Ok, Ive seen so many threads on wedding forums talking about the price shock and I bet a thought that crossed their minds are: If it only takes 2 hours to complete my hair and makeup, WHY does it cost x?! This is robbery! They are extorting me just because its my wedding! Similar to photographers, the time spent on one client is not just the few hours we spend performing the makeup and hair service, but additionally, makeup artists need to: •Administrative (Respond to inquiries, emailing, phone conversations, setting up and confirming appointments, preparing contracts and invoices.) •Perform makeup & hair services at a trial or consultation appointment. •Clean & pack kit, double check kit, load it on the car. •Travel to the session •Setup, prepare to perform services. •Perform the services •Travel from the session/return •Unload kit from car, pack & clean kit •etc etc etc. On average, I spend 6-10 hours min. per client. Some clients only send you 5-10 emails, and others send 50-60+. So...while on average I spend 6-10 hours, some I spend double the time. It depends on the circumstance, and no client is exactly alike! Therefore, in a sense you are always receiving a customized service. Then, theres experience/expertise. Have they been professionally trained or are they a self taught makeup artist. As there is a huge difference between someone who has taken the time to get educated in proper techniques and use of different products and skin types etc, as apposed to someone who just enjoys doing their own and their friends makeup before a big night out. As a wedding coordinator once told me during our first meeting about the importance of hiring a professional makeup artist something to think about is: Can the artist complete the service in the specific setting [Bridal]? Can they handle the time pressure, understand time management and also satisfy the demands of my demanding [insert friend/family name here]? On a similar note, if you want to, you can go to a Mall, or to a specific makeup counter, pay $50 in product purchases, and have the makeup artist/sales associate do the makeup for you for the occasion. What if they allocated 30 minutes, but did not completely finish, but there are other customers ready to pay for other products and the makeup artist/sales associate needs to stop the complimentary makeup application, and actually make more sales, as her salary/wage depends on actually making the cosmetic sales, and not how lovely of a makeup job she does for you? What a sales associate sells, is the products. But the makeup artists sell only the service. On the same note, why not just buy the products, and do it yourself? Consider this.... A pair of scissors costs $1.50 at the supermarket. Still, most people will gladly pay a lot more to hire a professional hair dresser to cut their hair. On that note...Do you remember the translucent powder fiasco? You might have seen it on the gossip news or something and the big thing was that it was Makeup Forevers HD powder that caused it but only visible with flash photography. In the end, if I recall, (feel free to correct me!) it was said that Nicole Kidman did the touch-ups herself in the car, and not the makeup artist. Makeup artists would have known that you would never use that much translucent powder, whichever the brand! My point is...is it really worth the risk on an important occasion like your wedding or your very special events to walk out like this by either doing the makeup yourself, or paying a chain store for the $50 worth of products and makeup application at the makeup counter? The bottom line - its an investment, and there are some things that are worth the investment!
Posted on: Thu, 06 Feb 2014 01:54:14 +0000