The Makeup Industry

The makeup industry! A multibillion-pound empire that is ever growing and developing. With the rise of social media, makeup artists have been on the rise and business is bigger than ever. Valued at £26.7 billon just last year in 2022 (John, 2022). Why makeup? People love to make themselves feel pretty. Some like to use it to create bold and creative look, whereas others just like to wear a little in their day to day lives. Makeup plays a key part in various sectors such as entertainment, personal care, and fashion. Through this blog I shall be looking into key aspects of the industry, researching and analysing them to help gain a better knowledge and understanding, which I can then apply to my personal practices.

History

As we look back in history, we can see that humankind have been painting their face and bodies for thousands of years either due to fashion, religion or societal norms and dates right back to ancient civilizations. When humankind first started this has long been lost but the first records that we have found are from Ancient Egypt, with eyepaints being found that date back to 10,000 BC. Egyptians both men and women would cover their bodies in oils, paints, and pigments to completely change their appearance and this was part of their daily life. The Egyptians loved luxury and to pamper themselves and this shown through what we have learned about the wat they lived. Then throughout the centuries like anything makeup has changed, grown, and developed. Throughout the years trends, fashions and society has evolved and with it so have beauty standards, for example in the 18th century the “porcelain” look was in, and this lasted till 1789 the start of the French Revolution. People would whiten their faces, rogue their cheeks, draw on their brows using pencils and even accentuate their veins using blue powder. While this look was popular in Europe, in Britain it was only prostitute that wore such heavy makeup, but as high society women grew older, they would apply heavier makeup to grasp onto what was left of their youth. Majority of people would both wear makeup throughout this time to cover up smallpox scars as this disease was rife at the time, the irony of them using makeup to cover them up was that the cosmetics that they used were often highly toxic.

Current Trends

Now in 2023 trends in makeup change on a week-to-week basis due to the expanding use of social media over the last decade. The influence of social media has had a significant impact of how fast trends change and grow. As well as hundreds of new products being released monthly. It is hard to keep up at times but there are always some common themes that we can find in the trends no matter the decade.

Metallic Eyeshadow – adding a touch of sparkle is always fun. This big trend is up and coming especially when Christmas and New Year is on the horizon. These touches of glitter and shine add to the glamour of a makeup look.
Statement Lip – a bold lip will never go out of fashion. People love a pop of colour and what better than to add a touch of lipstick to your everyday basic makeup to really make you stand out from the crowd.
Cat –Wing Eyeliner – As I said some things never go out of style. Straight from Ancient Egypt to the red carpet. Eyeliner is the best way to make your eyes pop and even change the shape of your eyes to create variety of looks.
More Blush – peaches, pinks, reds and even some purple. Everyone loves a bit of blush and with today's products including so many different formulations from liquid to matt powder there is something for everything skin type and skin tone.
Facial Embellishments – from fake tattoos to gems and lace. Face embellishments help to add a touch of magic and fantasy to any makeup look.
Skincare as Makeup – this trend focuses on looking after your skin and making your makeup look as natural as possible. With an emphasis on glowy, dewy looking skin and a hint of colour on the cheeks and lips.

Influencers and social media

Influencers and social media play a big part in the makeup industry in today's climate. With most people relying on influencers and social media to keep up with the latest trends, new products, product reviews and buying new products.

What is an influencer? When looking into this I found that (Kolb. 2020) states “influencers are people who post on content on the web that is followed by others. The content may be about any category including shopping, sports, fashion or art. These influencers use blog posts, share visual images and post videos to share their opinions and product recommendations.”

People trust in them to be open and honest about beauty products, though sometimes this is not always the case as a lot of influencers have brand deals, meaning they are paid to talk nicely about a certain product. You find that videos that have “ad” attached to it don’t do as well as those without as people are wary to watch and then buy a product that an influencer has been paid to talk about.

Regarding social media, brands and makeup artist all have various social media accounts. This is so they can reach a wide audience. This allows them to reach their target audience, interact with them, get feedback and sell directly to them. It’s a powerful tool to have especially when you know how to use it right.

When conducting my research, I came a across a very informative research paper on how brands use the social media site Instagram as a marketing tool. It's interesting to see the different ways, brands approach using the app and use it to their advantage.

Journal Link: RUG01-002784271_2019_0001_AC.pdf (ugent.be)

The Money

When it comes to asking moneys in the industry, bridal makeup artists are at the top of the food chain in regard to freelancing. Many offer a luxury service to the brides and can make anywhere between £500 to £1000+ per wedding.

