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Toronto’s Best Dressed: Makeup artist to the stars Veronica Chu

The accomplished cosmetic pro is rarely seen without her bold specs

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Chu, photographed at Sherbourne Common, wears a leather jacket and pants, both by Rick Owens, with a shirt by Alexander Wang. Her belt is from Maison Margiela, and her boots are from Balenciaga.
Chu, photographed at Sherbourne Common, wears a leather jacket and pants, both by Rick Owens, with a shirt by Alexander Wang. Her belt is from Maison Margiela, and her boots are from Balenciaga. Photograph by Vanessa Heins

Veronica Chu learned how to do makeup by practising on her little brother: he was obsessed with ’90s supermodels like Kate Moss and Claudia Schiffer. They grew up in a household full of professional-quality makeup—her mother was an aesthetician and cosmetic tattooer—and by the time she turned 11, Chu was making pocket money by tweezing eyebrows in her mother’s salon. Now, she’s a professional makeup artist and spokesperson for CoverGirl with a roster of A-list clients, like Dustin Hoffman, Coco Rocha and Shay Mitchell.

While Chu is busy using faces as her canvas, her own approach to style is decidedly more laid-back. Calling herself a “fashion conformist,” Chu’s sensibilities are consistent and pragmatic: she typically wears all-black pieces and is rarely seen without her signature black-frame glasses and bold lipstick.

“I can wear a nude face,” she says, “but as long as I have a popped lip I feel really good about myself.”

Current Obsessions

Leather Jacket
“I have a leather jacket in every imaginable style. Moto jackets, slouchy jackets, jackets with grommets.”Acne jacket, $2000.

Big Slouchy Bag
“I use my bag as my home office.” 3.1 Phillip Lim bag, $1050. Saks Fifth Avenue, 176 Yonge St.

Silver Jewelry
“I love layering rings and necklaces and wearing as many as possible.” $219. Alynnelavigne.com.

Lipstick
“I’m wearing CoverGirl Katy Kat matte lipstick in Kitty Purry. It’s a neutral purple colour.”$8. Select Shoppers Drug Mart locations.

More of Toronto’s Best-Dressed People

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Isabel Slone is a fashion and culture journalist living in Toronto. She writes for Toronto Life, the New York Times, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest and more. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia Journalism School.

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