How to Find and Choose a Good Bridal Makeup Artist in Nigeria

Finding a really good makeup artist is hard, especially these days that everyone is looking for cash here and there and every one and their sister and aunty and cousin is a makeup artist. As a bride, everyone will be staring at your face, at your makeup, and they will say ‘wow’ if it is fine BUT will gossip you if you look like a mini masquerade – and much of that depends on who you hire as your wedding day makeup artist.

Although, we are seeing many brides paying to get their face madeup, but seriously many Naija brides don’t pay much attention to finding a professional, while some still end up with amateurs even when they tried to find a skilled Nigerian bridal makeup artist.

Steps to Choosing a Good Wedding Makeup Artist that Will Deliver

There are two main processes to finding a good makeup artist for your wedding or any occasion – (1) first you have to search and make a list of who and who to contact, (2) and then you have to select which one is the best-fit for you.

A: Where (and How) to Find a Skilled Makeup Artist: The Discovery Process

Most Nigerian brides travel to their villages for the traditional wedding, and it is not that cheap to transport a Lagos makeup artist outside their base. So, where do you start looking when you don’t know a single makeup artist in an area. Follow our steps below:

• Ask stylish people if they know or have used a good makeup artist that they can recommend to you
• OR Internet Search: Search in Google, Instagram or Pinterest for makeup artists in your area (for most of our readers, they would type something like: ‘Nigerian makeup artists or Lagos makeup artists);
• Track Record with Doing Bridal Makeup: Be sure that the makeup artist you’re considering has done a lot of your type of events – for most of our readers, they would be looking for bridal makeup artists, not those that have not done any or plenty wedding makeup for brides. Some makeup artists are better experienced with prepping the face of runway models or film actors or stage – and they may not give you the kind of look you have in mind. OR, put in another way: if you like light makeup and hire a makeup artist that usually does heavy makeup, you will hate your wedding-day face in pictures; same goes for a bride that likes full coverage makeup hiring a MUA that does light-handed makeup.
• Before and After Photos: Take a look at the before and after pictures of the artist’s past clients, from an event similar to that which you will be attending (for most of our readers, you want to see before and after wedding makeup pictures – maybe you are going to be a bride, or a wedding guest, or even the mother/ sister of the bride (or groom).
• Make a List of Who to Contact: Make a list of 3 to 5 makeup artists whose before and after faces look like the face you want on your wedding day.

B: Sorting – Choosing the Right Makeup Artist

Once you have made a list of the good makeup artists out there, you have to choose one. Obviously, not all of them will be right for you. Here’s a guide to help you filter the good from the not-so-good list of makeup artists you compiled:

#1. Contact them one by one and TRIAL their work: The idea here is to interview them to see if you ‘vibe with the person; to ‘test’ their work on your face (before your big day) so that you can see if they do your style of makeup; see photos of brides they have done makeup for in the past; show them pictures of wedding-day makeup that you like and ask if they can try it on your face; and finally to ask about price and their availability on your wedding date.

#2. See Sample Works Before You Pay, NOT Try Before You Buy: How can you be sure that a makeup artist that claims to know his/ her stuff will give you a glam face? Testing with your money could mean a hit or miss BUT the surefire way to know is to see pictures of their before and after makeovers. If you have lots of spots from pimples or have tribal marks, you’d want to see before and after makeup showing where the makeup artist truly covered a client’s spots or tribal marks. You may also want to find out that they won’t over-paint you to look like a masquerade. Seeing previous works is the only way to believing before you pay or hire a makeup artist.

#3. Hire a Professional: Don’t Allow Anyone to Learn Work with Your Face: Allowing someone to do your makeup free – whether they are an expert or an amateur is risky. Well, except you want to risk your wedding pictures – most brides tell us that one of their biggest regrets is ‘the way their poorly-done makeup made them look in their wedding photos’.