He’s more used to dealing with zombies!

But now makeup artist Jimmie DeLoach is moving away from the undead and helping make models look even more beautiful!

Jimmie, who worked on Zombie Driftwood, has teamed up with Fresh Cayman Couture, a fashion and modeling workshop for the National Cultural Foundation.

The “FX” specialist will help budding catwalk queens and give them invaluable advice for looking great on the runway.

Makeup artist makes Cayman even more beautiful

Making people look and feel good about themselves is what 64-year old hair and makeup artist Jimmie DeLoach has been doing most of his life. And he loves it.

“It’s a part of me. I’ve been doing this for more than 35 years now. I love making people pretty and special,” he says.

Another thing Mr. DeLoach loves is his new home in the Cayman Islands and in addition to working in his regular job Mr. DeLoach has used his unique talent and experience to give what he can to the local community.

“I just love giving to Cayman. I’ve been living here for two years and unfortunately I can’t stay here forever but I do I want to leave part of me here, ” he said.

As soon as Mr. DeLoach, who currently works at La Mer Spa, in the Marriott Beach Resort, arrived in Cayman, he found that his deft skills were in plenty of demand. Since then he has been volunteering with a difference.

“I did the Zombie Driftwood movie makeup. There were lots of special effects prosthetic pieces, like an 8-ball coming out of actor Colin Wilson’s head in the bar scene…when he became a zombie,” he said.

“I started working with theatre productions and children’s workshops. I wanted to teach them how to make their own rubber noses and prosthetic pieces for their faces to become rabbits and squirrels and weasels. It was just wonderful.”

Originally from the US, makeup and beauty has always been part of Mr. DeLoach’s life.

“My father and grandfather had hair salons in Macon, Georgia. I started following in their footsteps, doing hair and hairstyling for men and women. Then I got interested in amateur theatre and doing makeup and time-period hairstyling. I’ve probably done makeup for hundreds of plays,” he said.

Like all artists who strive for excellence, new doors began to open for Mr. DeLouch.

“I was also a reconstructive makeup artist for 25 years, restoring accident victims at funeral homes. I got called to work at funeral homes in Florida, Alabama, and many different cities in Georgia, because of my reputation,”
he said.

It was experience that has come in helpful since moving here. Working from photographs of injury victims provided by St. Matthew’s medical college, Mr. DeLoach was able to makeup medical students so they looked just like real-life accident victims, so that other students could see what different injuries looked like and get used to them.

“I was also able to do the moulage (a French word meaning “moulding”) makeup for the Cayman Island Airport Authority’s First Responders training – I made people look like they’d been in a plane crash,” he said.

From gruesome back to glamour, and Mr. DeLoach is excited with the idea of working with 20 of Cayman’s top models for the forthcoming ‘Fresh!’ Fashion show Catwalk Training Workshop, later in September.

“I’ll be sharing with the girls how to apply makeup that will enhance their careers for the rest of their lives,” he said.

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