Meet the fashion world's favourite up-and-coming Finnish makeup artist

“Many makeup artists have a story that starts from rummaging through their mum’s beauty cupboard as a kid, but that’s not the case for me,” says Helsinki-based makeup artist Juho Lehiö. “While I have the knowledge and interest required by my work, I’ve never been particularly keen about beauty in the traditional sense.” Lehiö, 22, has always had a different approach to makeup, manifesting in his dramatic and poetic flair. “When I work, I create characters. I love to explore identity through makeup,” he explains. “Even if it’s an ultra-natural look, I have to conceive a meaning as to why the person looks the way they do.”

Born in Loviisa, a quaint town an hour from Helsinki, Lehiö was introduced to beauty via the performing arts. “I’ve danced and done theatre since I was a kid, and that’s where I learnt that there’s even a thing called makeup,” he says. “However, I was meant to become a professional dancer, not a makeup artist.” Dance brought Lehiö to an arts high school in Helsinki, where he started to express himself through makeup. “I felt this freedom and began experimenting with crazy makeup on myself – I looked really wild every day,” he recalls. “I would just grab a lipstick and smear it across my face or do some other wacky, teen angsty look.”

Related: How to stop your eye makeup smudging, according to Meghan Markle's makeup artist

Lehiö’s quirky looks quickly garnered interest, earning him his first-ever job at a fashion shoot. “I said I don’t know how to do make-up, but sure, I’ll come,” he says. After realising how much fun it was, Lehiö swiftly began to form his career as a makeup artist. “I met a lot of new people, and it just organically grew really fast from there.” So fast, in fact, that he ended up dropping out of high school to pursue makeup full-time.

In 2021, Lehiö was thrown straight into the deep end with an opportunity to assist renowned makeup artist Lucia Pieroni for Jil Sander’s spring/summer 2022 spectacle. “I was panicking. I had no idea what to do, but then I just got on with it and they liked my work,” he says. I ask how he got the gig, and Lehiö chuckles. “A f**k tonne of emails. I scoured LinkedIn, different agencies – basically the whole internet. Before I went to Milan for the first time I had sent around 300 emails.”

Related: Meet the Swedish makeup artist behind the most glamorous A-lister looks

Today, Lehiö has worked under some of the industry’s leading makeup artists, including Lynsey Alexander, Daniel Sallstrom and Inge Grognard. Aside from commercial jobs, he is building a portfolio of personal work, which currently occupies most of his time. Although his personal ventures allow total creative freedom, Lehiö asserts that balance is key. “I love having the variety of doing it all, the pared-back, clean looks and my own crazy stuff,” he says. “I also need it to not get bored of myself.”

Although his entry into the beauty industry was unexpected, Lehiö is there to stay. Having found his “makeup language”, as he calls it, the creative is excited about the future. Being featured in Vogue Scandinavia marks an important moment in his blossoming career. “It means so much to showcase my work in the magazine and that I was trusted to freely do my thing,” he says. “I’m super grateful.”