Two young entrepreneurs are taking the St. Albert makeup world by storm.
Gretzie Parth, 20, and Aimee Parker, 25, are two St. Albert makeup artists who are teaching their skills in the Glam Class.
The women created a holiday makeup look for two full classes in November. They spent 90 minutes going over the steps and demonstrating their techniques on models at the front of the class. The women discussed each step as they went, along with giving additional tips, tricks and rules to help the students recreate the looks at home.
After the demo was over, the students had an hour and a half to try to recreate the look. Parth and Parker went around the room helping the students with their technique and gave them pointers on how to improve their application.
Some of the products the women used in their demo are included in a makeup bag given to the students upon registration so they are able to accurately recreate the looks.
“Our vision on makeup is to empower women through the power of makeup and that’s really special,” Parth said. “I just love meeting women. It’s a very rewarding job and an industry to be in.”
Parth and Parker are both trained make up artists who have been practicing for years. Parker is a nine-year veteran in the industry and currently works for Clinique.
Parth has spent two years in the industry and was inspired to pursue makeup by Parker and soon realized she had found her passion.
Both women spend their weekends freelancing and creating looks for bridal parties and graduations. Parker is working towards her masters in business at the University of Alberta and splits her time between school, work and doing makeup. Parth is studying business at the University of Alberta and spends her evenings and weekends doing makeup and growing her personal business.
Parth and Parker typically freelance separately but decided to come together for the Glam Class. They wanted to help women be able to recreate the makeup that they provide during their sessions with women. They say many women try to watch Youtube tutorials and turn to Instagram for pointers and still feel completely lost.
“It’s nice to be able to help women, but we find we want to give them tips and tricks to help recreate the looks that we are doing on them,” Parker said. “So they are creating their own looks with the inspiration we’ve given them.”
Through their class the women support local industries, trying to feature as many local and Canadian products as they can in their demonstrations and makeup kits.
“It is important that we have to recognize that there are people who are not huge yet – those underdogs – but if they get the support and recognition it is just going to help everybody in the end,” Parth said.
Some of the proceeds of the class go towards the local charity Beautiful Me, which is a beauty workshop where at-risk young men and women can get professional advice from stylists, makeup artists and a fashion team. The goal is to help build confidence on both the outside and the inside.
Both women are interested in volunteering their makeup services to the charity for the next Beautiful Me class.
The next Glam Class will be hosted some time in the new year before Valentine’s Day.
