One of the most common questions I have been asked besides "How long have you been doing makeup?", has been "Should I have a makeup contract." and the answer is "YES!" even if you are just an amateur/aspiring MUA you should always have a contract.
Each contract is specified to each artist's liking. It has taken me about 4- 6 months to actually perfect my contract as a whole. There has been a lot of trial and error with my first contract so I had to give my first contract an update and the new contract has been working out for me ever since.
One of my issues with my first contract was I never put down travel as being paid for by the client and we just verbally agreed to it. One client completely forgot that she had to pay for my travel and denied ever agreeing to it with me. I just took that L and started to put travel expenses on my contracts.
As you go along with your career you will make a contract that fits your needs specifically. Some MUAs are not travel MUAs and have it in their contract that the said client must come to them for any and all services.
This is going to be a basic overview of important things to have in your MUA Bridal/Model contracts, so if something were to happen you would be covered.
First and most important thing you want in your contract is the binding clause ex:
This Contract outlines an agreement and all contractual obligations made on _________(date) between _____(artist) and _____________(Bride/client) of ______________ (address) ___________(city) _________(state) _________(zip)
Anything after this sentence is what you and the client agreed upon. You will put the services you are going to be doing, pricing, who you are doing makeup on, where you are doing the makeup etc. If the bride plans on you staying all day then you should also put your retainer fee here.
You also want to add the terms of service stating how long you are going to be on each client (If you are doing a Bride and Bridal party then more time should be spent on the bride). Here you can add all of the extra terms you and the bride agreed on. Be sure that everything gin the contract is what you and the bride verbally agreed on. I have a seperate page where we write out extra details by hand and have the bride sign and date it.
Another very important clause that should be added is the picture release the authorization of release of photos. It's always nice to take pictures of your photos especially if they are going to help you build your portfolio. Let them know that the photos are going to be used in good faith and you will not be selling their photos or even adding their names if they do not want you to.
I know I said the most important thing was the binding sentence but I was wrong... The MOST important clause is the Allergies clause. This is very very important. You want to add because say you use latex sponges or glue in your kit and the client is allergic to latex, you can be held accountable! You want to ask the client if they are allergic to makeup, products and/or treatments, make sure you write down their allergies and if they say they have none write that down as well and make them sign off on that as well.
You also would want a travel and accommodation clause. You would want to included anything you may need, train tickets, gas money, parking, tolls, air fare and hotel accommodations if you have to sleep at the location.
You want to make sure the job is beneficial to you and you are not losing money by performing your services.
The payment clause. You want to put how you want to get paid and when you want to get paid. You can put the deposit requirement and make sure you are putting how they should fill out checks if you allow checks, which types of checks you do allow them. I do not take checks so I make sure I have the acceptable forms of payment in my contract. Be sure to add if your deposit is non-refundable or if you allow refunds. But you also want to add that if the service cannot be completed because of any unforeseen circumstances that happened with YOU, the artist, that money will in fact be refunded.
I also have a 48 hour cancelation notice if our appointment is canceled after the 48 hours I will send a bill for the full amount of the services as per our signed and dated agreement.
There is also 20 days notice requirement of a venue change or any other changes.
And lastly you want to have signatures, yours and the client with the date. Once all of the details are worked out you want to have the client sign and date the contract with you, it will bind you both into your agreement.
I like to keep a few extra papers with my contracts just in case we need to add extra things and have the client sign them as well. Once again to cover myself and the client so there is no confusions when the day comes and so I don't have to over pack my kit. I do my best to carry exactly what I need since I don't always have a lot of space to lay things out and there are a lot of people around... I don't want thing to get up and walk away.
I hope this helps some people when it comes to writing up their contracts, you can also google "MUA contracts" and see many examples of other people's contracts. I do not suggest using other's contracts word for word. You may not understand the wording of their contact and use their exact contract and get yourself caught up in something you can't handle. Make sure your contracts fit your services and are something YOU understand as well as the client.
I will be doing a PRO series every 2 weeks so I hope you all tune in to my youtube channel
www.youtube.com/Lipstickmafia01
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