Be your own boss while helping other women feel beautiful …
Whether you are just looking for some extra part-time income or you’re seeking a full-fledged career in makeup artistry, starting a home-based beauty business is a rewarding career.
Let’s face it, how many jobs out there make it possible to help women feel beautiful, all while allowing you to be your own boss and work around your desired lifestyle?
1. Develop Your Skills
In the beginning, you will need to develop your love of cosmetics into a professional craft. Practical application techniques can be self-taught at home through book study, video tutorials, and practicing on friends and family. As your skills progress, consider seminars with top makeup professionals in New York or Los Angeles.
2. Build Up Your Resources
Novice artists can build their professional kits affordably by buying pre-packaged palettes from top brands and utilizing coupons from department and specialty stores. While you will need to carry top cosmetic brands in your kit to attract high paying clients, consider your ability to turn a profit before going overboard with designer cosmetic purchases.
3. How to Make Money as a Makeup Artist
One of the fastest ways to begin making money as a makeup artist is in the area of wedding makeup artistry. As a bride stylist, our presence in the bridal suite has one purpose – to make sure the bride feels confident and beautiful when she walks down the aisle. While the job certainly has its stresses, the wedding industry can be very lucrative for a talented artist who brings a strong marketing strategy and vision to the business, right along with artistic talent and people skills.
Want to know the best part? You can run your beauty empire right from your own home. The daily operations of conversing with potential clients through email and phone do not require a salon space. For appointments and consultations, consider an in-home studio or traveling to the client’s home for your services.
4. Setting Your Business Up
Once you have some experience under your belt, it’s time to start setting up your business. Review local laws regarding esthetic licensing and tax structure requirements to get your company off the ground. From there, build a powerful website that features your portfolio and a compelling call-to-action that will hook brides into booking you over other artists in your area.
While your artistic talents are important, the key to your financial success will be the strength of your marketing program, gaining referrals from your social circle, and your ability to get brides to sign on the dotted line.
As your business grows, consider hiring additional artists to work with brides when you aren’t available, expanding your earning potential even further. The best part of being a makeup artist is creating your own schedule and the ability to manage your company from home, making it easy to balance career and family life.
Conclusion
The beauty industry offers a huge earning potential for women and there is no better time than now to get into this business. According to the Cost of a Wedding, the average wedding budget in the US in 2017 was $25,764.
Beyond weddings, a savvy artist will market their talents for local fashion shows, corporate photo shoots, and other special events. Adding additional revenue streams from services such as mobile spray tanning and accessory sales will boost income even further.
What other questions do you have about starting a makeup artistry business from home? Drop us a note; we’d love to hear from you. If you enjoyed this post — please share it on your favorite social media site.
Originally published April 11, 2014. Content updated April 19, 2019.
Theresa Amundsen is a freelance makeup artist and lover of all things beauty. She is a graduate of The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles with a degree in Beauty Industry Merchandising & Marketing. She lives in San Diego, California, and enjoys educating and inspiring others to succeed on their own terms and live the life they have imagined. Her book, Makeup Artist Money Manual: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide To Your Lucrative Career in Wedding Makeup Artistry is available for sale on Amazon.
Abigail Shean
These are good ideas/recommendations thank you! I’m already a freelance makeup artist but I’m moving to a larger city and getting a home. My goal is to have my own salon/studio space but initially while I build clientele I think it would be best to use office space at home. Does anyone have pics/descriptions of best way to set up makeup studio at home? And best things to have in it?
Holly - The Work at Home Woman
Hi Abigail,
Maybe some of my readers will chime in with a response =)
aysha
I understand all of this but I don’t want to make a website{Instagram} or anything as such. I just want to do peoples makeup and get paid, i am quite confident with makeup and have done it several times on family and friends. How can I get customers without having to make a website? Any help please?
Shama
Same question
Holly - The Work at Home Woman
While these articles don’t speficically talk abut makeup artistry, they do cover alternatives to having your own website:
https://www.theworkathomewoman.com/money-no-website/
https://www.theworkathomewoman.com/how-to-start-with-freelance-writing/
You can also start your own Instgram or YouTube channel and make money that way. These articles cover that:
https://www.theworkathomewoman.com/judy-travis/
https://www.theworkathomewoman.com/money-instagram/
Hk
You’ll need some kind of presence on the Internet because even when people here about you they will want to look you up for n the internet. There’s a book called marketing without advertising – it’s old but you might get ideas. Otherwise, go create a profile on about. Me and flavor.me. Put up your pic and a couple of pics of work you have done if possible. Then work your butt off in the real world to get people to know who you are. Meanwhile, also pay for advertising – no customers if no one knows you are there…