The beauty of Ukrainian women is already famous worldwide, but some think there is still room for improvement.
Over the last five years various beauty schools have mushroomed in Ukraine’s biggest cities, covering topics that range from makeup master classes and hairdressing to clothing design and personal style courses. Though far from cheap, many of these schools are pretty crowded.
“Our school is four years old and already has more than 800 graduates,” says Olga Pishchuk of First Kyiv Fashion School. The school provides training in nine beauty areas for both men and women.
“Of course 90 percent of our students are women, but there are also men, who study rhetoric, performing arts and painting,” Pishchuk says. Students are usually aged 20 to 40 years, she adds, but with many exceptions. “Sometimes people over 50 come to the school to finally realize their old dreams. The younger ones mostly come to get started in their professional growth,” Pishchuk explained.
Just like First Kyiv Fashion School, most of Ukraine’s beauty schools operate two-tiered programs. Basic courses are usually shorter and self-oriented, while advanced courses gravitate towards professional development. But the beauty teachers and their students insist that such trainings are useful in any case, no matter their purpose.
“Success usually depends on beauty, especially for a woman,” says Tetyana Boyko, a makeup artist and the owner of Boyko beauty school. “People are simply more eager to talk to beautiful women,” she explains.
A course in hobby visage training at Boyko’s school costs 300 euros for five classes, but she says it’s worth attending. Boyko started her career a decade ago with a visage course and says she never regretted the decision.
“I’ve been drawing since I was five, but never wanted to be an artist,” Boyko recalls. “I didn’t come to visage right away, but then I finally understood that this is mine.” Later Boyko wrote three books on visage theory and after years of practice started her own schools. She now boasts several hundred graduates.
Many are following Boyko’s path into the profession, even if they aren’t convinced about the benefits. This group includes make-up artist Anastasia Gorbatenko, 24, who says: “I’d been attending visage courses for half a year, paying 300 euros per month, but I don’t think I’ve learned anything new during this time and for this money.”
Gorbatenko explained her interest in visage art goes back a long time, starting with self-education online. She says that watching podcasts on the internet was enough to learn the profession, though she still needed a diploma and that’s why she signed up for the trainings.
“No one makes you become a professional. It is more about being beautiful,” Boyko says. “I think many women don’t put on any make-up just because they don’t know what it can get them,” she smiles.
And that’s as true as it gets. “I just wanted to know how to highlight my best sides,” says Yulia Demchenko, 26, an accountant.
She advises against overdoing it with full makeup, which can make women look unprofessional. “I think that’s what we were taught during the trainings and what Ukrainian women need (the most) – to know how to expose the best of what they have,” she explained.
While the profession of visage artist is not as popular in Ukraine as it is in Europe, those in the business say current trends are very optimistic. “Our ladies are very attentive to their appearance and very talented,” Gorbatenko says. “You can show a girl how to do a right thing twice and the third time you meet her you will see her wearing almost professional makeup,” she says.
Boyko Beauty School
10 Bohdana Khmelnytskogo St.
221-9498
096 497-2199
boyko-school.com.ua
First Ukrainian Fashion School
25/40 Ivana Franko St. , office 22
098-075-5455
063-295-6430
066-838-5738
www.modamaster.com.ua
Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko could be reached at [email protected]
