This analysis method has some limitations: many scientists consider the method too narrow, since it is more focused on the search for similarities rather than differences (Vaismoradi, Turunen & Bondas, 2013). However, it should be noted that the main goal of this study is to get a general idea of ??how a makeup artist represents his aesthetic work in blenden Instagram accounts. Therefore, the search for similar experiences and interpretations of informants here seems to be a very reasonable method of analysis.



4. Study results: Digital representation of aesthetic labor

In the course of this study, many results that directly or indirectly help formulate the answer to the research question were obtained. First there will be introductory results: a brief portrait of an informant - beauty industry worker, as well as a brief description of the makeup artist's workflow. This will help to form a holistic view of this labor field as an object of this study. Then, in accordance with the stated research tasks, there will be a section of results devoted to the description of aesthetic work in the profession of a makeup artist in the offline sphere: what aspects make up this aesthetic work, why they are important, what are their consequences for the worker and his career. Then, the importance of online platforms, in particular Instagram, for designing and promoting a personal brand will be considered. Finally, the online aesthetic work of a makeup artist will be described: what constitutes this work in online spaces, the features and consequences of these aesthetic efforts, how it differs from offline aesthetic work. And also what aspects of aesthetic work are broadcast from the offline world to online spaces.

Summarizing portrait of informants

In this part, it was necessary to create a brief description of a beauty industry worker. Attention was paid to such areas as higher education, hobbies, and personality traits. A description of the informant's beauty activities at the moment was also received.

Describing education, all informants mentioned higher or incomplete higher education. More importantly, none of the participants received higher education in areas related to the beauty industry or other areas that could be tied to the topic of this study, such as fashion, design, etc.

Regarding hobbies of informants, it was found out that most of the participants in the study are easily addicted to new activities, and also easily abandon them, due to loss of pleasure. A significant part of informants has an art base and graduated from art schools in childhood. Many also noted that knowledge of the proportions of the face, understanding of human architecture, vision of color and mastery of the brush significantly helped in the development of the profession of makeup artist.

Informant 5 (22 years, work experience 6 years): “I also graduated from art school in childhood. And I still had some color rendering skills... I hold the brush in my hands more confidently. It seems to me that this is a much stronger base than you just go to some makeup artist and study there for a month, right?”

In general, most informants noted a high level of enthusiasm for various activities and a rapid loss of interest in certain activities. As for the passion for makeup in childhood and adolescence, many informants emphasized the interest in makeup and the periodic provision of free services to close friends and relatives.

As for personal character traits, the majority of informants singled out such qualities as sociability, and responsibility and determination were often mentioned. Some called themselves «Extroverts» and noted their predisposition to leadership. The ability for self-reflection, as well as creativity was highlighted (McRobbie, 2002).

Informant 3 (27 years, work experience 3 years): “I was a very active child, I am 100% extrovert. I love to be in the center of attention, I love to be a leader in a company.”

15 out of 18 informants had basic professional education in the beauty industry. Those who did not complete basic professional courses explained this by the lack of the need for paper diplomas and certificates to start a successful career in the field of beauty.

Informant 7 (25 years, experience 1 year): “Education in the field of beauty, all these diplomas and crusts are purely our whim, because in fact, no one looks where you studied, they look at what you can give.”

However, the lack of basic training does not mean the absence of periods of professional training, because all participants in the study during their career paths attended and completed at least one professional course or master class and received the relevant documents. This can also be attributed to professional education in the beauty industry.

Informant 8 (20 years, work experience 3 years): “Then, of course, I took courses, but these were not basic courses, it was just extension courses in order to learn new techniques. To this day, I am learning and gaining new knowledge.”

It should also be noted that more than half of the informants are also associated with other areas of the beauty industry, such as stylists, hairstylists or eyebrow masters. It is important to emphasize that 7 out of 18 informants are also associated with teaching activities in the field of visage.

Beauty industry as a professional field

Motivation for entering beauty

Despite the fact that the career path of all informants began approximately the same, completely different thoughts and ideas motivated them to enter this area. This topic must be considered, since various motivations could significantly affect the entire further career path of beauty industry workers and their inner experience in it.

As a result of the analysis, it was found that the current trend towards female entrepreneurship is quite relevant today (Duffy & Hund, 2015). One of the most common reasons for entering to this profession, as informants noted, is a woman's desire to go into own business (Abrosimova, 2015) and work exclusively for herself.

Informant 1 (22 years, work experience 3 years): “For me the worst thing I can imagine is working for someone or working in the office. My main law of life is to work for yourself, not for someone else.”

Some participants also noted that before that they worked in firms whose activities were completely unrelated to the beauty industry. And while for some informants the career there developed too quickly and successfully, others experienced significant discomfort when working in the organization. Therefore, the former preferred to change their focus on visage, as they had already reached the “ceiling” in their field.

