What you can learn in the school makeup artists for six weeks
Saturday, the beginning of the eleventh, Sleepy girls flock to a brightly lit room in the depths of the Patriarch's. Putting on shoe covers, gathering loose hair and pouring coffee on themselves, everyone slowly arranges brushes on the tables, bright pink — or black — makeup sponges, disinfecting sprays and writing utensils: in half an hour they will scribble lectures under dictation, and the Moscow school of makeup artists Mosmake, where all this happens, heal with his life - and without students here everyone is full of things.
I’m going through a five-week course "Makeup Basics", after which I will receive a certificate from the International Association of Make-up Artists (IMA) - if I pass the exam. He is warned about his difficulty even when concluding a contract: Eva Bogdalska, a makeup artist with 20 years of experience and an impressive list of clients, arrives from London every four months. She managed to work with American Vogue, ELLE and The Face, photographer Mario Testino and brands from Disney to Procter & Gamble. They say that Eva is strict and remains satisfied with the work of far from every student, so some have to retake the exam several times.
I nervously snort, spread 70,000 rubles for tuition and sign my name, but so far I can’t even imagine what kind of emotions will be on the exam. I have already been shown a class in which my group will spend seven hours every weekend. Around its perimeter there are mirrors with ruthless spotlights that accentuate the slightest flaws (therefore, models and students take selfies not in the classroom, but in a toilet with much kinder lighting). In addition to mirrors, there is a large and still empty table and shelves with useful trifles: spatulas, coursework samples, paper towels and other things.
The first lesson differs from the rest in a more introductory part: the teacher tells what makeup brushes are, how to care for them and with which products to use this or that pile. Preparing skin for make-up and the basics of working with tonal means are also included in the topic of the first lesson, at the end of which we try to make a tone according to all the rules on groupmates: choose the right shade and texture, mask bruises under the eyes and visually correct the face relief. It is catastrophically difficult and even scary to paint another person for the first time: you still do not feel the allowable force of pressing the sponge, you don’t understand the tonal means (it’s difficult to find them yourself), you don’t notice the uneven shading on the bottom of your cheek. The ability to see the places that need to be worked out will also come with experience, but for now I want to say only “oh, everything” every time the teacher points to obvious flaws for you: too pink tonal (gives the face gray), not enough orange corrector (could not disguise the blue under eyes), the tone rolled in the wings of the nose (oh, everything).
The following classes are going on: a lecture, an hour break, practice. For ten lessons, the group manages to learn how to do specific types of makeup: day, evening, wedding, men's, "bronze", for mature skin and oriental face. This separation is conditional, but it allows you to teach the minimum that every makeup artist should have. In other words, although the criteria for any evening makeup adopted in Mosmake, include eyeliner lower eyelid, it can be omitted if a specific person, according to the makeup artist, does not fit. True, the lesson will have to prove to the teacher that you still know how to sum up the eyelid, and argue your choice.
In addition to the intensive pace, training is complicated by the fact that Mosmake requires not only high-quality makeup, but also professional behavior. This means that the make-up artist should not flicker in front of the model, but stand on one side of her chair and turn only to choose another brush or type on it a product. In addition, the school pays great attention to hygiene. At the very first lesson, that large empty table in the center of the class turns out to be completely covered with hundreds of “cans”: tonal creams, powders, lipsticks, mascaras, pencils, shadows, blush, highlighters and everything else that a makeup artist needs. In all the lessons, the group uses exactly the cosmetics that the school provides for them (so that everyone has equal opportunities), therefore they are strictly accountable for non-compliance with the rules of hygiene.
At first it seems wild and inconvenient to type powder or blush on cotton pads, and only then drive them into the brush, but this is the only way to be sure that all cosmetics on the table are clean and not afraid to put it on your own or someone else's face. By the way, such an approach is not supported by all institutions - one classmate once complained in whatsapp-chat that at another Moscow master class, the girls climbed into common "banks" with disinfected brushes, and the second told about weeks of unwashed television make-up tools. Mosmake teaches how to clean the brushes white-hot (and more often the child), and just in case check their condition before each session. It’s not even the point that they take points for dirty brushes: every self-respecting makeup artist is obliged to follow the rules of hygiene, because he is responsible for the health of the client.
With each new lesson practice becomes more and more, so that by the end of the course in four hours you manage to make up not one model, but two or even three. Nevertheless, everyone worries - on the day and evening make-up exam only an hour is given, for which you need to perform a number of regulated actions: curl eyelashes, darken the ciliary contour, put shadows, highlight eyebrows, apply blush and stuff like that. The teacher calms down: in her memory, each group complains that it is impossible to do a full-fledged make-up in an hour, and everything is in time for the exam. In fact, on the exam, they still panic and say that they didn’t have a damn thing, but when the whole group loses it, it becomes a little easier for everyone.
To be admitted to the exam, you need not only to master the practice, but also to prepare a course project. Each student before the start of the course is issued an inscribed red IMA notebook, which is his main document. In it, the teacher assigned to the course confirms the practical skills of each student, and the examiner assesses. In addition to the filled notebook, each student requires at least 10 face charts, that is, schematic images of each makeup that he managed to do during his training. By the way, these schemes need to be completed in the exam - they must be accurate and provide reliable information about all the tools used.
Almost the most time-consuming task in the course is a table of necessary cosmetics. It is needed so that a beginner make-up artist can figure out what he needs and in what quantities before starting work, and show that he understands the diversity of the market. This seemingly simple task requires six hours of continuous scrupulous work: the total cost of all the "cans" should be, according to the Mosmake rules, no less than 300 thousand rubles, and you will have to mention everything, even cheap cotton buds. The rest is easier for me: as a make-up essay, drag-queen's recent make-up article fits perfectly, a concise business card can be designed online, and a work plan for the next six months is built by itself. All together - a course project, successfully passed a theory test, a certified practice - after the exam goes straight to Eva: if everything is fine with the papers, two days after the certification they will be given an IMA certificate. By the way, classmates who applied for a Russian certificate, as a rule, finish their studies earlier: the founder of Mosmake and national makeup artist Giorgio Armani in Russia, Natalia Vlasova, who accepts their work, in Moscow happens more often to IMA examiners, so that from the last session to the Russian group exam it's only been a week.
All of my classmates eventually pass the exam, although one has to redo day makeup: Eva Bogdalska takes two student shifts that day, so there’s no need to wait four months for her next visit to Moscow. Coursework for the group is also satisfactory, so everyone gets diplomas. Does this mean that now all 55 people from the stream can work as makeup artists in salons, on the set, in corners and at fashion weeks? In theory, yes. The Mosmake certificate confirms that a graduate can smoothly cut lips, paint smoky eyes and make up a bride, and this should be enough to start off. But the presence of a diploma only obliges to move forward: the cosmetic market develops faster than the English language, and everyone must build the necessary skills on the basis learned in school. Perhaps one of my classmates will want to learn to be a make-up artist, put a hand on a client's make-up or get a corner of an inspirational brand - the work of a makeup artist assumes constant development, and, most importantly, everyone chooses his directions.
Photo: Mosmake / Facebook, cover photo via Shutterstock
