As some of you may or may not know I am trying my best to pursue my passion which is makeup and making people feel good and turn it into a career. I recently did a blog post about enrolling with QC Makeup academy. I am now no longer enrolled with QC makeup academy as I have made the decision to attend my local college instead. There are a few pros about taking this route instead of enrolling with QC makeup academy and then there are also some cons, such as enrolling with QC makeup academy I would have had my starter kit by now, I am not 100% sure if I will be supplied with a makeup kit with the course I am doing at college. To be honest, I very much doubt it as in Scotland in order to go on to do the makeup artistry course I have to complete the NVQ beauty therapy course to achieve the entry requirements, this course is a 1-year course, so I will not get any makeup starter kit until I am actually enrolled in the makeup artistry course. One of the pros about going to college is that it is far cheaper, and I will get much more practical experience. I am a mother of two young kids so the fact that I will not be forking out £60 per month for a makeup course will make a big difference to me and my children.
Although I have to do a year of beauty therapy before I can jump right into makeup artistry, I have been researching everything there is to know about the makeup artistry business and what it takes to succeed in this industry. I have read book after book about the business side of things, about different techniques, about different ingredients, formulas, I have business plans, 5 years plan, and a ten-year plan. I have also been reaching out to local established professional makeup artists asking if they were in need of an assistant for the day. After contacting about ten makeup artists I eventually got word back from Lynne Mills, the owner of eye-candy. Lynne is a well established professional makeup artist who has had her work featured in vogue, cosmopolitan and also did the makeup for Ronan Keatings nuptials. As you can imagine I was elated when she contacted me, she invited me to assist at one of her makeup masterclasses. I will be assisting the professional makeup artist with things like setting up, cleaning brushes etc. Obviously, this is unpaid but the experience I will gain is priceless. Opportunities like this do not come along often, so I have been cleaning up on basic techniques just in case I am asked anything during the masterclass, I do not want to be caught out. I have a good while to prepare as the next lot of masterclasses do not start until the 11th of March which suits me fine as it gives me plenty of time to prepare myself. I have also taken to cliptomize which in an online scrapbook where I am keeping snippets and photos of any looks that inspire me as well as any color schemes, formulas to try, face charts. Although having an online scrapbook is great I am going to invest in a good scrapbook that I can hold in my hand, I prefer having a notebook to having everything on my computer. In my spare time, all I do is read up on the makeup artistry business, and take notes.
So now that I am getting into the swing of things my attention has now turned to my kit and where to start with it all. I realise that most blog posts tell you what to put in your kit, where this blog post is more asking for help or advice than anything. I have no clue as to where to start. I do not know whether just to build it product by product on my own or to purchase a pre-assembled one, I also do not know which brands are good and which ones would get you laughed out of the studio. I have spent at least the last month looking over makeup starter kits and to be honest I have just totally bamboozled myself. One brand that has caught my eye is Shany, they have a great value kit that consists of everything that you would need when just starting out. Of course, I would add to this kit as I go along. Another brand that I have come across that looks really good is Mehron and RCMA but I have not managed to find any pre-assembled kits made by either of these companies. I have had a really good look on amazon and eBay but the things is, because I am not aware of which brands to steer clear of I do not know if I am getting quality as well as value for money. Please comment below, I really need some guidance. So I know that this is a little unorthodox as most blog posts tell you how to do things and are normally full of information for you guys, but this time I am asking for a little help. Like I have just mentioned there are lots of blog posts on how to make a starter kit but every post I have read is very6 different to the next, what is said to be a great make in one blog post is the one to steer clear of in another. So I thought if I could get some response on this and take the most recommended products, or starter kit or even the ones to stay well away from and start from there. Is Shany a good brand, does Mehron do starter kits??
This is also a subject that I can do with a little guidance on. I have scoured the internet looking for proper professional kits that I could maybe pay up. I know that there a few options available such as QVC easy pay, Beautylish offer a payment plan on their products, but I was wondering if there was a professional makeup artist out there that could point me in the right direction. There may not be such a thing as a good quality starter kit that is available with a payment plan but if there is one out there then this is sure fire way to find out about it. When I was contacting all of those professional makeup artists in the hopes that I would be able to be their assistant for the day, I never thought that an opportunity like the one I have would present itself but it did, so hopefully this request will have a similar outcome. My mum used to always say “if you don’t ask you will never know”. Thanks Annmarie
