Wherever beauty resides, that’s where you’ll find Thuli Kobue.
Growing up wanting to work within the beauty industry stood out the most despite her two other career interests. Since then, she’s been creating magic one makeup brush at a time.
Speaking to TRUELOVE, she tells us that to follow her beauty dream, she worked at a spa and now she’s a freelancer who has touched faces of Mzansi’s best.
“Growing up, my family wanted to know what my interest is because they knew exactly what I liked and I gave them like three options I was like I think I want to do law, cabin attendant and beauty.
“[I was] leaning towards this beauty and then when I left secondary that's when I went to Rosebank College to study beauty therapy. It took me three years. I graduated and from there I went to work in a spa beauty [but while I was there] I leaned towards makeup,” she says.
Her work in the beauty fraternity has been recognised by big productions that roped her in as their makeup artist. She has worked her magic on faces of big names in the entertainment industry, the likes of Hope Mbhele, DBN Gogo, Candice Modiselle, Nomalanga Shozi for the TRUELOVE Hair 2023 issue, just to mention a few.
At the beginning of her career, she had fervent dreams of working with big names and now that she has accomplished that, she tells us that she has learnt a lot from that experience.
“I would say, I want to work in the industry [and] work with big names. But now that I'm doing it, I'm so grateful. And I find that working with big people, you learn quite a few things. You learn how to communicate, how to manage a situation, how to be flexible,” she says.
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She adds that although she has worked with prominent figures and big productions including Love & Hip Hop South Africa, Behind the story, Ghosted AF and more, she stays true to her craft - adding that listening could come in handy.
“You always need to listen to the brief; you always need to be a good listener and just deliver on what you are asked; but you also need to be authentic on who you are. You need to know who you are [and] know what works best for you.
“You need to know your niche. So, once you know yourself and stay authentic, you'll be able to deliver; but you still need to add on to the brief right to give a beautiful outcome,” the makeup artist says.
Though the beauty industry is growing rapidly Thuli says her friendly charm and how she treats her clients like “family” makes her standout from the rest.
“I really like to speak. I believe that I'm very friendly. So, I think customer service makes you stand out, I've learned this from working for a brand. But for me, it makes me stand out how I am with my customers, my communication skills, I make my customers feel at home. I know we’re not friends, especially new clients, but I will make you feel like you are a family to me. I think that's why, that's how I retain clients."
With a stellar career like hers, she’s grown in leaps and bounds; saying the challenges and lessons that came with it helped her learn more, but mostly time.
“There are quite a few challenges in being a freelance makeup artist. Time management is a big thing when you get your clients on time, clients trust [and] rely on you; also, when you manage your time properly, you can also take more bookings in a day.
“And another thing [is] change. Things change every day, so you need to push, you need to learn new techniques, what people like, [and] you need to know what works best for what outcome. So, I think those are the challenges that we face,” says Thuli. She’s growing in the industry and intends to develop her skills and knowledge.
She says, “In the past five years I would say I want to work [in that] industry, I want to work with this company but because I’m doing that now, I think I still need to continue just to develop my skills [and] my knowledge.”
