To Aspiring Makeup Artists — To school or not to school

I get asked this question alot from aspiring makeup artist: To school or not to school. Over the years I worked with dozens of makeup artists, received countless emails from aspiring makeup artists, and seen portfolios of all kinds (often they look identical — you can blame the school), some loved every bit of their education and some cursed the school with fierce emotion. But let’s break down some of my thoughts and see where this conversation goes.

Before making your decision to school or not to school, here are some of my advice:

1. Prep work: Do your research before you take the plunge. Just because everyone eats McDonald’s doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Same for makeup schools (or educations in general) just because everyone goes to XYZ Makeup School doesn’t mean that’s the school for you. Trust me, you’ll be surprised of your findings. Ask around, talk to people in the industry, google is your friend. DO YOUR RESEARCH.

2. Finance: If you are an investor, the rate of return will probably be your number one concern. So before I take the plunge of buying a $2000 lens, I’ll weight out and see if it’s worth my investment. Do I really need that lens? Want vs need? How long will it take me to make that back? That’s why I only carry two lens for all my headshot/fashion shoots. My rule of thumb, it’s only a good investment if it’ll return ten-fold.

So I don’t know about you, but if I know I will be investing in the neighborhood of $15000 for my education, I’ll definitely weight out my rate of return and my options.

A rough ballpark of a makeup artist’s investment:
Tuition: $8000-13000 (in the 90’s ~$4000)
Supplies: ~$4000 supplies

3. Reality check: There are schools out there that pumps out 600+ makeup artists a year. Are there really that many jobs out there for makeup artists? What is the demand? What is your goal? To join recognized union such as IATSE(International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees) or ACFC (Association of Canadian Film Craftspeople)? To work at the Holt Renfrew counter? Or the casual weekend weddings?

I am not trying to rain on your parade, but like everything in life, we need to look at the big picture. However, if you are 100% committed and have what it takes, it doesn’t matter who your competitions are and how many there are out there, no circumstance will get in your way, and you will make it to the top.