If you’re avidly on TikTok like I am, there’s a 99% chance you’ve come across — and then obsessively scrolled through — Zara Larsson’s dazzling makeup looks from her Midnight Sun world tour. And the mastermind behind these viral creations? Sophia Sinot, the Netherlands-born makeup artist currently taking over everyone’s FYP.
Channeling Y2K aesthetics, her teenage nostalgia, and a whole lot of rhinestones, Sinot’s looks are dreamlike, fun, and playful, even entering ethereal. What began as a love for watching beauty videos on YouTube and experimenting with makeup as a preteen has since blossomed into a full-blown career. Now, Sinot is making a global name for herself, with a client list that includes Doja Cat, Troye Sivan, and Emma Chamberlain.
We sat down with Sinot to talk about her creative partnership with Larsson, her steadfast passion for makeup, and how she’s navigating her rapid rise to online fame.
Teen Vogue: How did you become a makeup artist? Is it something you always knew you wanted to do?
Sophia Sinot: In high school, I always loved to experiment on myself, wearing crazy looks to school. I also did makeup on my friends, but it was all just for fun and I never really knew you could become a makeup artist until I was 18.
When I finished high school, I had to decide if I wanted to go to university or not, and I knew university was just not going to be my thing. So, I did a makeup course — and honestly, since the first lesson, I just knew, like, “Oh my God, this is a world I actually don’t know anything about ,but I immediately felt so motivated to jump right in.”
Courtesy of Sophia Sinot.
TV: How did you and Zara Larsson meet and start working together?
SS: [Around five years ago,] Zara and I met through a photographer named Paul Edwards. Paul and I met in Stockholm at this random party. I didn’t really know him at the time, but he loved my work and came up to me. We started following each other and then, a month or two later, he randomly DMed me and said, “Hey, this is super last minute, but would you want to come to Stockholm tomorrow morning to do a shoot with Zara?” I was like, “Oh, yeah, for sure.” And then I just took a flight the next morning and I was with her on set.