Informant 3 (27 years, experience 3 years): “I reached the head - it was in my dreams and plans. But when I achieved this, my slight disappointment happened. What's next?”

While others left because they could not stand the emotional pressure from colleagues, clients and superiors. Here, the relevance of emotional work to organizational workers can also be seen (Hoshchild 1983). Some of the informants simply could not force themselves to perform surface acting (Brotheridge, 2003) and experiencing emotional dissonance due to some personal beliefs, while others simply felt dissatisfaction with work and emotional burnout (Grandey&Gabriel, 2015).

Informant 6 (29 years, work experience 7 years old): “Your brain is constantly being taken out to you: customers are taking out your brain, bosses are taking out your brain - it's terrible hassle...”

One of the common reasons for moving into the profession was the desire to make people beautiful, which, as Abrosimova (2015) said, is "in the blood" of women. This is directly related to the theme of this work, as it has a direct bearing on topics of aesthetics and beauty. Many noted that they have a desire to work with women, creating a pleasant appearance for them and watching their subsequent reaction. Since informants emphasized that they themselves feel pleasure from this, this pattern of behavior is reflected in the concept of passionate labor (McRobbie, 2002).

Informant 3 (27 years, work experience 3 years): “I understand that money is necessary in any case, but this should not be the main goal. The main goal should be - to realize what you want, get high from your work and get energy from it and give it back to people. Only then everything will work out.”

An important fact is that many informants noted their connection with the beauty industry until they entered the profession of the makeup artist. Mainly by “connection” they mean participating in the shootings as models or organizers. And one of the reasons that motivated them to go into this profession was the lack of taste of other masters in this field and partly the desire to prove to themselves and others that "I can do better." The sense of taste is directly related to the theme of aesthetics, so it is very important to consider it here.

Informant 5 (23 years, work experience 2 years): “I was a model and I was often made up so terribly. I watched, people earn money on this, and I realized that I can do better. I saw that some people have no vision, taste, and it seemed to me that I could do it better.”

In this sense, it can be argued that in this way makeup artists try to partially represent themselves as a professional, and taste here is a unique characteristic that distinguishes a professional makeup artist both from ordinary people and from less successful colleagues in this field (Quintanilha, 2019).

Work and life balance

A separate important topic is the organization of work of makeup artists. This is necessary because this study assumes that makeup artists are seen as freelance workers whose work is independent of a particular organization. To some extent, this can leave an imprint on their career paths.

The desire to stop working in the organization that was mentioned above was often explained by the desire to avoid routine monotonous schedule.

Informant 17 (30 years, work experience 2 years): “In fact, you don't see life at all: you go to work, from work and that's it. Groundhog Day. You do not live - you survive.”

It may be emphasized here that many decided to go on a visage with the advent of children, because the normalized work schedule with 5 working days for a week does not allow women to properly devote time to family and home (Abrosimova 2015), in other words, to work in the second shift.

Informant 18 (36 years old, work experience 2 years): “My husband asked me to return to the family, because the absence of a mother with two children affects very much, I worked for five days and, you know, the house is neglected...”

All informants in the sample claimed that they work on the principle of freelance. The peculiarity of such a schedule requires a high level of self-organization and time management from the employee, as well as the ability to objectively assess the future, the upcoming workload and the potential amount of earnings (McRobbie, 2002).

Informant 2 (25 years, work experience 1 year): “Of course I don't overwork: I can take three clients today, and that's it, I won't take the fourth one, because I know that I'll make the fourth one poorly.”

Work on freelance means that the master himself regulates client flows and, accordingly, the amount of profit received. To ensure the greatest influx of profit, this principle of work requires the employee to be constantly in touch and always be ready to work (Gregg, 2011).

Informant 3 (27 years, work experience 3 years): “I rarely refuse clients, firstly, because I have not yet reached such a level that I have many queues, and I value every client...”

Therefore, many makeup artists have certain difficulties in the work and life balance, since the irregular schedule of this activity forces them to adjust the entire life schedule to the needs of clients. Therefore, the boundaries between work and the rest of life are quite blurred (Hearn, 2008).

Commercial and non-commercial projects

The non-commercial projects, which are called TFP or “Time for photo” projects, are the important aspect of makeup artist's workflow. The essence of such projects is that neither the model, nor the make-up artist, nor the photographer, receive any money profit for their work. But each of the above gets photos that he can subsequently use in his work portfolio. It is necessary to mention this topic, since non-commercial projects differ from commercial ones not only in the absence of remuneration. They also have different goals, have different emotional effects on the participants, require significant aesthetic work, and also have promotional consequences for all the people involved in the project.

