Hiya, I did a short 16 week course to begin with at a local college , that encompassed basic health and hygiene, skin prep and removal, allergies, skin structure etc then makeup wise we did a few different looks like an everyday makeup, occasion, bridal, then some of the more fashion based ideas and onto special effects/body art.
i went to uni then and did specialist hair and media makeup - originally a 2 year course for a foundation award, but topped up to a bahons.
we did a variety of different modules, with more in depth tutorials and outcomes. Special effects for instance was broken into a few categories (I may get these a bit muddled as it was a few years ago now!) but we did sculpting, application, pathology as the main ones, which we had to work to scripts /briefs. Fashion based modules we did hair cutting as well as makeup, -my group missed a lot of the hair modules due to Covid, so things like period hair and makeup I have not a clue about !
we always had further information about hygiene, best practice, allergies, alternative products , removal , skin testing and all of those kind of things that are essential to know when working on others.
we also had a photographic module, where we learnt lighting, photoshop and actually took our own pictures of makeup we had done.
There were other modules I found less useful , these were mostly academic relating to if you wanted to invent something, nothing practical which would have been better.
I also topped up to include my masters in prosthetics for film and tv . That was a lot of sculpting, mould making and casting as well as finishing and application !
I think , having gone through the training , it’s worthwhile doing. In my opinion, a lot of the self taught muas haven’t got the basic skills, and definitely no idea on hygiene and allergies and such like. There’s a wealth of information online, but I think having it taught to you is far better because you can ask questions face to face , and majority of the lecturers have actively worked in the industry .
i hope that helps, even a little !
best wishes, lianne x