We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kimaris Jones a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kimaris, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I consider myself blessed when I think about how I am able to earn a full time living from my creative work. I was working at MAC Cosmetics and I remember looking across at our other cosmetic and perfume counterparts and seeing this sweet looking older lady passing out perfume samples to customers who were passing by. At that time I was working full-time and I was in my late 20s. The hours that I worked could be pretty hard on my feet sometimes. I had to work every weekend and on some holidays. I missed a lot of moments in my kids life because of this retail job.. All I could think was as I was observing this sweet looking older lady is, “Is this the sum total of life?” I didn’t see my future self working retail all my life. I saw my future self being a successful celebrity makeup artist & entrepreneur. I needed to come up with an exit plan. My plan was to build my kit while I was working at Mac and sharpen my skills while I was there. Instagram was beginning to get popular and I followed my favorite celebrity make up artists and studied their pages. I noticed that they used more than their cell phone to take the pictures. They used professional cameras, so that you can see the make up details more clearly. I also noticed that they had great lighting as well. I invested in ring lights and a good professional camera. I would use my friends and family as models to post on my page. I also connected with a photographer and we would do creative shoots, this helped me to build up my portfolio. I became consistent at posting my work on Instagram so that when people thought of make up, they thought of me. From that, I was able to build my clientele and make a full-time living as a makeup artist.

Kimaris, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Kimaris Jones. I am celebrity make up artist. I’ve been doing makeup for 14 years. I started out by working at Mac Cosmetics . I worked there for seven years and left in 2014 to pursue being an entrepreneur make up artist.. I provide make up services for TV, weddings, events, and for photo shoots. What I am most proud of is that I was able to make a living out of my passion, and I was able help create a living for my two daughters who do makeup as well. What I want people to know is that makeup is not only my passion but my purpose.. I hope that when people leave my chair they feel en powered and unstoppable

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I get most of my clients from Instagram.. How I built my clientele was to become consistent at posting my work on Instagram so that when people thought of make up, they thought of me. I would encourage people who want to build a following to follow pages on Instagram that you would like your page to look like and study how they post. The make up artist who I admired & who I followed on Instagram, would use professional cameras, and good lighting to take there pictures. So I mimicked that.

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

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is seeing the clients reactions when they see their makeup at the end. I’ve experienced clients crying because they’ve never felt so beautiful, and I’ve seen clients change their posture to a more confident stance

Contact Info:

• Website: www.makeupbykimaris.com
• Instagram: Kimarisjones

Image Credits
Dwayne Rodgers, Jay Wiggs,