Professional training

Christelle is 29 years old. She was drawn to beauty and make-up at an early age. She grew up in France’s Lorraine region, where her mother and her friends were her first models. She knew this would be her profession even before she started secondary school, but since she was too young to enter a specialised school, she earned a professional diploma in sales (BEP Vente) before following through with a beautician’s degree (CAP Esthétique): ‘ I thought I needed the degree to get into make-up school, but I didn’t! ’ That’s right: you don’t need any special training to be accepted in a make-up school, but since these schools do not issue nationally recognised diplomas, it’s a good idea to have a back-up plan.
In 2005, Christelle moved to Paris and began her nine-month training programme at the Make Up For Ever Academy in Paris. ‘ You can train for three, six, or nine months. I went with nine months to get the most complete training possible.’ Today, the Academy offers intensive training programmes – which can range from one week to two months – as well as longer programmes lasting six, seven, or ten months. The …