First, many informants noted that in the beauty field, the master needs to collect a portfolio at the beginning of the work path. However, in this situation, the question arises, because the master does not have enough experience and connections to collect the right number of photos to attract new customers. For this, make-up artists participate in non-commercial projects of the TFP, which, in addition help to practice the acquired skills, provide them with valuable photographs.

Informant 7 (25 years, 1 year work experience): “Of course, in any field, especially in the field of beauty and the provision of services - first you work for yourself and your portfolio.”

Informant 3 (27 years, work experience 3 years): “This is such a profession that requires free work... It took me about a year to roll, I did not start very quickly.”

Non-profit projects allow makeup artists to build up a lot of weak networks, which in the conditions of information asymmetry and a high level of competition in this area provide makeup artists with the opportunity to be invited to interesting projects and to find paid orders (Tian & Lin, 2016). As Wittel (2001) argued, each new acquaintance can be converted into a potential useful work resource.

Informant 18 (36 years, work experience 2 years): “These shootings give a lot. This is a great opportunity to know someone, the same photographers, models and then organize some creative projects. This is very helpful.”

Equally important are the strong connections that can arise as a result of TFP projects, (Granovetter, 1983). This is mainly relationships with colleagues - with photographers and stylists, with whom makeup artist can subsequently organize an effective working team.

Informant 12 (30 years, work experience 8 years): “I regret that at one time I did not make friends and did not cooperate.... To me that was not very interesting, and I did not understand. In fact, it is very important to collaborate with some photographer, you go together. She pushes some work to you, you work in pairs and it's much more interesting, it can move forward and so on.”

Most makeup artists noted that initially they worked exclusively in non-profit projects, due to the lack of proper experience, the number of connections and acquaintances. This period is not the easiest for representatives of this profession, as it implies a lack of profit, great emotional and physical costs. It can be said that this period allows maintaining a normal level of competition in this environment, since people whose desire and opportunity to work in the beauty industry is not strong enough or whose skills are significantly below the norm are excluded outside the industry.

Informant 16 (27 years old, work experience 5 years): “I didn't earn anything at all for about three months. I just spent. People didn't even want to go to me for free, not like some kind of consumables. It's a big plus that at that moment I didn't need financially... Because if you need to constantly earn money, I probably would not even go into this profession.”

Thus, it can be noted that in this area, as in others, which Mears (2014) attributed to precarious creative employment, non-commercial projects play a huge role. Firstly, they allow inexperienced workers to form the necessary number of strong and weak ties. Moreover, they help to improve skills and create a portfolio that will subsequently provide new customers. Finally, the TFP - period acts as a specific filter in this area, leaving only the most interested and talented people in the industry.

Aesthetic work in the profession of makeup artist offline

Emotional labor

Undoubtedly the concept of passionate work (McRobbie, 2002) can be used here. Many informants emphasized that they get pleasure from the work, and it makes them move on, despite the emotional and physical cost.

Informant 18 (36 years, work experience 2 years): “Feeling of satisfaction somehow overlaps fatigue. Therefore, it is still more pleasure for me.”

Informant 10 (26 years old, work experience 8 years): “I feel tired, exhausted, but basically very happy. I'm very tired, but I'm very pleased.”

Moreover, some informants pointed out that one of the consequences of this work is a partial improvement in moral health and inner state.

Informant 10 (26 years old, work experience 8 years): “My morale has only improved: I feel more full, happy person. Because I understand that I am self-sufficient and do what I like. ”

Informant 15 (22 years, work experience 6 years): “Morally influenced. Because I like what I do, it gives me pleasure; I feel that I am developing, that I am not sitting at the one place”

What is more important, since this sphere is directly related to aesthetics and beauty, some participants noted that there would be no pleasure from the result of the work if there was no pleasure from the work process, that is, the creation of makeup and the provision of the service as a whole.

Informant 4 (26 years, 1 year work experience): “I can't imagine how you can do something beautiful visually if you don't enjoy doing it.”

However, despite the obvious positive emotional aspect, this work is still a work in the service sector, which means constant contact with people. That can bring not only positive but also negative emotions, moreover, it may require significant emotional costs from the master (Hochschild, 1883).

The profession of makeup artist, despite the efforts of modern society, in most cases still refers more to the "female professions." Jones and Pringle (2015) highlight the importance of ability to be flexible in many "female" professions. Besides women also should be able to pay attention and listen carefully. Authors state that not all representatives of the male are able to show these qualities.

Indeed, almost all informants noted such soft skills as the ability to find a common language, the ability to listen and understand the client, lack of aggression, and stress resistance. The presence of such skills at the initial stage can also work as a filter, since not all people going into the profession realize the importance of their presence and development.

