feed—face after face of gorgeous, confident women whose grins come courtesy of the makeup artist behind Beauty By Bre. Among those faces you’ll find Khounphinith herself, although the 33-year-old California native and Las Vegas resident would rather stay behind the camera. “I don’t like putting up pictures of myself, but people like that, so I do,” she says. “I hate doing makeup on myself. It just takes too much time. If I could go out bare every day, I would.”
Khounphinith never meant to become a makeup artist at all. She started out as a hairstylist. In cosmetology school, she says, they only did one day of makeup application, “and it was ’80s makeup—blue eyeshadow and pink blush.” Today she describes her look as “clean, natural glam,” and it’s won her high-end clients, brides and repeat gigs at the BET and Soul Train Awards. “Everyone that sits in my chair is a celebrity. I treat everyone the same way,” Khounphinith says.
The result is women who love the way they look when they finally get a glimpse of the finished product. “I’ve had them cry. I’ve had them get up and scream and run back and forth in a room. If I had a hard day, that reaction just gives me energy and pushes me to go on.” Khounphinith is also driven by the knowledge that she’s lucky to be here at all. Seven years ago, a few months after giving birth to her son, she went into cardiac arrest. “I passed away right there going up the stairs,” she says. “I was gone for 10 minutes. I feel like I got a second chance at life, and I’m going to live it to the fullest.”
For now, that means continuing to build Beauty By Bre through Instagram and word of mouth, promoting her lip brand, Lip Legend, and working toward opening a makeup bar that would gussy up visitors for nights on the town. “I want to start here in Vegas, and then I would love to push it to L.A. and Miami,” Khounphinith says.
Click here to follow Bre on Instagram.
