Ayami Nishimura is a Japanese-born, New York–based makeup artist whose work bridges fashion, beauty, and art with bold creativity and technical precision. Self-taught, she began her career in London in the early 1990s before relocating to New York in 2013. Her work has appeared in Vogue Italia, Vogue Japan, Allure, Dazed & Confused, and W Magazine, and she has collaborated with photographers including Rankin, Juergen Teller, Solve Sundsbø, Albert Watson, and Ellen von Unwerth.

She has worked on campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Anna Sui, Foundrae, Tiffany & Co., David Webb, Nike, COS, and CO. In 2012 she published the acclaimed book Ayami Nishimura by Rankin, and she has also shaped the industry from within as Color Director for POLA B.A. COLORS (2017–2020).

For Ayami, makeup is both craft and transformation. “I started to be really into fashion, beauty and art when I was a teenager. Shiseido’s beauty magazine Hanatsubaki was one of my favorites - Serge Lutens’ images were always there and it was mind blowing to me,” she recalls. Of her book with Rankin, she adds: “It was the process of downloading all my ideas from my head… my favorite look is the cover, I designed this makeup based on H.R. Giger’s Alien.”