Category: Makeup Tips

While traveling, I found a copy of the children’s book Cinderella in a gift shop and thumbed through the pages. There were 2 side-by-side pages that helped me better understand my role and beliefs as a Makeup Artist. The first page depicted the unrecognizable Princess in her ornate gown leaving the ball at the first stroke of midnight. She was desirable and high society. The other page showcased Cinderella back to her normal self, camouflaged in her soot and rags.

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I don’t mind Before and After photos. I enjoy seeing homes, cars, garden spaces transformations. I used to LOVE watching makeovers in their entirety on the Style Network Show “How Do I Look?”

Most beauty services are maintenance-based. They last an extended amount of time (days, weeks, months, years) on the face before needing to be reconditioned. They have a permanency aspect. 

I think Before + After documentation can become quite tricky in the human space with ephemeral makeup applications. Sure, including the Before photo guides the viewer to perceive a complete transformation. But with the way culture has primed our subconscious minds, this can also signal that someone is less attractive (and therefore less capable, less worthy and less of a person) without the makeup and “when the clock strikes twelve”, will return to what they were before.

Before + After photos of ephemeral makeup applications are actually Before + After + Before photos. Just like Cinderella’s transformation, the underlying issue is that the comparison praise of someone’s almost metamorphosed face is that it can devalue their previous state and subtly remind viewers that this individual will go back to this state.

I believe the role I am pursuing as a Makeup Artist is less about display, glow ups, and comparisons. My mission with ephemeral makeup is to operate in a beauty space compassed in calibration, connection and confidence. I hope this mission is reflected in my work. There is no Before + After,  there’s merely the look that we work together to achieve.

I read a fascinating article about electronic “guilt tipping”. Thanks to popular technology, non-traditional venues give merchants the option of asking for a tip by simply swiveling an electronic screen around that asks whether you want to tip. 

Now that most any business type is participating in a tipping option at checkout, the lines are quite blurry on what services are “appropriate for” versus “dependent on” gratuity.

It has always been customary to tip traditional beauty services. While cosmetology service providers charge a professional rate, gratuity is generally accepted to reflect the level of satisfactory hospitality.
Although Makeup Artistry isn’t a maintenance-based beauty service, it still flows into the hospitality-driven line of work. Let’s get into The Why, When, How, What, Where and Who’s of Tipping a Makeup Artist.

WHY:

Makeup Artists work irregular schedules (evenings, weekends, and extremely early mornings). We often miss quality time with family and friends to meet the demands of the season, missing our own special occasions to accommodate our clients’.

WHEN:

Each party plays a role in when it is appropriate to tip.

The Makeup Artist:

-Is on time.

-Meets the service recipient’s needs in a professional manner.

-Provides any final suggested revisions.

-Accommodates last minute service upgrades or changes.

The Service Recipient:

-Is late to the appointment.

-Brings a guest or a child.

-Uses a cell phone/smart watch during appointment.

-Eats food during the appointment.{All components that severely slow down/interrupt quality of makeup service}.

HOW + HOW MUCH:

Methods of Payment now include cash, card, check, electronic payments. Suggested standard beauty service tip percentages: 10%-20% of total service cost.

WHAT:

With monetary currency. Please do not tip with food or physical gifts. Makeup Artists rarely have time to consume food and beverages during/between appointments.

WHERE:

Tip for in-studio appointments as well as on-location services. Remember- packing, loading and commuting for on-site bookings is time (and therefore money) expensed, preventing Makeup Artists from accepting several appointments on this date.

WHO:

Tip your booking Makeup Artist and ask how tipping should be distributed if they bring in a 2nd artist or assistant.