[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]es! I interviewed Beautified. But before I go ahead, I’d like to wish y’ll a happy new month!
For the past one year, BEAUTIFIED the brand has been on our Instagram feeds, and on Bella Naija and quite a number of other blogs. Beautified is a brand owned by a professional makeup artist named Chisom Okere Favour, and she’s 23 years old, She studied mass communication at Covenant University.
Chisom’s brand is just one year and she is has had tremendous growth, read her interview to see how she achieved this.
Question: What inspired the name beautified?
Answer: When I was in search of a brand name, I kept asking people round to suggest names for me, and I heard names like “makeup by chi”, “chi-makeovers” and some very funny Igbo-tic names. But I decided to pray to God for names, since He’s the one that gave me the vision to start up this makeup. So I prayed, and the first thing I heard was “BEAUTIFIED”, I heard “I’d beautify them inside out and you’d be my vessel”. I was still in shock with the name when I was done praying, so I googled to check to see if there was anyone using the name beautified. The person I found using the name beautified was doing a hair related business, so I thought I could still manage the name. When I checked Instagram someone was also using the name, I then heard that I should add my signature (dot dot dot) to the name ( B.E.A.U.T.I.F.I.E.D). I began questioning the Holy Spirit saying the name will be too long for people to type.
Amazingly, the (dot dot dot) brought the uniqueness to my name and since then B.E.A.U.T.I.F.I.E.D has become a household name, it seems to be the only name that doesn’t have “makeovers, flawless touch” and the rest, it’s just B.E.A.U.T.I.F.I.E.D.
Question: How did you start your business?
Answer: I quit my job in September 2015, I quit because I didn’t feel like I was supposed to be doing the job, I felt remoted, and controlled, and I wasn’t happy about the job itself so I decided to quit. But in the 6 months that I worked, I made sure I saved up my salary and I used my salary to buy my makeup products down, just so that when I quit I’d have products to start with. So yes, I didn’t have anyone to support me, but I kept saving my salary to buy the products until I got my makeup box complete after 6months.
I started makeup in October 2015, and I was introduced to OSHEWA BEAUTY by a friend (IPC EVENTS), after which I started interning with Oshewa up until January 2016, which was when I finally quit to start my brand B.E.A.U.T.I.F.I.E.D.
January 18th 2017 was my 1 year anniversary. It has been an awesome journey. I have been passionate about makeup since I was 9 and my parents thought it was weird. At that tender age, they didn’t expect me to be passionate about anything like makeup. At age 9 I shaped my brows, and my mum beat the hell out of me. When I was in Covenant University, my room was like a makeup room.
It was after I left Covenant University, that I knew that makeup was for me. I did a 3 days internship with Eva Alordiah, and this was the beginning of my makeup journey. After this, I went for my NYSC and I taught interested ladies in the NYSC lodge makeup. After which I got a job, and you know the story from there.
Question: What was your motivation?
Answers: My major motivation apart from the God factor, was because of the way I felt while growing up, a lot of women didn’t like their skin, or the way they looked, and so many women had low self-esteem, including me. I needed to make myself happy, so I started doing makeup, which brought a lot of confidence to me. With the confidence I felt using makeup, I thought the same can also be achieved with other women. And this was my major motivation.
Question: What do you enjoy best about your job?
Answers: The fact that my makeup adds to the memories of somebody’s day, and the fact that I’m a part of it makes me feel happy. I like the satisfaction my customers get when they see themselves and the comments gets me thrilled and humbled. I also love meeting people, new clients, new brides, it just makes me happy.
Questions: What is your best job so far?
Answers: I have had so many best jobs, it’s hard to choose one. Okay, I think my best job for 2016 is my outside station job. My bride was from the United States, and we had been in contact since March about her wedding makeup plans.
When it was approaching her wedding in December 30th, I decided to go by a bus because my flight was cancelled. She already had car a down at the bus station waiting to take me straight to her house which saved me a lot of stress. She was so caring, when I got to her house I was treated like a queen, and I was given everything I needed to make myself comfortable. She then took me to the hotel and I did her traditional makeup and it was so perfect, I was surprised at the wonderful comments I got. She herself was so shocked at her makeup, and she said it was far above what she expected, and this made me happy. When I was leaving she told me she got me a gift, a Versachi pack with yellow diamond perfume and cream, along with a purse and an extra purse.
I was stunned because we rarely have brides that are that hospitable and go the extra mile for their vendors, especially in Nigeria. And she was so awesome, she even had a car to take me back. So December 30th 2016 was my best major job in 2016.
Questions: Would you say you have a best client.
Answers: Yes, last year I had a pre-wedding shoot with Jide Kola, of a couple (Ayo & Femi). Apart from personality, they are one of the best human beings on planet earth, because we had some challenges during the shoot but they handled it well. We had three locations for the shoot (studio, garden and the beach). It was when we got to the beach that we figured out that the SD card was missing. Normally, since it’s not the client’s fault, the client will rake and shout, but this couple was so calm about it, they didn’t even act like anything happened, so we ended up doing the shoot at the beach.
