Have you ever considered taking your passion and showcasing your work online? That is the reality of many young people on Instagram. You can create an instagram page about anything and everything nowadays, which is both wonderful, and scary... The amount of catagrams* I see on Instagram is concerning, however, half of them probably belong to Karen.
*A catagram is an instagram page of a cat/cats
In this article, we follow the journey of one aspiring makeup artist and how she started her own makeup page.
Meet Ifrah:
"My name is Ifrah Qureshi, aged 20. I am currently studying Cosmetic science at University of Sunderland to become a cosmetic chemist/formulator. I am from a small town in West Yorkshire but moved to Sunderland in September 2019 for uni. I recently started a makeup page on instagram (makeupwithifrah) and would love to bring you along on my journey."
I asked Ifrah a few questions about her experience with starting her own makeup page:
Why did you start your Instagram page?
"I was drawn to the idea of starting an Instagram page for two reasons. The first, being my passion for makeup. Since the age of two I would pretend to apply makeup with the toy set my mum bought me. When I purchased my first eyeshadow palette, I loved playing around trying to figure out how to apply it since I wasn’t very good at makeup back then. I would sit and watch youtube videos for hours on end to learn how much to blend and what techniques to use until I felt confident enough to experiment myself. Starting an Instagram makeup page just gave me the platform to showcase what I had created, and share any tips I learnt for anyone else who is wanting to get into makeup. The second reason: I was inspired by some of my classmates. They also have makeup pages where they started to get noticed and gain a social media presence which would help them to get their creations out there for more people to see and assist them with future plans as aspiring cosmetic chemists. All my close friends who saw the looks I would put together always insisted I create a platform to show others too, I was always worried I wasn’t good enough but I think it was about time I listened to them."
What do you plan on doing with your makeup page in the future?
"As a cosmetic science student I will be learning lots about formulation and what really goes into making cosmetic products. I would like to incorporate that into my makeup page (without giving away all the secrets), as well as continuing with the eye looks I am experimenting with. I think this would be different to other accounts and stand out, as consumers don’t really get to see the behind the scenes of the products they usually use on a daily basis. I hope this would widen my audience to create a strong social media presence for when I would like to formulate my own cosmetics line."
Why start now?
"I feel like this was the best time for me to start my makeup page as I am a first year student which meant I could share my cosmetic science journey from the start to the end of my degree. With everything I have and will be learning it will be a great opportunity for me to share an insight into the course as most people don’t really understand what cosmetic science is really about. Another reason I felt like this was the best time for me was because we are/were going through a pandemic which meant I had loads of free time in lockdown to really have fun with makeup and try things which I haven’t done before, such as colourful eye looks and many more. This lead me to showcase my content on a safe platform which I didn’t have before."
What are your dreams and goals for the future?
"My future goals are to create my own cosmetics line as a cosmetic chemist. I love working in the lab and I love makeup so formulating my own line would be the ultimate goal. I’d love to bring something new to the makeup industry to help people, and create something revolutionary which gains attention in the cosmetic industry. Also, growing my Instagram page would be ideal for me as I could continue my love for makeup as well as inspire others to get creative and have fun with it. Personally, I find it therapeutic and calming to put on some music and blend away."
How did the launch of your page go?
"The launch of my page was amazing, although it was an impulsive decision to finally start a page - my friends and family were quick to support me by helping me chose the best name and sharing my profile with all their friends on Instagram. I appreciate their help so much as it gave me a kick start, and I would not have been able to have a successful and smooth sailing launch without them. I am now 2/3 weeks in and consistently posting new looks and already getting recognised by other makeup pages."
What are your next steps?
"For my next steps i am hoping to start making tutorials and pictorials to show a step by step of how I create my looks. I hope that it inspires others to recreate what I have done with their own touch, as i will be doing with other makeup artists. In the future I would also like to collaborate with other makeup influencers and brands as we all share the passion for makeup."
What kind of feedback have you received from your followers and friends?
"All of the feedback I have received has been really positive, telling me I have been consistent with my posts and they enjoy looking at my feed which is great, and I am very motivating to continue. I also asked my friends what I could do to make my page better in the future, most of them said to make smaller videos focusing on one part of my makeup for example eyeliner tutorials or the base makeup giving tips I have learnt as I have been doing my makeup for a couple years now. They also said to interact with the audience by creating polls about which type of looks they want to see and review the products I am using. I think getting this feedback will be very beneficial, as it can take my page in the right direction and hope to grow my page even more in the months to come."
What has been your biggest success thus far?
"My biggest successes so far was finally hitting 100 followers, this is the first milestone for my page within the first 3 weeks. I have also had multiple brands reach out wanting to collab which shows me I am doing something right! I like to keep consistent with my content, making sure that I'm posting new looks which put me out of my comfort zone. Another success that I am proud of is filming and editing my own makeup tutorial for the first time and loved how it turned out. I am hoping to create more of these in the future."
Comments