Informant 2 (25 years, 1 year work experience): “Few people stay in the profession, because there are many psychological nuances: one-on-one you work with a person and not everyone likes it. It's hard for someone to start talking, and if you don't talk with the client, then nothing will work. Even if you do makeup cool. You will not understand each other simply.”

It is important to note that makeup artists who had experience of work in the beauty salon claimed that such working pattern, unlike working on freelance, does not require significant emotional costs from the master, as the flow of clients is provided by the salon itself. Therefore, there is no need to show high interest and build emotional contact with the client in order to create a favorable atmosphere. Worker just needs to be polite and show a minimal set of soft skills to ensure the proper level of service in the organization (Bolton, 2000).

Informant 7 (25 years, 1 year work experience): “When I worked in a beauty salon: people come and you just render the service like a machine without any mental expenses.”

Many informants noted that the exchange of energy with a client can both bring positive emotions, and negatively affect the moral state of both. And in the case when the master spends more moral energy, informants often referred to the concept of “Energy vampires” - people who purposefully bring the master to emotions because of their nature or having certain goals, for example, the desire to use the service for free.

Informant 3 (27 years, work experience 3 years): “There are such energy vampires, they just suck you so hard, they carry the negative.”

Informant 16 (27 years old, work experience 5 years): “These were women who like to scandal. If you cannot perceive this, I don't know what you will do in this profession.”

Informant 6 (29 years old, work experience 4 years): “There are such clients who simply want to paint for free and don't want to pay, who say “I don't like it” and leave.”

According to informants, one of the few correct decisions in this situation is patience and hiding negative emotions. "Service with a Smile" (Grandey & Gabriel, 2015), although it is emotionally costly, to some extent, will help to avoid negative consequences, such as conflicts and scandals, which subsequently can adversely affect the reputation of the master.

Informant 17 (30 years, work experience 2 years): “If there are conflicts, you just say “Sorry, I'm not your master ”and send them home, even though they throw curses on you. If you'll give a reaction - you will give a reason for a quarrel. Firstly, you yourself will feel very bad, and secondly, she will have something to say.”

It is important to note that the “surface acting” principle (Brotheridge, 2003) works in this situation. That is, in this case, the makeup artist puts on a kind of mask to hide the emotion that has already arisen inside him and to avoid all the consequences described above. Some noted that this surface acting depicts the high professionalism of the master.

Informant 1 (22 years, work experience 3 years): “Each time we went up to the mirror and she said: “Oh, here we need to fix it ”. Then I came up, just brushed her face with a brush, pretended that I was changing something, then she said: “Yes, now I like it.” Such people need more time. Of course, it is not the most pleasant process.”

Conflicts may also arise due to the distorted perception of the beauty services by the client. Cosmetics affect the perception of volumes of facial features and all these changes provide the face with the more physically correct features, making the person more attractive to himself and others (Jones, et. al., 2018). However, understanding this fact causes the client's high expectations of unrealistic results. In this situation, the outcome also depends on the communication skills of the master and the ability to convey the right information to the person.

Informant 5 (23 years, work experience 2 years): “I am not a plastic surgeon. And people see the picture and they think that if they made up it will be exactly the same... It will not... You need to understand this...”

Moreover, customers can have a completely different idea of ??beauty, which can cause confusion in the relationship between the client and the master. Such situations require certain emotional costs for the makeup artist, but many informants noted that their main goal in a commercial order is not to receive pleasure, but to fulfill the assigned technical task in order to ensure the greatest satisfaction with client expectations.

Informant 3 (27 years, work experience 3 years): “As a rule, we don't argue, because it's already difficult to convince such people, and even if you do it your way, then most likely she will feel uncomfortable all day.”

Often the presence of one's own sense of taste and the authority of a makeup artist play the role of Bourdieu's symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1990), which allows him to come to a compromise through communication with a customer.

Interviewer: “Well, is it possible to convince a client?”

Informant 4 (26 years old, 1 year work experience): “Yes, I think it is experience, or you are somehow savvy in psychology. It seems to me that savvy in psychology helps in such works. That is, you can analyze the fear or hostility of the client and somehow turn it in your direction.”

Moreover, this symbolic capital can explain such situations when a client relies completely on the skill of a makeup artist and asks to do something “to his taste”. However, informants noted that in this situation, they try to determine the future result through communication with the client. Because with a mismatch between the aesthetics of the master and the client, the latter may have a feeling of disappointment, which can negatively affect the reputation and emotional state of the makeup artist.

Emotions in the makeup artist's work can be caused not only by the actions of the client, but also by the internal statement of the makeup artist. So many informants noted that at the beginning of their careers experience a significant sense of fear.

