We recently connected with Tina Barnes and have shared our conversation below.

Tina, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I would say that the biggest risk I have ever taken was moving to Canada with no job, family back in Michigan, and ready to continue my business, PrettyOnMe Beauty, in a brand new country. PrettyOnMe Beauty was first established as PrettyOnMe LLC in Detroit, MI in 2014, but at the time, I found that Detroit wasn’t as fashion-forward as I wanted it to be. After doing makeup for editorial shoots here and there, I thought it would be a good opportunity to find another area to build and expand. LA was too saturated, so was New York, but then I thought Toronto, ON. My brothers were already living in Canada, so I thought that may be the best option. Lo and behold, Toronto it was, so I set on my journey with no promise of a job as backup—just hopes and dreams.
When I first moved to Canada in 2018, I wasn’t sure how to navigate the environment. I was in a new city and wanted to initially break into editorial and film. I found a job to support my business, traveling to Toronto every day from Mississauga, all while working for free on the weekends. I did styled shoots, photoshoots, and tried to collaborate with other artists and creatives in Toronto. I did this for a full year. I also linked up with a successful MUA—Cheeks and Tresses was her company name at the time—to intern and learn new skills as an artist. This MUA became my mentor and friend and really helped me kickstart my career in Canada. Although she was a bridal artist, I was hoping to take my skills to the runway.
About a year after interning, I did my first fashion show during African Fashion Week in Toronto, ON. I was excited for what I thought was my big opportunity and potentially my big break into the fashion industry. I spent 3 days commuting from Mississauga to The ROM in Toronto, assisting with makeup for each of the models. I met so many amazing women and connections, but it was during African Fashion Week that I decided, “Wow, I really don’t like this part of the industry anymore.” I liked taking my time with clients, building a relationship and paying attention to detail with my artistry. The hustle and bustle of runway and editorial just didn’t allow for that. On the flip side, I started falling in love with the bridal side of the business. Being with brides on the happiest days of their lives and building up those relationships hooked me. It was time to make a switch.
I eventually moved from Mississauga to Kitchener, ON, seeing that there was a gap in diverse artists that could truly work with all skin tones. With my background of primarily servicing African American clientele and then all other races and ethnicities during my internship with Cheeks and Tresses, I thought that I could fill that gap. I gathered models of different races and colors and posted my work on Instagram, and things started going. From there, I would network, connect, and do free work until I got my first wedding in Canada—my sister-in-law. From there, PrettyOnMe Beauty gained traction.
Fast forward to today. PrettyOnMe Beauty has serviced more than 200 brides and counting. We’ve established partners, referrals, and solid relationships with vendors in the area. We’ve grown into a team of 8 people and counting. Our biggest achievement of 2025 was having the first weekend that our company was servicing all weddings that were held at the Cambridge Mill, which was a huge deal for us. We’ve still got a ways to go, but taking that risk back in 2018 was worth it.

Tina, 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 Tina Barnes and I’m the Owner and Lead Artist of PrettyOnMe Beauty. I’ve been doing makeup for 14 years now. The biggest part of our business is bridal, but we offer hair and makeup services for special events, branding, and photoshoots. I initially got into the business because I used to paint. I loved painting and dabbling in portrait and abstract. Around the time I was into painting, the 2016 craze for makeup on YouTube started, and I decided to try it out for myself. I loved playing with different looks, and to me, doing makeup was like painting, just on a different canvas.
One of our slogans is “Bringing out your beauty in every dimension,” as we specialize in a soft glam that is focused on the woman who is not afraid of makeup and wants her unique features to be pronounced, all while still feeling like herself. We are experts in skin tone matching and are proud to have a diverse team of artists who can do all hair types and skin tones. The “multi-dimensional” part of our artistry comes out in our attention to detail. We like to specialize and tailor our services to our clients, rather than speed through the service. We believe that every woman we service is different and deserves time and attention. This can even be seen in the way we email our clients and through our booking process.
We are proud to say that we have serviced more than 200 brides and turn no one away. We can handle any hair texture, any skin tone, any time. We’ve also been featured in The Wedding Ring twice, The Canadian Screen Awards, and have worked with large organizations such as the University of Waterloo.

Don’t be afraid to share these creatives on social media. A like and share is free. I’m thankful to be in a community of artists and creatives where we all believe in supporting each other. We share each other’s content, like each others pages and try to show up for each other’s events. Whenever you see a small business making the leap to social media, share!

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

No, actually. It sounds strange, but I’m a firm believer that my journey went the way it needed to go for a reason. I’m a very visual and hands-on learner. I need to see and do for something to click. I watch, try, do, fail, and repeat. I also think that the failure is an important part of the process, because no matter how many resources you get, you still have to apply what you’ve learned, and you still have to fail, take notes, and then redo. I’ve learned so much through so many of the failures throughout the years and am still learning every day. I think it was meant to be this way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://prettyonmebeauty.com
• Instagram: _prettyonmebeauty
• Facebook: PrettyOnMe Beauty

Image Credits

Carol Spooner Photography
Kristen Elizabeth Photography
Desiree Ivy
Tamara Rose