Lately, I have been overwhelmed at the amount of people who read my blog who are discovering my Manchester Make-up Artistry page. I have had some lovely people enquiring about possible opportunities, or passing me on to friends who need a local make-up artist. From the back of this, I wanted to put a little updated post together highlighting exactly ‘What Emma Does’. I know I do quite a lot and there may be a little confusion as to whether I am a full time blogger, or am I more full time with the boutique, am I busy with another job somewhere, what services do I run, etc etc. So this should clear it all up nicely:
In a nutshell, I do run whatemmadid.com and the boutique (which you can have a peek at here!) full time, as I definitely put in full time hours. However, I also work full time hours for a media agency in Manchester, working with bloggers and journalists to provide PR coverage for a number of clients. Aside from this, I am a make-up artist, where I only manage at present to carry out bridal makeup and occasion makeup during my weekends. WhatEmmaDid.com is my own business – it’s an online ‘blogtique’ – offering lifestyle news daily and the opportunity to shop occasion dresses at the same time. Running my own business has always been my dream, and to combine it with my passion for fashion and beauty is incredible to me. I am very lucky that I wake up every day knowing I am involved in this exciting world of brands, journalism, products, events, and talented people. The only problem is that juggling everything at once is tiring, and I possibly rack up a maximum of only five hours sleep a night. It won’t stay like this forever, everything will even out, but right now, I’m really focused and ecstatic about what the future holds for my business!
In light of this, I wanted to put a few tips and points together for anyone who has a love for fashion and beauty and wants to set up their own business. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no means a professional and my advice is purely personal words to inspire anyone who wishes to hear my thoughts. So go ahead and read below!
1. Be Passionate
The only way I can describe finding your passion is to listen to your heart. Forget about your head for a while (which is difficult, because it is programmed to witter on 24 hours a day). You know when you start to talk about a topic and you find you could talk about it forever? You want to advise people, you want to discuss it in depth, and you want to get stuck in and enjoy the topic so much. That’s how I feel about makeup and beauty. I’m professionally trained in Marketing and Public relations, and you can find me everyday talking about SEO and online strategies in areas such as insurance, entertainment and travel. But give me a set of products and the chance to analyse someones skin and advise on beauty, and I light up in areas I didn’t know I even lit up (funny thought!). When I carry out make-up artistry, I am overly passionate about products I believe in, which I feel is really important when doing this job. With my business, I have swear by two hero products: Smashbox Photo Finish Primer and Lancome Grandoise Mascara are my ultimate favourites. I talk about them to every client I apply makeup to, and believe they are two of my trade secrets. The Smashbox Primer is the best base for foundation I have ever used, and it really keeps makeup on the face for the whole entire day. The skin becomes so much more even, with the prier creating the perfect base. As for Lancome Grandiose, all I can say is it is the best mascara I have used for making eyelashes look larger, fuller, blacker and thicker, I’ll put together a post soon! If you want to succeed in the makeup artistry world, you have to have loyalty and passion for some key products, or else it looks like you haven’t tried enough of them to have an expert opinion. Which brings me nicely to my next point…
2. Be An Expert
When working within the beauty and makeup artistry world, people are going to be asking you for your advice, and your advice has to be of a expertise standard. People wan’t to know what products you can’t live without, what skincare tips you employ, what techniques can people use and so on. I come armed with my own personal expertise tips, which include always use good quality makeup brushes to achieve a flawless and precise finish (Real Techniques is a fail safe brand which in my opinion guarantees quality and results), always brush your face powder in downward strokes so it sits with the direction your hairs fall (and yes we all have hairs on our faces!) and give yourself a facial once a week, even if it’s just a 20 minutes bathroom job with your favourite cleanser. I could go on forever, but the main point is to make sure you are a fountain of knowledge in this area. When I carry out my work, I am expected to be an expertise in makeup and tips, so I make sure I build on my knowledge as well as sharing it everyday.
3. Offer Extras
To become a successful makeup artist, building your business requires extras. If you can offer hair or beauty services aside from makeup artistry, then you can build your business lots quicker and create a larger customer base. I’m hoping to learn hair styling to a professional standard next year, which will be a nice addition. I do find that my clients will ask me about other areas for now, such as hair care, and more so now these days – teeth whitening! I try to avoid any dental treatments or harsh cosmetic approaches and can honestly recommend Beverly Hills Formula Perfect Black White Toothpaste, Perfect White Gold Toothpaste, and Perfect White Black Mouthwash. I have been using the Perfect White Black activated charcoal teeth whitening mouthwash and toothpaste together for the past month, I feel like any little stains and dull colour left from drinking a lot of green tea has faded. The products taste fresh and have a lovely minty scent, therefore a pleasure to use. If you use the products in conjunction together for four weeks, you should see a lift in the brightness of your teeth, with the whites looking a lot clearer and cleaner. I recommend to all my brides to use this combination for as long as possible for the run up to their wedding for a nicer smile!
4. Look Professional
It completely depends on the certain job or event I’m attending, but I do like to dress practical for when I carry out my makeup business. If I do makeup trials in the home, a hoody which doesn’t mind getting covered in powder and various colours works fine for me, although a smart one which I could get branded is more than ideal too. For client meetings, or being present on the actual day (be it a wedding, store event or on location) I want to look smart in my role and represent a professional business, therefore a uniform of some sort needs to be arranged. I have come across a lovely black tunic over at the website Go-To Workwear, who retail uniform for any industry who need kitting out professionally, which could be a nice option for me in the form of a smart matching black tunic and smart black trousers. If I eventually get a team going, I spotted some really cute light pink zip up hoodies from them too, which would look super sweet if a team of us were to go on location somewhere! The main point here is that it is really important to look the part, and by representing yourself and your brand as a leader in a certain field, a smart uniform is definitely to be considered.
5. Consider Branding
My last but possibly my most important tip! Good branding speaks so much for a business. I find my simple ‘whatemmadid’ logo on my business cards, website, letter heads and even little stickers just creates that sense of establishment for my brand. I keep it continuously visible throughout any type of marketing – my Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter account, and even my email signature. It kind of links everything together and helps you to become more recognisable to a brand. A sloppy, unprofessional branding logo can put people off your business without properly considering, so I can’t recommend getting this nailed as a priority enough.
So there we go – hopefully you have a lot more of an understanding as to what goes on behind the What Emma Did brand. I would love to hear your dreams and goals too, so feel free to share!