Informant 11 (22 years, work experience 2 years): “Excitement. It was difficult for me to overcome this distance, I touch someone's face. It is very close, intimate. And I stepped over it for a long time; it was strange for me to go into the comfort zone of another person.”

Fear can adversely affect both the result of the work and the process, so makeup artists noted that they purposefully demonstrate self-confidence, which again reflects the concept of surface acting and putting on a mask. Such tactics in the long term contributes to the emergence of a real sense of confidence, which can already be called deep acting (Brotheridge, 2003), since this is a real feeling inside the person, and not just a facial image of the desired emotion.

Informant 4 (26 years, 1 year experience): “It is very uncomfortable when you are afraid, but you need to portray that everything is fine. You are deceiving a person. But you have no choice, you have to go through it. ”

Informant 10 (26 years, work experience 8 years): “A person cannot be constantly in a state of excitement. That is, if you constantly leave the comfort zone, the body itself gives up and says: Well, no matter”.

Of course, “surface acting” in this profession involves not only hiding negative emotions, but also manifesting positive ones. So, to create a pleasant atmosphere with the client, many informants noted the importance of manifesting a positive attitude, which also can be pretended, like putting on a mask.

Informant 8 (20 years, work experience 3 years): “You must always smile. If you see that the client wants to laugh, to joke, and then you must definitely support this.”

However, in this case, again, all the personal emotions of the make-up artist should go by the wayside, which is a certain difficulty and may entail negative consequences, such as emotional dissonance (Hülsheger & Schewe, 2011) and alienation from one's own emotions (Hoshchild, 1983)

Informant 3 (27 years, work experience 3 years): “All personal problems should remain at home, whatever happens at work, you should keep your face and not transfer your negativity to the client.”

Of course, alienation from personal emotions, emotional dissonance and other consequences of surface acting (Grandey & Gabriel, 2015) at the individual level can have a significant moral impact on a person. The most obvious of these is burnout. And many informants noted that even despite the fact that this work brings a huge amount of pleasure, it is important to properly organize the work process, because any work can turn into a routine.

Informant 17 (30 years, work experience 2 years): “Any work, no matter how beloved and cool it may be - if it is an everyday routine, it can be annoying. Therefore, you need to be very conscious about it. ”

However, most informants nevertheless emphasized the fact that the awareness with which they came to this profession, significant creative component, as well as the lack of a forced schedule, allows them to avoid serious negative emotional consequences.

Informant 7 (25 years, 1 year work experience): “I can't even remember such a moment (emotional negativity). You see, I came to this profession consciously. This was not a spontaneous decision, and I take my choice consciously.”

It was assumed that the process of non-commercial shootings can cause more negative emotions, since the master does not receive material profit while his time, emotions, materials are spent. However, talking about the initial stage of a career, many informants claimed that they did not experience negative emotions except excitement and fear, and also did not experience emotional burnout from free work.

Informant 11 (22 years, work experience 2 years): “I understood that I was improving my skills. I then was not sure for the result of the work done. I deliberately told the person: “Here I am, a beginner master. I want to do so-and-so.” It always turned out well, but why would I take money from a person if he suddenly doesn't like something or something doesn't succeed.”

But in general, it should be noted that the phenomenon of TFP shootings itself sometimes causes negative feelings in some makeup artists. Many argued that free projects are required, as they are more likely to realize creative potential. But this only happens when the project includes interested people whose professionalism is at approximately the same level. However, some makeup artists noted that too frequent participation in non-commercial projects, from which the makeup artist does not even receive high-quality makeup photos - this can cause a significant sense of depreciation of labor.

Informant 18 (36 years old, work experience 2 years): “In general, tfp personally began to annoy me a little. Because what is tfp? Time for photo. When some beautiful crazy idea, shooting are planned, but it will be beneficial for everyone. And in our country, it all turns into a thirst for freebies.”

Nevertheless, many participants noted that the majority of non-profit project implies the presence of a qualitative result positively affects the morale of the makeup artist and does not require significant emotional costs.

In general, a lot of people compared the work of a makeup artist with the work of a psychologist. As Gimlin (2000) claimed the makeup artist must build a confidential atmosphere with the client, because often people come not only for beauty services, but also for the opportunity to discuss life situations and generally raise inner mood (Toerien & Kitzinger, 2007). Moreover, many makeup artists noted that a professional makeup artist, as a psychologist, can save a client from complexes regarding appearance.

Informant 1 (22 years, work experience 3 years): “People are often lonely, and she just wants to be told: “Oh, beautiful. You look cool”, to have a hearty conversation. It is important to be a psychologist in order to understand a person. The girls come back just to talk, to hear that they look cool. They're so unsure of themselves because no one has ever told them that they look good.”

