Meet the punk rock-loving artist who brings Urban Decay's 'Beauty with an edge' motto to life

&quot;Beauty with an edge&quot; not only sums up Urban Decay<a href="https://www.urbandecay.com/" target="_blank">https://www.urbandecay.com/</a>&#39;s ethos of makeup but also the creative forces and beauty gurus who form the UD tribe. Case in point: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/udamanduh" target="_blank">Amanda Rodriguez</a>. She started out an angsty, punk rock-loving teen&nbsp;from upstate New York &ndash; fast forward many years later, she&#39;s now Urban Decay&#39;s International Artist-in-Residence, an enviable position that entails travelling the globe, spreading the gospel of the brand, and working closely with founder and Chief Creative Officer&nbsp;Wende Zomnir to conceptualise&nbsp;kickass new products (Naked eyeshadow palette, anyone?).

But enough backstory&nbsp;and more beauty talk. Below, Amanda reveals what&#39;s it like&nbsp;working for one of the world&#39;s biggest (and edgiest) beauty brands&nbsp;and gives us a quick makeup how-to&nbsp;using our obsession du jour: the new <a href="https://www.sephora.sg/products/urban-decay-naked-heat-eyeshadow-palette/v/default" target="_blank">Naked Heat eyeshadow palette</a>.&nbsp;Watch and learn.

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How did you land this&nbsp;sweet gig as Urban Decay&#39;s Artist-in-Residence?

After high school, I considered going to business school so that my parents would be proud of me but I discovered that beauty was really my passion.&nbsp;After training&nbsp;to be an aesthetician, I started working in Sephora in New York when I was 19. I&nbsp;was fortunate enough to&nbsp;work with&nbsp;Wende&nbsp;during in-store events and build&nbsp;a close relationship with her.&nbsp;The Urban Decay team invited me to move&nbsp;to&nbsp;L.A. and they&nbsp;created a position for me &ndash;&nbsp;doing PR, makeup, and essentially embodying the vibe and lifestyle of Urban Decay.&nbsp;

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What makes working with Urban Decay so rad?

So many things! First of all,&nbsp;I never thought that I would leave New York but moving across the country and living&nbsp;in L.A. has been really cool. The West Coast has become my home now. This job has also given me so many amazing opportunities: getting to work with the legendary&nbsp;Gina Brooke (who has been Madonna&rsquo;s makeup artist for ten years); travelling the world; meeting so many inspiring people.&nbsp;I never thought I&#39;d be where I am today:&nbsp;starting out&nbsp;as a 19-year-old punk kid and now being part of the Urban Decay family for the past eight years.&nbsp;

Urban Decay Artist in Residence Amanda Rodriguez with founder/Chief Creative Officer Wende Zomnir

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What are your Holy Grail beauty products?

I&rsquo;m a black eyeliner junkie and&nbsp;I love a cat eye so I&#39;m obsessed with Urban Decay&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sephora.sg/products/urban-decay-razor-sharp-water-resistant-longwear-liquid-eyeliner/v/perversion" target="_blank">Razor Sharp Liquid Eyeliner</a> and <a href="https://www.sephora.sg/products/urban-decay-perversion-waterproof-fine-point-eye-pen/v/black" target="_blank">Perversion Waterproof Fine-Point Eye Pen</a>. Another thing you should know about me?&nbsp;I&rsquo;m a red lipstick girl and&nbsp;Urban Decay&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sephora.sg/products/urban-decay-vice-lipstick/v/714-mega-matte" target="_blank">714 Vice Lipstick</a>&nbsp;is my perfect red.&nbsp;I have about 15 tubes and I&nbsp;always carry it with me&nbsp;wherever I go. When&nbsp;I&nbsp;travel, I must bring with me&nbsp;the <a href="https://www.sephora.sg/products/caudalie-beauty-elixir-limited-edition/v/100ml" target="_blank">Caudalie Beauty Elixir</a>&nbsp;&ndash; it&nbsp;smells amazing and gives me really&nbsp;glowy skin &ndash; and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.glossier.com/products/balm-dotcom" target="_blank">Glossier&#39;s Coconut Balm Dotcom</a>.

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If you were stuck on a deserted island, what would you bring with you?

This is a boring answer but it&#39;d have to be the <a href="https://www.sephora.sg/products/urban-decay-brow-beater-microfine-brow-pencil-and-brush/v/warm-brown" target="_blank">Urban Decay Brow Beater Brow Pencil and Brush</a>&nbsp;in Dark. I never thought brows would become so important to me. If I had known, I would have never tweezed my bushy brows back when I was 12 years old!

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Being an artist means constantly coming up with creative makeup looks. What inspires you?

I pull inspiration from so many different things, whether&nbsp;I&rsquo;m home or travelling.&nbsp;I love going to museums,&nbsp;galleries and getting inspired by art.&nbsp;One of the&nbsp;reasons why I got into beauty is my&nbsp;love for punk rock and&nbsp;girl groups from the &#39;50s and &#39;60s. Joan Jett, Debbie Harry, and Courtney Love totally represent the&nbsp;Urban Decay woman: unapologetic badasses who&nbsp;give the&nbsp;middle finger to typical beauty standards.&nbsp;

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Which makeup artists do you look up to?

Kevin Aucoin was the first artist I was obsessed with, as well as Way Bandy, who&nbsp;pioneered the contouring look even&nbsp;before people knew what contouring was. As for current makeup artists, I admire&nbsp;Sir John (who does&nbsp;Beyonce&rsquo;s makeup) and&nbsp;Patrick Ta. He is so inspiring:&nbsp;he started out working&nbsp;at a counter&nbsp;and now,&nbsp;he does everyone&rsquo;s makeup&nbsp;from Joan Smalls and Chrissy Teigen. He really&nbsp;understands different ethnicities and knows how to make women feel&nbsp;beautiful.

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What&#39;s trending for Fall/Winter 2017?

I think we&rsquo;ve all had enough&nbsp;of&nbsp;matte looks and now,&nbsp;metallics,&nbsp;glitters, and jewel tones are&nbsp;coming back. As a colour junkie, I&rsquo;m really excited. I hope that everyone will fully&nbsp;embrace&nbsp;gloss not only on lips but on lids as well. Watch out: a juicy lip and jewel-toned, metallic eye are going to be really&nbsp;big makeup trends for the rest of the year.&nbsp;

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Watch the video below as Amanda demonstrates a super-easy daytime smokey makeup look using the new Urban Decay Naked Heat Palette.&nbsp;

Turn Up the Heat With Urban Decay's Amanda Rodriguez

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