Bridal makeup kit help please

[LashesinWonder]

Hey geeks,

Thanks for your replies to my other thread regarding bridal makeup training. I have two very good courses i can choose from now. Muse bridal bootcamp, or art deco. I have been on here day and night recently and have had my nose in books gathering as much information about kits and essentials. I have decided to compile my own kit using recommended products and products i have used myself. Orginally i was going to go with the art deco mobile kit but i agree that a kit should be made up of products from different brands. But my question is....is £300 a good start up amount of money to get the essentials? Also is there any advice you can give me regarding buying products and making a kit. A list of essentials so i know im in the right direction? I will save buying until after my course obviously but i want to get testing asap. I intend to keep the money i generate from makeup and my current nails/spray tanning and use it to buy more products as i go along and to suit clients needs. Any advice would be great, i really want to make sure i do this right. Thanks geeks

 

[salj]

£300 is a start but it's really not very much. You need a lot of stuff in your kit and you won't get many discounts until you have your certificate!

If you can start buying stuff and putting it aside as and when you have the money you can build it up slowly.

If I were you I'd wait until you've completed your course. You might even get given time or opportunity to do some shopping with a discount. On my last make up course we were taken to PAM and given a big discount on MUFE and other stuff and also given an opportunity to go to the MAC store the following weekend and get a 30% discount on the Sunday. (I had a card so didn't bother, but it was great for those that didn't have the card).

Once you have your certificate you'll be able to apply for discounts and if your budget's only £300, that will help you a lot!

I would also suggest that you buy a couple of eyeshadow palettes to start with, rather than making custom ones, as this will be more budget friendly. If you were to custom make a MAC one, the pallette itself is about £11 or £12 then it's around £9/£10 for each individual eyeshadow pan. So maybe pick up something such as the Urban Decay Naked 1 or 2, pallette these are both great for bridal. Or even cheaper (and still good IMO) a few sleek pallettes. They have a neutral one, a smokey eye one, a couple of matte pallettes and loads with bright colours.

I'd suggest picking a foundation and buying the lightest and darkest colours in each range and then you can mix to make the right shade.

It took me a long time to build up my kit (and a LOT of money). It's tricky to know what you need to get going but you can build it over time if you buy bits here and there as and when you have the money. Then save up for when you have your discounts and get the more expensive stuff like foundations etc. I would think that you will get advice on building your kit on your course too.

From what I've read about MUSE they are pretty great at supporting their students! In fact I quite fancy doing their bridal bootcamp just for a fun weekend and a bit of inspiration!

I was gonna list my essentials, but it's a really long list, I don't wanna scare you off!

 

[Lady Murasaki]

I agree with SalJ £300 is not a lot of money to have to spend on a kit and if you are scrimping on kit are you going to be cutting corners else where like insurance and using disposables (hygiene products)

You also have to take into account the on going cost of your makeup products and disposables i.e. cotton wool, mascara wands, lip brushes, face wipes, makeup sponges and brush cleaners etc as hygiene is very important and should not be scrimped on.

Also this a heavly saturated market you are going into so you before you book onto a course I would cost everything up (kit costs, advertising costs, insurance costs and course fees) to see how much you are going to have to lay out before you start to get any return.

Also if you are going to be self employed you will have to register with HMRC and will have have to pay tax and NI on any profit you make.

Doing bridal makeup is NOT an easy way or quick way of making money and there is a really risk that you could be spending ££££ and not get any return.

Courses will sell you the dream of being a bridal mua and tell you can make loads of money, but the harsh reallity is that many people that do these courses are left with a rather expensive hobby, in debt or both.

They also dont tell you that to get a good portfolio you will be working for trade with photographers (this on going throught an MUAs career as asking clients for pictures can come across unprofessional), so you will be using your kit without being paid, so you need to find the funds to top up your kit in between shoots and theres a risk you wont get any images as not everyone is honest.

 

[Andrea85]

Some very good advice already from the ladies above. Does the £300 include brushes or do you already have those?

