Hi guys! Today I’m here to tell you about my experience doing my first prom makeup on a client. As it was my first time doing someone’s makeup in a more professional setting, of course I was a little (well, a lot) nervous! But this was just to be expected! When I was first approached and asked if this was something I was interested in doing, I honestly had a slight internal freakout because I didn’t think I was ready. In reflection, I was more than ready—I just needed a little push! In my case, I was recommended by a friend, which made everything seem a little less daunting.
The Makeup Trial
The first step in the booking process was talking dates. I made sure I was definitely available for the date of the prom and then scheduled in a time we could do a trial run. I would 100% recommend doing a trial run, especially if it’s your first time. It allowed me to get to know the client and the surroundings where I was going to be doing the makeup application. This made me feel so much more at ease when it came around to the prom day, and it took the pressure off a bit!
The main purpose of the trial run is to figure out the look the client wants and to make sure that you’re both on the same page. In hindsight, I would have asked more questions prior to the trial run just to make sure I had everything I needed in my kit with me. The best way I found to figure out the look the client wanted was through pictures, and then from that I matched it up to products in my kit. In my case, my client wanted a purple smokey eye so I found all the purples in my kit and swatched away the different shades until we figured out what looked best!
On the Job
Onto the makeup application! I really thought that I was going to have a shaky hand that day, but this really wasn’t the case—I was surprisingly calm! Just goes to show that a little bit of self confidence can go a long way! One thing that reassured me throughout the application was checking in with the client, at each major step, to see if they were happy with how the look was turning out. I was personally most worried about the eyeliner and completely messing it up. What really helped me out was remembering that at the end of the day, makeup can be easily removed without any damage or hurt to anyone. I simply took my time with this part, and if a little bit of eyeliner happened to speck out of place I just fixed it with a cotton bud—no big deal!
After the look was finished, I checked that she was happy with her makeup (and I’m glad to say she was!), and then took a photo of the finished look and wrote down all the products I used. I would definitely recommend doing this because there’s nothing worse than forgetting the products and messing up on prom day!
Amber’s Advice
Of course, there are the few obvious things I could remind you about: make sure that your makeup brushes are clean and sanitize all the makeup you are using on your clients. If you need a recommendation, I really like The Pro Hygiene Collection Antibacterial Makeup Spray! However, my advice to you is to make sure that you’re organised! In the future, I’m going to be using a brush roll so that I can see all my brushes better, and I think investing in a cosmetic carrier box will help me with organising my kit. Having all the products you want to use neatly laid out will help you out big time and calm the nerves.
Overall, doing my first prom client was a successful and great learning experience. If I could give you one main piece of advice, it would be to just to relax and enjoy yourself!
