MAKEUP COURSES
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★ 1,345 reviews · Teaching since 2008 · Lifetime course access · Pay in 3 with Klarna
Browse by course type, or skip straight to advice and FAQs.
Makeup is what clients book for the days that matter, and bridal work is booked months in advance at a rate everyday makeup never reaches. Our courses take you from colour theory and skin preparation through to full bridal looks, then on to the semi-permanent techniques that hold for months rather than hours.
Not Sure Where to Start?
Pick the option that sounds most like you.
I Want to Start With Makeup
The Makeup Course is £75 in the current sale and covers colour theory, skin types and application for day, evening and special occasions. It is the groundwork the bridal and contouring courses build on, so it is the usual place to start.
I Want to Work Weddings
The Bridal Makeup Course teaches three complete looks — natural, elegant and glamorous — plus strip lash application and the preparation that keeps makeup intact from the trial through to the last dance.
I Already Work in Beauty
Semi-permanent makeup is a different skill at a different price point. Clients pay in the hundreds for brows, lip liner or eyeliner and come back to have the work topped up, so one trained treatment changes what a day in the diary is worth.
Makeup Courses
Take one course on its own or build up over time. Each one covers the theory behind the look — colour, skin type, product choice — and then the application itself, with your practical work assessed by a tutor who writes back to you. All three are accredited by ABT, IPHM and IGCT.
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Semi-Permanent Makeup Courses
Semi-permanent makeup is machine work: pigment placed into the skin so the result lasts months rather than a day. It is a separate skill from brush makeup, at a higher price point, and clients return to have the work topped up. These courses are certificated by Next Step Beauty rather than accredited. For microblading and the full package, see our SPMU courses.
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I recently completed the Online Makeup Course with Next Step Beauty. I found the course straightforward and easy to follow, but very informative. I feel as though I now have all the skills and knowledge to enter the Makeup Artistry Field. The customer service from Next Step Beauty is Second to none, any queries are answered instantly and within a day of submitting my course I received my mark and certificate. I will most definitely be returning to continue my learning with Next Step in the Future
I have finished the bridal makeup course. I am very happy. Thank you for the wonderful information. I am very proud to have finished it from your site and I am now looking forward to finishing the permanent tattoo course.
I have recently completed an online makeup course and it was the easiest way to complete a course. I didn’t have to worry about coursework deadlines as it was all completed in the comfort of my own home! I could do it at my own pace and it was so easy! 100% recommend this company to anyone!
Meet Your Tutor
Victoria Arpels BA (Hons), Cert Ed
Victoria trained in beauty therapy, worked in a busy spa and lectured in further education colleges before founding Next Step Beauty in 2008. Since then, Next Step Beauty has taught more than 100,000 students, with learners in 65 countries and territories across six continents. Victoria demonstrates the techniques in our course videos and, with our tutor team, supports students through personal feedback on their case studies and our private student groups.
Not sure which course is right for you? Leave your number and our friendly team will call you back to help you choose.
What’s Included with Every Makeup Course
Lifetime Access
Study at your own pace with no deadlines and keep your course materials for life.
Tutor Feedback
Submit case studies and get personal feedback from our tutors.
Tutor-Assessed Diploma
Receive a diploma certificate once your written work and photographic case studies have been marked by a tutor.
Unlimited Resubmissions
If an assessment needs another go, resubmit as many times as you need at no extra cost.
Optional Kit
Add a professional kit to your course, or use the products and brushes you already own.
Private Student Groups
Join our private student groups to ask questions, share your work and learn alongside other students.
After Your Course: From Diploma to Your First Clients
Finishing your course is the start of the next step. Here’s how students go from learning to working with clients.
1. Practise on Your Models
You will practise on models and photograph your work as you go. This is the bulk of a makeup course and the part that turns knowledge into a look someone will pay for.
2. Get Your Diploma
Pass your assessed case studies and receive your diploma certificate. If an assessment needs another try, you can resubmit as many times as you need.
3. Plan Your Business
Business training is included with every course to help you set your prices, present your work and find your first clients.
4. Keep Growing
Add a second or third course as your client list grows. One bride often brings her bridesmaids and her mother, and the same client comes back for parties and photoshoots.
Why Choose a Career in Makeup?
Makeup is the cheapest treatment to train in and the easiest to take on the road. You need a kit and a set of brushes rather than a treatment room, and the work follows events — weddings, proms, parties and photoshoots — so it can fit around whatever else your week already holds.
- Low Cost To Start: a kit and a set of brushes, with no couch, machine or salon fit-out to pay for.
- You Travel To Them: makeup works at a kitchen table, a hotel room or a wedding venue, so you are not tied to premises.
- An Event-Led Diary: weddings, proms and parties cluster at weekends and in season, which suits anyone fitting work around other commitments.
- Room To Move Up: semi-permanent makeup is the same client at several hundred pounds a treatment, booked again for top-ups.
Makeup Techniques Explained
Not sure how bridal differs from everyday makeup, or what semi-permanent actually involves? Here is what each one is and who it suits.
Everyday Makeup
Colour theory, skin preparation and product choice, then application for day, evening and special occasions. It is the groundwork everything else assumes.
Bridal Makeup
Three complete looks from the trial through to the wedding day, plus strip lashes and the preparation that keeps makeup intact for twelve hours of photographs.
Contouring and Highlighting
Light and shadow used to change how a face reads in the room and on camera, suited to every face shape and skin tone.
Ombre and Powder Brows
A soft, shaded brow built with a semi-permanent machine. Covers skin anatomy, colour theory, brow mapping, technique and aftercare.