 

[salj]

Oh I meant to say about brushes, if you don't already have them... on the make up courses I did, you got the chance to buy a pazery bouffard brush kit on the first day at a reduced rate (some courses chuck them in for free!). It's basic but it's a good start (I still have some of them!) and you can build from there with other brushes once you get your discounts.

 

[emsyj]

I don't know if you are aware of this, but Art Deco require you to buy kit to train with and from the quote they gave me I think you would use most of your budget to buy the kit you would need to train with. I was put off training with them by the fact that they only train you on their own products and they don't provide anything on the course, you have to buy it from them in advance. I wanted to test and try everything before buying but there was no facility to do this - I thought they had travelling reps but I asked about trying and they just suggested going to a stockist salon which I felt would be wrong as I would be wasting the salon's time and testers if I was going to buy direct! I only live about 30 mins away from their head office and was willing to visit there but they were too busy...

 

[salj]

I don't know if you are aware of this, but Art Deco require you to buy kit to train with and from the quote they gave me I think you would use most of your budget to buy the kit you would need to train with. I was put off training with them by the fact that they only train you on their own products and they don't provide anything on the course, you have to buy it from them in advance. I wanted to test and try everything before buying but there was no facility to do this - I thought they had travelling reps but I asked about trying and they just suggested going to a stockist salon which I felt would be wrong as I would be wasting the salon's time and testers if I was going to buy direct! I only live about 30 mins away from their head office and was willing to visit there but they were too busy...

This is interesting to know! Is it actual bridal training they do or is it just product training, do you know?

 

[emsyj]

They describe their training as 'modular' and offer a (compulsory) one day intro course, a one day bridal course, plus one day courses in fashion/editorial and Vintage - for each one you can choose to train with their mineral products or their standard products and they ONLY use their own products to train you. So whilst they describe the bridal day as bridal makeup training, it is only taught using Art Deco products. I know they get great reviews of their products, but I booked elsewhere because I already had some kit that I didn't want to duplicate, plus I have a VTCT qual and didn't want to do the intro day but you have to do this before you can do bridal or any of the other days - and when you work out that you have to pay for each day of training PLUS fork out for a full kit of their products when I'd never tried any of them.

Not sure if that answers the question or is just a ramble!!! :lol:

 

[salj]

Yeah that's great. It's good to know so that when people are looking for courses they can see others' experiences!

I trained with London College of Fashion and it was mostly MAC products that we used, but they are not tied to one brand.

I know MUSE use Illamasqua among other brands.

 

[Nikki12]

Heya,
I speant £1000 for start up including brushes. I deffinatley think a mixture of products is best. My faves are Foundtaion, armani and clinique for lighter skin and bobbi B for darker. Concealer bobbi B. Primer laurer mercier and lancome le base. liner bobbi B gel liner in black ink and espresso. Clinique waterproof mascara with sallys disposable wands. Bare minerals and mac for glosses, narz for bold liners shadows and lipsticks. Pigments are fab in illamasqua. and Young blood for mineral makeup.
I hope this helps. enjoy your course and have fun practicing!

 

[LashesinWonder]

It took me a long time to build up my kit (and a LOT of money). It's tricky to know what you need to get going but you can build it over time if you buy bits here and there as and when you have the money. Then save up for when you have your discounts and get the more expensive stuff like foundations etc. I would think that you will get advice on building your kit on your course too.

From what I've read about MUSE they are pretty great at supporting their students! In fact I quite fancy doing their bridal bootcamp just for a fun weekend and a bit of inspiration!

I was gonna list my essentials, but it's a really long list, I don't wanna scare you off!

Thanks so much for the advice. The £300 is just the start up bundle. Im going to have money each week to keep building.

You should come on the MUSE course! Was so well priced and next one is Jan. So not far away.

If you could pm me the essentials list that would be mega helpful, id be soooo grateful

 

[LashesinWonder]

Doing bridal makeup is NOT an easy way or quick way of making money and there is a really risk that you could be spending ££££ and not get any return.

