Artist patient with industry
By PETER ESILA
TWENTY-THREE-year old make-up artist Jemaimah Yai-pupu is a passionate young entrepreneur who is thriving in the now demanding cosmetic world.
Yai-pupu, from Enga, learnt the trade by watching related Youtube videos and now she is teaching women the skills of doing eyebrows and foundations at her Makeup Beginners’ class supported by the City Pharmacy Foundation.
In an interview with The National in Port Moresby yesterday, she said with the current Covid-19 crisis, not many clients were booking as often as they were earlier in the year.
“Also, I am worried about going and doing makeup until all this issue (Covid-19) goes to rest,” Yai-pupu said.
CPL Foundation has supported Yai-pupu through her Stylim Services business where she has taught women of all ages about makeup.
“I think I’ve done makeup for more than a thousand women, I’ve been doing this since 2016, so I have touched a lot of faces literally,” she laughed.
“Everyone is beautiful, makeup enhances the beauty that is already there,” she said.
Yai-pupu did her Grades 9 and 10 at Port Moresby International School before moving to Australia to do her Grades 11 and 12.
She completed her Diploma in Accounting at the IEA College of Tafe at Ela Beach in Port Moresby.
She worked for two years at The Stanley Hotel and Suits as an accounts clerk before being laid off this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Right now, I am taking up my Certified Practicing Accounting (studies), I will be doing my second exam in June, other than that I do my makeup on the side.”
Through her Makeup Beginners class, Yai-pupu trained more than 70 women last year.
“CPL has been supporting me with the three classes that I had last year, it was for the purpose of me teaching working-class women to young girls because there is still a lack of knowledge on the application methods.
“It worries me when I see a women getting makeup all wrong.
“Makeup is very new to Papua New Guinea, we are going into fashions and having runways and makeup is just one of them.
“It (makeup) was very new when I started doing my makeup in November of 2016.
“I started doing makeup for other people because I used to do my own makeup back in high school and when I started I saw that there was a need for it,” she said.
“Not many ladies were exposed to doing makeup.
“I think they were doing it on their own but it was not like a service that was provided to people.
“That was interesting to see and the fact that it has grown, it is still growing; it is still a growing industry in PNG.”
The Beginners’ Makeup classes consists of doing the basics, and by definition, basics are eyebrows, foundation and lipstick.
“You will see some women who put white colours on their faces, it looks ghostly, and that was the challenge and it is a challenge for everyone to this day.
“Sometimes the foundation shade is lighter than the skin tone, so it is really hard for them to match and you can figure that they are doing makeup but that is the challenge for most of the ladies that come to classes.
“They really wanted to find the right foundation for their skin tone or doing the eyebrows right.
“I can tell you that ladies, they want their eyebrows to be very neatly groomed, so that was something that they really wanted to get out of the class.
“Eyebrows and foundations are the two main focus points of my class.
“Those are two things they want to advance on to the next part.
“There is a lot to do with just eyebrows and foundations, there is fake eyelashes, and there are different types of eye makeup looks.”
Yai-pupu said a regular makeup lasts 40 minutes or less.
“If we are carried away telling stories, it is 50 minutes.”
Yai-pupu was into art growing up.
“I did a lot of painting, I draw, so it was something that combined really well with doing makeup because makeup is an art.
“To get your texture right, you have to hold the brush right, the head must be steady, all these things.
“I was exposed to makeup when I went to Australia to study, so everybody there is into that thing, that is where my interest grew.”
The Stylim By Jemma makeup price list includes:
- Trial makeup – K120;
- Full face makeup (with fake lashes) – K130;
- Full face makeup (without fake lashes) – K120
- Bridal makeup (with fake lashes) – K150;
- Bridal makeup (without fake lashes) – K140; and,
- Full day/half day hire (for touch ups).
Yai-pupu gets her supplies from Singapore, Hong Kong and China.
She said there may be some who were critical of makeup but she understood the culture and attitudes of Papua New Guineans.
CPL Foundation manager Oti Lasagavibau said the foundation was committed to supporting inspirational individuals like Yai-pupu in its programmes.
Stylim Services contacts is: [email protected] or Facebook: Stylim by Jemma – Makeup Services and Instagram: Stylim_by_jemma