What Makes a Successful Makeup Artist: an Example of Lisa Eldridge

Lisa Eldridge is a well experienced makeup artist within the fashion sector. Eldridge is also a New York times best-selling author with her hugely successful book detailing the history of makeup and has a huge social media following. In this report I will research into the views of Lisa Eldridge and discover what she believe is required to become a successful makeup artist.

Artists Background

Lisa Eldridge was first intrigued by the makeup world when she was thirteen when she was bought a book on stage makeup which then motivated her to work on school plays her mum was a big inspiration to her and she always would experiment using her makeup. Lisa’s training mainly consists of multiple short courses in makeup and costume, she found that training was hard to come by unless you lived in a major city. After training Eldridge moved to Milan where in which she mainly did testing and began working with magazines. This enabled her to build up a good portfolio which was essential for furthering her career after signing with an agent in London. Lisa also collaborated with brand such as Shiseido and boots to provide an creative direction. As well as all that, Lisa was a part of a reality TV show (ten years younger) and spends time educating people on the social media platform YouTube in addition to running a popular website.

Employability and Interpersonal Skills

As a well-established makeup artist with a range of industry experience and someone who has built a name for themselves in the industry there is no one better to explain what is needed to work in the industry. Lisa always states that you’re are only as good as your portfolio as that gives evidence for what you can do. She also claims that it doesn’t matter what you do whether it’s is assisting or being head makeup artist all of it is useful as that helps you make your connections. This displays that you when becoming a makeup artist you should always be prepared to do whatever needed in order to succeed and be dedicated this is also supported by Rick Baker as when he is committed to a project he literally live for it and work every hour he can this was showcased when he moved into the workshop whilst working on a film.

Integrity vs Financial Gain Within the Industry

Eldridge is a focused women with a strive to reach her ultimate goals disregarding the financial implementations, This was showcased when in her work when she took unpaid work with a magazine over paid advertising work I feel that this highlights that Lisa would much rather stay true what she would like to do in order to develop her portfolio in a way that helps her in the future rather than solely focusing on how she can make the most money.

This is advantageous to her as it means she is always doing the jobs because it is something she loves rather than because she wants to be a star. It also signifies that this was never a career she wanted to do just because of the potential it had financially but more rather because it is an area she is interested in and excited by. Patrick Ta created an non-profit app which allows him to showcase his knowledge with others this shows his views are similar as Lisa’s as it implies that if it is something that he wants to do he isn’t concerned with the financial aspects especially if it helps to educate people.

The Impact of Social Media on Career Development

Social media is a big part of Lisa’s career with over a million subscribers on YouTube she is a major influencer in the online beauty community. Her videos are created to help educate regular people and show them different methods and techniques. Although, Lisa was hugely successful as a makeup artist before starting YouTube it has allowed her to develop her career even further and provide a platform where she can teach and share her knowledge with others. When starting out with social media and creating YouTube videos Lisa was hesitant and almost kept it a secret her main reason behind doing it was because it would be on her terms and what she wanted to be said could be put out there rather than being edited by people that may miss the most important aspects.

It has helped her greatly when working as a creative directors for brands as it has enabled her to have a direct link to a focus group that would allow her to find out multiple opinions in an instant and then can use this information to create products what people want. Even though, YouTube is a big part of Lisa’s career she does say that you should not let it distract you from your end goal (unless becoming a YouTube makeup artist is your ultimate goal) as it can make you lose focus and stop you from becoming the successful makeup artist you desire.

Some may disagree with the idea of not using social media to enhance your career even isn’t your career choice because social media such as YouTube and Instagram have given others the recognition and connection to be able to go out and achieve their desired target. For example, James Charles became an overnight YouTube sensation and this lead to a Covergirl contract (Dixon, no date) this signifies that just because his career is solely caused by social media it hasn’t confined his career to one are of the makeup world. Although this difference is apparent they both see that social media is an excellent teaching platform with James Charles been completely self-taught from watching YouTube and Lisa creating educational videos.

What Makes a Successful Career?

The makeup world has a huge variety of different career pathways you can do anything from glam to gore, TV to bridal. The question what makes a successful makeup artistry career is one that causes much debate. Lisa Eldridge would say that being a successful makeup artist constitutes of reaching your ultimate goals. She believes to be successful you have to focus your time and energy into one specific area as each different area has different people, practices and methods hence, being hard to succeed in multiple areas.

Eldridge claims that your portfolio is key and without one you aren’t a successful makeup artist as that is what shows your work and what you are capable of this denotes that Lisa thinks that succeed you must have evidence of what you can do. Lisa states you should put your all into your desired pathway in order to reach your main goal and be successful however, not every makeup artist believes the same.

Eve Pearl has a much different opinion in that she thinks that you should try a always have multiple things on the go this highlights as she feels that this is the way you get progress but on the other hand, Eldridge would claim that this is distracting and may stop you putting your all into everything hence, stopping you achieve your end goals.

In conclusion, Lisa Eldridge has achieved her success through a combination of portfolio building and hard work in the industry. Her idea of success means reaching your desired target and to do this you have to focus on the area of makeup artistry that you want to be successful in and not allow distractions to deter you.

Whereas Eve Pearl would disagree and say that you should try everything and James Charles would say that trying out one thing has led to opportunities in other areas. Overall, I think that to be successful makeup artist it takes determination, experience and the want to try anything. I think this because you don’t know where your opportunities will arise so you should try everything you can as to not miss out.