Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Caroline Mujica. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Caroline, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

As a teenager, I was grounded quite often- especially through my 11th grade year. I spent many Friday nights at home instead of out with my friends. My sister, who was 4 years older, would come home from college most weekends, but would go out with her friends most nights. She’d leave her collection of makeup she used to get ready and I’d spend most of those nights rummaging through her makeup and using it to learn how to do makeup. Youtube was my favorite for learning makeup techniques because I’ve always been a visual learner. At first, my sister was upset that I’d go through her makeup, but then one day, I asked her if I could do her makeup and to our surprise, it came out alright. I began doing her makeup for her nights out to the club. I still didn’t have makeup of my own, so I’d use her products, and she became my first “client.” She’d take a nap sometimes and I’d do her makeup. My favorite step of the makeup process at the time was doing a winged liner. This led me to my senior year in high school where I took the role of “Head of the Makeup Department,” for both semesters. Luckily, we didn’t have to do any intricate makeup for either of the plays we performed, so my main role was to do a winged liner and apply red lipstick on all the girls. There were about 20-30 of them, so I had to work quickly. I had no team, just me. I took my role very seriously and loved every second of it. Backstage was pure chaos and I thrived in that.

After high school, my passion for makeup kept growing. I’d spend hours watching my favorite youtube beauty guru Patrick Starr, and other random video’s I found. I’d simply search specific looks I liked at the time and watch them while doing my own makeup. I have always been obsessed with Old Hollywood glamour, so I learned how to do a bow lip, and my winged liner skills just kept getting better. My family knew the obsession was growing, so it wasn’t long before my dad offered to buy me my first set of professional makeup and my first ever makeup trolley. It was an aluminum case, I’ll never forget how professional it made me feel. He also bought me a set of MAC Cosmetic makeup brushes. I still have some of those today. I’d begin doing makeup for bridal parties here and there for $20 a face. I also applied for jobs at MAC and Sephora, but I was never hired. I remember feeling like I’d never feel like a real makeup artist if I never worked for either company, or if I never went to makeup school. The deal with my parents was, if I finished my degree in Marketing, they would pay for my education at my makeup school of choice. I sucked at school, I was always a “C” average student, so I knew getting my degree would be my biggest obstacle in life. I had a hard time focusing on subjects that didn’t interest me and found myself repeating many classes. It took me 7 years to earn my degree. Throughout that time, I did makeup on and off. I did the occasional bride or wedding party, and Halloween every year became my busiest time of year for makeup. But all of that faded my final year in college, I had decided to take an internship at a boutique experiential marketing firm. Long story short, I ended up getting hired as an event assistant, then became an event coordinator and worked there for 3 years and in 2019, after giving my entire life up those years helping produce back to back events. I decided to go freelance, but then Covid hit, and events died down for a few years. With all the time in the world at my disposal, I started to do my makeup on Instagram. I made videos while getting ready and had a great time being creative with my own makeup, and quickly my passion for makeup came back with a vengeance. I felt whole again. My skills doing makeup on others was rusty, so I started inviting my friends over for free makeovers. To be honest, I was quite surprised at how many people were happy to get their makeup done by me, I had scheduled at least 1 makeup application per week. I took photos of every single one, and posted them on my Instagram. With every single makeup application, I dissected my work, and criticized myself for the time it would take me to do one makeup application. My style at the time was natural, yet noticeable and sometimes, I’d get creative and do a colorful cut crease. Some days, it took me up to 2.5 hours to do one application. I worked on that and began setting a timer for myself. I also became obsessed with following other pro makeup artists on Instagram and Tik Tok. I’d watch videos from day to night. If I liked someone’s style of makeup, I’d practice their techniques on my friends until I could duplicate their style as closely as possible. I practiced so much!

