Wherever you are in your makeup career you must ALWAYS promise yourself and me to value your worth.

A regular question I see in forum groups, get asked by fellow makeup artists or and one I ask are about rates and how much should be charged. Each area of makeup has a vast variety of potential rates from assisting, fashion, bridal to film work. It is impossible to cross-correlate the different genres as they are completely different bodies of work as there are so many variables.

In our creative world, there are multiple ways of getting paid, money, connection and experience. If you are early on in your makeup career you may think you need to be paid a certain amount of money from a job like assisting, however, its the other currencies you should consider before accepting a job. Do not be naive about how the industry works, know that connection and experience will pay your bills further down the line.

When you are early on in your career you lack experience and this will be reflected in the rates you are offered. You may not want to take the job or assist due to the low pay, what you need to consider are the people you will meet on the production, team and brand. We work in a social industry where connections are vital and if things go well you may form a strong working relationship then work with them again down the line or for many years to come. You will also gain valuable experience as you have never done this type of job before, the experience offsets the monetary value of the job and is more of an investment. I have put many hours into assisting for free, exchanging my time to learn from highly regarded artists in the industry. I learnt an invaluable amount of things on set that shaped the artist I am today. So when the next opportunities arise you have built your experience, therefore, would be reflected in what you charge.

As a tenured artist, you wouldn't do the jobs you did at the beginning of your career. You should stop accepting work that is paying below what you are worth, considering you no longer need the connection and growth to prove your worth. Someone is trying to get you to work on for free or at a rate that is much lower than the value of the job. You must at the very least, negotiate the agreement. This will feel uncomfortable but you haven’t spent all those years investing, in your skill, practising and spending thousands on your kit alongside education to not be able to stand up for yourself. You have the creativity, negotiate with not only money but the experience and connection available to you, therefore you use it. This will look different in all scenarios, it could be cross exposure on social media or through credits with products.

Be brave and say no, you are devaluing your worth, jeopardising your future work, opportunities for other artists and for future generations. It is important more than ever to be transparent about rates amongst fellow makeup artists. We are all in this together and aren't each others competition, we must empower and elevate what we do. Call on those connections you have made along the way. Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.

Invest in yourself to develop and grow your social network. Measure decision making by weighing up against three key principles of money, connection and experience to aid guide you in deciding. Expose yourself to uncomfortable situations to push your growth in the long run, wether that's meeting with a photographer or going to a PR event. You need to learn to respect your growth to gain employers trust in the future, they can see the investment in yourself. Treat your makeup career as seriously as a 9-5 job, if you treat it like a hobby, you work it like a hobby and get paid like its a hobby, so you shouldn't be surprised this.

Recognise when you are new to the game you need to value connection and experience over money as that will cut your growth. Whilst further down the line these values will help steer you along the way.

I would love to hear how you navigate this topic, so please comment below.

Love

Lisa x