Once upon a time, there was a girl who wanted to dive into the world of makeup. She was curious, eager to learn, and ready to play! At the time, she had no idea this world would take her on the wildest ride of her life and blossom into a full time career. She just wanted to learn how to put makeup on and explore her creative side. She was me.
Hi! My name is Lauren Simpson. Once upon a time, my name was Lauren Page. When I first started my freelance career as a makeup artist, I kept my business name sweet and simple – Lauren Anne Page, MUA. Yup, comma MUA. I know, I know. I cringe, too. I figured it made the most sense, since I saw a lot of other *established* people go by their name and I felt like I had to put the MUA at the end since a lot of other professions do it – you know, MD, LCPC, etc. Plus, I included my middle name since at the time that was the website I was able to get since just my first and last name put together wasn’t available.
I rolled like that for about the first 6 years of my career. Yup, my legal business name used to be Lauren Anne Page, MUA. I had the DBA and all the documentation to prove it. Then, after years of working part time on the side as I went to college and worked various other jobs, I took the plunge into working for a bridal salon in the area and quit my last full time job. This was it – I was going to find out if I would sink or swim!
Those first few years full time were…interesting. It’s definitely not like you just start magically getting tons of work because you have all this availability. It’s a slow, steady burn. But if you keep at it, work hard, and be patient, it really does blossom into something beautiful.
The bridal world is where I found my calling, and I owe that to being able to freelance for an established bridal salon that gave me the opportunity to learn, spread my wings, and find my footing in this amazing specialty of the makeup world. This also happens to be where I earned the nickname LA…let me explain!
At the time, there were several Lauren’s who worked for the same place. I was the third Lauren to start working there with the others, so the owner needed to come up with someway to differentiate us all to clients and colleagues. Get this – someone else who worked there had the same initials as me, being LP, so that wasn’t going to work. I’m also pretty sure going by Lauren Anne wasn’t going to work either. So, my new nickname LA was officially born.
Yup, I went by LA for years while working for this place. Even my coworkers would call me LA instead of Lauren just because they were used to me having to go by it in the salon. It stuck with me and it just so happened to be around the same time I was looking to rebrand. I had known I was ready for a complete refresh – new logo, new website, new name – all to look more professional, appeal to the world of bridal, and establish my presence as a serious player in this community.
Thus, LA Page Makeup was born. It’s simple, really – LA was the nickname I was given that stuck, Page was my maiden name, and I specialized in makeup. I found it important to include makeup in the business name and domain name for my website since I wanted to boost my SEO and online presence in this specialty, especially since I personally didn’t do hair (this was before I built a bridal hair and makeup team of my own) and I hadn’t added any other beauty services to my roster yet.
Since rebranding, LA Page Makeup has grown into a bridal team of talented hair stylists and makeup artists, offering spa services such as lash lift and tints, facial waxing, brow tinting, brow lamination, and of course our core makeup offerings, such as photoshoot makeup, special event makeup including proms, weddings, and Halloween makeup. We have since expanded into creating a cosmetic line [EMERGE Cosmetics] and branching out into online courses and e-books.
It’s been a wild ride. Since starting out as a complete makeup newbie in 2010, taking the plunge to go full time in 2016, building a team in 2019, and everything in between, I’m proud of what LA Page Makeup has become and I can’t wait to see where it will take me next.
Looking to learn how to do makeup without leaving the comfort of your own home? Join me in Beauty Bootcamp with Lauren!
