If you have ever looked at a magazine and noticed how beautiful the model's makeup is or how well it complements the styling, you have makeup artists to thank for that! People often marvel at the beauty of advertisements and commercial models without thinking of the team of people behind the look. Makeup artists have mastered the art of illusions and color play.
They also know how to work with makeup tools and makeup products. They can transform a blank canvas - in their case, often a model's face - into a spectacular work of art. They know how to blend products to achieve their desired look. If you want to be a makeup artist, you should start playing around with makeup. Find the best products and brands to use. Study how to achieve different looks. Network. It would be a fun, creative outlet that pays well. Usually, makeup artists are considered gig workers. As such, they must get a strong client base and build a good reputation with studios, models, and even brands.
Makeup Artist Overview
Working as a Makeup Artist
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a makeup artist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $23.5 an hour? That's $48,877 a year!
What Does a Makeup Artist Do
There are certain skills that many makeup artists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed initiative, time-management skills and artistic talent.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a makeup artist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 17.2% of makeup artists included special events, while 16.8% of resumes included customer service, and 10.4% of resumes included make-up. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the makeup artist job title. But what industry to start with? Most makeup artists actually find jobs in the retail and hospitality industries.
How To Become a Makeup Artist
If you're interested in becoming a makeup artist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 29.3% of makeup artists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.6% of makeup artists have master's degrees. Even though some makeup artists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a makeup artist. When we researched the most common majors for a makeup artist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on makeup artist resumes include associate degree degrees or license degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a makeup artist. In fact, many makeup artist jobs require experience in a role such as sales associate. Meanwhile, many makeup artists also have previous career experience in roles such as freelance makeup artist or cashier.
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Makeup Artist Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a makeup artist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as stylist, progress to a title such as educator and then eventually end up with the title regional sales manager.
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Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Makeup Artist
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Blushington Brentwood Makeup Artist Makeup Artist | Blushington Brentwood Blushington Brentwood | 12/31/2019 12/31/2019 | $29,74012/31/2019 $29,740 |
Bilino, LLC Makeup Artist Makeup Artist | Bilino, LLC Bilino, LLC | 11/15/2018 11/15/2018 | $63,44011/15/2018 $63,440 |
Capital Dream Solution LLC Makeup Artist Makeup Artist | Capital Dream Solution LLC Capital Dream Solution LLC | 12/29/2016 12/29/2016 | $24,98112/29/2016 $24,981 |
Harbor Island Records, LLC Make-Up Artist Make-Up Artist | Harbor Island Records, LLC Harbor Island Records, LLC | 12/13/2016 12/13/2016 | $38,54712/13/2016 $38,547 |
ASM Beauty World Academy Make-Up Artist Instructor Make-Up Artist Instructor | ASM Beauty World Academy ASM Beauty World Academy | 10/19/2015 10/19/2015 | $56,61810/19/2015 $56,618 |
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Makeup Artist Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Makeup Artist. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Makeup Artist Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Makeup Artist resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Makeup Artist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 17.2% of makeup artists listed special events on their resume, but soft skills such as initiative and time-management skills are important as well.
- Special Events, 17.2%
- Customer Service, 16.8%
- Make-Up, 10.4%
- Product Knowledge, 8.2%
- Store Management, 6.6%
- Other Skills, 40.8% See All Makeup Artist Skills
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