Twenty-two-year-old Anchal Seda started vblogging in 2013 and within a short span of time had over 21,300 subscribers. The same year, she also won DailyMix TV Beauty Bootcamp, a YouTube channel featuring beauty and make-up, fashion, music, celebrities etc. And recently, she was featured on the cover of a prominent British magazine for being one of the bloggers “who is changing the face of the make-up industry.”
“The opportunity to be in The Observer came by because I am part of the DailyMix network. The network manager had organised for the journalist to come to one of our network meetings. The journalist was able to observe my contribution to the network as I ran a session for the other members on how to prepare for videos. I found the experience quite rewarding as I feel I have come a long way and achieved so much. I went from having a very small amount of subscribers, to running a session at the YouTube Creators Space in the Google headquarters and being recognised in a very well-established magazine,” says Anchal, who belongs to a Sikh family; her father is from Punjab and her mother, even though born in Kenya, is from India.
“Before I became a make-up artist and started vlogging I wasn’t too confident. So I tried nursing for a whole academic year (nine months), I did not complete this course as I knew by the end of the first year, it was not for me. When I started this career, I felt like I had found my niche. In my family, I was always the most creative, which is why I decided to use make-up to express my creativity. I found that Bollywood make-up is very glamorous and to be able to create an Asian bridal look is an art form,” says Anchal, who went to University of Salford in Manchester and graduated with a BA Honours in make-up artistry. “I do regret spending time in the field of nursing, I wish I had known from an early age (when finishing high school). But, I am making up the time now by putting in a lot of extra hard work,” she adds.
Make-up and beauty is a billion dollar industry, and there are numerous examples of bloggers who are making tons of money. But Anchal clarifies how everything is not as it seems. “True, it can be quite a lucrative business depending on how tenacious you are. If people would like to get into this business, you have to be able to commit and put a lot of time and effort into it. People assume this is an easy way of making money, it is not,” says Anchal, adding, “It’s a lot of work. When I am going to film a video, I take inspiration from what the current trends are, what make-up celebrities are sporting, also, make-up that I enjoy creating on myself. It usually takes me roughly 45 minutes to prepare for a video, which includes setting up my lighting, picking out the right products for the video, and setting up my camera; filming the video can take up to an hour, but editing takes a lot more time. I generally upload a video once a week.”
Anchal credits her success to her family. “Everyone in my family is well educated, my two older sisters, my younger brother and myself. My parents run their own business. They knew I was passionate about make-up. When I wanted to start vlogging, they encouraged it as they knew I have always been confident in front of the camera from a young age,” she says. “I decided to pursue vlogging as a profession once I had won the DailyMix TV Beauty Bootcamp. I was not hesitant to get into vlogging as I felt I had something different to offer. A lot of vloggers are passionate about beauty, but I have been studying make-up artistry for three years, and felt I had a lot more knowledge to share. Moreover, there are not a lot of qualified make-up artistes that are Indians who are vlogging on YouTube, so I wanted to be able to reach out to people that may be of a similar skin tone to me (this is my USP),” she says.
And now that she has been able to make a mark for herself, Anchal has some big plans for the future. “I want to continue freelancing as a make-up artist, as well as continue to make videos for my YouTube channel. I would love to be able to set up my own academy and teach. I would like to pass on my knowledge and make-up skills to aspiring make-up artists, or anyone that loves make-up,” she says.
