SIR JOHN BARNETT

“I think part of my success has been the ability to be so intuitive with my clients, and they trust me. They have to trust you - if you can give a woman a great complexion, they will follow you to the ends of the Earth.”

Words by Shelby Brooks. Image courtesy of Masterclass

Sir John Barnett was given a powerful name at birth - yes, Sir John is his legal given name since birth.  And it’s a name that inspires him to empower people through make-up. “I don’t necessarily want people to feel sexy or pretty, I want them to feel strong,” the international creative director explains. “If someone feels more anchored in themselves, ten toes down, a bit more confident to go and do what they have to do – that’s the goal.” Sir John grew up as an artsy kid rather than athletic. “I've been painting since I had a memory,” he enthuses. A self-confessed art nerd, he attended Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts from sixth grade. His first foray into make-up was at the tender age of 18 as a favour to a friend whose makeup artist had cancelled on her at the last minute. Unfamiliar with the spectrum of make-up brushes in front of him, Sir John used his fingers to feel his way across his friend’s face - his working surface now skin on bones instead of canvas and wood. It worked, and he eventually scored gigs assisting Charlotte Tilbury and Dame Pat McGrath in New York while honing his craft by working with dancers at a strip club in Queens. “I used to have the most elaborate fun, and whatever we wanted to do, they would let us do,” he says.

It was the women from the club who helped send Sir John to Milan Fashion Week to work with Pat, collecting fives and tens in a jar to finance his first overseas trip. “Milan started my editorial makeup career, and Naomi Campbell was my first client.” Honestly, it was crazy. I idolised Naomi so much for the representation she brought to us in the nineties.” Later, at Tom Ford's first women's wear show in 2010, Charlotte introduced Sir John to Beyoncé. “I didn't think I would see her again because she had a really great make-up artist in Francesca Tolot, who I looked up to. She did Diana Ross's music covers, Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds ad, Cher, and Tina Turner. What could I even do that Francesca hasn’t already done with her eyes closed? I realised I just have to do ‘me’. I don’t know how to do anything else.”

Beyoncé’s team wanted Sir John to bring his editorial skills, “glowing skin, softness, but a va-va-voom look” on tour, all while creating a face that was going to stay on dancing two shows back-to-back. Working on Beyoncé’s Grammy-winning sixth studio album Lemonade, Sir John wanted her make-up looks to match the emotions he felt when he heard the music for the first time during rehearsals. “I loved glamour - I was obsessed with Linda Evangelista in high school, with Naomi and Claudia Schiffer - that whole era of impossible beauty, but the music was provoking a completely different feeling, and I knew I couldn’t do anything too glamorous. So, it was completely stripped lashes, her skin was a bit more wet. For me, it was going back to those editorial roots.”

For Coachella 2018, Beyoncé's set was heavily leaning into black culture, the big bands in the south and Howard University. “Oh, okay, she’s got to be the coolest girl on this college campus,” Sir John laughs, explaining how he came up with the look. “I just wanted her to be that bitch.” Other major achievements include giving Barbie a makeover with Mattel “My childhood self was really happy about that because I wasn’t allowed to play with Barbies back in the 80s”, and creating a collection of cosmetics for Disney’s The Lion King as well as his partnership with Woolworths in South Africa “It changed my life, I’ve seen the world in a different way”.

Sir John explains he feels blessed to continue to “push the boundaries of what a make-up artist can do or be seen as”, as well as continuing to explore other facets of work within the beauty sphere. He is currently the Global Creative Director at Medicube, following creative director roles with L’Oréal Paris and Kilian Paris. In 2026, he will debut VERSION of SELF, a podcast with iHeartRadio. “You’re not always given the grace to grow in this business- they’ll just see you as a make-up artist, I’m not running away from make-up, but my career has evolved to media and creative directing.” With a belief that "Beauty is a Feeling," Sir John has inspired a generation to celebrate individuality and redefine beauty from the inside out, advocating for a more inclusive and empowering landscape.

This interview is inside The MUSIC Issue 16. Purchase your copy here.