Courses will sell you the dream of being a bridal mua and tell you can make loads of money, but the harsh reallity is that many people that do these courses are left with a rather expensive hobby, in debt or both.

They also dont tell you that to get a good portfolio you will be working for trade with photographers (this on going throught an MUAs career as asking clients for pictures can come across unprofessional), so you will be using your kit without being paid, so you need to find the funds to top up your kit in between shoots and theres a risk you wont get any images as not everyone is honest.

Oh this does not sound promising!

I am friends with three photographers luckily! So have help in that region. I am also a manager of a occassionwear shop whos sister shop is a bridal boutique. I have excellent connections and am approached alot. Hence why im going to go into the makeup side of things. I also have gel nails to offer. So hoping they mix well and all bouce off each other!

Thanks so much for your advice

 

[LashesinWonder]

Some very good advice already from the ladies above. Does the £300 include brushes or do you already have those?

Was going with the real techniques brushes...they are buy one get half price in boots for there kits atm! Thought they would give me the basics.

 

[LashesinWonder]

I don't know if you are aware of this, but Art Deco require you to buy kit to train with and from the quote they gave me I think you would use most of your budget to buy the kit you would need to train with. I was put off training with them by the fact that they only train you on their own products and they don't provide anything on the course, you have to buy it from them in advance. I wanted to test and try everything before buying but there was no facility to do this - I thought they had travelling reps but I asked about trying and they just suggested going to a stockist salon which I felt would be wrong as I would be wasting the salon's time and testers if I was going to buy direct! I only live about 30 mins away from their head office and was willing to visit there but they were too busy...

This is what has deterred me!! Plus asked for a brocure and it never came. Where as MUSE replied to me straight away and have been so helpful.

 

[LashesinWonder]

Now im worrying whether its worth me doing it all now. Sounds very defeatest i know but have had some negative responses at home wether it would make enough money to be worth my while. But i have been researching and building my buisness for nearly two years now. x

 

[emzil16]

I think to make it in the makeup industry you have to have a real passion for it, as it takes so much time to start making money at it, and I have seen so many talented mua give up as they can't live of fresh air and had to get another job to subsidise the makeup side and then give up all together . So u really need the passion and drive to push the business.

It sounds as though you have contacts in the right places though so that's a good start, but my kit has probably cost a few thousand pound and I'm still not happy with it and adding to it all the time.

 

[emsyj]

I think it varies a lot from area to area in terms of how many people are doing it, how many people want it and how much people are willing to pay. I used to have a bridal wear business and found networking quite fun, so I am good at it and I have made lots of useful contacts and expect to make more once I feel ready to start offering bridal services. I do, however, expect to have to do lots of work for free such as photo shoots (have tons of contacts for this thankfully!) and build a portfolio before I do paid work. Also, I have a day job so am really looking to do it as a hobby at first and I won't be reliant on income - also I can spend my salary on kit! :lol::lol::lol: Don't tell the hubby.... :wink2:

There are people out there making a success out of bridal makeup - they do exist! Although in my area the demand seems to be for hair and makeup together, so you might want to either do the hair training or team up with/make connections with hairstylists too.

 

[Lady Murasaki]

I'm not trying to be negative, just realistic with you

I consider myself one of the lucky ones as I do, do very well out of bridal hair and makeup however many do not or end up taking on other jobs to subsidise there makeup business as replacing kit can be expensive and it ends up becoming a rather expensive hobby!

Not only am I qualified in hair and makeup, I also hold a business and marketing degree and so I see things differently to your average mua.

There is a real risk that you will not make the money back, however business is about risks...but only you know how much you can afford to loose.

It takes on average 5 years for a business to break even.

The other costs you have to take in to account are insurance, tax, ni and advertising costs.

 

[salj]

Now im worrying whether its worth me doing it all now. Sounds very defeatest i know but have had some negative responses at home wether it would make enough money to be worth my while. But i have been researching and building my buisness for nearly two years now. x

It's worth it if you are passionate about it and are willing to accept that it might not make you any money for a while! It's expensive to train and build a kit, plus you need experience and to build up a portfolio and it all takes time.