About Katie
Hi Everyone! I'm Katie Quinn, and I've been an airbrush tanning and body makeup artist for over 14 years!
I'm REALLY good at one thing, and that's airbrush tanning and body contouring.
Since I started tanning, I realized I work better with goals, so I set the biggest goal I could possibly think of: to be selected as the lead body makeup artist for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show!
I kept my head down and worked as hard as I could, and in 2009 I tanned my first Victoria's Secret model for a catalog photo shoot in New York. Later that year, I worked as a body makeup artist at my first VS Fashion Show.
The models loved my bronzing, and I started getting booked for future fashion shows and shoots, and even their own private holidays.
In 2012, my dream finally came true, and my personal makeup hero Tom Pecheux invited me to lead his VS body makeup team!
Like I said, one thing I know...is TANNING!
Recently, I decided to teach all the tips and tricks that have gotten me as far as I've come, through my tutorial books and videos, and my live workshops.
I've also started programs for new artists looking to make the transition into spray tanning. Things would have been a lot easier for me if these resources had been available when I was first learning!
On Pinterest, you'll find some of the step-by-step instructions I've put together on using self-tanner in new and tricky ways, too! One of my all-time favorite magazines took notice, so I recently appeared in a tanning demo in COSMOPOLITAN! So cool!
I'm extremely proud to be able to say that with a lot of hard work and dedication, my tanning tips have been featured in SELF, Shape, Lucky, VOGUE, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar and Women's Health Magazines, among many more. You can read all of my published tanning tips HERE.
I live in Southern California with my husband, our two sons, and our golden retriever, Lou. I get to spend my time talking training with other artists, tanning my clients and tinkering around with self-tanner, beauty products, and makeup!
I'm always looking for new and interesting ways to make life easier using fewer products, so that we can all feel a little more free in our own skin!
One thing you might not know about me, is that I dealt with a lot of bullying when I was in middle school. What can I say, I grew up as a freckled redhead in Orange County, and kids can be cruel to just about anyone who looks different!
I spent most of my middle school years begging my mom to let me stay home, and sneaking into her makeup drawer to cover my body with foundation, just to feel comfortable in my P.E. clothes.
Little did I know, I was getting my earliest training in body makeup, and covering spots. BULLIES - I want to THANK YOU for pushing me as hard as you did! I wouldn't be where I am without you!
Why I became a Spray Tanning Artist
After high school, all I wanted was to pursue makeup, but I was from a family of academics, and didn't feel right about an "artsy" career path. Instead, I worked a corporate office job for about 10 years, and the day that spray tanning was born, I knew I had found my calling.
Can you think of a better career path for a freckled redhead looking to cover her skin, AND be an artist?
After several years of convincing new clients to TRY SPRAY TANNING (since it was still so new), working a full-time job, and squeezing in spray tans in between (we're talking BEFORE work, during my lunch break, evenings and weekends), I quit my corporate job and opened my first studio in Irvine, California.
Over 10 years later, I feel total confidence in my spray tanning abilities and my products, and more importantly, in myself. I'm over 30, and for the first time, I finally feel comfortable in a bathing suit - even without wearing my mom's foundation!
Find YOUR motivation
Why spray tanning? For me, I was insecure, and I wanted to do something artistic, and something that I had a passion for.
Getting a spray tan made me feel like I could do ANYTHING - it blended all of my insecurities, and made me feel completely free to be myself. It was unbelievably liberating!
I knew that there had to be other people out there who were battling their own insecurities, and that if I learned how to spray tan, I could actually help them the same way that I helped myself!
YOU could help people in YOUR area, too!
I already spent the time playing trial and error on myself, my family, and my friends.
I spent years testing products and techniques, tanning THOUSANDS of clients in my salon.
I used these same techniques on the world's most famous supermodels and celebrities, seen by millions of people across the globe, so YOU KNOW they work!
I've made it super easy to get started, so why wait?!