BEFORE SHANIQUA THOMAS was creating beautiful faces with her brushes and colour palettes, she was trying to find her passion, that one thing she truly loved and motivated her to keep going.
In an interview with BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY Thomas said she was always one of the “smart students”, those who everyone knew would head off to university and get a degree and, for a while, she was doing just that.
It was at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) that she realised studying management was not for her.
So the Alexandra School old scholar discontinued studies, left the campus, changed direction and started down the path of a make-up artist.
It is hard to believe that the owner of Colour My Fancy was not a “girlie” girl. Thomas recalled not being interested in make-up at Alexandra, during the year spent at Daryll Jordan Secondary school doing additional CXC subjects or even when she studied English literature and sociology at the Barbados Community College before enrolling at the UWI.
She said she started liking make-up, experimenting first on herself, then family, and friends and voilà, the business was born in December 2014.
“I started doing make-up and realised I had the talent for it as it came naturally. At first, I was really, really, reluctant to post photos of the faces I had done but one day I posted something I did on my cousin on my Instagram page Colour My Fancy and it blew up; everybody liked it.
“Then I started doing more, trying out things on myself and started posting that stuff. People started asking me to do little things for them. I then spoke to Shaniqua of Faerie Faces and did a one-on-one class with her. In my first class, she was really, really shocked and impressed that I was so good. I did one side of the face and she did another and when you looked at it you could not tell the difference between my work and hers.
“The next year, she contacted me around Crop Over and told me she wanted me to be one of her assistants because she was working with a band. Right before doing that, I started to put my work out there and that’s how I got started,” Thomas said.
After working for Grand Kadooment 2015, Thomas wanted to acquire the credentials she needed. She also wanted to broaden her knowledge of hair, make-up and nails so last year she enrolled in the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic’s cosmetology course with the support of parents Garcia Greaves and Stephen Thomas.
She has another year before she completes the course.
“The goal for me would be really to have my own space. I am not there yet, so what I want to do is get a station in a salon or wherever I could and work from there.”
Handling studies plus appointments is something she is learning to do, and she is happy for the down time she has now after a hectic April. She is bracing for another busy Crop Over but said she is up to the task.
Thomas said the eyes were her favourite area to make up and thinks it is the most appealing feature.
“Everyone is different in their own way. My beautiful is not the same as yours because when you are working on people you have to do different things to bring out their most appealing asset. So, instead of colouring me fancy, let me give you your fancy, as in you are requesting me to make you your beautiful and not like everyone else,” she said. This is also how she arrived at the business name.
“Make-up is my passion. I am sure this is what I want to do,” said the 22-year-old businesswoman and student.
Her advice to students at the crossroads: “If you’re not sure what you want to do, do a general subject. Do something like management where you could fit in anywhere rather than studying something more specific.
“When you figure out what you want to do, don’t hold back. If you know what you want to do don’t let your parents, friends and people discourage you. You will be miserable.” (GBM)