Summarizing all of the above, it should be noted that work in the beauty industry is primarily a service work, which means that it can require significant emotional costs from the master. Correct relationship building, professional behavior in nervous situations, the ability to hide personal emotions and use psychological knowledge - all this contains a huge emotional work that can take no less attention than direct manual makeup work (Hoshchild, 1983). Therefore, emotional work in this case can be considered a full-fledged part of the makeup artist's work.

Makeup artist's appearance

Strengthening the importance of the aesthetic component of service services entailed a much more careful selection of people who are able to work in this sector, as mentioned above (Warhurst & Nickson, 2007). And such selection was not always based on an assessment of a person's internal and professional qualities, but often also on external data, which gave rise to a certain injustice when applying for a job (Cutcher & Achtel, 2017; Ren, 2017). Almost all informants noted the requirement for well-groomed skin on the face and hands, clean hair, in whole, a pleasant and tidy appearance. Many also noted the stereotype that the makeup artist should be beautiful, as this will help him attract potential customers. However, most informants emphasized that beauty means not congenital physical features, but cleanliness and neatness.

Informant 7 (25 years, 1 year work experience): “You should look as a worker of beauty industry. You cannot look like an untidy person, this is a priori impossible. The client loves a beautiful makeup artist.”

It is very interesting that many agreed that in this area the face and appearance of the makeup artist plays a very important role and is used as an advertisement for his activities (Harvey, et.al., 2013).

Informant 9 (29 years old, work experience 7 years): “My face is my business card. I have to look well-groomed, then my client, my model, any other person has confidence.”

However, the assumption that presence of complex professional makeup on the face of the makeup artist plays the role of advertising has not been confirmed. On the contrary, some informants emphasized that the make-up of the master should be neat, but not bright or stand out, as this can negatively affect the perception of the master and his work by a client.

Informant 1 (22 years, work experience 3 years): “Makeup should be as discreet as possible, maximum nude. Because if you will be very brightly made up, the client may not understand his makeup against yours. That is, your makeup should not interrupt the client's makeup.”

Some also noted that there is a certain stereotype regarding how the master should dress and what personal style he should have (Timming, 2017). In this case, the informants did not agree that the makeup artist, as a representative of the “feminine” profession, should wear certain clothes (dresses, skirts, etc.).

Informant 6 (29 years old, 4 years work experience): “I believe that a make-up artist is a person of a creative profession and he can look like he wants. Here precisely his energy is important and that's all. So that it would be pleasant for a person to work with you. Maybe someone has such an image, who walks in light dresses or silk blouses, but the clients are relevant. Your image defines your customers and that's all.”

On the contrary, the makeup artist, being an employee of the creative profession, can dress according to his own preferences. But it must be remembered that the whole master's style still plays a role of “billboard”, so it define the characteristics of potential customer base (Harvey, et.al., 2013).

Makeup artist's inspiration

The crucially important aspect is the master's ability to be flexible and objective, to be able to accept the appearance of other people. For example, many makeup artists noted that there is a specific type of women or specific types of makeup, from which they enjoy and inspire.

Informant 8 (20 years, work experience 3 years): “I like brunette girls with long smooth hair, expressive eyebrows, big eyes, small nose, full lips and expressive cheekbones. These looks really inspire me.”

Informant 6 (29 years, work experience 4 years): “I like to make bright make-ups. When I worked at the salon, it was just tin, there were only brown make-ups, it all started to vomit.”

Based on their taste, masters choose models and make-up on a non-profit basis. However, the worker does not always have the opportunity to work with a “pleasant” type, because often commercial orders involve working with different people who have atypical face features.

Another way of getting inspiration is constant monitoring of a fashion market. The knowledge and taste of the makeup artist should correspond to current trends (Entwistle & Wissinger, 2006). Otherwise, his work may become outdated, which will entail a significant decline in interest from potential customers.

Informant 2 (25 years, experience 1 year): “Fashion is changing, it is cyclical, and you need to keep up with everything. You can, of course, go crazy, but you have to keep up.”

However, in this sense, it is important not only to copy fashion trends, but also to bring a personal vision to the work, because the beauty and fashion market is oversaturated and the level of competition is very high. Copying other people's work and lack of individuality can also negatively affect the path of career development.

Informant 1 (22 years, work experience 3 years): “I am sure that it is necessary to monitor trends, and how the market is changing. You can stick to your style, but fashion helps to adjust your own style.”

It is important to note that many informants are inspired by the examples and work of other more successful makeup artists. In this regard, it makes sense to talk about a kind of mimetic isomorphism-concept introduced by DiMaggio & Powell (2000). And although the authors considered this copying the strategies of more successful competitors on example of organizations, this can be clearly seen in the example of freelance makeup artists.

