Stacey looks to bright new future with her own make-up studio

Well-known Kirkcaldy make-up artist Stacey Whittaker is looking forward to a bright future, despite the Covid pandemic and soaring energy costs taking a major toll on her business ventures.

Stacey has now branched out on her own after making the difficult decisions to shut her new salon in St Andrews and then her original salon in Kirkcaldy.

She has now built her own studio where she will offer make-up services and also a skin clinic, as well as being out and about teaching make-up and doing photoshoots, etc.

Stacey also revealed: “I am fully booked for weddings for the next few years, which is great. I love being part of someone’s special day.

“I also have lots of exciting new projects coming up.”

Stacey has been lucky enough to work with lots of celebrities including Gordon Ramsay, Lorraine Kelly and Gok Wan.

Achievements to date include winning best make-up artist in Scotland, and best make-up salon in Scotland, as well as being highlighted in Vogue magazine.

But Stacey still says her favourite achievement is being able to make people feel good in themselves.

Her early career included studying make-up artistry at college and she then went on to work for MAC Cosmetics.

After having her first child, she decided to go freelance and was signed by Colours Agency in Glasgow.

She was doing make-up for weddings, events, photoshoots, TV and celebrities.

Looking back, Stacey believes she became a make-up artist at the right time.

She explained: “People were just starting to add make-up as something that should be done professionally.

“When I first started, I was sometimes doing up to 20 clients a day – which was crazy.”

It was 2014 when she made the move to open her one-stop-shop salon with make-up, hair and beauty in Kirkcaldy.

More expansion was on her mind a few years later.

Stacey took the lease out on the salon in St Andrews – but this was just before the pandemic struck Britain in the spring of 2020.

“As none of us knew how long Covid would last, I continued to invest in the refit to make sure that we were ready to open as soon as lockdown was over.

“I spent so much money on refurbishing the salon – then, when we were allowed to open, all staff and clients had to wear masks which meant no make-up could be applied.

“We also had the socialdistancing rules and, on top of all that, people were not able to go to events anyway so customer flow was minimal.

“I decided I had to close the St Andrews operation, as paying for two salons without any income was too much.

“I lost a lot from closing the salon – however it was the right decision to make.

“Concentrating on the first salon was then my goal, but then we got hit with the energy-costs crisis.”

Stacey knew then she didn’t want to continue owning the Kirkcaldy outlet – and risk another repeat of the worries brought on by the pandemic.

“I spoke to all the staff and then, once I knew everyone was happy and had somewhere to go to, I put a date to close the salon.

“This was a really tough decision, but I had to think of my two sons, my husband, my family and friends.”

She also felt that managing the Kirkcaldy salon was taking her away from her passion of make-up.

Looking to the future, Stacey said: “Now I am excited to be doing what I love most – make-up.”