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Entrepreneur to use #HERPitch grant to expand into mobile makeup beauty bar
- Details
- Tuesday, 04 April 2023
- Written by Hannah Lee
To say weddings are stressful is an understatement. With so many people, and so many things to do, members of the wedding party can easily get stressed. From the venue to the dresses, everything should be perfect.
As a makeup artist, Kristen Brabble helps fulfill a vision many people have on their perfect wedding day.
“I love making people feel like themselves, the best version of them,” Brabble told Up & Coming Weekly.
“I love being a part of those really intimate days. These are days where it's just your closest family and friends, and you really get to watch these really special moments. You know, words being said, heirlooms being passed down, gifts being given. And it's just really beautiful to watch someone going through this big milestone and they have so many more milestones ahead of them. And it's just the beginning. It's really beautiful.”
For her, makeup is not just a superficial thing. Makeup is a superpower that can boost confidence and make people feel beautiful.
Based out of Raleigh, Brabble owns her own business, Hello Pretty. She often works in and around Fayetteville for weddings and events. She started her aesthetics career in 2007, and became a full-time bridal makeup artist in 2013.
However, since the pandemic, the wedding industry has changed. Wedding parties are a lot more intimate, and wedding venues don’t allow a large number of guests to enter their properties at one time. That includes makeup artists.
“Usually, people get ready at the wedding venue. That's just kind of always traditionally been what you do. You get ready at the wedding venue. We used to be able to get into the wedding venues at 8 in the morning, and now it's more like between 11 and 1. So it's cut down on time to get everybody ready drastically,” Brabble said.
Some venues even placed the makeup artists in a small trailer that had no air conditioning and was often unbalanced. The space was small and crowded, leaving everyone feeling uncomfortable.
This inspired her to come up with her own mobile makeup and beauty bar.
“That way, everybody can arrive, and everybody can stay on-site the day of the wedding to get ready. So I would like to take a camper and outfit it to be really cute and fun and something that can fit a bridal party so that everyone can be together and do their hair and makeup the day of the wedding in a nice, timely manner.”
While Brabble doesn’t have a design drawn out, she does have a vision of what she wants inside this renovated camper. When you walk in, there will be a long U-shaped bench and a long table where people can gather, sit, talk and eat. On the right, she wants two chairs in front of mirrors, which will be perfect for makeup and hair. The kitchen will remain in the camper, so people can have food and drinks while they get ready for their big days. The room in the back of the camper will be redone to have an extra makeup/styling chair as well as an area for photos and selfies.
“Everyone wants a good photo moment. So there will be a space in there for photographic moments,” Brabble said.
Overall, the camper will have cute and fun wallpaper, be colorful and just be exciting. But this camper won’t be used just for weddings or special events. Brabble says this camper will be used to start mobile makeup lessons.
“I get a lot of inquiries about lessons. So in having this mobile beauty bar, it's also going to help me expand greatly on another portion of what I do, and that's the lessons,” Brabble said.
Brabble recently presented her idea as a part of #HERPitch. Out of a dozen business owners, Brabble was one of the four winners who received a grant for $2,500 from CEED Capital and the Women of Power Society of NC.
Brabble hopes to launch her mobile makeup beauty bar in six months. She is both excited and nervous, but she can’t imagine this launch not happening.
“It's definitely one of those things that I think about all day. It's like one of those things that I can't imagine it not happening, if that makes sense. It's like tunnel vision for me at this point and that came through at the end of the tunnel.”
For more information about Brabble and her company, Hello Pretty, visit www.helloprettyyou.com.
