Ryan Kelly creates incredible art on her lips inspired by the likes of Harry Potter, Cup O’ Noodles and the Rolling Stones — and it’s gained her nearly 73,000 Instagram followers.
It began, as so many stories do, with a bit of booze.
During Super Bowl Sunday in 2015, Ryan Kelly was sandwiched between her husband and their two dogs, watching the New England Patriots play the Seattle Seahawks. But she was much more interested in the halftime show than the football game, and it didn’t disappoint: Katy Perry performed her hit song “Teenage Dream,” flanked by two backup dancers dressed as blue sharks. The shark character on Perry’s left went viral for his seemingly out-of-sync, flailing moves, and a social media field day ensued (some called out his “bungled performance,” others hailed him as a hero).
Watching the show in real time, Kelly thought it was hilarious. Her husband suggested that she, a makeup artist who worked largely on weddings, use her skills to depict left shark on her face. “There may or may not have been alcohol involved,” she says. “We were having a lot of fun.”
Before Perry was even finished performing, Kelly raced to gather her materials and tripped up the stairs out of excitement. For hours, she worked on the look at the dining room table with an old Halloween face paint palette. Kelly painted “Left Shark” on her face, lips and neck, and two of her fingers served as the shark’s dancing fins. Then, she posted the look to Instagram.
Kelly’s brand took off from there, and it has since transformed into a lip art empire: She’s known as @RyanKellyMUA to nearly 73,000 followers. Read on for how Kelly finds inspiration, her content strategy and her most complicated lip art project (hint: It’s inspired by Harry Potter and took about eight hours to complete).
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you get your start with Instagram?
I already had an Instagram account before my first lip art post, but it wasn’t a makeup page yet — it was partially makeup-driven but also just my life in general. I was always kind of looking for that niche that separated me from other artists. There so many talented artists on Instagram!
I was going through makeup feeds and saw other people finding success through Instagram, so I had my eye out for something I could do. Even though I was doing beauty makeup for a living at that point, I really liked special effects and how people could manipulate shadow and light to completely change their entire face and look like a different person.
When my husband mentioned Left Shark, I didn’t think anything of it — it was just supposed to be silly. But after I posted it, people hopped on board and said, “This is the best lip art I’ve ever seen.” I didn’t even know what lip art was at the time, but I followed the hashtags and it just kind of snowballed from there. People were interested, so I started doing more and more lip art and less and less other makeup — then, it just took over.
How much of your time do you spend on a post, and what does that entail?
It kind of revolves more and more around the family life aspect. My new baby has two long nap times during the day, and the morning nap is when I usually scroll Pinterest or Instagram feeds and look at what’s trending and try to get some inspiration. The second part of the day is when I actually create and edit the look. I would say all in all, from inspiration to finish, it takes four or five hours. Actually executing a look is usually about an hour or two on average.
I’m lucky enough to have my own room in the house that I call my studio — I have a table and a camera set up in front with a light. If I’m recording a video I’ll just hit “Play” on the camera while I work. Otherwise, I just turn it on when I have to photograph the look. It’s hilarious because it’s me, usually home alone with the baby, and usually I have one hand on my chin perfectly placed and the other hand on the camera trying to take the photo.
What’s your content strategy? How do you decide what and when to post?
Inspiration can come from what movies are coming out, something I see in nature on a hike or even a children’s book, toy or color combination. It comes from everywhere, which is cool. Once you start thinking in that mindset of being inspired or loving art, it’s like you can’t turn it off. My family even gets annoyed with me sometimes!
This is such a sensitive subject right now because the algorithm is throwing everybody for a loop. For me, it’s better to post in the early afternoon — like between noon and 2 p.m. ET — and in the evening when people are just getting home from work — like 7 to 7:30 p.m. ET. I…