When we were done, the husband kept complimenting my makeup, he said he has seen makeup, but this one is out of the world, he also said I gave him back his wife in her original form but in a more beautiful way. Its rare to see men praise makeup, so when I heard this, I was happy and humbled. After that day, they kept referring me to other people, the bride (Femi) made sure I did her best friend’s makeup who just came back from the United States. She also made sure I got other jobs and she referred me to her planner (2706). Her husband also featured me on his blog (greenews.ng) I was in shock, it was like a complimentary package, thanking me for what I did. 2016 was an awesome year, I had awesome clients, but Femi and Ayo are one of my best so far. Because I later thought to myself that if it was only pre-wedding shoot I did and they were this thankful, just imagine I had done the makeup for their wedding. Sadly I wasn’t available on their wedding day, even though Femi was ready to cancel her previous plans just for me to be the makeup artist of the day, but I was already booked by another bride for both days.
And for my worst experience, I had this client who was contracted to me by someone, she sent me her address and she was supposed to pay me ₦25,000, but she had only transferred ₦10,000 to me. I brought a friend along to assist me with the job. Being that we weren’t sure of the location in Adamawa State, we kept going round and round and she kept calling us while we were trying to locate the place. When we finally got there, we were an hour late, it was a terrible experience. The client was angry, and we just kept apologizing.
After we rushed the makeup, it was perfect and her daughter’s makeup was perfect as well, the gele was good. When we were done, I asked for my balance and she said she’ll transfer the balance to me. So because I know she came through someone I knew, I thought it would be okay to let go.
Only for me to get a message saying my lateness disorganized their entire occasion that they couldn’t take pictures of what they like. And it was in our presence when they took family pictures, while everyone including herself appreciated the makeup I did on her.
I was so sad and I felt I put in my all, instead of her to say she purposely didn’t want to pay my balance, she just turned the whole thing upside-down and said its because I was late. So she kept the money to herself because of that reason. All I did was to pray, I told God that “I’m working and you said you’d bless the works of my hands, and that You’d teach me how to profit, here is someone trying to take away my profit”. I just told God to take charge and deal with the person His own way, Since then, I haven’t heard from her, but it was really heartbreaking, because I know I had gone the extra mile to make them happy, and her makeup was on fleek. I was sad with the feedback I got.
Questions: As a makeup artist what are the setbacks u have experienced
Answer: When I first started, I didn’t know anything about pricing and transportation. So people took advantage of me a lot because I was too nice. I’ll go for a job, and they’d pay me ₦5,000 out of which I’d pay for transportation to and fro which is almost ₦3,000, and I’d buy lashes for ₦1,000, then I’d end up having no profit. It was a serious barrier to my growth, because I wasn’t getting any profit from what I was doing, and since I happen to know a lot of people, they all thought I should be giving then FAMILY PRICE. Familiarity was a serious setback for me, it was later on I became stern.
Questions: What are your makeup go-too
Answer: I cant do without my lip gloss. I’m a nude fan, I do nude eye, nude lips, I just believe that you can be beautiful with or without colors. So you’d find me with my nude lip gloss or nude eyes, except the day that I decide to breakout of the routine.
Questions: Any makeup advice
Answer:
For clients:
I’d advice that they shouldn’t book a makeup artist based on their popularity, they should book based on works, because it doesn’t make sense that you choose a particular makeup artist because you want your face to trend.
For Ladies:
Make sure you test a powder or foundation when you go to a store. Do not let them insist on you that this shade is your color just because they want to sell, which will end up making you sad if it’s not your shade. Make sure the shop has testers, if not, walk out of the shop and find a store that does, so you can be sure that you have the right shade.
For upcoming makeup artist:
Do not be limited by what you see around you, instead of complaining that there are no jobs, stand up and do a bridal shoot, editorial shoot, just do different shoots so people can see what you can do. Humans work with what they see, so if you are not showcasing what you do, no one will know what you are capable of. So my advice is that you do not stop, consistency is key in this business, patience is also key because you will be meeting different kinds of human beings. And you have to be able manage and maintain all these many behaviors, because most of them are form different homes and different backgrounds.
You’ll also learn to manage emotions, especially for your clients, so that their makeup doesn’t spoil and to make sure they feel happy and satisfied.
Lastly, start from where you are, start from somewhere, no one gave me money, I saved up my money to buy my products one by one, before I got a complete box after 6months. Also make sure you watch Youtube and Instagram videos for constant improvement. I make sure I watch something new every day so I can be better. Read articles and things that that can help your craft and make you better. You see, we are not perfect, we keep learning every day, the day you stop learning is the day you start dying. So please stop with the mindset that because I have learnt from “House of Tara” that’s all, I’m a great Makeup artist. No! You have to keep learning new skills for a great result.
Questions: Describe your job in one word
Answer: Amazing!
I feel wowed when I see my works and I feel like I’m not the one that did them. And I’m grateful to God, because He is the one that brought the vision and He has been working through me. I’m humbled to be a vessel for God to work through to His people.
Sincerely speaking, the interview with her has encouraged me, and it has really been an eye opener because she spoke out of her wealth of experience, I’ll feature her other works in another post. For the rest of the month, I’d be featuring the works various people in diffrent vocations. Just stay tuned.
Social media accounts:
Face Book: Okere Chisom
INSTAGRAM: @B.E.A.U.T.I.F.I.E.D
TWITTER: @La_chizzy
SNAP CHAT: Dadancequeen1
Photo credit: Jide Kola and cre8tivityby12
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” Do not be limited by what you see around you”
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