36 | MARCH 23 • 2023
N
ear the door to her
makeup studio at
Social Salon in West
Bloomfield, Francie Fruitman
has a $1 bill on the wall from
her first client at that space that
she calls her good-luck charm.
“I wasn’t officially moved in,
but I took them as a client that
day,
” the makeup artist recalls.
On the door itself is also a
mezuzah that Fruitman says
“makes me feel more at home.
”
They’re both homages to two
of the most important elements
in her life: her relationship with
her clients and her relationship
to the Jewish community.
For nearly three decades,
Fruitman has worked as a pro-
fessional makeup artist and
brows specialist. As of recently,
she’s also offered services in per-
manent makeup and cosmetic
tattooing and, throughout the
years, her work has taken her to
Hollywood and back.
Fruitman, 51, of Southfield,
has always had a love for make-
up artistry. “I’ve been doing
makeup since middle school,
”
she recalls. She first began doing
makeup for school plays and, by
the time she was a senior in high
school, even received a budget
from the school to support her
makeup work.
It was clear that Fruitman had
a career cut out for her in make-
up. She attended the University
of Cincinnati College-
Conservatory of Music (CCM),
where she planned to pursue
theater makeup. Growing up in
the 1980s, Fruitman had been
fascinated with the colorful
makeup trends in pop culture.
“I realized my love of theater
smashed in with my love of
makeup,
” she explains.
She learned of the school
through an old Fangoria mag-
azine, a long-running horror
and cult film publication. It just
happened to be a makeup effects
issue that mentioned CCM, and
Fruitman decided to apply.
“It was a very competitive
conservatory,
” she says. “We did
things with Carnegie Mellon
and the Juilliard School.
”
After completing college,
Fruitman moved to Orlando for
more makeup school to learn
about special effects, prosthetics,
animatronics and creature con-
struction. “That’s when I real-
ized special effects wasn’t quite
what I thought it was,
” she says.
“I didn’t want to work in a shop.
”
TO HOLLYWOOD AND
BACK
In 1996, one of her classmates
had plans to move out to
California, and Fruitman decid-
ed to join her. She lived with
her friend until she found her
own place in Hollywood and
launched her career working
18 hour days for $50 a day on
movie sets for low-budget inde-
pendent films.
“That’s where I really learned
about working on set,
” she
says. “It’s a total little bubble,
working in film. There’s a whole
language, tools and hierarchy
involved. It’s such a thrill.
”
Still, Fruitman’s career was
destined for more. She eventual-
ly found herself working on sets
with the likes of acting greats
like Kirk Douglas and comedi-
an Don Rickles. Yet when her
father’s health began to decline,
Fruitman realized she needed to
be back home with her family.
In 2007, she packed up her
Hollywood apartment and came
back to Michigan. In addition
to missing her family, Fruitman
also missed having the camara-
derie of a Jewish community.
“I was lacking a connection to
something,
” she recalls.
However, the connections
Fruitman did have gave way to
a career back home. Around the
same time, many major films
were filming in Michigan and
Fruitman found a way to con-
tinue her work in Metro Detroit.
“Film productions were coming
from all over,
” she says.
Fruitman worked at a handful
of local salons, then became
involved with Detroit Fashion
Week, which at the time was just
a grassroots movement. “Next
thing you know, I’m working
with fashion designers designing
makeup for the whole show,
” she
explains.
To Hollywood
and Back
OUR COMMUNITY
Makeup artist Francie Fruitman
helps people feel beautiful.
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Francie
Fruitman
applies
powder brows
to a customer.
Francie
Fruitman
IT’S A SERVICE
THAT TRULY
HELPS PEOPLE
FEEL BEAUTIFUL
INSIDE AND OUT.
— FRANCIE FRUITMAN