The Career Files: how to get ecommerce work as a makeup artist
Ever admired a stunning fashion or beauty campaign and wished you could have been involved?
One career option when you graduate as a hair and beauty professional is working with ecommerce clients and creating those stand-out hair and make-up looks.
As part of our Career Files, aimed at all your brilliant hair and beauty students, we caught up with MUA Jennifer Gooding. She’s worked in-house for fashion website Missguided and now freelances at Boohoo. Jennifer says, “Seeing the model look great on camera is really nice and makes you feel really proud of what you’re doing.” Here are Jennifer’s secrets for landing those ecommerce roles...
Have a plan
I studied at the School of Make-Up in Manchester and knew I wanted to work in fashion. My first tip would be have a plan of where you want to be, and then do everything you can to work towards that goal. As soon as I graduated I started messaging photographers asking to do test shoots.
These shoots are basically when you all work for free to help each other out and get portfolio work. I ended up doing loads of those shoots which not only gave me loads of great images, I also made some great connections.
“When you’re working with a fashion brand you need to know which looks are on trend - that’s really important to make sure you’re hitting your target market.”
Do your homework
I knew I wanted to do ecommerce work so I started messaging smaller fashion brands. There are so many out there and I knew I had to start at the bottom. I ended up getting a few jobs, which helped me build up my ecommerce portfolio.
That really helped me later when it came to landing a full time job. It pays to do your homework: go on Instagram or LinkedIn to find the people you need to contact.
Nurture your contacts
The industry is like a ladder - you keep on going up and up. That old saying, ‘it’s who you know’ is true. People you meet will help you along the way. It was through my contacts I found out about the job at Missguided. I worked there for three years and loved every moment.
Contact people you admire on social media and have your Instagram set up as a shopfront for what you do. Post your best work everyday. That way, people can see what you do and you can start building up that network.
Know your make-up
When you start out in the industry, it’s important you know the different sorts of make-up looks out there. There’s bridal, fashion, going out and so on. Don’t get them confused and make sure you know exactly what differentiates each one from the other. For example fashion make-up can be a lot lighter than bridal make-up.
Be on top of the latest trends
Ecommerce work is mostly studio based. It’s quite a straightforward day: you set up your kit and go through the brief detailing what the models are wearing. It could be swimwear or party looks. You usually have time in advance to think about the make-up and hair that would go best with that.
When you’re working with a fashion brand, you need to know which looks are on-trend. It’s always important to make sure you’re hitting your target market when creating each hair and make-up look.
Be efficient
Time is of the essence. Often they’ll be shooting up to 50 different outfits a day, so you need to work fast. We usually had around 90 minutes in the morning to do the hair and make-up, and it’s important to ensure everything is perfect. You then do a test shoot to check the make-up looks right and is balanced with no shine.
Then for the remainder of the day you’re there on set touching up the hair and make-up and making sure everything looks good.
Make an impression
Be punctual, hardworking and friendly. When you work with people, you want them to remember you as a nice person and someone who will be great to work with. If you’re not easy to work with and have an attitude, then people won’t want to work with you again. That’s really important.
Have your kit at the ready
When you’re on set, always have some pressed powder to hand along with a hair brush, hairspray and anything else you used to create the look. That will mean you’re super-efficient and don’t spend too long fixing the model’s hair and so on.
Follow Jennifer on Instagram, @jennifergoodingmake-up
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