When she fled Ukraine a day after the Russian invasion, she had no idea what awaited her: Ukrainian make-up artist Aliona Antonova is in Cannes today, where she makes up the biggest stars in the film.
Her story worthy of a Hollywood movie began on February 24, with the first bombings in her city, Odessa, which was very close to her beauty salon and her school of aesthetics.
Three months later, this 31-year-old single mother found herself putting on make-up for those walking the red carpet at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
I have confidence in my star, he told AFP. When I decided to go here, I didn’t know if I would find clients or students, but I knew I had to go.
A life changed by war
Aliona Antonova’s life changed on a scary morning three months ago.
The day before again, I argued with my uncle who insisted that war was about to break out. I couldn’t believe it but when I went to bed I felt something strange … scaredhe says.
At exactly 6:00 am, his brother woke him up, telling him to get ready to flee.
” I called a taxi to see if everything was in order in my living room, when suddenly I heard a bomb. I was surprised. “
He did not regret his hurried departure to Moldova, seeing large queues at the border. There, he was reunited with his four -year -old son, Micha, and his parents were already in Chisinau.
Dreaming of Cannes
Aliona Antonova quickly found work, in Brussels and Berlin, thanks to her reputation on Instagram (where she has 72,000 followers).
But it has always been the make-up artist’s dream to get to Cannes, a place where you can meet all the stars that are usually in the United States at once.
She contacted several salons in Cannes and, from the first email, received a positive response: she was offered a booth where she could set up as a freelance makeup artist.
I was shocked to see how easy it was, he said. So until my first day at Cannes, I believed this was not true.
She works primarily at Cannes with the women appearing in the Netflix documentary The Tinder Scammer.
On the Croisette, he has already seen actresses Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway, as well as Brazilian model Adriana Lima.
The 30-year-old does not voluntarily tell people he is Ukrainian, to prevent them from feeling sorry for himself. Once they find out that I am from Ukraine, people support me. They ask me how I’m doing, how is my family, sobrang gandahe explained.
Glimpse into the future
Aliona is asking for up to 300 euros (412 Canadian dollars) for makeup for a party, and is looking for investors to launch her own cosmetics company. With this income, he hopes to soon be with Micha and his mother in Cannes.
But when he thinks about the future, his enthusiasm weakens and he blinks back, admitting that sometimes he lets himself be filled with anxiety.
I think the whole world was surprised at how brave my people were, he said. I hope that soon it will all be over, but everything will have to be rebuilt and it will be very difficult.
Source: Radio-Canada
