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How to become a red carpet hair stylist and MUA
Words Tarryn Feldman
Tarryn Feldman has over 15 years in the beauty industry. Her background includes showcasing her artistic talents as a celebrity makeup artist and hair stylist. Influencing beauty trends and content is part of who Tarryn is naturally from her friends to celebrity clients she is often the resource for keeping those around her in-the-know.
I have been doing hair and makeup for a long time. Originally, I had the opportunity to go to hair school in high school because my high school offered a ROP program, so I was fortunate enough to get hours in high school. Following high school, I immediately went to makeup school intending to become a special effects makeup artist but quickly realized that is not the path I wanted to take. From there, I began doing weddings and did some freelance makeup jobs with MAC and Laura Mercier. I was trying to do as much as I could work-wise with makeup lines, fashion week to gain as much experience as I could.
To be honest I didn't realize I wanted to just strictly do beauty and work with celebrities until I lived in Nashville. My LA career was a lot heavier handed, fun, runway shows, fashion, and photoshoots. While I love doing those projects, my favorite is working with established females who understand the industry. I moved to Nashville about eleven years ago and it's a ten-year town if you've ever heard anyone use that term. It's taken me that long to build a solid career here but where I'm at now I feel good about this town and where I am as an artist. It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm a little bit older and don't feel as competitive in the fact that I want everyone to be happy and successful. Doing red carpets and working with celebrities is something that is hard and requires a lot of experience. Not because the clients are hard but because the situations are high pressure. Numerous factors can go wrong on the day of an award show and the pressure is high knowing that you can't re-record it or take it back. The work that we do directly affects someone's confidence so the pressure and how you deal with a job like that is extremely important and that's why not every makeup artist is cut out to do it. As I gain experience my respect grows for what I do and who I work with. I am where I am today because of my clients, which I adore each one of them. I'm looking forward to many more red carpets and fun looks with them!
My advice would be to gain as much experience as possible, work with everyone, say no to nothing for years to figure out what kind of artist you are and what you are really good at. Working up to a place where you can get signed by a reputable agency is definitely a huge factor in doing red carpets. Of course, having goals are amazing, but really focusing on experience and what kind of artist you are will only help excel in your career in the long run. I know that's kind of a long-winded tip, but you have to put the work in because it's not just make-up. We help mold the confidence that our clients exude on the red carpet and that is definitely a learned skill.
