Ask Fashion Girl

Dear Ashlie:

If you find yourself gravitating to the makeup and fragrance counters of your local store, you can turn your love of makeup and fragrance into your career! As one successful FIDM grad who's working in the field of Product Development put it, "I get to make makeup!" To prepare to come to FIDM and study Beauty Industry Merchandising & Marketing (the FIDM major that can put you in the driver's seat of a cosmetics career), visit Sephora and the cosmetics counters at department stores when they're not busy. Try on the various products and talk with the cosmetics salespeople about the different lines of cosmetics and fragrances and what they do in their jobs. When you're in the stores or flipping through magazines, notice the different ad campaigns and the different fashion looks that each cosmetics line is advertising, and how they're presented. Learn the different fragrances that are out there and their components, and become able to identify them by scent. And most importantly, keep playing with makeup whenever you get the chance! Experiment on yourself, and offer to do your friends' makeup. Get free makeovers at Sephora and MAC, and ask the makeup artists what they're doing. Go with friends who are having makeovers and watch what they do! The more you familiarize yourself with the products and how to use them, the more valuable you will be in the industry when you launch yourself into your career.

Immerse yourself in the world of cosmetics and fragrance and soon your friends will be referring to you as the makeup maven!

Sincerely, Fashion Girl