Make-up artist Emily-Jane Williams talks to Gemma Peplow (Leicester Mercury) about a career that takes her from celebrity preening to working with the Army to recreate injuries for training exercises…

It wasn’t the pink lipgloss, blue eye-shadow phase of her formative years that got Emily-Jane Williams excited about make-up. There was plenty of that, of course, she says. Like most teenage girls, she couldn’t wait to see how much mascara she could get away with at school before being told to scrub it off by a spoilsport teacher.

But it was the blood and gore of theatrical make-up that made her consider make-up as a career.

“It’s so cheesy, but I do remember the exact moment I decided I wanted to be a make-up artist ,” she says. “I was at Lutterworth High School, year seven. We had a careers day and a lady called Laura, who was doing a Leicester College course in theatrical make-up, came in to talk to us.
“She gave me a big cut on my arm and from that moment, I wanted to do make-up as my job. I was into make-up the same as most young girls, but special effects got me hooked.”

Emily spent the weeks and months that followed perfecting her own gruesome techniques, a process which usually involved working on her friends at break-times.

“I would play around with my friends to make them look ill so they could skive. I’d make them look pale and grey and give them bruises.”

Now aged 27, Emily, who lives in Arnesby, is in demand as a make-up artist, having worked with celebrities and big brands and on TV.

After qualifying with her own HND from Leicester College – where she covered “everything from special effects to high fashion make-up to air-brushing to wigs to prosthetics” – she started running an agency in Earl Shilton.

Emily was thrown in at the deep end. Within three weeks, she was sent to Wales to work on Gordon Ramsay (pre wrinkle-removal surgery).

“It was a job for Fox Entertainment, to do his make-up for a live interview. It was a really simple job but it was just a bit scary because, well, because it was him. But he was lovely, he didn’t swear a bit.

“I do remember, though, I must have been about 19 or 20 at the time, and when he saw me, he looked at me and said, ‘how old are you?’ I think I told him I was older.

“From that point, I started wearing clear glasses for a while, as I thought that made me come across a bit older.”

After about a year, Emily went freelance. It was a move that paid off. Her life now is a whirlwind of shoots up and down the country and abroad, covering everything from making up the beautiful faces of the Made In Chelsea cast, to working with the Army on special effects for training exercises. She also has her own product range, selling make-up bags and kits all over the world.

“It’s not always been smooth sailing,” she said. “Often there’ll be periods where I’d have loads of jobs at one time, and then I’d have time when there was nothing on.”

But as soon as you’ve got a celeb on your books, you can say you’re a celebrity make-up artist. And that opens a lot of doors.

“My first big job was heading up the hair and make-up team for a Daniel Bedingfield music video.

“I would say he’s probably the nicest celebrity I’ve worked with. I had to Skype him before, which was so bizarre as I loved him as a teenager. I never in a million years thought I’d meet him.

“When he walked in on the day, I was so star-struck. But he was lovely; he actually picked me up and span me round in a circle.

“It was for his Rocks Off video, which was a bit of a comeback song. At the end, (sister) Natasha Bedingfield came in and their brother as well, and they all sat down in the kitchen and just started jamming together, doing all these harmonies.”

Emily has also worked with Lorraine Kelly – “she was lovely, really, really nice” – Victoria Pendleton and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, plus a whole host of other celebrities she’s sworn to secrecy about.

Most are “lovely,” she says; some can be “challenging”. That’s all she can say about that.

“I do a lot for Big Brother, you know, when they have special tasks, like zombie nights,” she continues. “That’s good fun. And I’ve worked for Made In Chelsea and Towie for behind-the-scenes photo-shoots.

“Most of my work is in London, so I’ve got a base there as well as here.

“For years before that, I would often be getting up at 3am, driving to London, doing make-up for a shoot or commercial – in general in TV and film, most jobs are about 10 to 12 hours – then drive home. Sixteen-hour days. But you’ve got to do it. At the minute, I’m pushing to get more known in the industry, so you have to put the work in.”

Emily has also worked for high-end British brand Illamasqua, on shoots for Cosmo Body, and is make-up artist for Leicestershire brands Tutti Rouge and Hot!MeSS, which both have their own celebrity followings.

One of the most interesting aspects of her job, though, is her work with the armed forces.

“I do a lot of work with the military; medical training with high impact special effects. That’s mainly for exercises in England, but I’ve also travelled to places like Sweden, Norway and Germany. I do that about four times a month, so it’s quite regular.

“They’ll be doing exercises and get given a brief – someone has stood on a mine or been shot, for example – and I have to recreate that. I also do that kind of work for the ambulance service, the police, NHS and the fire service.”

The EMJ product line came about two years ago.

“My mum used to be a fashion designer and she’s now got her own manufacturing business, Chrisym, which makes predominantly hats and uniforms,” says Emily. “She used to do a lot of really high-end fashion back in the day and used to model her own clothes on the catwalk, too. I’ve kind of grown up with her making things all the time, with the attitude, ‘if you’ve not got it, make it’. My dad is a carpenter, so he was the same.

“Our house is an old Victorian house and used to be a hosiery factory. There’s a big workroom there, which is where the business is based.

“It all started one day when I was organising my make-up kit – all make-up artists have a weird obsession with organisation, they’ll all tell you that, with putting things away in little boxes and having different ways to store things. It’s a make-up artist thing.

“Anyway, I started thinking that it would be a great idea to have a bit of fabric, and put individual bits on to it for storing pencils. I made one up and then we started making them properly to sell on eBay. Then, I did the same with something to hold lip-glosses, too.”

The sales on eBay trundled along nicely for about two months, serving as a nice sideline to Emily’s freelance work.

“Then, one of my mum’s friends gave me a really brightly coloured gardening bag, which I thought would make a really good set bag,” she says. “Make-up artists working on set will have a big bag for all their essentials. Normally, the bags are clear or black, always quite plain.

“I was working on the BBC show Food Factory at the time, I was make-up designer for that series, and I decided to take it with me. Everyone on set commented on my bag, asking me where it was from.

“It came to me that I could do it, make set bags that are a bit more colourful.

“Before I knew it, I was inventing a brand. I went to Leicester Market and Dunelm and started buying tablecloth fabric and making bags out of it.

“While doing that, I started making brush belts as well. On the market, they’re nearly all black or really boring. I wanted to make products that were more exciting.

“I just kept thinking about all the different things I could make. As long as they’re easy to wipe – essential for make-up artists – they don’t have to be black or clear.”

The business is now fully up-and-running. Cheryl Cole’s make-up artist has bought some of Emily’s pieces.

The name, EMJ, says Emily, is a nickname given to her by a childhood friend. The story behind it is a poignant one.

“My friend, Kat, always used to call me Em-J, for Emily-Jane. She was my best friend all through make-up college. She died a few years ago, so it’s in memory of her. It’s quite a sentimental thing for me. One of the first bags we made was called Katerpillar, after her.”

Emily now has her mum and three other members of staff making her products. She gets about 25 orders a week.

“We sell loads to America and Australia, some in Europe and Russia, and, randomly, Uganda. We had an industry show recently and about five people from Uganda came over to me and told me the brand is big over there.

“It’s all made in Arnesby, and we take the orders down to Fleckney Post Office to send them out.

“The brand really keeps things sustainable for me now. I’ve had times where it’s been a struggle, and I wouldn’t say I’ve got lots of money even now, because it’s still a growing company. But it’s going well.

“I love my job. I love meeting new people every single day, and getting thrown into random situations.

“A lot of make-up artists I know have jobs on the side, but I’m lucky enough to have my business as well.”

www.emj-makeup.com

www.theemjcompany.com