How to Become a Makeup Artist

Big celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Angelina Jolie, Madonna, and many more need a makeup artist on the daily, almost everyday.

A makeup artist is someone who applies makeup and sometimes even styling hair on someone for an event. It can be for a wedding, prom, TV, theatre, photoshoots, etc. You’re gonna need to spend money on your own makeup kit, get clients, practice, experience, and time to become a makeup artist. Sometimes you might need to go to beauty school or take makeup lessons. You’re going to have to get creative, have good communication, patience, concentration, and have good eye for detail.

It’s gonna take a long time to become known as a makeup artist, you won’t just become known over night. The sooner you start as a makeup artist the better. You only get more well known over time and it takes a lot of years to become super well known. You’re going to need to get lots of experience of doing makeup on people. Beauty schools are expensive but it will help you get the experience and practice you need.

There are lots of beauty schools all over the U.S.: Hilltop Beauty School in California, Pineville Beauty School in Pennsylvania, Boca Beauty Academy in Florida, and there are so many others in the U.S. Makeup lessons are a cheaper way to get experience – but the cheapest way is to teach yourself. Watch Youtube videos about doing your own makeup and doing makeup on other people. There lots and lots of people on youtube who teach how to apply makeup, techniques, skills, what types of makeup to get for skin types, and almost everything you need to know about makeup; Michelle Phan, Jaclyn Hill, Jeffree Star, Manny MUA are really popular people on youtube that teach makeup but there many others. Practice doing makeup on yourself and others too. Doing makeup on other people is more important than doing it on yourself because when you’re trying to get a job as a makeup artist they want to see what you can do on other people – not on yourself. Building your makeup kit is very expensive.

You have to buy a variety of color foundations, powders, bronzers, highlighters, blushes, lipsticks for different skin colors.Buying foundations, color correctors, powders, blushes, highlighters, bronzers, and eyeshadows in a palette packaging is cheaper and easier to carry around. Translucent powder is also really practical because it works on ALL skin colors. You also have to get primers and makeup removers for different skin types and a variety of brushes for different purposes. It isn’t necessary, but a makeup belt to keep all your brushes will help things done faster and you won’t have to dig around looking for the brush you need.

Another helpful product is a color switcher; you can use one to clean the color off a brush to use a different color with the same brush. This is important because you don’t want to mix the same colors together because it can ruin the whole look. You’re going to need a different variety of mascaras for different purposes, different eyeshadow palettes for different eyeshadow looks, and different types of false eyelashes for different looks. Using a makeup suitcase is the best place to keep all your stuff in; It keeps your stuff organized and it makes you look super professional. Finding clients to do makeup on can seem really hard – but it’s not – it just takes time and patience.

Thumbtack is a website where you can sign up for free and find people in your area who need their makeup and hair done for weddings, prom, etc. This is the easiest way to find clients but you want to advertise on other social media as well to get the most publicity. When you do someone’s makeup, you should take pictures to build a portfolio. A portfolio is a collection of pictures of your work. It shows that you know what you’re doing and allows you to show people your work.

You can make an online portfolio, print portfolio, or both. To make an online portfolio, you have to make a website to list all your pictures, write a small paragraph about yourself, and include contact information and your name. Print portfolios are pretty self explanatory; you just print out pictures of your work and put it all together in a folder. Keep your best work in the front of the folder, or the top of the website if you’re doing an online portfolio, so people see the best of what you can do. You should also upload your pictures on social media as well to get more publicity – not just your portfolio.

A makeup artist assistant job is pretty self explanatory; it’s someone who helps a makeup artist with tasks: setting up their workstation, stocking up their makeup kit, cleaning their makeup brushes, sometimes even doing clients makeup, and whatever other things they need help with. Being a makeup artist assistant can help you get experience in the beauty industry and really is the best way to gain experience. You’ll be able to see how makeup artists deal with real life situations, see what products are best to keep in a makeup kit, and what it’s like at a photoshoot, TV production, etc. as a makeup artist. That’s more than you’ll learn at a beauty school. To be a makeup artist assistant you need to be eager and earnest no matter what.

You might get frustrated at times so just remember some day you’ll be the one that has assistants and this isn’t your forever job. You should also promote yourself whenever you get the chance. Be polite and professional about it, but you want to be appropriate about it as well. You don’t want the person you’re working for to think you’re trying to take all the attention. You also need to dress appropriately; people think you’d have to dress to impress all the time if you’re working in the beauty industry, but that’s not always the case. You need to dress to work since you’ll be running around, bending over, picking things up, and touching up clients all day long.

Don’t look too drabby but don’t wear fancy things. You should always be early; being somewhere earlier than the makeup artist is, it shows that you care. Do not be on your phone while you’re on the job. You should be on task -being on your phone shows that you don’t really care. Finding a job as a makeup artist all depends on what kind of makeup you want to focus on: photoshoots, makeup department stores, weddings, beauty salons, or theatres. Working as a makeup artist in a photoshoot can be really interesting.

You’ll be going to a lot places and maybe even traveling. You’ll also be working with photographers to get the look they want for their models. You may even have a chance of meeting really popular models and photographers. Makeup department stores aren’t the most exciting places to work as a makeup artist – but it helps you get started. It helps you get lots of practice.

You’ll work with different skin colors and different skin types. You also don’t have to worry about all the difficult stuff of being a makeup artist like finding clients and scheduling because the clients will come to you. Makeup artists who work at weddings usually travel a lot; they usually travel around their community to churches, wedding halls, and sometimes the bride’s home. Working at a beauty salon is perfect for someone who likes to have a daily routine. They focus on hair and makeup, so if you want to only focus on makeup then working at a makeup department store would be better. Salons almost always require a cosmetology license to be hired.

You’ll also get to meet people around the area you work in and get to keep doing makeup for return customers – which really benefits your business. Makeup artists who work in theatres always are backstage and sometimes help the actors with their hair and costumes. There usually isn’t a lot of travel involved but if you’re a makeup artist in theatre comapny you most likely will be traveling. No matter what kind of makeup you want do for a living, you will be traveling whether it’s in your community or out of town. Becoming a makeup artist definitely isn’t something you can achieve overnight. It takes a lot of effort, time, and money.

You can only become a makeup artist if you’re super passionate about it just like any other big career. You’re going to need to get lots of practice, experience, your own makeup kit, finding clients, so becoming a makeup artist isn’t easy and it’s not gonna be any easier if it’s not something you really do want. It might take years to get enough practice and experience so if it is something you really do enjoy then don’t give up on it. The harder and longer you work for something, the greater you’ll feel when you achieve it.