Do You Need A Cosmetology License To Be A Makeup Artist

Makeup Artist License Requirements

The worldwide cosmetics industry is expected to grow into an $863 billion business organisation by 2024, according to Zion Market Enquiry, upwards from $532 billion in 2017. As the global makeup marketplace inches toward a $ane trillion enterprise, you can work toward getting the license you lot need to capture some of those dollars through a career equally a makeup artist.

Here, we'll discuss which makeup artist jobs crave licenses, the difference betwixt several different kinds of licenses, and how to earn the one that'southward correct for you lot. You lot'll be introduced to licensure requirements similar training hours and mandatory exams, also every bit to the things you need to exercise to maintain your license once you get information technology. Finally, you'll learn about how the rules, laws, and requirements vary depending on where y'all live—each state, afterwards all, sets its ain standards for what you lot'll demand to practise to work as a makeup artist.

Types of Makeup Artist Jobs that Require Licenses

The blazon of makeup artist y'all want to be will play a function in whether you even need to earn a license in the first place. The truth, nonetheless, is that where you alive and work will exist the biggest determining gene. Who needs a license, what kind, and for what kind of piece of work varies considerably from one country to the next. Many states, for example, don't require you lot to obtain a license to piece of work as a makeup artist at all. Others practice, but just for certain work environments.

For instance, you lot almost never have to earn a license in society to work as an independent freelance makeup artist, especially in the pic, TV, and style industries, although licenses are sometimes required for sole proprietors who work with private clients. You also are unlikely to need a license if applying makeup as a part of a job focused on selling cosmetics, like the sales professionals who work at makeup counters in stores or mall kiosks.

Yous might demand a license to work at a licensed salon, particularly if you plan to offering treatments beyond just applying makeup. Equally previously stated, still, most states don't offering specific licenses for makeup artists. In those cases, a salon might require yous to become a licensed esthetician or cosmetologist, both of which include cosmetics and makeup application in their training and job descriptions.

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What is the Difference Between a Makeup, Cosmetology, and Esthetics License?

The master deviation between makeup, cosmetology, and esthetics licenses are the treatments and procedures they authorize you lot to perform. Licensed makeup artists bargain specifically with the application of makeup in various forms. Peel-care specialists, or estheticians, pursue an esthetics license allowing them to performs facials, chemical peels, waxing, and makeup application. Some salons require their makeup artists to earn the esthetician license. Cosmetology licenses, on the other manus, are reserved for those who testify they are competent in not just skin and hair, but also nails.

Cosmetology and esthetician license requirements vary considerably by land, but each comes with a specific number of required grooming hours and each call for yous to laissez passer an exam. Cosmetology programs are more than comprehensive—they teach hair, nails, skin, and makeup—and therefore take longer to consummate than esthetician programs, a specialty field dealing simply with skin. If y'all alive in a state that requires makeup artists to exist licensed, it is likely that yous'll pursue an esthetician license or a cosmetology license. Merely ii states—Louisiana and Nevada—offer licenses specifically for makeup artistry.

Individual state boards determine whether you need a license to become a makeup artist, and if and then, some types of makeup artistry are exempt—entertainment, fashion, or sales, for instance. Many states don't require you to obtain any license to work as a makeup creative person. Some do -- just non for all kinds of makeup artistry. Others require you lot to obtain an esthetician or cosmetologist license, while others only require that you complete some level of training or schooling.

Steps to Become a Licensed Makeup Artist

Licensure standards vary from state to land, simply these are the basic steps yous'll have to have no affair where you live:

Observe out your country'southward requirements. Does your board require a license? If so, is it for makeup artistry, esthetics, or cosmetology?
Find and enroll in a school or program that teaches that specialty.
Complete the program and the required number of preparation hours.
Complete the required apprenticeship or other practicum grooming.
Take and pass any required tests.
Apply for licensure and receive your license.
Keep your license in good standing by participating in standing education and renewing your license co-ordinate to your country board's schedule.

State Licensing Requirements for Makeup Artists

In social club to earn a makeup license in usa that upshot them, you must encounter the minimum requirements for historic period and education, complete the set number of grooming hours, and laissez passer all required exams. Some states don't have any minimum teaching requirements. Others require you to have completed either 8th, tenth, or twelfth class. Some states only issue licenses to applicants who are at least 16, while in other states it can exist 17 or 18.

California, Texas, and New York have some of the highest populations of makeup artists in the country. Here's a look at the requirements in those states to serve as examples.

California
You must exist at least 17 and have a 10th-grade education. You also must complete 600 preparation hours and pass two exams (see required test data beneath). You don't demand a license there to work every bit a freelance makeup artist in the entertainment, television, and film industries, or if you're applying makeup while selling cosmetics.

New York
Y'all need to earn an esthetician license which you tin can just go later on completing 600 training hours and passing 2 exams. There are no minimum education requirements, but you must exist at to the lowest degree 17 years old. You only need a license in the Empire State, still, if you plan to work in a salon.