Informant 8 (20 years, work experience 3 years): “Probably, only other successful makeup artists who have achieved a lot in this area, inspire me so far.”

Online and offline self-branding in beauty industry

Methods for self-brand construction

The need for self-branding for a freelance make-up artist is obvious, and all informants mentioned it without exception. Only in this case the employee can provide himself with a constant stream of customers, and therefore a permanent source of profit. Designing a personal brand is a rather complicated and energy-consuming process that requires a professional to have high time management, self-control and reflective skills (McRobbie, 2002). However, another equally important ability for promotion is the ability to "sell self", transforming it into a commodity person (Liu, Suh, 2017).

Informant 17 (30 years, work experience 2 years): “Today, the first goal is to invest in marketing. Because first you need to sell yourself correctly, and then customers will go, you just need the right bookkeeping.”

Some informants emphasized that today they are still using several offline ways to promote. The first is regular participation in non-commercial projects. This gives the makeup artist the opportunity to find strong and weak ties (Tian & Lin, 2016; DiMaggio & Powell, 2000), which have already been discussed above. These developed networks give freelancers the opportunity to provide themselves with a regular flow of customers.

Informant 10 (26 years, work experience 8 years): “My many regular customers are those models whom I took on makeup for free. Any, even free, shooting often turns into a permanent story.”

Interestingly, a couple of informants noted that for today, "word of mouth" is still an active and effective way to advance in the beauty industry. And it, as well as TFP - shooting, is used mainly at the beginning of a career, often the makeup artists are helped by the school in which they unlearn.

However, despite the fact that offline promotion methods still remain relevant, all informants emphasized the greater effectiveness of promotion through online spaces (Cote & Pybus, 2011). The ability to present self and own business to people daily and everywhere provides freelance workers with a reliable tool for creating and maintaining a personal brand.

First, social platforms work as eWOM - electronic world of mouths (Huete-Alcocer, 2017). One of the most accurate definitions of this phenomenon was given by Litvin and colleagues (2008). The author defined this as Internet communication, the addressee of which is the direct consumer. This communication most often takes place in an informal form, and contains information about the characteristics and experience of using certain services from certain sellers.

Informant 2 (25 years, work experience 1 year): “The most important thing is that everyone mentions you, someone came in, mentioned you in the story, mentioned you in the publication - it also works.”

It should be noted that eWOM is often defined by people as more reliable source of information than the world of mouths, which is based mainly on subjective opinion (Hussain, et.al., 2017). Here there is an opportunity not only to receive someone else's subjective opinion, but also to obtain objective information, often supported by visual, sound and other data, which also arouse more confidence. People who have more trust from more people gain the status of “Opinions Leader”, while trusting people become “opinion followers” (Zhao, et.al., 2018). The status of a leader of opinions gives a person the role of influencer, as well as a certain symbolic capital and authority (Bourdieu 1990).

Informant 1 (22 years, work experience 3 years): “It seems to customers that you have 2500 subscribers, so you're cool. People have such associations: the more subscribers, the more expert you are, the more everyone likes your work.”

Another advantage of promoting using social networks is the ability to broadcast personal brand and lifestyle to potential customers. This reduces the risk of collisions with people who have completely different ideas about the world, beauty, life. As a consequence, makeup artists are less likely to have to use emotional and aesthetic work, as discussed above.

Informant 7 (25 years, 1 year work experience): “Looking at my portfolio, people come exactly for what I broadcast. In this regard, it's easier now on Instagram - this is your portfolio, what are you broadcasting - about such a person comes.”

The need to maintain a portfolio in social networks is due to another reason - personal gain. Some informants noted that at the beginning of a career and especially taking part in non-profit projects, they often did not understand what they personally would receive as the result of the work. In that situation, the presence of social networks requires constant replenishment of visual content, so each photo represents a potential benefit for the makeup artist.

Informant 18 (36 years, work experience 2 years): “I didn't understand if I make up a person - what satisfaction will I personally get from it? I made up someone, she left and what's the result? And then it turns out that the photo really gives you the result, when you keep a portfolio - it's real, you get pleasure from it, the result of your work is saved. That is, Instagram is my portfolio. ”

Instagram advantages

All informants, without exception, noted that the most effective platform for promoting a personal brand is Instagram. First, as expected, many noted the importance of visual content in the beauty industry (Toffoletti & Thorpe, 2018). Instagram plays the role of a portfolio that potential customers pay attention to. They tend to trust more visual information.

Informant 1 (22 years, work experience 3 years): “I started Instagram when I have finished makeup studying. In general, the area of makeup, hairstyles - it's all about the image, the vision, there is some kind of picture, and Instagram is the most visual social network.”

