Tanya Goughenour

Applying eye shadow, senior Bailey Goughenour completes a makeup look. Goughenour started her makeup Instagram and YouTube accounts this summer in order to further her hobby and do more freelance makeup. “As of right now, I’d say my Instagram account is what I’m most proud of because I put a lot of effort into it, and it’s really satisfying to see people following me, commenting or direct messaging me asking if I can do their makeup,” Goughenour said.

After experimenting with makeup in middle school for fun, senior Bailey Goughenour began doing her friends’ makeup for homecoming and other events. Now, she does freelance as a self-taught makeup artist, building her following and skill set on both Instagram and YouTube.

“I would do my makeup for work on the weekends, and a lot of people would come up to me and be like, ‘your makeup is really pretty, do you do freelance?’ I didn’t do it at the time, but I started thinking, I could make some money out of this and take it somewhere,” Goughenour said. “It felt great that I was passionate about something, and people thought it was good. That’s definitely what made me want to start an Instagram account.”

By watching YouTube tutorials, Goughenour was able to develop her makeup skills even further.

“I really like NikkieTutorials because she’s just really skilled, and I like Jaclyn Hill–they’re my top two,” Goughenour said. “Other makeup artists have influenced me to stay determined and not lose sight of the big picture. It’s inspiring how famous some of them are, and I aspire to be as skilled as some of them one day, which will just take practice.”

Currently taking AP Art Studio, Goughenour’s background as an artist also helped her improve in makeup.

“I kind of see a face like a canvas because I can transform and enhance features, and I just think about it like I’m painting on someone’s face,” Goughenour said. “It’s really exciting to create something and see it be what you wanted. How people can create stuff with just their hands and make it look like it’s 3D or real life is so fascinating to me. I’m just really interested in all that stuff.”

Goughenour strives to elevate the natural features of someone’s face instead of trying to change them.

“I like to not necessarily transform someone’s face to where they’re unrecognizable but enhance their face. I don’t want it to be like ‘cake face’ as people say,” Goughenour said. “I like to keep more of a natural brow, and I don’t like to use eyeliner as much because I feel like it can overpower somebody’s face. I just like to keep it a little more natural but still that face-tuned-looking smoothness.”

Hoping to continue to grow her social media presence and clientele, Goughenour specifically wants to expand her range of foundations. 

“I have a lot of foundations that are around my skin tone or a little bit lighter or deeper, so I definitely want to build a deeper foundation range,” Goughenour said. “Building my foundation range is very important to me because I don’t want to have to single anyone out because I don’t have their skin tone in my collection. That is definitely something I will be investing in and asking brands for samples of their foundations to expand it. I hate to have to turn down a person because I simply don’t have their skin color in my collection.”

Although she does not want to pursue makeup as a career, Goughenour plans to continue to do it as a hobby with her growing presence on social media.  

“It’s just cool to see that people trust me to do their makeup because a lot of people don’t like how a makeup artist would do something,” Goughenour said. “It’s so exciting that people ask me, an inexperienced makeup artist, to do their makeup. As more people comment and ask me to do their makeup, it encourages me to keep doing it.”