Like any other business, to succeed as a makeup artist, you need to put in a lot of effort. It takes time and patience to establish yourself as a reputable makeup artist but the rewards are lucrative.

One thing you must know from day one is that you may not be able to earn good profits until you have a good customer base. So, consider starting the business as part-time or on weekends. Once you gather a good response, you can switch full time on it.

6 Steps on How to Set Up Your Makeup Artist Business

Step 1: Get your Makeup Materials

To start your makeup artist business, you must have the best makeup materials with you. Get all the basic makeup materials and make sure you buy authentic products of good brands because you will deal with other people’s skin.

Make sure that you have adequate brushes, products, and most importantly a means of cleaning your materials. Without cleaning your brushes, you could risk being a health hazard as sharing makeup brushes is frowned upon unless you clean them extensively between uses.

Step 2: Practice, Practice & Practice:

To become an expert makeup artist, you need to have hands-on experience, so you must practice various makeup styles according to trends, various face shapes, skin tones, etc. To practice, get your co-workers, relatives, and friends. The more you practice, the better repute you will build.

You may find it difficult to find many people for practice, so keep an eye on nearby weddings and other events where you can get more clients at once. And of course, do not forget to shoot the results of your practice sessions. Moreover, you can always create an Instagram page and run a contest whereby one winner gets free makeup, which you can later post for promotion.

Step 3: Certification

Not everywhere in the world you need certification, but at many places, especially in many states in the US, you must be certified to run a makeup business. You should study hard for your certification and make sure that your skills are top-notch at the time of the exam. Again, these laws vary by state so check up on the rules no matter where you live!

Step 4: Licensing

Again, if you are going to be a freelance makeup artist, you may not need a license, but many states require licensing for freelancers, and you are going to deal with people’s skin and get big contracts, you must have a license. Check thoroughly with local authorities for licensing requirements before proceeding.

Step 5: Business Setup

To start as a Makeup artist, you do not necessarily need a high end set up. It can be a home-based freelance business even, but if you are interested in a physical setup with equipment installed, that will require additional costs and time. But this is truly optional.

A physical setup for a salon will require relevant permits and staff, which will involve a heavy amount of investment. But, whether you plan to start with a physical setup or an on-demand business from home, you do need a well-thought business plan for your makeup artistry business.

Step 6: Advertise

Once you are ready to market yourself as a makeup artist, this is the time to advertise heavily. But it doesn’t always mean to spend heavily on advertising. Choosing the right medium will give you big leverage. Look for options on Social Media to promote yourself. Participate in local beauty events. Have your print material ready, and do not forget to distribute it to the targeted places. Offer discounts on referrals, and so on. And yes, do not forget to have an attention-grabbing business card that you distribute!

Find detailed information on marketing yourself as a makeup artist or marketing your makeup artistry business.

After You Start:

Great! You’ve followed all the required steps to start up your Makeup Artist business. By now, you should have the right skills, equipment, and marketing plan. But, what now? We won’t end the article before giving you a couple more pointers on where to go from here. 

Once you have your first customer, you’re going to want to put all of your mental/human resources into ensuring that the first gig goes well. For the first client, you might make mistakes here and there but try to do as good of a job that you can. Remember, all customers that come through your door can leave reviews that can seriously affect business (good or bad!). Do your absolute best on your first client (and all other clients after them), and you could score your first good review. Once you get more of these, your business can grow organically and you can rely less on marketing yourself. 

Also, once you get some more clients you should consider building a website. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and you could outsource the work for cheap. A website could help customers better understand the services you provide and what people think of them! This is part of advertising, but it requires less maintenance, attracts more customers, and is update-able. 

We hope these tips have helped you!

The Bottom Line:

The steps above are just general guidelines on starting a makeup artist business. You can bring many innovations on your own, for instance, build your website with your best work, attract online bookings, and expand your market. So, if you’re really excited to become a highly demanded makeup artist, do not wait—jump in.