The actual cost of becoming a makeup artist 💋💄

I came across this article and I thought I'd share…

Like many areas of the beauty industry, we find ourselves competing with special offers, people constantly undercutting prices or expecting us to work for free in return for “exposure”. Little take the time to think about the fact that this is indeed our actual job, career - the means of paying our bills.  We often hear mumbles of “well how much can it cost to put makeup on?” Recently I read an article over at The Make Up Fix where they actually broke the cost right down to how much it actually costs per face. I urge you to all go over and have a read but I have also summarised the main points below (as well as adding a few more of my own). 

First up is the initial training to become a makeup artist. This can vary but expect to pay anywhere from £1000 for a decent course to £8000 for the whole sha-bang!

Then there is Public Liability and kit insurance and of course on top of that you have car insurance as well as other car costs such as Road Tax, oil, tyres and ever increasing petrol prices. 

makeup by Carol Douglas

Next up is advertising - again, this can vary but a (very) small ad in a leading bridal magazine costs me around £700 per year. Bridal fayres can be anywhere from £75-£400 per event. Then comes in social media - people really underestimate how demanding it can be to constantly make sure your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc is up to date and replying to comments or questions. Not to mention in order to have any Facebook reach these days we have to pay to boost our posts, pages and anything else they can monetise on. 

Websites - most makeup artists are freelance and mobile which means our website is our store front. They need to be well designed, maintained and we now have to make sure they work on various platforms, interfaces, etc, etc. We also have server and email costs. We also need technology to access and maintain these so laptop costs come in to play as well as the internet connection. Oh, and our phone and line rentals. Pennies are adding up here and we haven’t even got out the house.

Our most precious tools of our trade are our makeup brushes and these do not come in cheap. On average these are around £10+ per brush and we have anywhere from 25-50 brushes. Some MAC brushes retail at £39! 

Then comes the makeup - the lovely ladies at The Make Up Fix have broken it right down and worked out that an average face of make up costs £15 of product. Then we have the cost of makeup cases, bags, disposables such as cotton pads, buds, mascara wands, eyelash glue, brush cleaner, brush shampoo, tissue, and then skin care such as cleanser and moisturiser. 

So next time you are looking at prices of make up please take all this into consideration as well as our talent and expertise. We work for ourselves and this means having to pay for absolutely everything out our profits, we don’t get sick pay or holiday pay. We  are not just makeup artists, we are receptionists, accountants, public relations managers, marketing managers, website designers and we do it all for the love and passion of makeup!