-Look at the Life of Flea-Photography-Makeup Artistry-Scuba Diving-Daily Banter-: Makeup Artists Relationships with Clients

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love my part time job of being a makeup artist, specifically for crazy funky and avant garde photoshoots, but I can do makeup for anything from events and functions to tv and of course the lovely gorgeous brides that we all know and love for being difficult.

I had an interesting client a couple of weeks back and she really made me think about what my previous clients had thought of their makeup experience with myself being there makeup artist. This particular client was someone who didn't know anything about makeup, someone who doesnt wear makeup at all generally but as it was one of her first photoshoots the photographer convinced her that having your face done is essential and polishes off your look - she wasn't keen on having a makeup artist because she had a bad experience with her last makeup artist... someone whom I've heard of in the industry as being quite spectacular. She said, she specifically did not enjoy having her makeup done by this person because she took so long and would not let her see what she was doing to her face as she was done and she thought the makeup was "heavy".

I tried my hardest to explain to her for film and tv makeup is NEVER going to be as light as everyday use and I personally know a couple of people who love their every day foundation to be "heavy", I'm personally a heavy-ish foundation person, as my skin sometimes has a tendancy to go a little red on my cheeks, and I find that this can be covered if I have my heavy foundation on.

Makeup for photoshoots can always be difficult when there are models and photographers involved, as the model wants one look whereas the the photographer wants another, they both say they don't care and I must do my thing but if one wants a smokey look and the other wants a sort of natural look there can be big conflicts for my job as the makeup artist. Especially I want the client happy and the photographer as they will both tell everyone of their experience with me and whether or not they enjoyed it. The particular girl that I have spoken about in the post asked me via email to come and do her makeup again so I do hope she was pleased with the result that I produced on this particular day.

I am starting to understand now that not only am I a makeup artist, but I am also a under paid psychologist as I hear everyones problems and gossip and I find myself starting to offer advice to them from my point of view. Unfortunately- I'm known for not being the best person to give advice as my brain works in weird ways that seem to only work for me! :) So to any of my clients that I've given advice to, just remember to only take it with a pinch of salt.

My relationship with a couple of photographers has grown to be a big success this year, as my calender for this month of November shows... I was lucky a couple of weeks ago to have three or four bookings over 2 weekends a month, this month has been quite hectic juggling all my time to accomodate everyone, and now I've got some lunch time bookings to skive off work to go and beautify some people - which is a very welcomed distraction as everyone knows I'm not the biggest fan of sitting behind a desk and being a slave for my collegues, but it keeps my brain very busy!

As you can see my makeup business is finally taking off - just in time for December for it to cool down and then start all over again in January after my little trip down to Cape Town in the first few weeks of January :) So excited for that, but thats a different post for another day!

See some of my latest makeup work that I am so proud of.... All photographs by Nicholas Goldsworthy of NGD Photography