Hey everyone! My name is Niamh, however, you may know me better as Niamhartistry. Over the last year, I have managed to build myself up from creating fun videos in my bedroom, to making my passion into a part-time job and beginning to create my own legacy. Throughout this article, I will talk you through a typical day in my life, the ups and downs of social media and what content creating typically entails.
To most people TikTok is just a platform, a place of entertainment and comedy; however, to me, it’s so much more. This multi-million-dollar platform has enabled me to pursue my wildest dreams from gaining over 370,000 followers in less than a year to working with some of the biggest makeup brands in the industry and for that, I am truly grateful.
So, my typical day begins at 8:00 am, people always ask me why I get up so early and the answer is really quite simple; if you don’t have a routine, you don’t have anything. I also live by the quote that a healthy mind breeds a healthy body and therefore the first part of my day is dedicated to the gym and yoga. As my job is constantly focused on being on social media, I find it very beneficial to give my mind time in the morning to be ‘clear’ and let the ideas flow for the day. It’s very easy to get caught up on Instagram, viewing other people’s work thinking that yours should fit in and be similar to everyone else’s; however, how is your work ever supposed to flourish if you are never truly being the best version of yourself?
The answer; content. A word that is defined in the dictionary as ‘a state of satisfaction’ or ‘peacefulness’, so why wouldn’t you want your work to give you the same result? In the makeup industry, a person’s content is really what defines them as an artist and is also what your viewers decide to follow you from. If someone asked me to describe my content in one word, it would have to be versatile. There are so many different ways of self-expression through makeup from special effects to full glam and I like to incorporate as many styles as I can through my work. Not only does this help me improve my skill but also gives my followers multiple styles of content to watch on the same channel!
Then, I usually begin my makeup looks at around midday, firstly starting off by filming my beginning clips on my iPhone. For each look that I do, I aim to make about three to four TikToks all ranging with different styles from transition videos to full tutorials. The videos that are most favoured on the app are always the ‘storytime’ tutorials as my followers learn how to create a makeup look from start to finish as well as hear a funny or sometimes creepy story. When content creating, it’s always important to ensure that the audience is engaged throughout all parts of the TikTok and I, therefore, film transition videos as well. These are usually 15 seconds or less which instead of showing a step-by-step tutorial, reveal a quick change from start to finish – leaving the audience with instant gratification.
As well as this, live streams are also the main part of my page due to the fact that it helps me interact with the audience in a more friendly, face-to-face way. To me, my audience and followers are my friends. They are the ones who love and support my work and without them, I would truly be nowhere. One thing that people never seem to understand is how you can love people that you have never met, however, the bond that I have made through TikTok with both my followers and makeup friends is a special and unique one that I feel can’t really be explained.
Although, even though I have made my wildest dreams come true by working with brands, such as BH Cosmetics and Tatti Lashes, there is still a downside to what I have chosen to do. Content creating has a certain freedom to it that not many jobs have and when you choose to pursue your dreams it doesn’t come with a safety net. By this, I mean that with a typical office job a person knows that they will earn a certain amount of money a year and that they will have a secure livelihood. However, when you tell people around you that you want to be a ‘makeup artist’ it usually comes with a stigma that unfortunately, I have learned to deal with. Due to the fact that social media is a moderately new job for a person to have, it can accumulate many questions towards the person trying to pursue it, which can usually be quite negative. However, in my experience, I feel that receiving these kinds of questions at the beginning of your career only created a drive in me that made me want to do it more and prove everyone wrong – which I did.
I now stand proud with over 370,000 followers on TikTok, multiple opportunities coming my way and have found myself in such an amazing community that I wouldn’t trade for the world! At the end of the day, I think that everyone needs to realise that if you have a passion inside of you that you can’t control; you shouldn’t listen to anyone else but yourself – as no one knows the talent they hold until they try. At the end of the day, creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence.