Yildiz Toy-Alzona can still recall growing up in Turkey where beauty was abundant with women dressed in vibrant hijabs, buildings painted in various shades, and markets filled with fruits and vegetables of the rainbow. It was this lively environment that introduced Toy-Alzona to the world of beauty.
From there, Toy-Alzona trotted the globe — she immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager, moved to the United Kingdom to attend a top beauty school, and traveled the world as a makeup artist working on various events and special projects.
Today, the now-Oceanside mother owns her own makeup artistry business where she takes her nearly two decades of global industry experience to bring beauty to local clients of all ages and backgrounds. Although she’s worked on numerous projects and clients around the world, she takes pride in her most recent project — helping women, especially mothers, discover their own beauty.
Toy-Alzona recently launched a three-part educational makeup program where she works one-on-one with clients to develop a full makeup routine that fits their schedules and budgets. She said she decided to launch this multi-part program after doing years of one-off lessons for clients.
“I decided to offer this series because I felt something was missing,” Toy-Alzona said. “I’ve always offered make-up lessons for aspiring make-up artists and one-on-one lessons with different focuses, but I started to feel like something was missing.”
She said clients were also overwhelmed shopping for products on their own.
“It would break my heart to see a client who took a lesson never get around to buying all the necessary make-up, and just letting go,” Toy-Alzona said.
So, she launched a three-part class for individual clients. The first class is called “Make-Up Wardrobing” where she works with clients in discovering what they would like to achieve in developing a new make-up routine, understanding the products they like, and the style they like. Toy-Alzona will then apply the makeup on the client and review each step to achieve the desired outcome. The second session includes all the make-up products the client needs or wants, while the third session is 14 days later and includes an entire review of the routine.
In between sessions, Toy-Alzona checks in with the client and provides written instructions for every step of the make-up process.
“I keep it as simple as possible,” Toy-Alzona said. “I am with you every step of the way, and we do not move forward until I am confident you are confident.”
So far, the feedback to her series of classes has been overwhelmingly positive — especially for other mothers. It has also become personal for Toy-Alzona, who is the mother of a 2-year-old girl.
“Having her dramatically changed my life and direction of my business and the root of my passion,” Toy-Alzona said. “My perception of beauty shifted at such magnitude I felt I had another calling. We as parents do not have the time or luxury to research and find that perfect foundation shade. I take all of the guesswork out to help other moms.”
Toy-Alzona said she went from looking at her make-up routine as something more important than just make-up.
“I am not talking about spending an hour every morning on your make-up,” she said. “It’s about feeling good to give you confidence — that subconsciously makes you a super mom.”
Not only has being a mother allowed Toy-Alzona to find her new direction in the beauty industry — it has also allowed her to find new inspiration.
“My daughter inspires me,” she said. “She brings me back to being a kid and knowing art has no boundaries or rules. There is no right or wrong in make-up. I am here to give you a template to work off of. Once you have mastered those skills, then it is up to you to add to your collection… that will be inspired from within.”
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San Diego Moms is published every Saturday. Have a story idea? Email hoaq@timesofsandiego.com and follow her on Instagram at @hoawritessd.