A Seattle makeup artist lost her entire professional kit to a car break-in just days before a major wedding booking. Fellow artists made sure she showed up anyway.
SEATTLE — Michelle Wight’s professional hair and makeup kit was stolen from her car during a 20-minute stop in Seattle’s Laurelhurst neighborhood last Tuesday, leaving the Green Lake studio owner without the $10,000 worth of tools she uses to make a living.
Three days later, she had a wedding to do.
Wight, founder of Michelle Wight Makeup Artistry and a full-time mother of four, had parked briefly on 60th Avenue Northeast to run family errands when thieves broke into her car. A nearby vehicle was also hit. For Wight, the loss was immediate.
What was gone was not just a bag of products. Her hair and makeup kit weighed roughly 60 pounds and was packed on both sides with palettes, foundations, brushes and hot tools — everything she needed to work. Wight estimated the total value at around $10,000.
“Worst nightmare come true,” she said. “My hair and makeup kit was gone.”
The theft could not have come at a worse moment. The stolen kit was set to be used just three days later at the first wedding of her season, the booking she had been preparing for as her year got underway.
“It was like the first wedding to kick off my entire season,” Wight said.
She turned to social media to share what had happened, and support from the local beauty community came in quickly. Fellow artists put together care packages and delivered donated supplies directly to her.
“I had a few local artists who were like, ‘I put a care package together, I’m bringing it to you so you have at least something for your wedding on Friday,'” Wight said.
From those donations, she built what she called a temporary kit. It was smaller than what she was used to, but she was determined to make it work. She supplemented the donated supplies with essentials purchased on her own.
“This is our temp kit,” she said, “but she’s small and mighty.”
It was enough. The wedding went ahead, and Wight said it came together the way it was supposed to.
“It was beautiful,” she said. “I was so happy.”
Thankfully, insurance should cover the full rebuild. For Wight, the goal is simple: get back to exactly where she was.
“Hopefully every single thing that was in my inventory that I loved, that was tried and true, will be back,” she said.
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