Verve chats to Gabrielle Jones and Dianne Ensor, Directors of The Makeup School.
Tell us about your school?
We’re an Auckland-based film, TV, fashion and beauty makeup, and hair training school, passionate about creating successful makeup and hair careers for a new generation.
We opened 13 years ago when it became apparent the skill base of newly graduated makeup artists wasn’t high enough.
Our trainers are practising makeup artists, which is integral to the learning experience. This industry is constantly changing so me must keep up with those changes to prepare our students best we can before they step out into the workforce.
The team at The Makeup School is actively involved in the industry so can offer a more specialised, relevant curriculum than the NZQA one. There’s so much more to being a makeup artist than makeup application; the more we can teach our students about the industry as a bigger picture, the better they’ll be prepared when they leave.
We’ve recently restructured our courses so students can train in way of micro credentials. This means if you are already trained in a particular area but want to upskill, say with special effects, you can enrol for that module as a standalone. It’s fast becoming a popular way to train, enabling MUAs to earn between training.
We also pride ourselves on being the only school in NZ where the directors are still actively working on filmsets, offering opportunities for graduates to work with them. It’s such a wonderful feeling being on a set and looking around at these talented, dynamic makeup artists going from strength to strength and knowing we were a small part of that.
Which courses do you offer at The Makeup School and how often do they run?
A full-time diploma course for those wanting to become professional makeup artists and hair stylists in the film, television and beauty industries, and a part-time certificate course for those more interested in the beauty industry and who need to keep working while they train. We also find our shorter introduction courses are popular for those wanting to test the waters before taking the plunge!
Additionally, we offer private training for people wanting to learn how to apply their own makeup and holiday workshops for teenagers.
Makeup Artist/student: CJ Smart
Winner of the ‘MAC Beauty award’
Model: Abbey Glover
You have a store in your Brown Street studio open to the public – can you tell our readers a little about this and the opening hours.
We opened Makeup Collective so makeup artists both training and out working could more easily access professional must-have supplies. We specialise in makeup brushes, lashes, storage bags, hair products, accessories, special effects products and supply many large productions in NZ.
Our Mykitco brush range is popular with makeup artists—and the public are now catching on. They’re available in sets or as individuals, beautiful quality and well-priced. Makeup Collective is open Monday-Friday. 9 am-5pm.
Older women and their makeup—do you offer anything for them?
We get many mature women who feel stuck in their makeup style who want to update the look they have been doing—or not doing—for the past 20 years! As we age our skin changes and the products and the way we apply them change too. We also find most women want to look and feel good but don’t have the time or inclination to spend too much time getting ready.
Women can book a private workshop either by themselves or with friends at a time that suits. We design something that works for them whether it be more of a fun workshop evening with bubbles, or a more hands-on makeup lesson. We encourage people to bring in their makeup bags, even if there are only a few products in there, and we will go through and help them decide what to keep and what doesn’t work. It’s not unusual for women to say they have had a product in their bag and never known how or where to use it!
What is happening in NZ in the film and television industries at present?
New Zealand’s film and television industries are exploding—there are many offshore studio productions coming here as well as local productions. Securing enough makeup artists for all these productions can be difficult with a high demand so it has been the perfect time to train.
We are finding that because of the pandemic, less people are travelling and are instead looking for new areas to train in. Because NZ is a popular filming location there is plenty of work around for good makeup artists.
We choose the film projects we work on so we can split our time being based at our Ponsonby studios and being out on set. Recent movies completed are MURU an NZ feature film starring Cliff Curtis, and No Exit, a Disney thriller with an all-US cast, produced by The Queens Gambits co-creator, Frank Scott. Both these movies are yet to be released.
