Hello my babes! I hope you are slaying the week and being fabulous while doing it! If not, that’s ok, you’re doing great, sweetie! 😉 This week I am sharing the inside scoop on what it’s like to be a makeup artist. Oftentimes, when people find out what I do for a living, there’s an onslaught of comments or questions,  “Your job must be so cool!” “Do you get to work on celebrities?” “Your job seems so FUN!” “Which foundation do you love?” etc etc. So I bet you’re sitting there, thinking about some of these questions yourself. Well, sis, I am about to pull back the curtains and give you a peak into a true day in the life of an MUA! That’s right, I am sharing it all…both good and bad, so let’s get it poppin!

When arriving at an appointment, our clients only see a small portion of our day. They get to see us arrive at their designated location, set up our kit, and perform their services. What they don’t see is the rest of our day that is filled with administrative duties, driving all over the place, and other appointments that came before or after. So I will lay out a typical day in the life of an MUA, so that you can see exactly what we do! 

5AM WAKE UP CALL (this can range anywhere from 12am-6am)

On a typical busy weekend, I am up well before the sun rises. My first appointment of the day, designates the time I get up(typically I am up 3 hours before the first appointment start time). I am NOT a girl who just rolls out of bed to show up to your appointment. No ma’am, I’m getting up, to get stuff done! My first move is a trudge to the coffee maker, where I brew the strongest, largest cup of coffee. Please, no talkie before coffee.

5:15-6:30AM ADMIN (Again this can range, depending on when I get up) 

Next, I head to my work phone and computer, where I take the time to get some administrative duties completed. This includes answering any new inquiries and emails that came in overnight(ya’ll are wild with the 3am texts!); assisting clients in getting booked with BB; sending out contracts, timelines, and invoices; writing blogs; posting on social media; monitoring my banking; etc. I typically designate an hour – hour and  a half to get these duties complete before I head out for the day. During the week, when I don’t have clients, I spend about 6-10 hours a day working on this side of the business! 

6:30-7AM YOU BETTER EAT, SIS!!!! 

After taking the time to get all the admin under control, it’s time to make a substantial breakfast, to get me through the day. Afterall, this may be the only food I will eat in a day until 5 or 6pm tonight. 

7-7:45AM GET READY

After breakfast, I try to make myself look like a professional, because no one wants to see their MUA looking like they crawled out from under a rock(although, I apologize to my SUPER EARLY AM clients who have seen me looking like a zombie). A typical look for me is a very natural bronzed skin look, and adorning all black clothing. My hair usually gets thrown up into a bun or ponytail, because I do not like it in my face when I am working on clients. Ladies and gents, please be advised that just because we are beauty professionals, does not mean we take 3 hours to do a full Kim K beat, and glam ourselves before work. We’re here to glam YOU, not us! 😉 

8:30-10:30AM CLIENT NUMBER ONE 

Time to hit the ground running! Most clients are typically half an hour to an hour away, so we have to account for drive time. Many clients think, “My appointment is only 2 hours- so the artist is only working for 2 hours!” Wrong! We drove an hour to you, performed a 2 hour service, then drove an hour home or to our next job. So technically the appointment is 4 hours, which is why we usually request a travel or mobile fee. After driving to my client, I will arrive onsite to bring in my kit, perform the designated services and head out to client number 2.  I am sure you’re wondering how I designate appointment time as well. Keep reading to see what a full appointment entails! 

11:30AM-1:30PM CLIENT NUMBER TWO

After leaving client number 1, I load my kit back into my car, and then assess timing. I need to check how long it will take for me to get from location 1 to location 2, and to make sure I am still set to arrive on time.When scheduling clients,  I always try to make sure to put an hour to hour and a half buffer between them, so that I can account for drive time, appointments running late; etc. If I have some extra time, I will most likely clean my makeup brushes in the car before heading out to the second location. If I have more than enough time and need to find something to do, I usually find the nearest coffee shop and get coffee number 2 to keep me alive and functioning(I run on coffee and water on busy weekends). Communication is key here! If I happen to be running a little late, it’s important to reach out to the client immediately to let them know. 

2:30-5:30PM CLIENT NUMBER THREE

It’s time to glam my third and final appointment of the day! Here is where I will share the timeline of an actual appointment with you! After arriving on site, and parking, I will unload my kit. If I am performing both hair and makeup services, this kit includes, not one, but two, 50+ pound backpacks filled with all the beauty essentials; a makeup light; a makeup brush bag; one other bag containing additional products, and a makeup chair. It must be loaded into a wagon, as I cannot possibly carry this on my own. Let me tell you, it is a WORKOUT when we arrive at these massive hotels and have to drag this wagon for what seems like miles. Okay, maybe miles is an exaggeration, but it sometimes FEELS like that. 

Upon arrival at the clients hotel room, house, or venue I greet them and begin to set up my kit. Unloading for both hair and makeup takes about 10-20 minutes of time, depending on how creative I have to get with the space. Some places I need to completely rearrange furniture to make it work. Other places have large tables laid out and I can spread out my full kit. Either way, if you stick me in a ballroom or a closet, we are going to make it work! Once I am fully set up and ready to go, I will perform a mini consultation with my client to discuss their desired look. Pictures are super helpful so I can ask questions about what you like and don’t like, specifically. After conversing, for a few moments, I will begin styling the clients hair. During this time, we are usually chatting about anything and everything under the sun. Some clients I literally feel like I have known forever, where others take a beat before getting chatty. Either way, if you’re my new bestie or the reserved, quiet type, we still manage to have some fun! This is honestly one of the reasons why I do what I do. I get to meet many amazing people, who have some really moving stories. I am so unbelievably lucky to have met YOU, babe! 

After the hair is perfectly in place, I move onto makeup. This is the part where I may become slightly more focused on my work, and the convo will ebb and flow. You would never know this, but in my head I am thinking about what product I am currently using, what product I am going to move to next, while also thinking about where the look is going to go from here, and what I need to do to take it there; all while standing for hours, smiling, and chatting about life and such. Basically, It’s a mental, emotional, physical bootcamp, ya’ll! After all services are performed, I make sure my client LOVES their look, or I will make adjustments accordingly. Then the kit gets packed up once again, and it’s time to head home! 

5:30-7pm HOME SWEET HOME

The day isn’t over yet! Usually, when I arrive home, I will take the time to pay the other BB artists, that showed up to the appointments I could not take on myself. Then I will answer any important emails or phone calls that I missed throughout the day. I will make sure my kits are cleaned and restocked with any missing or low inventory products and pack it up to do it all over again the next day!

I hope you enjoyed reading about what a day in the life of an MUA can look like! This day, while super busy and jam packed, was an example of a work day running as smooth as can be. However, it’s not always smooth and perfect. Some days the universe wants to test your patience and throws a wrench in your plans. It’s those days where you have to think quickly and get creative, and somehow still make it work for you and the clients! Those are the hard days. However, everyone has hard days, and I am not here to complain, but it’s those days that make way for better and brighter days. I am here for ALL the days, the easy, the hard, the hectic, the smooth sailing, because I truly do LOVE what I do for a living. I hope to see you in my chair soon, babe! 😉