17 September 2009

For Business and Beauty, Start With Makeup Schools

If you're going to succeed in a makeup artist career, you have to cultivate a business with smarts and know-how. The smarts come from makeup schools, and the know-how comes from experience. Read on to learn how these two makeup artist pros refined their crafts and branded themselves as makeup artist slash business wonders.

Education First

When Margina Dennis received her makeup artist training from Christine Stahl, a former instructor at the impressive makeup college, Westmore Academy of Makeup, her thirst for knowledge didn't stop there. "I continued to take classes over the years," explains the licensed makeup artist career pro. "I took courses in beauty, as well as film, TV, and theater techniques." Dennis also learned eyebrow shaping and maintenance, face and body painting, and airbrushing in the process during her makeup artist training.

More than anything, Dennis realized the importance of beauty's roots. "We learned a lot about the history of beauty and how makeup has been influenced over time," she says. "All of this makeup artist training was great because it gave me a foundation to build upon and a basic knowledge of application." Combining her education at makeup schools with experience, Dennis has refined her craft alongside changes in the industry and in technology.

Make no mistake, business plays a large role in Dennis' career. How you ask? By marketing herself as a brand to be noticed. It's not enough to learn the ropes of a being a makeup artist if no one knows you're available. Keep this in mind when you go to school by taking courses in business during your makeup artist training. Thanks to her business mindset, Dennis has scored jobs working with celebrities such as Val Kilmer, Nancy Kerrigan, and Tom Brady. She's even been seen on CNN, Fox, MTV2, and BET. And when it comes to print media, you may have seen her work on Teen Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, and People.

A Business Make Up

When Alison Raffaele sold out two out of the three shades of her True Concealer Duo on QVC on its debut, it was only the beginning. Was this the work of a business mogul like P. Diddy? No. Did she climb the ladder like Jennifer Lopez? No. Believe it or not, this entrepreneur went from makeup schools to biz.

The professional makeup artist Raffaele recently launched the Conceal and Set High Coverage 6-piece Kit on QVC this past September, and there's probably more beauty goodies to come. "My goal in developing the Conceal and Set Kit is to provide women with all the essentials needed to conceal imperfections and set makeup in one convenient kit," she says. "The secret to any complete look is to first create the appearance of a flawless complexion by eliminating the look of dark circles, shadows, and spots with a high-quality concealer, and then to set the concealer with a colorless setting powder."

Take the advice from the professional makeup artist career pro. Not only is she the founder of Alison Raffaele Cosmetics, her credentials include a bachelor's in art history from Fordham University and experience as Bobbi Brown, world renowned makeup artist. The unique position enables Raffaele to live at the epicenter of the cosmetic's industry's greatest success stories. And now she's creating her own. To see Raffaele in action, she offers professional application tips and techniques during QVC's "Saturday Night Beauty" broadcast.

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Ysolt Usigan is a frequent contributor to The CollegeBound Network. Learn more about finding a school or career that's right for you!

How to Digitize Your Old Photos

If you have a large collection of old photographs, it would be a wise decision to digitize them in order to protect them from damage or loss. The first thing you'll need in order to digitize your photos is to invest in a high quality scanner.

When buying a scanner, the higher the dpi (dots per inch), the more detailed your scanned pictures will be. Of course, you don't have to go over the top with the dpi; anything above 720 dpi will be adequate. Ideally, though, you should buy a scanner with at least 1200 dpi resolution.

You will then have to scan your photos individually. This can be a tedious and time consuming activity. If you have the budget, you might want to consider a photo scanning service that will scan and retouch your photos for a fee. You can find a number of these companies by searching on the internet, or in your local yellow pages.

Once your photos are scanned, you will require a software to alter, clean up, and retouch photographs. No matter how high quality your scanner is, your digital photographs will invariably be of a lower quality than the actual, physical photographs. For this reason, a quality image manipulation software like Adobe Photoshop can be very useful in correcting the colors, contrast, and adding effects to make your photos come alive. If Adobe Photoshop is out of your budget, you might want to consider a software such as Paint Shop Pro, or if you are on Linux, you can use the free GIMP software. You can also use the popular Picasa image viewing software to mass-edit your photos.

A key point to keep in mind is to stay organized as you scan each picture. Make a folder on your desktop and name it something appropriate like 'Pictures'. You can then make sub-folders within this folders labeled by event and date (for example, photos from 2004 Thanksgiving would be titled 'Thanksgiving-04'). This will ensure that you not only know what occasion the pictures are from, but also the year and date of the occasion.

Once you're done scanning and retouching your pictures, make sure to make a backup copy of all your photos in a pen drive or CD drive.

Digitizing your old photos can be a tedious task, but well worth the efforts when you take into consideration the fact that you will now have easy access to your photos all the time, while protecting them from any damage or loss.

John has been writing online for several years. His late blog is about picture scanners, and how you should go about buying a picture scanner

What is a Chartered Accountant and Why Should You Hire One?

For many people, an accountant is something that they feel they only need once a year when they are doing their taxes, if then - but the truth of the matter is that a chartered accountant is an individual who can help you out in a great many financial areas. Whether you are looking on your own behalf as a private citizen, or you are curious about what a chartered accountant can do for you or your business, you'll find that you can consider some of the following pieces of information.

When you are making a comparison between a chartered accountant and a regular accountant, you'll find that there are several important differences. Technically, anyone can call themselves an accountant who regardless of what licensing or education that they have. A person who calls themselves a chartered accountant, on the other hand, is someone who retains a membership in either the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland or the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. These organizations will only allow membership after a series of examinations have been passed and after a certain amount of working experience.

Essentially, when you are working with a chartered accountant, you will find that you are working with someone who has a certain baseline of experience and certification under their belt. When your financial situation is complicated, or if you find that you are in over your head when it comes to financial matters, you'll find that taking on a chartered accountant can help you figure out how to proceed. You may also feel that retaining a chartered accountant will give you a great deal of peace of mind when it comes to the assurance that your financial matters are being handled competently.

When you are looking to retain a chartered accountant, you'll find that the accountants who engage in public practice work will have a practicing certificate which will declare them fit to do so. This means that they have met further requirements and that they have the appropriate professional experience with which to serve you.

When you are looking for someone to look over your financial matters, you'll find that a chartered accountant will most likely be the most competent individual in a place to do so. Take some time and make sure that you look into your accountant's credentials and to make sure that you are confident in their ability to handle your affairs.

Wilkins Kennedy have been offering professional services to business owners across England and worldwide for 126 years and have the expertise and experience necessary whether your business requires accountancy or taxation advice, or the annual audit is due.

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