Artist builds home for budding make-up stylists

Muthoni Njoba is obsessed with make-up. She wears it all the time, and has now turned the passion into a business.

Ms Njoba is literally rolling up her sleeves to eke out a living from an obsession, a story similar to what entrepreneurship gurus and career experts say: Follow your heart.

Turn your hobby into a business, they usually say, and add that it pays to commercialise an idea. Many are people regretting that “my idea” has been stolen by a friend.

Ms Njoba is positioning her business on the platform that make-up is for all seasons, against the conventional thinking that it is for special occasions or when going to the office.

The entrepreneur says the Make-up Lounge on Waiyaki Way Slip Road in Nairobi will be a place where Kenyan women can go to “glam up”, learn about make-up and buy cosmetics “at fair prices.”

One-on-one sessions

“Kenyan women underestimate the confidence that wearing make-up, dressing up and doing hair can bring,” says the communications graduate, who will be using her editorial skills to pass information on beauty.

She plans monthly workshops for women to cover subjects including basics and one-on-one sessions at discounted rates.

Taking the advantage of e-learning, she has built a website —www.muthoninjoba.com — where she will discuss topics like ‘Make-up Madness’ dealing with tips, ‘Product Craze’ and ‘Personality Special” where known personalities will share beauty regiments and experiences.

She has written fashion stories for magazines and newspapers.

She cherishes the ‘Wow’ moment when a client turns to the mirror and marvels at the new look after applying make-up.

“Women get excited seeing how beautiful they can be with make-up on and want to call their fiancés, husbands and friends to share their joy.”

As a nine-year old, Ms Njoba watched her mother apply make-up before going to work.

She was bitten by the bug and while studying for her degree in Communications in the UK, she got her pocket money working on friends and fellow students.

She returned to Kenya and got an internship and worked for the late Hassan Maburuk, a renowned make-up artist.

Even after she got a formal employment, she did make-up for brides over the weekends.

Two years into the job, Ms Njoba’s passion to do professional make-up full time was too much to ignore. In December 2009, she made the switch.

Make-up is a big business, she beams, saying that the notion that a make-up artist was a girl at the back of the salon with few lipsticks, eyeshadows and mascara is gone.

For the industry to grow, says the artist, Kenya has a long way to go to give the business the image of a professional job.

Budding artists have to learn the ropes guided by people who have made a name in the industry, says Ms Njoba.

She decided to be the person brides go to and body painting — for the latter she worked with a fine artist friend.

Their first body art was “Queen of the Birds” inspired by Tinga Tinga art.

It took over 12 hours to complete and this impressive achievement got them their first body painting job. They decided to call the collaboration Evolve.

To build up one’s name as a professional make-up artist, she says, do many free jobs to have a portfolio and learn their style.

People who have portfolios, she says, have an upper hand landing big contracts, since they show the potential clients the quality of service.

Production houses have been using the same artists for the same jobs for a long period of time, a situation that has kept prices low.

When make-up jobs are available, very few people produce portfolios to bid, thus limiting the growth of individual artists.

“It takes time and skill as well as using the right product to get the right look, it is an investment,” says Ms Njoba.

At the weddings, people do not remember the gown, instead they remember the face and how the bride was looking radiant and beautiful.

To help others grow and tell her stories, the Make-Up Lounge proprietor is giving her business an edge as a centre for shaping up careers.

Building confidence

Budding artists will have “a home,” at the Lounge, which is the free space for, like management specialists say, testing ideas, making mistakes and building confidence.

This is how the beginners will build portfolios, she says. “I want to help other artists thrive and grow professionally.”

As she prepares to officially open The Make-up Lounge, she is banking on maintaining long lasting relationships and building new ones by ensuring the make-up messages reach a bigger market.

However, she concludes: “True beauty comes from within and make-up only accentuates external beauty.”

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