They say a lot can happen in a year, and boy are they right! Maquillage Makeup Academy is celebrating our one-year anniversary, so we wanted to take you on a trip down memory lane and show you how much we accomplished in 2015—and share exciting news for 2016!
In early January of 2015, our in-house team of instructors worked tirelessly to put together an in-depth curriculum, research products, and prepare for their first official classes!
Midway through the year, Maquillage moved to a new location in downtown San Diego, right near Balboa Park. The move made it easy for prospective students to find us and gave us a beautiful new space to teach our first set of students! San Diego is a wonderful city and we feel lucky to be surrounded by nature, museums, and nightlife—all just a few blocks away from the school! Relocating here also gave Maquillage the opportunity to hire more local fine art instructors, makeup artists, models, and photographers.
We consider ourselves very lucky indeed to be able to collaborate with Leilani Angel of Style Sorbet. Leilani joined our team within the first few months of our program launch and taught our students all about business etiquette and how to market themselves to be successful in their future careers. Leilani also connected us with beautiful models, which allows our students to practice on all different skin types, ethnicities, and hair types, and local photographers such as Odell Guynes—who gave our students top-quality images for their portfolios.
We continued to build relationships with known makeup brands such as Sephora, MAC, and Estee Lauder. Really lovely and knowledgeable representatives of these companies came in and taught our students about the history of their companies as well as offered the chance for possible employment with them upon completion of their makeup courses!
In addition to these brands, we were able to team up with some other pretty amazing companies, too. Starting with California Hair Design Academy, we created a great program for the students of CHDA who are interested in expanding their knowledge in makeup application while also getting an education in their cosmetology program.
Maquillage Makeup Academy also worked with students from San Diego high schools who are interested in pursuing a makeup career. We were able to bring some of them to participate in Pacific San Diego Magazine’s Day Of The Dead celebration, offering beautiful sugar skull face makeup designs to event attendees!
We're bringing Hollywood to Atlanta and Dallas!
Not only did Maquillage Makeup Academy expand in San Diego, we also joined forces with Norcostco and Camera Ready Cosmetics to bring advanced makeup workshops to Atlanta and Dallas! By working with these fantastic makeup stores, we are able to provide workshops to artists who are already working in the industry but looking to move forward in their career and learn new techniques. We're so excited about this!
Maquillage Makeup Academy also worked on a private event with Marvel VS DC for Comic Con, PHAMExpo, and a makeup demo and interview with San Diego Union Tribune.
With such a busy and eventful year, you may be asking: What's in store for 2016?
Maquillage Makeup Academy is excited to jump into 2016 just as strongly as we finished 2015!
We are starting the year off with a makeup demo at IMATS (The International Make-Up Artist Trade Show) together with cosmetics brand INGLOT. Maquillage’s very own Mireille Bertrand will be creating a makeup look based on the upcoming movie The Jungle Book, assisted by celebrity hairstylist Mario Llamas.
We will also be collaborating with INGLOT to bring a small makeup boutique to our school in order to offer their fabulous products to local makeup artists in the San Diego area.
In the upcoming months our students will be getting ready for a few community fashions shows with local high schools and FIDM, as well as a charity event with Hearts for San Diego!
We look forward to the premier of the new comedy game show Separation Anxiety hosted by comedian Iliza Shlesinger (Excused, Last Comic Standing). Mireille had the pleasure of being key makeup artist for the show and flew out to Atlanta in 2015 to work on it.
And last, but certainly not least...
Maquillage Makeup Academy is extremely excited to announce the launch of our very own makeup line!
Founder and Creative Director Mireille Bertrand has personally been working hard to fulfill another long-time dream of creating her own makeup brand! Be sure to follow us on Facebook so you'll be among the first to know when we launch our lipstick collection in early 2016!
For 2016 and 2017 we also have a ton of new full-time programs, individual courses, and workshops — for both beginners and old pros, so there's something for everyone! (And remember, you can always call us directly with questions, for more info, or to set up a tour of the school at (619) 546–5100!)
Maquillage Makeup Academy would like to thank all our instructors, students, and team members, as well as our constant supporters who have made 2015 a huge success! We look forward to 2016 and the continuation of building our brand and our school!
~ The Maquillage Makeup Academy Team