Here is a link to a brochure by Jenny Ross who is Scotland Bridal Artist of the Year 2023: https://www.jennyrossmakeup.co.uk/_files/ugd/15e33d_371ef2cf78454c348dd5ad809dcfa00b.pdf

The average price in the fie area for getting makeup done in a salon is around £40 for full face with lashes, £35 full face no lashes and £20 just for the eyes. These are usually booked out in 1 hour slots as well. So on average say a makeup artists 2 most busy days are Friday and Saturday, they work from 8am till 7pm and have a 1-hour lunch. Maximum that could make in those 2 days is £800, which is then £3200 a month just working those 2 days. Obviously, this number is different for every makeup artist depending on what service clients book in for, how many days they work and how many clients book in.

Products and Brands

When it comes to buying makeup products there is endless choices in products in which you can buy. There are thousands of brands around the worked all offering various products. In the UK the main Highstreet shops to buy from are Superdrug's and Boots. Online retailers popular in the UK are BeautyBay, Look Fantastic, Cult Beauty and Selfridges. Depending on what you're buying and the price point there is always options for you. From primers to lipsticks there is something for every skin type and skin tone.

The UK has a lot of brands that are based here and that do really well such as Made by Mitchell, Plouise, Bperfect, Kash Beauty, Peaches and Cream, Pink Honey, Coco Cosmetics, Trigwell Cosmetics, The Beauty Crop just to name a few. People I find in the Uk though they still but from big brands such a Loreal, Maybelline and Max Factor, love to support British brands such as the listed above. They all started as small businesses and have grown on social media sites such as Instagram and TikTok.

When doing my research, I found that the brands below are the most popular on Instagram.

“The most popular beauty brands on Instagram are Kylie Cosmetics with over 25.5 million followers, Anastasia Beverley Hills 19.5 million and Fenty Beauty 10.9 million.” (Hollywood Mirror. 2022)

When it comes to buying online though people often rely on beauty influencers for recommendations for a lot of products. When it comes to foundations and concealers though people do still prefer to go to a storefront so that they can but their exact shade and test what one suits them best.

“Having a personal hands-on experience with new beauty products is critical While beauty brands see digital e-commerce and digitally enhanced in-store and virtual try-on apps as the wave of the future, a sizable percentage of beauty customers (41%) said they would not buy beauty products from beauty brands that they had only tried-on virtually.” (Hollywood Mirror. 2022)

Influencing Factors on Growth ( Statistics)

Areas for growth

Selfcare – when the pandemic hit in 2020 and everyone had to stay at home it was a hard and difficult time. Something positive that did come out of it is that people started to take a keen interest in their self-care. Pamper nights, skincare, makeup, people realised that looking after oneself is not only important but can be fun. This trend was all over social media with people posting about their new skincare and makeup products, makeup tutorial and skincare regimes. This trend though is still going strong, even well after the pandemic. Because of this there has been a lot of growth in the self-care sector, with brands focusing in on the this “selfcare” theme. Even now when we look at the statistics (as posted below) we can see this is still a big area for growth in this area for brands as it is something people now prioritise to help keep a health wellbeing.

Small business – though big companies are still at the proverbial “top of the food chain”, over the last 3 to 4 years there has been a boom in people buying a lot from small businesses. People love to shop local as they say. In the UK the rise of TikTok and TikTok shop has allowed many small UK businesses to advertise and sell their products straight to their target audience. For example, Made by Mitchell is a makeup brand that before using TikTok would have around 10 orders a month, the brand was slowly dying. He then decided to move over the TikTok platform, he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. From there he grew and grew to the point the brand was making 2 million a fortnight in customer orders.

TikTok Shop – a big way that brands and online retailers now sell products is by going live on TikTok and hosting a lice shopping stream. Brands often collaborate with influencers, who then makeup commission, people, they also bring with them their audience to the brands page and can give live makeup reviews which then leads to sales. This area is still growing and has been successful since it launched in 2020.

Creative makeup – people love to be bold and creative and with this comes a demand in colourful products. In today's world people are encouraged to be who they want to be. And for some they do this by creating colourful and bold makeup looks. This is an area in the makeup sector that is always growing and evolving, with brands making thousands of products a year to help that aids people to create these looks. When looking at the statistics we can see that there is a grwoing demand for these products.

Makeup Industry Statistics

“These are the most prominent UK Makeup statistics you should look at.

