I’ve done event makeup for family members, and they seemed pretty happy with the results, so yeah, I think I could do it, especially if the makeup wasn’t too involved. I can handle smoky eyes, or winged liner and red lips, or a soft neutral bridal look, but a cray-cray cut crease with intense drag queen-caliber contouring? Probably not.
Well, maybe…if I had an entire day to work on it.
Eyeliner, though, is one of those things that’s always hard for me to do on other people because I’m terrified of poking someone’s eye out! Also, lash curling, again, for the same reason…
If you do makeup on other people and have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments! I think it’s definitely a different skill than doing makeup on yourself.
So, today’s million-dollar question? Assuming you don’t already, do you think you could do someone else’s makeup? And if you have done it before, how did it go?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S.
Sure for a simple look, but not for photography or a wedding. I’d leave that to the professionals 🙂
Monica.
I am in a house of men, so I don’t have too much of an opportunity. I do my mother’s makeup when she comes up from Florida and we’re going to a party or something. Other than that, I am not that experienced in applying makeup on other people. I really don’t do that much on myself, more basic stuff.
My cat Winnie loves when I do her makeup…actually she doesn’t care if I use any product, she just loves the feel of the soft brushes across her face.
I do my older sister’s occasionally(she’s one of those I’m not into the makeup until I have an event”) types of girls. So, she likes it pretty subdued. I wouldn’t risk a bride or anything like that though. I like doing my sister’s. I always think it would be a fun job!
I still get nervous doing bridal makeup. As of now, I’m only doing brides that I know or I’ll assist a lead artist and do bridesmaids or mother of the bride makeup. Prom looks for my younger cousins have also been fun to do. I’m now more confident doing stage makeup and dabbling more into special effects (easy stuff like bruises/burns). I don’t do intense Kim K contouring because I don’t do it myself and not a huge fan of the look, plus I don’t think I can really pull it off on someone.
I’m just now gaining confidence on filling in someone else’s brows than my own. I need practice doing a perfect wing liner, however, it is easier to do on someone else’s face. Oh and lashes – I can pop lashes on someone in less than a minute but it’ll take me 15 minutes to do just one of my eyes. Ugh hate that!!
I have never tried, but I guess a simple makeup look will be doable.
But nothing with winged eyeliner, this are thing I am not able to do for myself.
Too funny, Tabs! Simba sits on the bathroom counter while I make-up. And he loves it when I use my brush on his face. My husband thinks it’s weird and calls him a mama’s boy. = )
That’s so sweet! Simba loves spending time with his mama, aww!
I have and I do a good job. At least that is what I am told but I don’t enjoy doing other people’s makeup. I could never be a makeup artist.
I’ve done makeup on friends/family for weddings, but nothing really complicated. I usually end up using really light, blown out colors… I’d probably break down over an actual smokey eye, haha! I have learned that you need to use somewhat vivid colors for makeup to look balanced in live photography, like in a wedding setting. Not heavy application; just bright (and blended, for goodness’ sake).
Eyeliner scares me as well, and I don’t think I’ve ever curled someone else’s lashes. (The thought is terrifying!) I kind of enjoy the mascara part, though: you hold the wand up to their lashes and tell them to blink. 🙂 Blink, blink, blink, until they’re where you want them! I had a friend do that when she did my makeup once, long ago, and I still adore that method!
I love the idea of being a MUA on the side (…of my other super-lucrative nighttime career, being the singer in a rock band) but I’d want to get some legit training, I think. Like, take some classes at Sephora at least, lol! And I’d need a LOT of practice.
Love this question, Karen! I have done makeup on a few people before. I did my sister-in-law’s makeup for her wedding and she loved it and everyone was asking her where she got her makeup done. I also did her makeup for a few other occasions. I also did my bff’s makeup for her engagement photos. But I have always made them put on their own mascara- I am too scared to poke them in the eye or smudge the product all over.
But I’d love to go to a beauty school one day and be a makeup artist maybe not full time, but at least part time! I’d need a lot of practice first though.
I’ve done makeup on others plenty of times. Friends and family, as well stage and costume stuff. Friends used to call me to do their makeup for photography or weddings before I moved to Germany!
I actually think more people should try to do other people’s makeup because it’s a good learning experience. The more you work with textures and colors, the more you learn about makeup. In the end, all that knowledge benefits yourself.
I have done my sister’s makeup up for her quinceañera party and pictures. I was also recommened by a friend to do wedding photoshoot makeup. I was so nervous because I was such a newbie and I hadn’t really done much makeup on other people but she liked it too! However, I stick to only doing makeup on myself because going to school hasn’t let me practice as much as I used too (I get low key ready, no fancy eyemakeup anymore)
I used to do my daughter’s makeup every Halloween. I did some really crazy stuff, some witches with spiders on the cheeks and one year did a Geisha look. Her friend also dressed as a geisha that year, but giggled so much the only thing I could get on her was lipstick. My daughter on the other hand sat still through the almost white out foundation, black eyeliner and mascara. I even did her makeup for picture day in 8th and 9th grade. Then she figured she could handle it from then on. The eyeliner wasn’t too bad because she was really good at holding still. Never had to curl her uber long lashes either. Seriously, if she uses lengthening mascara she can’t wear her glass because they bump the lenses when she blinks. Grrr. Always just had her look down when I did her mascara.
I have done both in the past, so absolutely yes. I’m much better at makeup, but I can do a decent job with hair. I can’t do fancy braids, though. I never learned to French braid, even though I’ve watched a million tutorials.