This status of visual information, as the most reliable (Marwick, 2015), gives an advantage to makeup artists who do not have enough experience to make high-quality make-up, or the conditions to photograph it qualitatively. Minimal knowledge in photo processing allows to create a “selling” picture that will significantly embellish reality without compromising the trust of the audience.

Informant 2 (25 years, 1 year work experience): “You can do makeup not very good, but you can handle it all qualitatively. The man is being taken to the picture, he does not know that your skin there wasn't good made up.”

Instagram, which functions today as a full-fledged market space (Yadav, et.al., 2013), provides users with the ability to create and promote their personal brand with many different functions. The most famous of these is targeted advertising. However, many informants noted that knowledge and understanding of the functioning of this method are necessary here; otherwise there is a huge risk of losing money invested in advertising. However, in general, many noted that this method is effective, so they actively invest in it, and some makeup artists even use the services of target specialist.

Informant 2 (25 years, 1 year work experience): “Instagram loves when he gets paid. He puts your posts on the top because you pay for advertising. Now I spend about 3000 rubles in ten days. I can earn 3,000 in an hour and a half, so it helps me, I need this ad and these three thousand are a drop in the bucket.”

Of the other methods, informants noted the use of geolocations and hashtags, as well as the method of mutual PR with colleagues and beauty influencers. Some also noted that they participate in the so-called “Activity Chats” - a group where people exchange mutual likes and comments. It should be noted that in the latter methods the strong and weak ties of makeup artists work again.

Informant 7 (25 years, 1 year experience): “For comments, I have an activity chat, such a family chat. There are 70 people. Usually it provides about 15-20 comments.”

Despite the fact that according to statistics, Vkontakte is a more popular platform, many informants noted that the activity in it is much lower than the activity on Instagram. Researchers, who compared these two platforms, also came to the conclusion that the number of likes on Instagram can be 3-4 times higher than the number of likes on VKontakte, despite the fact that the content is the same (Øìàêîâà, 2018). Some also noted that new sites, such as Tiktok and Pinterest, appear, but they are not yet widespread, and their development is at the initial stage both for makeup artists themselves and their potential audience.

Informant 1 (22 years, work experience 3 years): “I don't like Vkontakte groups because, it seems to me, there will be very low activity on the page, and it will look rather sad than attractive to people. I also recently decided to try the Pinterest. But I'm still in the process of mastering.”

Informant 6 (29 years old, work experience 4 years): “I never even tried to create anything on VKontakte - I immediately understood that this is a “dead number” - useless.”

The difficulties of promoting on Instagram

Active account management on Instagram requires constant attention from the makeup artist, because only in this case he will be able to successfully construct his personal brand and maintain it. Obviously, this process is complex and time-consuming, so it can be some difficulties, which will now be considered.

Firstly, the continuous representation of self and business on the social network is significantly reflected in the work and life balance, noticeably blurring the line between personal and work. Some makeup artists noted that for them this is a certain difficulty. (Duffy & Hund, 2015).

Informant 2 (25 years, work experience 1 year): “When my husband says “You are on the phone again”, I say: “I work there”, I reply to clients, I communicate because it's part of the work, there's no way without it.”

Secondly, active promotion in social networks, as mentioned above, requires not only knowledge in the field of SMM, but also significant financial investments. However, not all makeup artists, due to their irregular schedule, have a stable and sufficient income, so for many people buying Instagram ads is a certain difficulty.

Informant 14 (26 years old, work experience 3 years): “Instagram is such a difficult thing now. Sticks are inserted into the wheels. He wants money, to set targeting correctly. People simply don't find you, as before, by hashtags.”

It is important to notice one interesting fact. It was found that representatives of the older generation noted that it was a certain difficulty for them to learn Instagram and all its functions. This reflects the concept of digital migrants introduced by (Prensky, 2001). Moreover, due to some internal principles and beliefs, it is more difficult for senior makeup artists to organize the marketing part of the promotion, as they do not have the proper sales skills. An explanation of this can be found in the work written by Tapscott (2008) in which the authors argue that the younger modern generations have absolutely different beliefs, including the consumption areas of marketing and personal brand.

Informant 18 (36 years old, work experience 2 years): “Here you are 20 years old. And we are 36 -- we are a little different generation. It's very difficult for me to advertise myself, such a stupid logic that it's hard for me to step over. PR myself is against my nature. Although I already understand that such times are now, you need to step over yourself and you need to do it.”

Thus, in this section, the need to promote through social networks was described, since online spaces today are the most effective platform for sales. Instagram, due to its functions and popularity, helps freelance makeup artists design and maintain a personal brand. Despite certain difficulties, this contributes to the expansion of the client audience and will provide the employee with a permanent stream of profit.

Aesthetic work of a makeup artist online

...