Sales of colour cosmetics (makeup) in the UK were earlier predicted to reach £2.5bn in 2021.
In 2019, 18% of people in the UK bought makeup once a month, while 3% bought once a week.
35% of women buy makeup to subtly enhance their features, 12% for experimenting with different looks, 7% to create a bold or dramatic look, 41% to conceal tiredness, 39% to cover blemishes, 25% to look youthful and 22% (aged 16-24) to be camera ready.
83% of UK women wear makeup. Most preferred purchased products are mascara (57%), lipstick (49%) and liquid/cream foundation (46%).
In 2017, a report revealed that UK women spent £95.94 yearly on makeup.
UK makeup sales went up by 229% since the post-Covid-19 lockdown.
Between 2016 and 2017, internet sales of makeup products jumped 44%, 29% for beauty care and 22% for perfumes.
6.8 million women recorded that they use foundation and tinted moisturizer at least once a day in 2020
In 2020, an estimated number of 13.2 million people actively used lipstick.
In 2020, 3.7 million people used Boots No.7 as the UK's most used makeup brand. Rimmel and Max Factor were the second and third.
In 2017, 39% of UK women aged 18-29 used makeup and foundation more than 20% aged 60+. 31% of women aged 60+ said they never used these products.
29% of UK women have tried makeup trends like eyebrow defining. 69% of UK women say makeup trends are too time consuming and 72% think the results are too unnatural.
UK's most popular brand of highlighters and blushes in 2020 was Boots No7, purchased by 2.1 million people.
In 2020 3.8 million people in the UK used Boots No7 lipstick and lipgloss products. Boots outsold both Rimmel and Maybelline.
Over 4.6 million UK consumers used Rimmel as their preferred eye makeup brand.
3.7 million people in 2020 chose Boots No7’s makeup foundation, face powder and tinted moisturizer.
The global makeup market alone is estimated to be worth approximately $85 billion” (Hollywood Mirror.2022)

Future Threats

Cost of Living Crisis

A threat to all business and people in the UK right now is the Cost-of-Living Crisis. When researching I found a few great definitions of what this means consumers and for business such a small businesses.

A small explanation of what it is.

“ The cost of living crisis refers to the fall -real-incomes experience by households in the UK by the end of 2021, this is because the income or peoples earning are not keeping up with rising costs, and in some cases is simply insufficient to cover their basic expenses, this causes a ripple effect within the economy leading of a continued period of financial instability.” (Fundingcircle. 2023)

From reading this we can see that because of the impact of people's lives this is having they will need to make some hard decisions when it comes to spending. People will prioritise their bills and food shop over buying cosmetics. Without any solutions being put into place currently. This will have a knock on effect with sales in the makeup industry in all sectors such as selling products, beauty services, freelancers, theatre, tv and film. As well as people not being afford these things, business will also have to put up their prices themselves in order to stay afloat and keep up with increasing costs.

Regarding small businesses.

“the cost-of-living crisis is particularly challenging for small business. Rising inflation, the energy crisis, government cuts for support and supply chain issues have all contributed to problems. Although inflation has fallen, crisis is still high. Small businesses are causing rising costs for products, and materials as well as staffing and stock issue and slow supply chains.” (Roberts.L. 2023)

We can see here that small business in particularly seem to suffer a fair bit in this current climate due them not having the big finical support behind them like brands such as Loreal or Maybelline. Meaning they will run in to various issues that bigger brands wont as the bigger companies will own warehouses and factories whereas small business will order from factories, and this has the downside of having rising costs and slowing down their production.

Oversaturation

Even though the cosmetics market is booming there is always threats of their being too much to choose from, this also leads to brands making a lot of the same products and then people get bored. They want something new and fresh, not 10 bands all coming out with rainbow pallets all in the same week or all doing cream blushes and bronzers that’s all look the same. They want innovation and something that will make them go “wow”.

When it comes to freelance makeup artists, every town is teeming with them. This is because you don’t have to be qualified to be a makeup artist you just have to get insurance and and some health and safety training. This has led to the market being every over saturated. With thousands of people even starting their makeup business out of sheds (yes that’s an actual thing). This means so that people then have a big variety of choice when choosing a makeup artist which is good for them but for a makeup artist it makes it harder for them to bring in clients as there is always for to be someone else doing the same thing for cheaper.

Freelancing

A freelance makeup artist is a person that works for themselves. They control their finances, bookings, advertisement and schedule. Makeup artists that work this way often focus on doing occasional makeup and bridal as these areas of the industry are in the most demand jobs wise. There is no formal education required but they day must be talented and have knowledge, understanding and experience in certain skill areas to be successful.

