9 Make-up Schools Moulding the Next Generation of African Make-up Artists
Mirror, mirror on the wall; learning is the key to it all.
It’s no secret that many make-up artists, in Africa and globally, begin their careers by teaching themselves the craft; then practising, networking and practising some more. Attending make-up school is a smart move and a good place for beginner make-up artists as it can help them move forward faster. For working make-up artists, it can hone their skills and broaden their knowledge base. But choosing a suitable make-up school in Africa might prove confusing. To make that important career decision easier, we have compiled a list of nine make-up schools in Africa.
A pioneer of professional make-up artistry in Nigeria, veteran make-up artist and businesswoman, Tara Durotoye, also scored another first with her make-up artistry school. The House of Tara Make-up School has been teaching aspiring make-up artists across the country for almost two decades, with a mission to train the next generation of makeup artists.
It offers intensive courses including basic beauty make-up course, advanced beauty make-up course, professional make-up course (pmc), summer beauty boot camp (sbbc) for teens. The duration of the courses ranges from two weeks to two months.
Another pioneer in Nigeria of expert make-up application, Banke Meshida-Lawal shares her vast knowledge through her make-up products and training school. The school is committed to coaching make-up artist hopefuls into full-fledged professionals.
BM Pro make-up school has several courses on its menu including bridal beauty and photographic course, intensive beauty and make-up courses, airbrush make-up course, theatrical and character make-up course, professional make-up artist course, cosmetics camouflage course, and special effects & casualty course. The students are also taught how to use BM Pro’s products during the training.
Zaron Cosmetics is known as a leading cosmetics brand in Africa for women of colour (WOC). While it is famous for its wide variety of beauty products for darker skin tones, it also has a training arm – Zaron Professional Make-up Training Program.
In Nigeria, the program offers a deep course on make-up that combines classes, makeovers and photoshoots using Zaron products. It targets prospective make-up artists and admits only six students at a time, running for 15 working days and covering general make-up artistry, introduction to skin care, gele (headscarf) tying technique and aesthetics.
South Africa’s leading make-up academy, internationally accredited to inspire and uplift potential make-up artists. It was founded by Lindi Bester, whose skill and experience in the fashion, hair and beauty industries have been brought to bear in Kohl Academy.
On its menu of courses are full-time and part-time options. The full-time courses span two to five months of completion while the part-time courses last from four months to 10 months. The courses include a complete make-up artist course, professional & advanced make-up courses, professional make-up & airbrush course, advanced make-up & airbrush course, and beauty & onscreen make-up design.
SOMA: School of Makeup Artistry
Artistry with a difference. Denisha and Deanne are the professional team behind the School of Make-up Artistry, South Africa, and have more than a decade of service in the training department of international make-up brand, MAC Cosmetics. Their creative talents and extensive experience combined into the launch of the School of Make-up Artistry in 2016.
It provides specialized make-up artistry training, focusing on hands-on experience. Some of its courses include the make-up masterclass (1-day education); airbrush make-up course (2-day intensive); diploma in make-up, hairstyling and special effects (5 months full time), and the make-up short course (5-day intensive).
Make-up Designory is regarded as the largest make-up school globally with MUD Studio and MUD Partner schools dotted around the world. In South Africa, it has four make-up schools in easily accessible locations of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban.
The course offerings at MUD comprise full-time programs – Level I make-up artist, level II make-up artist, level III make-up artist: beauty lab and bridal make-up artist. Time commitment for the programs varies according to the specific training.
Founded in 2008 by Joyce & Edward Gikunda, Lintons is a leading beauty brand in East Africa and aims to affect African lives through beauty. It accomplishes this through four areas – Lintons Beauty World, a multichannel retail business; Lintons Trade, exclusively distributes global brands in skin, colour, fragrance and hair categories; Lintons Academy, an industry-focused, TVETA accredited. beauty college; and Lintons Foundation, a non-profit. Lintons Academy is open to prospective beauty professionals and has certificate programs in skin care, make-up artistry and entrepreneurship. The make-up artistry programs include CMS 101: Fundamentals of make-up artistry; CMS 102: Bridal Make-up; CMS 103: Creative, fashion & editorial make-up; and CMS 104: Advanced make-up artistry.
Morshed Make-up School is a school created by make-up artists for make-up artists, and was founded in Cairo, Egypt nine years ago.
The make-up school has two distinct courses in its offerings. The primary module, known as natural make-up, consists of seven learning units and is an introduction to beauty make-up with an emphasis on the techniques required in the industry. The second course is the advanced module called bridal makeup and comprises two learning units. It is designed to teach the techniques and current trends used by professional make-up artists.
In Ethiopia, IMS Make-up School is one of the foremost companies in the make-up artistry training, having one of the best teaching methods and learning tools. It is an organization offering training to aspiring make-up artists to improve their skills.
IMS offers training on a range of make-up courses by trainers with rich international experiences and long years of work in the beauty field.