Semi-Permanent Lip Liner
Redefining the lip line and evening out colour with pigment, from lip anatomy and colour theory through to technique and aftercare.
Semi-Permanent Eyeliner
Pigment placed along the lash line, from a fine lash enhancement through to a defined liner, with eye anatomy and pre-procedure advice.
Brush Makeup vs Bridal vs Semi-Permanent
All three are makeup. They differ in how long the result lasts and in how the work reaches your diary, which is what decides where to start.
| Everyday Makeup | Bridal Makeup | Semi-Permanent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it works | Product applied to the surface of the skin | Long-wear products layered for a full day | Pigment placed into the skin with a machine |
| How long it lasts | A day | A wedding day, through photographs and weather | Months, then a top-up |
| Booked for | Parties, nights out, photoshoots, lessons | Weddings, booked months ahead, often with the bridal party | Brows, lip liner or eyeliner, booked as an appointment and a review |
| What you need | A kit and brushes | A kit, brushes and reliable travel | A machine, pigments and a hygienic setup |
| Skill it builds on | None — start here | Everyday makeup | A separate discipline; brush makeup is useful but not assumed |
| Certification | Accredited by ABT, IPHM and IGCT | Accredited by ABT, IPHM and IGCT | Certificated by Next Step Beauty |
Semi-permanent work is regulated differently from brush makeup and insurers set their own requirements, so check what applies to you before taking paying clients.
Makeup Courses UK: Train in Makeup and Semi-Permanent Makeup Online
Our online makeup courses cover both halves of the trade: brush makeup, from everyday application through to full bridal looks, and semi-permanent makeup, where pigment is placed into the skin and the result lasts months.
Each course is video-led, with Victoria demonstrating the technique, and you work through it at your own pace. There are no deadlines and no timetable. You keep your course materials for life, so you can go back to a demonstration months later when a client asks for something you have not done in a while.
Your practical work is assessed by a tutor who writes back to you with feedback, and if an assessment needs another go you can resubmit as many times as you need at no extra cost. Business training is included with every course, covering pricing, presenting your work and finding your first clients, and you can join our private student groups to ask questions and see what other students are producing.
The Makeup, Bridal Makeup and Contouring and Highlighting courses are accredited by ABT, IPHM and IGCT, and are recognised by insurers including Towergate, Radius, Insync and Balens — though every insurer sets its own requirements, so check with yours. The semi-permanent makeup courses are certificated by Next Step Beauty rather than accredited.
Most students complete within a few weeks to a few months, and you can pay in three with Klarna or EziPay. More than 100,000 students across 65 countries have trained with us since 2008.
Mastering Your Beauty Business Launch
Training gives you the skills. This free guide shows you what comes next, so you can take on your first paying clients with confidence and do it properly from day one.
- Getting set up properly – registering as self-employed and choosing the right business structure
- Protecting yourself and your clients – the insurance, hygiene standards and licences you may need
- Deciding where you’ll work – mobile, from home or renting salon space, compared side by side
- Pricing your treatments – working out your start-up costs and setting prices you can sustain
- Winning clients who come back – consultations, trust and turning first bookings into regulars
- Workbook exercises after every chapter – so you finish with a plan, not just notes
Makeup Course FAQs
Do I Need Any Experience to Start?
No experience is needed for the Makeup Course, the Bridal Makeup Course or Contouring and Highlighting. Each one starts with colour theory and skin preparation before any application.
The semi-permanent courses are a different matter. You are placing pigment into skin with a machine, so they assume you are comfortable consulting a client and working to a mapped shape. If you are new to makeup altogether, start with the Makeup Course.
Can I Really Learn Makeup Online?
Makeup suits video better than most treatments, because the camera sits roughly where your own eyes would be. You can see the brush angle, how much product is picked up and how a blend is built in layers, and you can rewind a step as often as you like — which you cannot do when a tutor demonstrates once in a classroom.
What video cannot do is hold the brush for you. The practical work is yours to carry out on models, and that is what your tutor marks.
Do I Need Models?
Yes. Every makeup course is assessed on work you carry out on real faces and photograph as you go, so you will need willing models before you can finish.
Friends and family are fine. For bridal you want someone prepared to sit for a full look rather than a quick one, and for semi-permanent your models need to understand the result stays with them for months.
What Kit Will I Need?
For the brush courses: foundation covering a range of skin tones, concealer, powder, blusher, bronzer, an eyeshadow palette, liner, mascara, lip products and a set of brushes. Add strip lashes for bridal.
Semi-permanent needs a machine, cartridges, pigments and the hygiene setup that goes with working on broken skin.
You can add a professional kit when you enrol, or use what you already own.
Are These Courses Accredited?
The Makeup Course, Bridal Makeup Course and Contouring and Highlighting Course are accredited by ABT, IPHM and IGCT, and are recognised by insurers including Towergate, Radius, Insync and Balens. Every insurer sets its own requirements, so check with yours before you take paying clients.
The semi-permanent makeup courses are certificated by Next Step Beauty rather than accredited.
How Long Will It Take?
There is no set length. A single makeup course is often finished within a few weeks, and students taking two or three work through them over a few months, fitting study around whatever else they have on. Because access is for life, a quiet month costs you nothing.
Should I Start With Makeup or Semi-Permanent Makeup?
If you want event and weekend work with very little to spend up front, start with the Makeup Course and add Bridal. You can take bookings on a kit and a set of brushes.
If you already work in beauty and want more from each appointment, semi-permanent is the bigger step: a machine, a different consultation and a result your client lives with for months. Ombre and powder brows is usually the first one people take.