Well, she did it! After beating off thousands to win a place in the Top Model House, then slowly and surely knocking off the competition, on Monday night, we saw Jade Thompson crowned as Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model. What the judges and critics kept saying was that she has a unique beauty, and she most certainly does.  With that amazing hair, those incredible lips and freckles that... 

For many newly qualified makeup artists, or those who are studying and building up their portfolios, advertising costs can spiral out of control. At a time when they need to be spending on investing in their kits, its very possible that money can be spent in the wrong place. With that in mind, MAF now has an advertising package, specifically for students and artists who have qualified in the last 12... 

Inside all of us, is not a book (well, there is that!), but there’s a boutique store that we’d like to open.  A while back, I asked the MAF members what kind of shop they could open if money was no object.  We had all number of responses, from shops stocking candles, to craft shops, wool shops and sweet shops.  For me though, I’d want to open a boutique makeup store and stock it... 

On the forum, we quite frequently get asked what is in our kit, or what are our desert island must haves.  So, we’ll be running a series of ‘what’s in a pro’s kit?’ features in the coming months. All professional makeup artists have their favoured products, we are all different, adn love different things for different reasons. What one loves, another isn’t so keen... 

Sam Donald www.SamDonald.com Since my student days, when my next door neighbour in my halls of residence had an abundance of Clinique on her dressing table, I’ve been a fan of those lovely pink boxes with their cream and green floral design on them. I grew up learning the art of makeup at my Mum’s knee with roller ball lip glosses, peel of face masks and eyeshadow designed to show up under... 

Sam Donald www.SamDonald.com As we all know, you have to have great products to achieve a great look, but you also need good tools behind you to get soft yet clean lines, without fallout and wasteage. I’m a brush junkie.  I find it irresistible to walk past a cosmetics counter without having a good look at their brush range and buying at least one. I have a brush kit with around 100 brushes... 

As a professional makeup artist, it’s imperative to have good hygiene practices.  You simply cannot use a mascara wand straight out of the tube onto someone’s eye, then use it again on someone else’s face.  Shared conjunctivitis anyone? Similarly you can’t use lipstick straight off the bullet onto someone’s mouth, nor liquid eyeliner straight out of the bottle or lipglossdirectly... 

Any freelance makeup artist will tell you that our working lives can be somewhat lonely at times. It’s not like being in an office or on a counter where you have colleagues around you every day of your working life. We freelancers work for ourselves, on our own and by ourselves. Who do you bounce ideas off? When you have a little ‘wobble’ as you embark on a new career, who in the... 

Originally written in 2005, for the Brides to Be on various internet forums, this has proved to be a useful tool for them, many having actually sat with this article in front of them, whilst they make initial phone calls to potential makeup artists.  I hope you also find this useful.   Questions to ask when getting a quote. What products do they use? If they are quoting a high price, but are only...