It’s the party season, so brush up on your make-up services with our how-to guide

It is the season to be jolly! As the clement weather arrives in the UAE, your clients will be invited to a whole host of festive parties, launches and other events that call for them to look fantastic.

Our frenetic pace of life means that clients will want to obtain maximum glamour with minimal effort, so if you aren’t currently offering makeover services, you’re missing out on a whole host of revenue opportunity. 

And for those salons and spas that do offer make-up services, ask yourself if your clients are ofay with the latest techniques and products, which will transform clients not only to the naked eye, but also for when they are snapped by cameras.

Yasmin Hussain is founder, sole owner and managing director of The Lipstick Make-Up Institute based in Media City, Dubai. She believes that offering less than professional make-up services could damage your salon’s reputation.

“If a salon hires a make-up artist who has not had the proper training then they will more than likely fail in this profession in every way,” she says. “The reputation of a company relies on many factors; customer service, cleanliness and professionalism.

The make-up industry is flooded with unprofessional make-up artists who are not trained and they feel that the fact that they own a make-up brush gives them carte blanche to call themselves a make-up artist.”

Hussain explains how badly trained make-up artists can make a catalogue of mistakes.

“First and for most is hygiene!” she explains. “I have had the misfortune to have seen so many make-up artists who do not clean their brushes and who use their make-up in an unhygienic way.

“Secondly, if the customer is paying for a high quality service and not receiving this, they will feel unhappy and will not recommend the salon to their peers.

Dubai is a city that relies on repeat service, word of mouth is everything in this vibrant city that hardly ever sleeps.

“My staff members go through many trials before they are hired and become part of our Lipstick Team. We hold frequent sessions, refresher courses in which we touch on how all the Lipstick Team members are expected to perform and treat their models and products.

Hygiene is always top of the list – as well as talent of course!”

Hussain has devised a variety of make-up courses especially for salons. She says: “We can generally customise courses for salons depending on their exact needs and as to what standard their staff are at already.”

“For a business to survive and gain a reputation for being, ‘a great salon’, owners must keep their standards high, so the correct professional training is imperative in every sense of the word.

“We have just customised a 10-day course for a salon, which is launching and bringing in staff from abroad. At the moment, the standard that the staff is at is nowhere near the level that Dubai customers expect.

The training is for a group of nine staff members and it will be quite an intensive course.

“Sometimes when salon staff comes to us, we really have to go back to basics as they have adopted bad habits along the way. We have to erase these and start again, but that’s what we are great at and we love it.

The sense of achievement is what its all about.”

Marketing makeovers

Lisa Marie Williams, educator for the Healthcare Group, which partners with Dermalogica in the UAE, agrees that December an ideal time to offer makeovers to clients.

“This will be the party season so clients will be booking in for make-up applications in preparation for parties.

“To capitalise on this, consider offering discounts and loyalty cards and, particularly for make-up applications, you could offer ‘refer a friend’ or ‘bring a friend along’ promotions where the existing client gets 10 per cent off her make-up application.

“Also, make sure you advertise properly so that clients receive your message – that there is no need to spend time doing their own make-up when they can have a professional do it for them, who will give them hints and tips at the same time.

“It is always good to offer hair and make-up simultaneously, if possible, as clients tend to want to have everything done together in the same place at the same time so, all they need to do when they get home is put their outfit on and they are ready to go.”

Williams believes that the classic smokey eye, as well as bold, bright red lips, will remain popular this season as well as the use of volumising mascaras and eyeliner to enhance the eye area.

And even if your salon does not sell make-up, you can still use makeovers as an opportunity to sell other products.

“Precleanse by Dermalogica is a great product to recommend after a make-up application, as it is amazing at removing even stubborn make-up such as water proof mascara.

“After a party, clients will want to remove their make-up quickly and easily and Precleanse is the product to help them do so. It also lifts dirt and excess oil from the skin, reducing congestion and breakouts.

“Another great product is Dermalogica’s Skin Perfect Primer.

This is a great base for make-up and will also helps the make-up to last longer throughout the day. It contains SPF to protect from the sun and has peptides and antioxidants in to treat fine lines and wrinkles.”