Meet the Mayo makeup artist behind Charleen Murphy's Love Island glam

There is a moment every makeup artist waits for. For Ballindine native, Cian Macken, it comes just before the lipstick.

The skin is glowing, the eyes are finished, the hair falls back into place, and suddenly the person staring into the mirror isn’t quite the same one who sat down an hour earlier. Their shoulders relax. They smile. Their confidence is at an all-time high.

“That’s my favourite part,” he says. “You can actually see their whole energy change.”

Bronzed, glowy skin and perfectly plump lips, Cian’s looks have become instantly recognisable to thousands of followers. His signature aesthetic has become one of the most sought-after looks in Irish beauty.

“They’ll just sit in the chair and say key words, ‘Bronzy. Glowy. Do your thing.’” Cian tells The Mayo News.

But that level of trust, twenty-six-year-old Cian says, wasn’t built overnight.

Long before celebrity clients, editorial shoots, and London’s fashion scene came calling, teenage Cian was secretly watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. Like many makeup artists starting in the early 2010s, Cian watched tutorials by Jaclyn Hill and a generation of beauty creators who unknowingly provided Cian with an education that would change his life.

“I’d been secretly watching videos since my Junior Cert,” he says. “So when I finally started makeup, I already knew the basics.”

When he eventually bought his first makeup kit in January 2019, there was no tentative experimentation. Within weeks, he was practising on friends, photographing every face and uploading the results to Instagram.

By February, he was already taking appointments. His friends were convinced he was hiding years of experience.

“They were like, ‘You’ve obviously been doing this in secret.’ I was saying, ‘Guys, I literally just bought makeup.’”

Looking back, the speed still surprises him.

What surprises him even more is how much fear he carried before anyone had the chance to judge him. Instead, Cian says nobody blinked an eye.

When he nervously admitted to his guidance counsellor that he wanted to become a makeup artist, her reaction was almost dismissively simple: to absolutely do it.

And it was then that Cian really had the confidence to begin what was set to be a very successful career in makeup artistry.

Every afternoon after school became another opportunity to improve. Friends became models. His bedroom became a studio. Instagram became both a portfolio and a business card. Soon, appointments started filling his weekends.

“I put so much work into it from the very start because I really wanted it.”

This determination has become a defining characteristic of his career.

Cian admits to being a perfectionist, and while trends come and go, his approach has always been about balance.

“I want every part of the look to work together. I don’t want one feature to be the only focus,” he says.

He doesn’t believe in boxing himself into one aesthetic.

“I've gone through colourful phases, natural phases, glam phases. I feel like I've taken little bits from all of them.”

Today, that evolution has become a signature that clients recognise before they even see his name attached.

When an influencer and Love Islander, Charleen Murphy, appeared on Love Island’s Aftersun, messages flooded into his inbox asking the same question.

“Is that your work?” Before it had even come out, people already knew.

Cian has been working with Charleen since 2023, so it just made sense that he would be the one to do her glam when she appeared on Love Island’s Aftersun.

His career continued to evolve alongside social media, which he describes as a modern-day mood board.

“It’s like a menu,” he says. “People point to the skin they like, the lips they like, the eyes they like, and we build from there.”

Working with influencers opened new doors just as he decided to leave retail and go freelance.

Retail had taught him plenty, but mostly, he says, it taught him that he wasn’t meant for sales.

“I’d always want to sit people down and do their makeup.”

Freelancing felt uncertain, but it also felt inevitable. While Cian felt uncertainty about going freelance full-time, he couldn’t deny himself the natural draw he felt to it.

Now, whether he's on set, backstage, or preparing a bride on the biggest morning of her life, the focus remains the same.

Making someone feel like the very best version of themselves.

“I've had brides tell me they've never felt more beautiful in their lives.

“Moments like that make the job incredibly rewarding,” he says.

For all the celebrity names and editorial ambitions, it’s obvious that feeling hasn’t changed since he first picked up the brush.

And like many makeup artists, Cian has many faces he would love to paint.

"I'd love to do Charli XCX's makeup because I'd get to lean into that messy, grungy look."