You landed your dream career as a professional makeup artist, but who knew it would be almost a full-time job to keep up with the latest in trending eyelash styles, eyeshadow colours, lip tints, and other industry news? Naturally, you want to be a source of the latest and best for your clients, but how to keep tabs of it all?

Here are some tips to help you break it down and stay on top of what’s new, what to pay attention to, and how to keep evolving with the times.

Know what your clients are looking at

Particularly when it comes to avante garde eyelash statements—and makeup looks of all kinds—Instagram is where to turn to see what is getting picked up by beauty fans and what isn’t. Follow prominent beauty influencers, as well assingers, actors, and other pop culture icons with a huge fan base—these are the accounts your client base will know and often wish to copy.

Let others do the heavy lifting for you

Companies creating beauty products have teams that research trends, which then influences their line-up of products. Use that to your advantage. Sign up to as many beauty-themed newsletters as possible to keep tabs on what people are buying or being influenced to buy, and you’ll be able to keep track of what will be top of mind to your clients. For example, Lash Republic has a newsletter that keeps makeup artists and beauty business owners informed of trending items and styles. You can sign up for our newsletter here.

Change what you’re looking at

If you’re struggling to create a new look, sometimes all it takes is switching up your reference material and broadening your scope.Makeup artist Nick Barose (clients include Alicia Vikander and Lupita Nyong’o)says, “Pay attention to other things in the world because as an artist, that’s how you can be more inspired and do your own thing. It can’t just be about makeup, tutorials, contour, and celebrities. It’s important to know more so you have wider frame of reference and use it for your work.”

Attend expos for motivation and inspiration

As often as your budget allows, attend a makeup convention or trade show. Here are the top 5 in the world, as chosen by QC Makeup Academy. There’s something about being with other industry professionals that motivates a person to go further in their own career. And if you can’t make it out to Beauty Expo Australia for their yearly event, you can follow their accounts to stay abreast of new products and trends.

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