The only rule in make-up is that there is no rule. Funny as it may sound, but this is what Munich-based internationally popular make-up artist Diego Schober had to say about his profession. Diego thinks that make-up is all about trying out something new to carve out the unknown out of the known.

Diego was in the City for a show and took some time off to chat with Metrolife. He is someone who wouldn’t settle  for anything that looks ordinary. He has to make the woman or man to whom he gives a makeover, look extraordinary. He tries on the funkiest and the wackiest of combinations to create something unusual. “You can change a person’s personality with make-up. You can even make them invisible. In a makeover, I always think about how I can change them, create a new person with a totally different identity,” Diego observes.

It’s sheer passion and an uncompromising spirit that has got Diego thus far. He began his artistic endeavour in Munich with salon Visage, where he learnt the nuances of hairstyling. He did extremely well but what was worrisome was that his subjects woefully lacked the right make-up.

So he decided to study make-up that matches the hairstyle. Very soon, he  worked towards becoming a professional make-up artist. The degree of determination and passion with which he pursued this goal is reflected in the fact that he worked for a Munich bank for three years, trading securities on the international exchanges, to finance his dream profession. Later, he moved to Berlin to continue his training with the professional make-up artist Beni Durrer.

Diego is among those who would begin by scrutinising his subject's skin and its texture before applying makeup. He thinks the eyes are the most attractive part of the face. “It completely transforms a person from the most beautiful to the most ferocious,” he says.

The natural look is preferred by most women. But Diego attempts to harmonise the colours. He says he would dare to try a blue with a streak of yellow. And lilac with orange... all in an effort to create something out of the world. “If people simply leave it to me, then make-up becomes so much more easier. But when they lay down specifications, constraints creep in,” he says.

Diego has also walked the ramp for several well-known designers across the world. And photoshoots have been an integral part of his job.