Eryn Shannon is a hair and makeup artist with over fifteen years of experience with a unique range of experience within the beauty, fashion and wedding industries.
Her love of the arts began at a young age. She grew up in a small town outside of Toronto watching Fashion Television, admiring her mother’s makeup and hair skills, and dreaming of one day being a part of the creative team for Fashion Week. Her dreams took shape after leaving art school to become a full-time makeup artist with MAC Cosmetics. While at MAC, she had the opportunity to be represented by a top hair and makeup agency based in Toronto and was asked to be part of the Fashion Show team for New York Fashion week for each new season. Truly a dream come true!
After accomplishing some big milestones, she was looking for her next adventure. She tried a few different careers within the beauty industry that were pivotal experiences, shaping who and where she is now. She began working for a PR Beauty firm where she refined her organization, media, and marketing skills. She went from an Account Executive for Eastern Canada with a top makeup brand to managing thirty brands and a large group of beauty advisors for a top Canadian department store. After being in retail, learning some serious business and artist management skills, it was time to really focus and put all her energy into her own business!
Eryn always had “Eryn Shannon Makeup and Hair” as her freelance side business throughout her career. She decided to put everything into her freelance hair and makeup business, focusing on the bridal industry. She already had a steady flow of consistent business and referrals. What would happen if she advertised, marketed, and put her PR skills to work? Within one year, her business boomed! She quickly became so busy that she looked for assistance and has now hired over 20 artists and service over 150 weddings per year along with editorial and commercial shoots.
See Eryn’s work below:
Nolene is the creative and passionate teacher behind her company, My New Hobby, where she lives out her dream job as a Makeup Artist, Makeup Tutor, and DIY home décor educator.
Nolene's passion for creativity started in 2009 when she learned the art of makeup as a retail makeup artist for MAC Cosmetics. She soon had the opportunity to be a representative for MAC South Africa and became part of their events team.
During this time, Nolene gained substantial knowledge in makeup at fashion weeks, television and magazine advertisements, and working with South African musicians. During her spare time, Nolene expanded her creative capabilities by learning various different skills, which included photography, digital editing, painting, and carpentry.
Nothing excites Nolene more than gaining knowledge in creativity and sharing it with others.
This characteristic trait formed the inspiration for starting her own business.Her company offers students the opportunity to learn different creative skills because Nolene is able to utilize her knowledge as a professional makeup artist and other skills she has acquired over the years.
Many of her successes are due to those skills, which led to her landing an episode on television where she needed to teach a creative class. This allowed her to share her love for creativity nationally.
Today, Nolene is based in the USA where she spends her time passionately educating and mentoring her creative students!
Rachel Dal Santo, the author of the Professional Makeup Artistry course, is a makeup artist with over 30 years’ experience in many sectors of the makeup industry.
In 1984, after Rachel completed her training at the Art and Technology of Makeup College under the tutelage of Dawn Swane, she began her career at the television network, Channel 7. During this period, Rachel was provided the opportunity to become Head of the Makeup Department. This position saw her manage over twenty staff and oversee many productions including popular television series, various sports broadcasts, and game shows.
The highlight of Rachel's career as Department Supervisor was coordinating the makeup requirements for the network’s coverage of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
After 17 years in television, Rachel began her freelance career in Makeup Artistry. This gave her the opportunity to work on popular films like The Matrix and Mao’s Last Dancer, where she enjoyed being a member of a large team of makeup artists. Further television credits followed with work on countless television commercials and large-scale productions like Crime Scene Investigations.
Being a makeup “all-rounder”, Rachel has also worked on many large-scale theatre productions in many theatres.
Rachels most recent experience consists of teaching Makeup Artistry at various makeup colleges. She is also a guest lecturer at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and the Conservatorium of Music.
Sharing her knowledge of makeup artistry is now Rachel’s main focus, and she is passionate about passing her knowledge onto you!
Catherine studied Fine Arts at Adelaide College of The Arts from 1973-1976. She then taught art in South Australia until 1983.
From 1984 to 1986, she studied Theatrical Makeup and Special Effects. She worked as a freelance makeup artist in the film and television industry for 16 years while continuing throughout the years with painting.
Catherine also worked for 8 years as a full-time artist (painter) and has won several awards for her figurative and still-life paintings, exhibiting extensively over the past 30 years.
Catherine’s makeup career spans over 30 years, starting in television with Channel 7’s Sons and Daughters and A Country Practice, followed by numerous television dramas, news and current affairs, resulting in a television career spanning 15 years. She has also worked as a makeup artist in film, fashion, commercials, photography, body painting, and Special Effects. Her background in fine arts gives her an edge when it comes to technique, colour, and design in makeup.
Catherine has taught art, makeup, and special effects extensively over the past 30 years. This includes teaching art and makeup at the renowned “Art & Technology of Makeup College”, of which she was later appointed college registrar.
Catherine is currently one of the senior trainers and assessors in the Diploma of Screen and Media Makeup at the National Institute of Dramatic Art and continues to paint and exhibit her art work.
Catherine’s main focus now is to pass on her extensive knowledge gained over the past 35 years of working in the makeup industry and is looking forward to interacting with and inspiring the next generation of makeup artists.
See some of Cathy’s work here.
I was searching for over a year for a good online makeup school since my life is so busy and my schedule is insane. I stumbled across IMUA and instantly decided that this was my school!
A sample of our students images
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