Hit “post” too soon.
For example: I did my best friend’s wedding makeup. I’ve done other friends’ hair and makeup for dates or going out in the past. I often used to do my mom’s and her friends’ hair and makeup when they went out. I always did my own and my brothers’ Halloween or show makeup, and kept right on doing it for myself and friends, and then for my own kids.
I’ve been doing stage makeup for a show for a few years, and I’ve gotten pretty good at doing other people’s makeup. The amusing thing is that I’m good at eyeliner on other people, but I can’t do my own to save my life!
I’ve done wedding makeup for friends and family – I used to work at a counter. I’m great at kind of natural, elegant, bridal type makeup. I can’t do smoky eyes to save my life, but skin, contouring, brows, etc. – I can do that and make it last. The hardest thing to do is work with so many different types of eye shapes – I’m used to my own eyes, which have a ton of space between lids and brows. When the brows are closer to the lids, I get thrown off my game.
To be honest, no. It took me FOREVER to realize how best to work with my own facial features, so I’d be lost on someone else’s face. I mean I could do a very simple look, but nothing too complicated on the eyes and clearly no contouring. I think my hands are also not steady enough to apply mascara on someone else without poking their eyes, lol!
Honestly, no way! I’ve done friends and family’s makeup just for fun, and I’m okay at it, but even the thought doing a strangers makeup for an event gives me so much anxiety! I’m still learning about doing my own makeup everyday, there’s no way I could do someone else’s really well!
I did my best friend’s prom makeup and she was pretty happy with it! I also sometimes teach my mom how to do makeup stuff, since she never has worn a lot of makeup before, but I don’t know if I’d want to do someone’s wedding makeup or something like that!
I did my mother’s makeup. Actually I may do it some times when she has to go out. I have done friend’s makeup look. They were both satisfied.
I guess I “could” do it, but whether it’d be any good or make the customer happy is a different story. I don’t even do anything too complicated on myself because I prefer a more natural look. I could probably direct someone to a few good tutorials, though. LOL
I do makeup for family, but it never turns out the way I wanted it to, so I would be very hesitant to do it for a special occasion.
I tried to do winged eyeliner on a friend recently who begged me to do it because she thought I was an expert since I always wear it myself. I’ve become a pro at doing my own winged liner, but doing it on someone else is a whole new skill! Practice makes perfect!
I’ve had a lot of friends tell me how much they love the makeup I wear and ask if I could do theirs for various things (just this week a friend asked if she could “hire” me to do her makeup for her sisters wedding). I’d love to experiment with doing makeup for others, but I really have no experience with it & would be VERY nervous about it not turning out well. I mean, I still have days doing my own makeup where I underestimate the color of an eyeshadow and a subtle eye look accidentally turns into an intense smokey eye! Probably not something you want to risk with bridal makeup or something!
Well, I’ve done make on my doppelgänger a few times & it’s always been a hit. But, since we’re like twinsies, maybe that doesn’t count. Lol. I’ve dreamed of being a makeup artist for awhile. The area where I live doesn’t have classes so I feel kinda stuck. I suppose I could do simple things but the thought of doing eye looks unnerves me because I don’t know how to tailor the looks to various eye shapes.
I worked as a make-up artist for a year, so yes, I definitely can do someone else’s make-up. That said, I don’t really enjoy doing other people’s make-up anymore nowadays. I often feel like people just expect me to be their personal mua just because I used to work as one and because I am a beauty blogger, and it creates a pressure that I don’t like. Whenever I get a text that starts with ‘heeeeeeeeey, so I have this party that I have to go to tonight and I was wondering if…’ I cringe…
I have done makeup on other’s many times and the outcome was great! The only time I am a little hesitant is the eyelash curling-mascara part. As there was a time I lost all the lashes on my left eye because of the stupid curler! Also, blending concealer on the under eyes if the person has a lot of fine lines!
Tabs, you are looking good in that pumpkin patch! What are you going to dress up as for Halloween?
I could not do anyone else’s makeup. I could maybe put lips on someone but that’s about it.
I’ve tried to do my Mom’s makeup two or three times before but I find it so difficult to work with her eyes. Her eye shape and skin texture is so different from mine. I had no idea how to do her eyebrows. I couldn’t put on mascara properly! I skipped eyeliner because I didn’t want to mess it up. It felt so weird to be putting makeup on somebody else! In the end she liked it though so I’m happy.
While I am mostly just a makeup lover, I have actually done wedding makeup for my sister in law (in addition to most of the wedding party ha!) and she LOVED it. She generally doesn’t wear makeup, so it was really easy to pull something together and i was super pleased with how she looked. I LOVED defining her brows and really making her eyes pop. It was scary but an honor to do that for her; we also did SEVERAL trial runs to determine colors, placement, etc. On a funny side note, I did her makeup again some time later when she was a bridesmaid in a friends wedding and she said she looked better than the bride who paid an exorbitant amount of money for a “pro” (I seriously question how legit this person was LOL) and it was very flattering to hear that 😉
I think I’d be able to do only simple looks for family or close friends.
I’ve done it for a couple of friends and for a few homecoming events for teenagers (just to be nice — no paid gig here). They’ve all turned out pretty good, but I am not so great with eyeliner on other people. And I wouldn’t try to apply false lashes on anyone either 😉
Yes, I’ve done makeup on family for big events/weddings before… i’ve even done one bride. They all seemed pretty happy with it, and they keep asking me to do their makeup so I must be doing something right haha! But like you, I don’t think I could do a crazy cut crease or anything too over the top. 🙂