Last Updated on May 14, 2021
Cecilia Katz is a makeup artist, YouTuber and Instagrammer based in Argentina. As an enthusiastic influencer who loves to review new products, people rely on Cecilia for her honestly and thorough reviews. Cecilia says she loves being a cosmetics influencer and feels very fortunate. You can follow Cecilia on YouTube, where she posts makeup tutorials, or on Instagram in addition to Facebook and Twitter.
Can you tell us how you got your start as a makeup artist?
My mom when I was 15 years old started bugging me about being a makeup artist, I’m 44 year by the way, and by that time I would say – I would tell her “who would pay me to do her makeup”, right because nobody here did their makeup and so I said “yeah no mom it’s not my thing”. I studied advertising, then I went to tourism, then I sort of moved to Canada, and there I saw an academy and went and started studying makeup, came back to Argentina, and said “okay I want to do this for a living” so, you know, to make it short, right.
What let you to become an influencer and start your YouTube channel?
Well actually it was because I wanted to start showing my business and let me tell you I did it like hell. I put my camera here – I was like my face looked weird and I didn’t like it at all but after a few years actually I started buying like nice lighting, nice camera, and doing the editing myself.
It was really difficult but I wanted to show people what I did for a living and, you know, to start advertising myself on YouTube. And afterwards I just, you know, I liked YouTube so much so I did it for fun.
What do you do when a brand asks you to review a product (whether it be makeup or anything else) and it doesn’t work for you? In other words, how do you strike a balance between keeping the brand happy and being honest with your audience?
Well what I do is I don’t bash brands because I don’t like it because I produce tools for makeup artist and I know the effort it takes to do that. So whenever a brand gives me something and I don’t like it I say “it doesn’t work for me but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you” because we are all different and we all have different tastes and skin types and different things, right. so not everybody has to like the same things. So it doesn’t matter if I don’t like it I would say “I don’t like it but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you”. I try to explain why, the reasons why we’re not – humans are so different one from each other so that’s the way I try to go.
I don’t say it’s horrible, it sucks I don’t like that I don’t like when people do that because you are an influencer you are influencing people so if I say “no this is horrible, don’t try it” no man. You know, I don’t like it because of this and that and that but if you go on and try it and see it for yourself, it’s the same thing I do with my classes. I teach makeup in Argentina and I do the same thing I don’t like it but go ahead and try it yourself maybe you do.
As someone who has close to 50,000 YouTube subscribers, what advice do you have for others who might be thinking about getting into influencer marketing?
The biggest advice I could give them is to have fun because when you stop having fun is when it becomes a hassle and it becomes something that you don’t want to to and you do it because you want to become famous. Oh no, no trust me YouTube is not something you do to become famous you do it because you like it, you do it because you want to share with the world what you think, and if your goal is to become famous just a few people do it like become viral. So my biggest advice is don’t get your hopes of becoming famous so high up that you will never get it right, maybe you will but in the mean time enjoy it right because if you don’t enjoy it then it’s not worth it.
Can you describe influencer marketing in Argentina? Is it very popular or is it just starting to break through?
It’s becoming to gain public. We have – the thing is that we don’t have a lot of YouTubers here not a lot of beauty gurus here and it’s becoming to gain in public as I said but it’s not as big as in the US. Not as big, you know, we don’t have a lot of brands that give us products we don’t get the same things, right and we don’t get the same views as in the US. I think it has something to do with YouTube algorithm but I really don’t know. I don’t know I think it can grow that it’s starting to grow up a little bit.
What are some of your goals for the rest of the year as it pertains to influencer marketing?
My goal, oh! My goals to be honest is to be able to show everybody and I love having contact with my public I love when they comment, I actually love it. I don’t like when a video goes up and nobody comments anything and I’m like “okay why is that”. Maybe then watch it but they don’t comment because I like that interaction with people, I’m a people person so I love that. And my goals would be yeah to everybody commenting me and I don’t know to grow a little bigger and to be able to do everyday like bigger and nicer videos. That’s my goal.
What has been your favorite brand collaboration and what has been the weirdest request you have received?
I did a lot of collaborations with irresistible me it’s from the US but it’s a hair product. I didn’t get a lot – like I get from Argentina a lot of products but and irresistible me was great, I loved it but the weirdest hmm. No I don’t think so. No I got like I love skincare and I got a lot of skincare, I got wigs, I got, yeah no.
Note: Influencer Spotlight interviews are edited for time and clarity.
Andrew is the Head of Client Services for Intellifluence and has a background in communications. He is committed to helping brands get the most out of their campaigns and is the co-host of the Influencer Spotlight series.
