Making millions from bridal makeover business

Bridal make-over business beautifies my bank account  —Omolere Stella, CEO, Royalty Makeup Studio, Abuja
DOING make-up for people is a hobby for Omolere Omolola Stella, Chief Executive Officer of Beauty Face Makeover, FRCN Road, Old Kutunku, Gwagwalada, FCT, Abuja.

The Library and Information Science graduate from the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State, immediately after her National Youth Service Corps at the Federal Polytechnic Ede, Osun State, opted for bridal makeover business, which, according to her, was her childhood dream.

The Beauty Face Makeover boss disclosed: “Right from my childhood days, I love beautiful people, especially brides. This probably infused my passion for anything that has to do with beautifying or bringing out the beauty in individuals. As a result, I started makeup business during my school days, making up for friends and family. My passion for it and quest to learn more geared me into enrolling myself for proper training in the business at Sleek Studio Nigeria and MUA.

“My study of Library and Information Science has never watered down this interest in me; rather, it has helped me a great deal in gathering information about the business.

“In a way, the business is a mere fun for me. On the other hand, it has beautified my account, exposed me and given me good and unimaginable connection to important persons in the society, both young and old.”

Stella said that she is committed to training interested youths and unemployed youths in the art of bridal makeover at a very low fee, to encourage more practitioners in the business and also reduce the unemployment rate and reduce the rate of poverty in the country.

Her bid to not only beautify the look of brides but also to ensure the beauty of the day continues, propelled her into sales of costumes, makeup products, skin care, lingerie and grooming of eyebrows, while she also teaches brides and individuals the art.

“The fun in the business and my passion for it now channel in cool cash for me. People pay me good money for catching my fun and doing my hobby. And I must say that it has been fun all the way.

“My clients attest to my ingenuity in the art. But to me, it is still work in progress as I continue to improve myself, enlarge my coast in the business and continue catching my fun,” Omolere explained.
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Making millions from bridal makeover business

A good number of women, if not all, consider wedding as the most important event in their lives. Hence, they go the extra mile to ensure that it is elegant and historic. While the poor look around for family members or friends to put elegant touches on them for the event, the average and rich ones, are willing to pay whoever can expertly do that for them.

The difference from bride makeover and make-up business is in the speciality in the client. Bride makeover is mainly for brides-to-be while make-up business is for everybody, and is also the choice of filmmakers.

Bride makeover starts from choosing a befitting hair style, jewelleries, wedding gown style for the bride, while capping it up with a little touch of spa treatment and good make-up to bring the stunt beauty of the bride, who is no doubt, the centre of attraction of every wedding day.

Who is an ideal bridal makeover artist?
The basic things needed to successfully run the business is a keen interest, innate talent and good sense of fashion, body fitness and makeup. Interest comes first for whoever wants to venture into the business as it will propel you to seek all the criteria and materials needed for the business, in case you do not possess them naturally.

Whoever is going into bridal makeover business should be patient, intuitive, creative, calm, reliable, thick-skinned, warm-hearted, eager to please, talented, confident, understated, flexible, jovial, ability to style-step and, above all, passionate about bridal hair and makeup.

Stat-up cost
Starting bridal makeover business does not require so much capital. With N20,000, you can begin to explore the business, as this will get you the basic tools (of average quality) needed for the business, which include set of make-up brushes and sponges, eye shadow (in different textures and colours), powder (for different skin colour), foundation, blush, mascara, eye liner, primer, lip sticks and lip gloss (available in different colours) and mirror.

The product quality and brand name determine the price of the tools. There are high end products (usually more expensive), medium end products (quite affordable) as well as low end product, which are usually very cheap.

Learning
Learning the terrain takes between two weeks and three months, depending on how deep you want to master the terrain, your seriousness and how fast you can grasp the training. You can practice what you have learnt at the end of each day of the training with your face and those of your siblings, friends. This will help you master the art faster. Make sure you learn the art from a creative practitioner.

The training fee varies, depending on the trainer and the aspect you want to learn. Movie make-up and special effects generally require more time for training than working as a make-up specialist for women getting ready for a big date or event.

While some big wigs in the business charge N150,000 for a month training with kits, upcoming ones charge N50,000.

But no matter who taught you and how long it took you to learn it, you must keep on updating yourself and learning via the internet, magazines and colleagues in the industry.

Planning and research
If you have never worked in the wedding industry, only the beauty industry, I would recommend working for a wedding planner for a few months as a paid employee or volunteer. Helping in the office with planning an event or even assisting on the day of the event will give you invaluable insight into the wedding industry. Just because you know how to do great wedding hair or makeup does not mean you know weddings or bridal makeover. This is especially true if you are on-location services.

Reputation and marketing
Target brides by establishing relationships (be sure to leave brochures and business cards) with wedding-oriented businesses, such as bridal consultants, bridal shops, caterers, hair salons, trendy boutiques and dress shops.

Work up referral networks with event and party planners.

Nab clients who want a beauty makeover by placing ads in local Yellow Pages and newspapers, and leaving brochures at hair salons, trendy boutiques and dress shops.

Marketing yourself and building a sellable reputation for yourself is best done through your work. Your work will speak for you hence you must continue to work on your expertise.

To create your initial portfolio, offer to make-up friends and family members for free, or at a reduced price.

Open a promotional blog or website, set up social networking accounts.

Cost and potential earning
Research what other companies and individuals are charging and price yourself in the middle. You can try to lower your prices to see if you will generate a larger booking response, and then try them a little higher. You can then settle with what you felt is right for your market and target bride.

Taking all factors into consideration, you can charge between N70,000 and N150,000 for both engagement and church wedding. You charge more if the services will be extended to the chief bridesmaid and maids of honour, depending on the quality of service you render, the class of your clients and your discretion.

You can as well offer a class on bridal makeover for the do-it-yourself bride. If you are also good at hairstyling, you can offer a class on the classic bridal chignon.

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David Gandy’s Underwear Designs

AFTER years of modelling them on catwalks from Milan to Paris,
David Gandy
has designed his own underwear collection, exclusively for Marks
Spencer. The capsule collection, entitled David Gandy for
Autograph (MS’s premium department), comprises 28 items
ranging from boxers and briefs to sleepwear.

“Partnering with a great British brand like MS felt the
perfect fit right now,” Gandy told us. “We’ve been working closely
for a few years, so it felt like a natural progression to
collaborate with them on my own range.”

Making the jump from model to designer is no easy transition,
but one that he found easy to make.

“I’ve genuinely enjoyed every part of the process and feel proud
of the results,” he said. “I wanted to combine quality of fabrics,
good design and fit, and an element of style with each piece to
form the basic essentials for the range.”

But he hasn’t abandoned being in front of the camera completely
though. Fans will be pleased to hear that Gandy will be modelling
his designs for the accompanying campaign (“I still enjoy modelling
and that has given me various opportunities to explore other things
too – it will always be at the heart of whatever I do”).

Gandy – who is currently the face of the MS Collection
Menswear label – follows in the footsteps of Rosie
Huntington-Whitely, who first modelled for the department store
before creating her own range of women’s lingerie, Rosie for Autograph. It went on to become the fastest selling underwear range in the store’s history, and if
Gandy’s own collection proves to be as popular, he’s game to
continue.

“I have to be honest, from sketching designs, choosing the
fabrics, adding personal touches and even down to the packaging,
I’ve been really involved and thoroughly enjoyed it,” he revealed.
“I’d love to do more if the opportunity came along.”

David Gandy for Autograph will be launch in London on September
18, after which it will be available in stores worldwide and
online.

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