Texas
No license is needed to work as a makeup artist.

Makeup Programs

A handful of states issue licenses specifically to makeup artists, but virtually require yous to become an esthetician license or, in some cases, a full cosmetology license. That means, depending on where y'all live, you'll have to enroll in and complete a formal makeup, esthetician, or cosmetology program at a recognized school. Visit our makeup school page for more data about specific training programs.

Training Hr Requirements

States that result licenses require you to first spend fourth dimension learning, studying, and practicing the trade. That's known every bit your preparation hours. Nigh of the time yous spend in your program will count toward your required training hours, only some of the fourth dimension you spend studying the academic portion of your preparation might not.

Training hours include the time you spend learning and practicing techniques on live models or mannequins, as well every bit your grooming in how to correctly prep clients, set up workstations, maintain tools and supplies, cull colors, and apply products. Co-ordinate to the American Clan of Cosmetology Schools (AACS), the national boilerplate requirement for an esthetician license—the most mutual license for makeup artists—is 650 grooming hours, but that varies by state. Florida, for instance, requires merely 260 training hours. States like Kentucky, on the other mitt, require 1,000.

Required Exams

You'll likely take to take one or two exams in order to earn a license. The National-Interstate Council of Country Boards of Cosmetology (NIC) administers the most common tests, although some states examination you with their own versions of the national examination, which are normally similar. In most cases, your examination volition have two parts. The theory, or written portion, tests your noesis and the applied, and easily-on portion tests your skills.

Y'all tin can visit the NIC'south Testing Program page, choose your exam (esthetician or cosmetology), and see exactly what volition exist covered. The NIC provides test primers that include all the subject area matter found on the exam, which parts count for the virtually points, how much fourth dimension you'll have to complete each section, and all required rules and regulations. You can also purchase practise tests and instructional DVDs, should you demand more than resource after reviewing the sample examination.

Apprenticeships/Easily-on Experience

Some states require you to complete hands-on, real-globe grooming known as an apprenticeship or internship. This practical experience, which takes identify in a real, working salon, spa, or other professional work environment is split up from your grooming program, which is usually conducted in a faux work environment. If your state requires an apprenticeship, y'all might be paired with a mentor through your esthetics or cosmetology program, or you might have to find one yourself. Any wages yous earn will probable be less than what you'd make as a full employee, but you'll receive valuable on-the-job training that fifty-fifty the best schoolhouse only can't provide in a classroom setting.

In some states, you can substitute your required training hours for apprenticeship hours. If you cull this option, and if your land allows information technology, exist prepared to spend much more time grooming. Near all states that allow this substitution require more apprenticeship hours than traditional training hours. Well-nigh states, in fact, require twice as many apprenticeship hours than preparation hours.

sponsored content, schoolhouse availability varies by location

sponsored content, school availability varies by location

sponsored content, school availability varies past location

sponsored content, schoolhouse availability varies past location

sponsored content, school availability varies past location

Continuing Didactics and Maintaining Licensure

Just as each country has its own regulations regarding training and licensing, united states also set their own requirements for keeping your license in expert standing. In virtually cases, you lot'll have to renew your license throughout the form of your entire career. In many states, renewal takes place every yr or every other yr, sometimes on your altogether and sometimes on the anniversary of the date your license was granted in the first identify. A scattering of states require renewal in different fourth dimension increments.

In many cases, yous'll have to complete extra training hours in society to get your license renewed. They'll be like to the training hours you completed to get your license. The average is about half dozen, simply some states volition crave 10 or more. Y'all should too wait to pay a fee for renewal. There is a broad range of fee amounts depending on where you alive. In some states, the cost is equally low as $20 and in others, it'southward more than $100. For more complete data, visit the individual state pages, where yous'll notice verbal and upwards-to-date information on the specific requirements, fees, and standards for your state.

What is the Departure Betwixt Licensing and Certification?

The terms "license" and "certificate" are ofttimes used interchangeably, but they are non the same thing. In states that license makeup artists, licenses are mandatory—you can't work without one. Certification, on the other hand, is voluntary. Y'all might choose to pursue certification to stand out to potential employers, to receive supplemental training in a specialty, or because a specific employer requires it.

In brusk, states accolade licensure in one case you've completed a recognized program, satisfied the state'southward grooming hour requirements, and passed all necessary tests. Certification demonstrates that you've sought and completed extra, supplementary, and oft specialized training. You tin can piece of work equally a licensed makeup artist without certification, but even if you get certified, you typically tin can't work without a license.

ExpertRating, for instance, is the exclusive skills certification provider for top freelance sites like Upwork. Many makeup artists pursue ExpertRating certification to boost their marketability as independent contractors. Other common certifications are industry-specific, like special furnishings makeup certification, photoshoot makeup certification, and theater makeup certification.