Skills they need to have include:

Makeup application
Hair
Colour theory
Skincare
Fashion
Editorial
Creativity
Consultations
Face charts

To become a freelance makeup artist, you could 1 of 2 things. The first I to approach a salon or other freelancers and ask if you can be a apprentice. This gives you hand on experience and an insight into the community. Secondly is to attend a makeup college or course. By doing this you gain all the knowledge that you need to be an MUA from other professional that work in the industry. To be successful in the industry is important that you build a good portfolio of work that show off all your skills and knowledge in different areas of makeup. It's also important to utilize social media and use it to advertise and promote your business. (Goyette. 2022)

What's my Goal?

My main goal for the end of this academic year is to start doing work as a freelance makeup artist. I want to offer people an at home pamper session, occasional makeup and bridal makeup. Right now, during this course I hope to develop as a creative but also develop a brand and as a creative entrepreneur.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

People love self-care
Makeup sales are up
Creativity
Influencers
Freelancers
Generates billions a year
Small businesses on the rise
Products suitable of everyone

Weaknesses

Lack of diversity in shade ranges in foundations and concealers
Lack on innovation
Too many freelancers not enough clients
Big brands cam pump out new products faster than smaller brands

Opportunities

Social media
Room for growth in the skincare sector
TikTok shop
Online retail
In store services
Increase in sales

Threats

Cost of Living Crisis
Oversaturation
Not utilising social media
Suppliers
Lack of confidence
Lack of funding
Lack of skills and knowledge

Bibliography

CONWAY, J.,2004. Make-up Artistry for the professional qualifications. 1st ed. Oxford, Heinmann Educational Publishers.

DELAMAR, P.,1998. The Complete Make-up Artist Working in Film, Television and Theatre. 4th ed. London, Macmillian Press Ltd.

Funding Circle. (2023). The Cost of Living Crisis and Its Impact on Businesses. [Online]. Funding Circle. Last Updated: 19 June 2023. Available at: https://www.fundingcircle.com/uk/resources/news/cost-of-living-crisis/ [Accessed 21 November 2023].

Goyette, B. (2022). What does a Freelance Makeup Artist do?. [Online]. Resume Cat. Last Updated: 14 November 2022. Available at: https://resumecat.com/blog/what-does-a-freelance-makeup-artist-do [Accessed 6 December 2023].

Haleblian, G.G. (2019) How does the cosmetic industry use Instagram as a marketing tool?, Lib Store Urgent. Available at: https://libstore.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/002/784/271/RUG01-002784271_2019_0001_AC.pdf (Accessed: 04 December 2023).

Jodie John. (2022). The expansion of the beauty industry in the UK, Companies House. Available at: https://companieshouse.blog.gov.uk/2022/01/31/the-expansion-of-the-beauty-industry-in-the-uk/ (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Kolb, B M. (2020). Entrepreneurship For the Creative and Cultural Industries. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge. pp.1-243.

MARSH, M.,2014. Compacts and Cosmetics. 2nd Ed. South Yorkshire, Pen & Sword Ltd, pp. 7 – 17

McLachlan, J. (2023) Jennifer McLachlan Makeup artist: Bridal makeup artist: Kirkcaldy, jennifermclachlanmua. Available at: https://www.jennifermclachlanmakeupartist.com/ (Accessed: 04 December 2023).

Mirrors, H. (2022) UK Beauty Industry Statistics 2023: Facts, stats and trends, hollywood mirrors. Available at: https://www.hollywoodmirrors.co.uk/blogs/news/uk-beauty-industry-statistics (Accessed: 04 December 2023).

Paris, C.V. (2022) The 5 biggest makeup trends to look out for in 2023, Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/article/makeup-trends-2023 (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Paris, C.V. (2022b) The 9 biggest beauty trends for 2023, British Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/article/2023-beauty-trends (Accessed: 26 October 2023).

Roberts, L. (2023). What dies the Cost of Living Crisis mean for your Small Business. [Online]. Bionic. Last Updated: 31 October 2023. Available at: https://bionic.co.uk/blog/small-business-cost-of-living-crisis/ [Accessed 21 November 2023].

Sherrow, V. (2001). For Appearance' Sake: The Historical Encyclopaedia of Good Looks, Beauty, and Grooming. Greenwood Publishing Group.

Thomas, P. (2004). An Illustrated History of Skin Care and Cosmetics. Henry Holt and Company.

Makeup Artistry

by

Alison Douglas