Towards the end of 2020, my sister and first client ever, was getting married. Her wedding was on Halloween, and I was not only her Maid of Honor, but also, her Bridal Makeup Artist. She was not picky at all, somehow, she trusted me wholeheartedly to execute her perfect look. We did a trial. I never told her, but it wasn’t my favorite. I wanted to give her the best glam I could possibly give her. So, naturally, I became obsessed with bridal makeup. I went down rabbit hole after rabbit hole of bridal makeup techniques. I followed so many talented bridal specific makeup artists and endlessly watched their content. On her wedding day, my sister got some of the best glam I had ever done. Needless to say, I was hooked. Bridal is all about the details – caring enough about the final look to make it as perfect as possible. That’s what I fell in love with and how Bridal became my niche. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My sister’s wedding was such a huge factor in my decision to continue focusing on bridal makeup. On her wedding day, she had a wedding party of 14 other girls. We discussed and agreed that I would only do makeup on her, my mother, and of course myself. She hired two other girls who would come in with their own assistants to help the rest of the party get ready for hair and makeup.. The Hair Stylist was Daisy Gomez, and the Makeup Artist was, Diana Zapata. Both artists are so incredibly talented in their craft. This was the first time I had met them, so I took a chance to put myself out there and said, “if you ever need a hand or an extra makeup artist, please reach out.” We exchanged information, complimented each other’s work and they let me know that they would definitely be reaching out. They did! These girls helped catapult my bridal business that following year through referrals whenever they were not available to take on clients. Many of my new clients, whether they were for special occasions or for bridal, would let me know that either Diana or Daisy were the ones who referred them to me. I truly wouldn’t be where I am without them. In 2021 I had about 5 brides in total and 3 of those brides were referred to me by either Daisy or Diana. At the very middle of 2021, Daisy Gomez, held a virtual class and taught me how to do Hollywood waves. This led to me learning how to do other bridal styles on my own time and then in 2022, I took a class from another Bridal Hairstylist based out of San Diego named Brittney Rose Blake. She specializes in the most beautiful romantic bohemian bridal hairstyles. Between the two classes I took, I learned a lot about hair styling prep and technique which I now use when styling hair. This is how I began offering hairstyling services for both bridal and special occasions.

With every bride I had, it became clear to me that there was so much more to being a hair and makeup artist than just doing good hair or makeup. Every booking came with its own learning experience. So, I quickly decided that I’d need to make my business as professional as possible. I implemented two different booking systems. One for special occasion services and the other for bridal bookings. Implementing the systems took many months and many trials. They’ve evolved so much throughout the years, and now they are as streamlined as possible. My systems make it so easy for me to communicate with my clients and it gives all of my clients peace of mind. Aside from booking, the job includes constantly cleaning, organizing and stocking the kit. Even today, my kits remain a work in progress and are constantly ever changing. They need to be fully sanitized, and extremely efficient to work out of. Working in bridal is not for the weak. It requires a very stable mental mindset paired with a level of speed, topped with optimal customer experience. So I need to be able to make sure I remain as organized as possible and every product I use must be located easily. I run my bridal business with each client in mind. I have always put myself in each of my brides shoes and based my business off of their needs. I give them my full attention leading up to their wedding days by always making time to respond to any questions or concerns they might have. On the day of their weddings, I make sure to be calm during a potentially chaotic morning. Even at times being the shield for my bride when the party is adding unnecessary stress to their day. If you are my bride, while you are in my chair, I am not just a vendor you hired for glam. I am your biggest hype woman, and your emotional support buddy. I truly am there to make your morning run as smoothly as possible in every way that I am able.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

My short lived career in experiential marketing served as one of the biggest life lessons for me. I quit my job because physically and mentally, I was pushed to my limit. The job itself was fun, stressful and rewarding all at the same time. But the environment was toxic, lacked work-life balance, and I felt so under appreciated for it all. When my hands started to go painfully numb during my long work days and I started dreading going to work every morning, I knew it wasn’t for me. Not to mention, the many instances of verbal and emotional abuse from the person I worked directly under. It was when I quit my job that I decided, I would never allow myself to be treated in that manner ever again. If something doesn’t feel right, I will not think twice about walking the other way ever again. It has taken close to 5 years to fully recover from my experience at that job. Five years ago, my confidence and self esteem was at an all time low. At the time I could never imagine achieving all that I have today. I still have moments where the imposter syndrome takes over and I doubt my skills in every way. But I’ve worked so hard to get here, and I didn’t do it alone. I have been so incredibly lucky to have met incredible and kind people. I’ve had strangers cheer me on. People have mentioned my name at opportunities when I wasn’t even in the same room. With all that said, I have learned that YOU ARE in control of your life. If you are kind and do everything with good intentions, you will attract opportunities and surround yourself with people who have the same values as you. But also, trust your gut and your emotions. It’s 100% okay to walk away from something that isn’t serving you, take what you’ve learned with you as baggage, to begin a life that feeds you and motivates you in every way. Taking a step back into the beauty community has opened so many doors for me, not just in bridal. I have never been happier to go to work. I love what I do and the people I get to meet along the way!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

As a bridal makeup artist, my brides final reaction to her final look is definitely up there as one of the most rewarding feelings. Some of the brides cry, some of them give me a look followed by the tightest hug ever and that’s when I know I’ve done it. Similarly, when my brides come back for other occasions like maternity photos, or they recommend me for their best friends wedding, my heart feels so full! Like I was put in this world to do what I do, to help uplift others with my skills. I help people feel their best and that to me is the biggest reward!

Contact Info:

• Website: sweetcaroline.beauty
• Instagram: @sweetcarolinebeauty
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sweetcarolinebeauty
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sweet-caroline-beauty-san-fernando-valley?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)

Image Credits
Andrew Cavazos George Street Iliana Garcia