After deciding I wanted to pursue a career in makeup – I looked at a few courses and chose to study Fashion Makeup at Cassie Lomas Makeup Academy (CLMA). The course was full time for 6 weeks, 10am-4.30pm. I chose Cassie Lomas because of Cassie’s success as a makeup artist, and was excited to be taught by herself along with other leading industry experts.
If you are thinking of going on the course, expect to be taught by Cassie once a week, the other days are taught by other working makeup artists, all in different fields – but all very successful! It’s great being taught by a range of people as you pick up different tips and techniques from each person. You also get an insight into each of their careers which can help you decide what route you would like to go down!
Included in the course, you also get some brushes from the Cassie Lomas brush range and a small makeup kit – this included some high end makeup products from brands such as Mac and Illamasqua as well as some high street brands, such as B. from Superdrug – who Cassie is an ambassador for.
I really love the makeup brushes we were provided with, and ended up buying the entire set of brushes! Good brushes really make a difference to your makeup. My favourite brushes from Cassie’s range are Polly – which is an angled fluffy brush, perfect for contouring! And Buster, which is a small blending brush, great for applying eyeshadows in the crease of the eye to build colour and blend at the same time!
If you are going on the course, you also have access to the academy’s makeup kit which is full of products! But I would definitely recommend bringing in whatever makeup you already have, and expect to buy quite a lot along the way! You don’t know what you’re going to be taught each day, so bring your entire kit with you every day. On the course, you also go on a trip to the Mac and Illamasqua free standing stores, where you get to shop with the makeup artists discount!
The course included three photo shoots with professional photographers and models – I was excited for this as it was the direction I wanted to go into with makeup! The photographers we worked with were Craig Fleming, Karl Collins and Hannah Furness. The models were provided by agencies Boss, Nemesis and J’adore. After leaving the course and taking part in photo shoots myself, I realised how much we had been taught at CLMA about how photo shoots run, what is expected of you on set and how to be professional with photographers and models. I felt confident leaving the course and working straight away as CLMA had prepared us well for a career as a makeup artist alongside teaching us the makeup skills!
Photography by Craig Fleming - Model: Chloe Vell from Nemesis
The academy also has an events team which graduates can get work from. When I left the course, I began working straight away. I took part in photoshoots and got work through the events team at CLMA, which included working for Spanish brand “Elrow” at the Warehouse Project and I am also going to be a part of the Clothes Show Live’s makeup team! To succeed after leaving the course you need to work hard yourself to get work, however the events team is a great starting point.
If you have any questions about training in makeup leave me a message in the comments section below!
Thanks for reading!
Charlotte x
