Makeup is a passion to many young men and women worldwide as seen in the growing number of people doing makeup tutorial videos on social media these days. This is an especially large passion in many young female Singaporeans today. While some people can use their self-taught makeup techniques to start a career in the beauty industry, one cannot underestimate the value of enrolling in a professional course for personal and professional growth.
There are several benefits of learning from professional makeup artists through a structured training program especially from an establishment accredited by the International Therapy Examination Council (ITEC), which provides beauty qualifications in over 30 countries including Singapore.
1. CAREER BOOST IN THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY
If you’ve always dreamed of a career in the beauty industry, enrolling in a professional makeup course can help you gain the knowledge and skills you need to climb the career ladder. Since you’ll already be familiar with the industry standards and technicalities of applying cosmetics after finishing the course, your entry-level job experiences will definitely be a breeze, allowing you to easily learn more complex techniques and possibly getting job promotions quicker than you expected.
Even if you’re already in the beauty industry and had started as a self-taught makeup artist, a structured educational program can provide you with more career opportunities since you’ll be introduced with fundamental cosmetology concepts as well as tried-and-tested professional applications. Combined with the makeup methods you learned as a self-learner, these valuable professional lessons can further enhance your abilities, allowing you to create a wider variety of unique makeup techniques as well as improve some of your personal practices.
2. ABILITY TO HELP OTHERS GAIN CONFIDENCE

For many people, the use of cosmetics can help them feel good about themselves and boost their confidence. As a makeup artist, you have the opportunity to provide them with the makeup they need to feel beautiful. But the wrong application can be damaging to one’s confidence. It can also ruin special moments. Just imagine a bride with a bad makeup on her wedding day.
So to avoid this mistake, enrolling in a professional course will help you gain insights on how to correctly apply makeup with several factors in consideration such as the client’s skin type, facial features, the occasion and even the time of the day (natural and artificial lighting can affect the looks).
Moreover, when choosing a professional course, consider opting for one that offers cosmetic camouflage make-up. Skin imperfections can be psychologically distressing especially when they’re highly visible. They can lead to low confidence and high anxiety. By enrolling in the appropriate makeup course, you can help individuals gain their confidence through corrective makeup techniques, the results of which can either be temporary or permanent.
3. SELF-CONFIDENCE
Self-learning about makeup applications may be an achievement, but you will feel more confident about your abilities after graduating from a makeup course, knowing that you have professional training and that you’re doing things according to industry standards. Also, you’ll take pride on having certifications, which give you an edge over those without professional training. Certifications can also provide job opportunities to you in high-end establishments. If you’ll be running your own beauty spa, your certifications will give your clients the impression that they’ll be in good hands with you.
4. PROFICIENCY WITH MAKEUP TOOLS

Professional courses don’t just provide you with the concepts you need to become a full-time makeup artist, but also with understanding of the various tools of the trade, some of which you may not know if you’re just self-learning. Professional makeup artists have a lot of them, depending on the tasks at hand. These tools include:
- Lashes of various lengths.
- A variety of brushes to apply skincare products.
- Disposable sponges.
- Foundations, which can give skin various tones.
- Mascara, to really make one’s eyes pop.
- Eyebrow tweezers, to put them in line.
- Lipstick, to give accents to your more feminine attributes.
- Concealer, to cover any blemishes and imperfections.
A professional make-up application course generally provides 80% of the training hours for practical lessons while the rest is for theory. This means that you have the chance to understand and practise how to use the tools correctly and effectively.
5. INCREASED CREATIVITY
The theory and practical trainings you get in a professional course can also boost your creativity. Doing makeup has challenges that even other visual arts can scarcely match because every new person you work is like painting on an entirely different canvas. No two people have the same skin, eyes, blemishes, facial structure and facial proportions. All of these will challenge your creativity in doing makeup. You might want to highlight the jaw line of one person while draw attention to the lips for another. In addition, a makeup artist has access to an extensive range of colour palette, allowing for many colours to be mixed together to attain a complementary effect.
6. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

If you’re self-taught makeup artist, enrolling in a professional makeup course is a good way to upgrade your skills and understand more about theoretical art knowledge, colour theory, gradients and many other artistic terms widely used in makeup. These are all terms applicable to all forms of visual art.
Also, if you have been working in a beauty spa for a long time providing facial treatments, pedicure, manicure, massage therapy and other beauty services, then enrolling in a professional make-up course (if you haven’t done so) can give you additional set of skills, opening up more career opportunities in the beauty and wellness industry.
If you’re simply looking for a new skill to learn without disrupting your school activities or current job, there are professional makeup courses offering “part time” mode of training wherein classes are held at night.
7. KNOWLEDGE OF NEW AND EXCITING TRENDS
Makeup is a field that is constantly evolving. It doesn’t have standards set in stone, as it evolves as quickly as the human perception of beauty does. What was once beautiful might not be today, and makeup will follow up that trend.
If you’re someone that enjoys the rapidly changing trends in fashion and entertainment, then the beauty industry might just be the place for you. By taking a professional makeup course, you’ll be ready to spot these trends as they are created and to adapt to these changes without much hassle. Your makeup technique will become as fluid as water and as fast as the wind when it comes to embracing new, exciting trends.
8. PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION RECOGNIZED BY INSTITUTIONS

When choosing a makeup course, choose an establishment acknowledged by applicable institutes such as Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education (ITE) as well as UK’s International Therapy Examination Council (ITEC), which is recognized in more than 33 countries around the world. By doing so, you can be sure that you make the most of your learning experience, and after you graduate, you have a high chance of attracting the best employment opportunities to you.
9. RECOGNITION AS A “PROFESSIONAL” MAKEUP ARTIST
It can be extremely hard to make one’s way into the competitive and fast paced beauty industry. The line between freelancer and professional can be an important consideration to many employers, and, if you’re having your own business, to your potential clients as well. Without the certification of graduating from an accredited course, it can be difficult to be hired as a newcomer in the industry and it can also be extremely hard to set yourself apart from people doing makeup as merely a hobby or part-time career.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
All of the benefits you gain from this course make it one of the best investments you can make in your career especially if you’re an aspiring makeup artist. Whether you’re on a beginner or intermediate level, a professional makeup course will help you polish your skills to the next level with the extra confidence you need to advance your career.