From HNC Student to MUA – Abby Minto
“Abby Minto (@AbbyMintoMakeup) caught up with us recently to reflect back on her experience here at GlamCandy back in 2020.”
“I studied my HNC in Fashion Makeup in 2020 and I absolutely loved it. We definitely had a bit more of a challenge when I was there due to covid, however my experience was great! I was almost completely new to makeup and loved learning about the different styles. We did a good amount of our course from home which definitely wasn’t the easiest but the tutors were amazing with offering extra help if you felt you needed it. They were so supportive and made me feel at ease, they were so understanding.”
“I actually enrolled in my course not having a clue what my end goal was, I had just started playing around with my makeup in my room and had been made redundant from my job a month prior due to covid. I received emails from GlamCandy because I signed up when I was 14 not knowing you had to be 16 and when I seen an email I thought ‘why not now?’ It was only after starting the course I realised I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else.”
Abby’s highlight of the course was learning all the different styles, before coming to GlamCandy she was only really familiar with Glam Makeup. Studying her HNC in Fashion Makeup helped open her eyes to loads of different styles and she was able to learn these through different tutors.
“I definitely think I picked up loads of different things from different people and incorporated them into my own style. I was so surprised but I fell in love with the editorial / runway style. Like I said I had more experience doing glam and I think doing something so fun and different that I wasn’t used to. I’ve been involved in so many amazing things now and that would have never happened if it wasn’t for GlamCandy.”
Abby currently works in By Laing, an established salon based in Edinburgh, and has been there for the past year and a half. She has been able to build up her skills so much from working along talented artists and also has had the opportunity to assist and work on photoshoots and weddings.
“I love watching how much I’ve grew as an artist and that I get to do what I love for a job.”
In the next 5 years, Abby really wants to try and break into the Celebrity Makeup Artist industry, for example, doing makeup for red carpet events. She would also love the opportunity to work on more Editorial style photoshoots for either fashion shows or magazines. She would also like to dive into teaching, either courses or teaching 1-1, so she can share her knowledge with other aspiring makeup artists.
If Abby could a celebrity to do their makeup, she would jump at the chance to do Kendall and Kylie Jenners, and we don’t blame her!
“Their faces are dreams, and I adore their makeup artists. I’d also love to get my hands on Ava Black, she’s an absolute icon. I wish I was her!”
Out with makeup, Abby has just added another service on to her list and has recently been trained up to do nails. Besides this, however, you will always find her with a book in her hand.
“I literally don’t stop reading! I read and sit with my cats….I’m like an old lady!”
“It’s 100% hard starting a career like this and you will not be busy straight away, but keep trying and dont give up! Make friends in the industry and if you’re looking into doing clients then try you best to get into a salon. I can’t believe how much busier I got being in a salon, and how much my skills improved, and try and be as consistent as possible on social media! If you’re starting out, you can even offer some deals to help you get people in, and if your service is good they will come back. It can definitely get you down and unmotivated sometimes but it is so worth it. I still feel like this sometimes and feel like I’m still learning. Keep up to date on trends and keep studying on how to continue to better yourself. Also, dont try and be exactly like someone else as you never will be, everyone has their own style so its just a matter of finding yours.”
Are you looking to kick-start your career in makeup?
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