Lip that sticks

Deepa Bharath

As a teenager, Eric Blair did not snicker at, scoff at or ignore the

Cosmo and Vogue magazines his mom left lying around.

He picked them up and read them cover to cover.

“No, I’m not gay,” the Costa Mesa resident says with a laugh. “I’m

the straightest makeup artist you’ll ever find.”

His television show, “Blairing Out,” is broadcast through Adelphia

and Comcast’s public-access channel in nine Orange County cities.

Blair’s show is mostly red-carpet and sit-down celebrity

interviews. But what has earned him popularity with his viewers is

his ability to combine his immense knowledge of rock ‘n’ roll history

with what he knows about makeup. And now, his website,

https://www.blairingout.com, features “celebrity makeup must-haves,”

where Brooke Burke, Rachel Yamagata, Julia Stiles, Brittany Murphy

and Hillary Duff, to mention a few, share their “makeup secrets.”

“A lot of magazines do this kind of stuff,” Blair said. “But

what’s different is that I’m a straight makeup artist approaching

these women from the standpoint of just loving them and loving

beauty.”

Blair has been working in the entertainment business since he was

18. Right out of high school, he toured with the Orange County-based

Christian metal band Stryper for three years.

“I was just hanging out with them backstage and then started

working for their manager,” he said. “Soon I was helping people get

record deals.”

Blair started his own speed metal band and was what he calls the

band’s “lead yeller” for seven years.

“We played at a lot of the O.C. clubs,” he said.In between, he

took cosmetology classes at UCLA and became a licensed aesthetician.

“I’ve lived all aspects of the entertainment business,” Blair

said. “I know a lot about rock ‘n’ roll, fashion and makeup, which is

what makes my interviews well-rounded.”

Blair pitched his show to Adelphia eight years ago. It became

popular instantly, said Linda Maxwell, video production coordinator

for Adelphia.

“It’s like he has this complete encyclopedia of rock ‘n’ roll in

his head,” she said. “His interviews are great, and he comes back

with some wonderful sound bites.”

Blair has his fans and admirers, Maxwell said.

“People hunt him down to talk to him about the makeup tips,” she

said. “To them, his makeup tips are very educational. For us, it’s

definitely a one-of-a-kind show and fits in perfectly with our Friday

and Saturday night entertainment programming.”

Blair doesn’t get paid because it’s public access. In fact, not

much of his entertainment career has been very lucrative, he said.

“How do I make a living? By the skin of my teeth,” he said. “But I

have a dream to establish myself in the entertainment business. And

that’s what I’m doing out here.”

But recently, it’s been paying off in small installments, Blair

said. He was a field producer for MTV’s program called “22 Greatest

CDs,” for which he interviewed producers in the music industry. He

was also one of the jurors for Style Court, a makeover show on the

Style Network.

His website is obviously “celebrity-driven,” he said. The meat of

his program and the website comes from red-carpet interviews at

premieres.

“Celebs stop and talk to me because they somehow relate to me,” he

said. “It’s like I’m a real guy who talks to them.”

* DEEPA BHARATH is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at

deepa.bharath@latimes.com.