Hey Babes!

You may or may not have noticed that I have been heavily posting new content every week and while getting some great feedback from you all, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to share a little bit of the process of my makeshift DIY glam squad. It’s pretty self explanatory. It’s a whole do-it-yourself glam team of me myself and I. There are definitely some contributing factors that led to my “if you want it, go get it” approach to creating content and it all started at the inception of this blog. I initially thought that I had to have all the pieces together to gain a following and to start a blog where I share bits and pieces of navigating this Los Angeles life through my little lens. Upon further introspection, I realized the first step is to stop being scared. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable and put yourself out there so I wanted to share some personal pros and cons to the DIY glam team experience. The purpose is to highlight both its rewarding yet exhausting factors at times, but to show a lot of respect for those folks behind the scenes that really make all of it possible.

I thought that this may be useful information to get the next blogger started or someone looking to mix up how they go about creating content. Most of the content I create, hair, make-up and styling have been a one woman team, but please note the irony in these images I am sharing in this post. The styling was not done by me but by the lovely Erin Cross who is also a fantastic photographer. You can check out her photo series here.

Styled by Erin Cross. Hair is a pack of braiding hair that I brought along for the ride.

Pros

Cost Effective
Being a make-up artist and wardrobe stylist are real life professions and they can cost you. That may be overwhelming for anyone starting out so saving some coins is considered a pro. This isn’t to discourage anyone from hiring a creative for this purpose. I definitely promote hiring creatives, however I was on some real broke girl sh*t starting out and I was left to my own devices. You may look crazy at first trying to figure out your style (I personally felt that way) but that brings me to my next point.
Practice
It is insanely rewarding to create looks with a fraction of a team and people really resonate with it and relate to it. Not only that but sharing something you created and you being confident and proud of it is an awesome feeling. If you can do it, they can too. There had been many times I did some projects where the make-up artist on the job was not well versed in dark skin so I was left looking ashy. No one has time for that these days. Understanding how to apply your makeup so it looks very much like your skin is something that comes with much practice.
Scheduling
Smaller creative groups tend to have less scheduling conflicts. With less scheduling conflicts, you have a lot more time to create more content so if that’s your jam, DIY glam is right for you.
Understanding importance of each contributor
Being your own glam squad makes you way more appreciative and respectful of other professions and the things they have to go through while on set. Hats go off to them.
Layering
What I learned the most about being my own glam team when it’s time to create content is creating a layering system. Much like a stylist would do with clothing to diversify outfits, I started to become more aware of how to do that with make-up (mostly in-studio where the climate is more predictable) and hairstyling. With this shoot we were able to do three outfit changes and 2 hair looks. The long pony could have been turned into a low bum, thus creating a 3rd hair look. We have options baby!

Cons

Creative limitations
A DIY glam squad can be creatively limiting in some cases. When prepping for a shoot, I tend to be more mindful of makeup looks being too abstract for possible wardrobe changes so I like to keep the makeup pretty neutral. I do have the option to layer (see pro above) but I have played it safe mostly. If you have a set look however and that’s all you are going for, create whatever your heart desires.
Timing
Getting camera-ready with hair and makeup can be super challenging when you have the elements working against you. The wind, water and heat can really mess up the curated look especially if there is no one else on set to fix these issues.
Lugging wardrobe/make-up around
Pulling all possible options for wardrobe changes, including any under garments and shoes can be a lot to carry if you are out on location. True story, we did a shoot at Griffith Observatory and all the cons I pointed out were present and made the experience less than ideal. COVID restrictions were also another added layer to this so that is something to think about.
Being highly aware of EVERYTHING
The biggest drawback of DIY glam squad (and I cannot stress this enough) is being hyper aware of every little detail like hair placement, makeup touch-ups, and posing. Both photographer and model must be mindful of these things while also trying to just do what they are supposed to do. The photographer is splitting their time being a creative director, which in most cases is one and the same and also making sure the model or subject is looking their best to capture the image. The model is also splitting their time between being in that moment and also making sure hair, make-up, wardrobe is in place.

Came to shoot with straight hair so that I could be more flexible with changing up. Add hair pieces and wigs too!

These are just a few highlights to some rewards and challenges to this content creation game. I’m sure this is not new language to many content creators but I recently had a conversation about this topic and it really made me sit and think about it. I do think that having a creative director, stylist and make-up artist are ideal and probably only really occur in celebrity or agency-styled shoots and the like but, I also know that there are freelance creatives in all of these spaces that can occasionally link up to create art.

Let me know what some of your challenges or rewards are in any of these processes.

XOXO Lipstickcoco

DIY Glam Squad: Pros & Cons