“Being a makeup artist is like being a bartender or a therapist.”
As a makeup artist or hairstylist we are always in someone’s personal space. We touch them, we are the first person they see in the beginning of the day and sometimes the last person they see after wrap. Personality and manner are huge! Hair and makeup are the ones who relate most closely to the talent.
During my time at Cosmix, school of makeup artistry very early on my instructors set the expectation that if you are not pleasant to work with, you wont get far in this industry. Check your ego at the door, because if people don’t enjoy being around you, you will not be called on again. More often then not, the makeup trailer usually combined with hair and sometimes wardrobe is known as the safe space. This is talents first stop, right after coffee.
A warm and gentle artist will help the talent feel at ease. Since artist spend the most time with the talent it’s important to be non-abrasive and remember because of all that time we spend with talent, we also end up being the ones who most closely represent the production and company.
It’s common to see the talent rehearsing lines, or reading sides while in the makeup chair, this is because they also have a job to do. Learning to read the room and allowing the talent to get into their space so that they can do their best work is another skill thats important to have. Remember that the next time your playing loud pop music while talent is about to do a domestic abuse scene. In my chair - talent always picks the music.
Makeup artist Melissa Street, of Epic Makeup mentioned once that she has a client who always asks 3 questions when he sits in the chair, and allows her actions, kit and overall appearance to answer them for him. Read that again - he is not asking out loud, and he’s allowing the experience to answer them, not her. His questions:
Are you good at what you do?
Can I trust you?
Are you going to take care of me?
Now I challenge you to sit in the makeup chair, and think about those questions.
A detailed oriented makeup artist will pay particular attention to pamper the talent. Making them feel special and getting them to relax is important. Still remember we are all working for the production. In the film and television world, continuity is extremely important especially since its mostly shot out of sequence, attention to detail is needed to keep everything uniform. Time management also falls under this category. Makeup artist, Sher Saltzaman once told me the most expensive thing in production is time. Boy was she right! If one person is even 15 minutes behind the producer may have to pay 10, 20 even 70 people over time for that extra 15 minutes. They can run late - but don’t be the reason, they’re behind.
Sanitation and personal hygiene. This one is my absolute biggest pet peeve. Your makeup kit should be squeaky clean, tools should be sanitized, and your brushes should ALWAYS be clean when they come on to set. There is no excuse. Keeping dirty and clean brushes together is counter productive and not sanitary. Remember how physically close we are to people, they won’t tell you that you stink, you just wont be rehired.
Don’t be a Drama Llama. Leave your baggage at the door. I get it, its hard to have a bubbly disposition when your boyfriend or girlfriend walked out on you 6 hours ago, but you still have a job to do. As I mentioned before being an on-set makeup artist can be a lot like being a bartender or a therapist, often talent does get friendly and If they confide in you and tells you something, you are not to go around gossiping. Even if you think its common knowledge, better safe than sorry and keep it to yourself.
Honor. This is another pet peeve for me. An artist who accepts a job they don’t really want to do and then half-ass’s it, or whines and complains the whole time. Every client deserves a minimum of 100%. If you don’t like the pay or job conditions don’t accept the assignment.
Business Oriented. In this world, if you aren’t agency represented, you will be in charge of running your own business, this means taxes, invoicing, collections, contracts, marketing and more. That being said don’t ever bring an unconfirmed friend or assistant. You would never bring a friend to your corporate job, treat this the same way. Many jobs require a signed NDA, if you need assistant, talk to the person who hired you and negotiate it into your budget. In a corporate world, you have a resume in television and film, you should have a portfolio, reel, and a resume.
So there you have it! Theres are some basic traits of what it takes to be a makeup artist or hair stylist on-set. Of course there is so much more involved I mean you have to be good at what you do, understand lighting, ect. but these are habits you can form in your everyday life as well.
What other traits do you think are important for makeup artist to have?