Fourth-year student Abi Oladesu is beautifying clients through her business Desu Beauty

Abi Oladesu has been doing makeup for most of her life. She started having fun with her mothers makeup from the age of 10 and decided a few years later to challenge herself to increase her skills. She did someone elses makeup for the first time when she was about 16.

During her second year at McMaster University, the biochemistry student started thinking about taking makeup more seriously. However, it wasnt until she was quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic that she decided to take the leap and start her business, Desu Beauty on Oct. 30, 2020.

There are three components to Oladesus business. As she has received many requests for makeup tutorials and enjoys teaching, she decided that she would post makeup tutorials on Instagram and offer beginner and intermediate lessons.

The second part of her business involves posting her own makeup looks in order to improve her skills and show clients what she can do. Lastly, she does makeup for clients weddings, photoshoots, proms, graduations and other events.

It is important to Oladesu that when she does clients makeup, she isnt turning them into a different person but highlighting the best parts of them. This goal stems in part from her own experience with makeup. When Oladesu was a preteen and early teenager, she used makeup as a way of hiding her face. Now she uses makeup to accentuate her features and seeks to do the same for her clients.

Obviously nobody wants that for themselves, but I dont think theres anything necessarily bad about [being self-conscious] in the sense that we all feel self-conscious once in a while. Were in a society where the beauty standards are very high and they change all the time, but its important to remember . . . youre the one that at the end of the day determines your worth to other people, said Oladesu.

Were in a society where the beauty standards are very high and they change all the time, but its important to remember . . . youre the one that at the end of the day determines your worth to other people, said Oladesu.

This mission is embedded in the name of Oladesus business. While she originally called it Desu Beauty as a reference to the last four letters of her last name, she realized upon reflection that it had a deeper meaning for her.

Im a very large fan of anime and so desu . . . basically means to be . . . I am [also] Christian [and] in the Bible, its like we are beautifully and wonderfully made . . . So to be that beautifully and wonderfully creative person, you have to love yourself in every aspect, whether thats with wearing your natural face out and being super proud of it or getting the skills to do your makeup really well so that every time you look in the mirror . . . youre like, wow, I feel beautiful, I know Im beautiful. . . . I want you to be the best version of yourself or at least to look at yourself and be like wow, I feel like that beautifully and wonderfully made person, explained Oladesu.

Since she started, Oladesu has received positive reception and a lot of support from family and friends. Unfortunately, the ongoing pandemic has decreased the number of events for which people would get their makeup done. At the same time, Oladesu credits the pandemic with giving her the time to start her business.

Oladesu also sees online classes as a blessing for her since she started her business. Instead of spending all day on campus and then doing makeup appointments, she can better make her own schedule by doing makeup during the day and watching recorded lectures afterwards. Managing the business alongside her demanding degree and other commitments has also encouraged her to better prioritize her time.

Oladesu looks forward to continuing to grow her following and reach more people through her business. As she will be graduating soon, she is considering how she might integrate her love of makeup into her career.

Im definitely a cautious person so . . . right now, I definitely am going to finish my biochemistry degree and Im going to see if I could get a job with that. But working with makeup has gotten me interested in cosmetics in general so [maybe] I can mix my biochemistry major with cosmetics and then possibly go into formulation or something along those lines, said Oladesu.

I definitely am going to finish my biochemistry degree and Im going to see if I could get a job with that. But working with makeup has gotten me interested in cosmetics in general.

To other students with a skill they are considering turning into a business, Oladesu says to just start. She recalls that she felt the need to have high-quality foundations in every colour before she began her business. However, since she started, all her clients have used colours that she had already had.

Theres nothing wrong with humble beginnings. You dont have to have everything, you dont have to have the best of everything, Oladesu said. Its better to just start because honestly, I feel like people appreciate watching you grow and watching you improve.

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McMaster makeup artist wants you to feel beautiful The Silhouette - The Silhouette