YouTuber Bailey Sarian on Connecting Makeup and True Crime

Most individuals would say that make-up and true crime are by no means associated to one another, however Bailey Sarian would beg to vary. When she first began on YouTube in 2013 after working at Sephora and Urban Decay and as a bridal and movie star make-up artist, she was creating your typical make-up tutorials like each different magnificence vlogger on the platform. But in 2018, when the Chris Watts case hit the web, that modified.
“I used to be simply following every little thing I probably might on the story and so I had all this built-up information on the case and no person to speak to about it with,” Sarian instructed POPSUGAR. “I used to be like, ‘Maybe I ought to make a YouTube video the place I discuss it.’ And then I assumed, ‘Well, I’ll do my make-up on the similar time, simply so it is sensible to my YouTube channel.'”
“I used to be nervous that the suggestions wasn’t going to be superb as a result of I’m speaking about homicide and then doing my make-up.”
She did not make the video instantly. “I used to be nervous that the suggestions wasn’t going to be superb as a result of I’m speaking about homicide and then doing my make-up,” she mentioned. Then, in January of 2019, she determined to go for it. The video took off in a single day. “I feel inside the first 24 hours, I received 60,000 views and that, to me, was groundbreaking, as a result of I used to be averaging at 10,000 views on my movies on the time. I used to be like, ‘Oh my God, I feel I’m onto one thing right here.'”
In that first video, Sarian launched herself and mentioned, “I simply wish to sit down and prepare and then additionally discuss crime, homicide mysteries, stuff like that. . . I do not know.” She then continued considerably nervously and mentioned, “I do not even know learn how to strategy this with out sounding insensitive in any respect.” It’s clear on the time she was apprehensive about filming the video — she had no concept that she was about to take off. “YouTube, it is a huge neighborhood, so standing out from all people else will be actually troublesome.”

Her channel exploded from there. She started importing true crime movies each Monday, which is the way it morphed into the collection that it’s right now: “Murder, Mystery, and Makeup.”
Her video on Chris Watts now has over 8.5 million views and her channel over 5 million subscribers. Every time she uploads a video, her followers instantly ship in requests for the subsequent one. “If I hold seeing a reputation pop up over and over once more or a reputation that I’ve by no means heard of, I simply look into it,” mentioned Sarian. “I even have an extended notice record of various subjects and tales I can discuss. I choose a reputation, begin Googling, and then I simply go from there.” Almost nothing is off limits — besides she tries to keep away from unsolved mysteries as a result of she “completely hates” them. “I would like closure, or I keep up all evening pondering to myself attempting to place the items collectively, like I’m going to resolve it or one thing.”
“I used to be like, ‘Oh my God, I feel I’m onto one thing right here.'”
The artistic course of for making a video often takes two or three days. She writes out a script from begin to end that covers the individual’s upbringing and crimes and then the aftermath, however she does not learn from it verbatim. “Usually, by the point I get to filming, I’ve performed a lot analysis watching tons of documentaries, studying completely different articles, studying little autobiographies, and watching any kind of film I can on it, I really feel very snug with the story,” Sarian mentioned.
Researching the subject and getting all the little particulars good — like names and dates — takes precedence. The make-up comes final. “Everyone all the time asks, ‘Why do sure killers get a glittery eyeshadow look?'” mentioned Sarian. “Honestly, the make-up is all the time an afterthought. I sit down and I’m like, ‘Okay, I wish to do a purple smoky eye right now,’ and then that is what I do.”

Sarian is properly conscious that the subject at hand is severe and the medium during which she presents it’s unconventional. Even although she tells these tales with an informal tone, she sprinkles in a justifiable share of disclaimers and warmings all through. “I attempt to be very cautious about telling these tales and ensure that I’m not going into graphic element about sure issues,” she mentioned. “I simply really feel prefer it’s probably not proper when I’m doing my make-up. I attempt to strategy it greatest as I can and simply hold the story fairly simple.”
Clocking in at 30-plus minutes lengthy (with most averaging round 40 minutes), Sarian’s movies are longer than most make-up tutorials on YouTube, and but, she has her viewers hooked like an excellent Netflix present from begin to end. Despite the ugly nature of the topic, her true crime chats go away you feeling such as you simply received off the cellphone along with your greatest pal.
“I get tons of messages daily from followers [and] subscribers telling me that I’ve helped them by quarantine,” mentioned Sarian, whose view rely went up throughout 2020. “I helped with their stress and their anxiousness, which is bizarre as a result of the tales are so morbid, you’d assume it will add to all that, however for some motive, they discover me calming.”
Image Source: Courtesy of Bailey Sarian