Well, we did it. Ten Years.

They said starting a print magazine in the year that the global economy crashed wasn’t a smart idea — and it probably wasn’t. I was told that it would be impossible to publish a magazine that was unique in its shape, format and voice — that it would cost too much and that I would go broke trying to keep it afloat.

I was told my advertising rates were too low, that I needed to sell subscriptions, and that if I wasn’t on newsstands or in magazine shops, advertisers wouldn’t sign on. I disagreed.

Ten years later, we are still here and, I hope. better than ever. Maybe I just like proving naysayers wrong, or maybe I just hate being told “you can’t.” Either way — here we are.

We are imperfect. But we operate with heart and passion. We make mistakes.  Sometimes we overthink the wrong things and miss the important ones. Sometimes we use too many commas, or maybe we forget one. And don’t get me started on our fragmented and run-on sentences!

But, we love our industry. We love our community. We have one purpose — to celebrate makeup artists and makeup artistry in a way that raises our industry up. We found our purpose — I found my passion.

Along the way I learned many lessons and taught some as well. But, the biggest learning moments I’ve had over the past decade, were not those of how to publish a print magazine — although those were big lessons indeed.

The most important of these lessons was to stick to your guns when everyone says it’s not possible. You know when your path is right. The work may be hard and the answers
may not be easy to find all the time, but they are there. If you clear your mind of the voices that say to stay in line, to play it safe, you have no idea the magic you can create.

Here’s to ten years of the little, orange magazine that could. Thank you for believing in, and joining us on, our journey. And here’s to those journeys we each have yet to set out
upon. I hope they each bring you as much joy as On Makeup Magazine has brought me.

Michael DeVellis
Editor/Creative Director, On Makeup Magazine