An award winning make-up artist who has worked on the faces of famous celebrities has returned home to her Lanarkshire roots.
Charlie Campbell set up salon right next door to her brother Ian Ross’s barbers' shop, but there’s no sibling rivalry despite both businesses aiming to make people look their best.
Charlie spent a number of years of her early career as a specialist at Tom Ford within House of Fraser.
Since then she has worked with celebrities such as Lewis Capaldi and Judy Murray and up until last year ran her own busy salon in Glasgow city centre.
However, the financial impact of the pandemic took its toll and she made the difficult decision to close the doors for good.
“I was in South Frederick Street in the G1 area, overlooking Browns [restaurant], near Cruise and The Corinthian, and as you can imagine it wasn’t cheap,” Charlie told Lanarkshire Live.
“Within the first couple of months of COVID hitting I had lost a year’s diary. So even if the country had opened back up earlier everybody had freaked out and cancelled their weddings and other events.
"It was scary, so I just made the decision to close.”
Prior to the pandemic, the former Taylor High pupil had already moved back home to Wishaw from the big city and had been commuting to Glasgow to work.
So it made sense to relaunch Bang Bang Beauty in Motherwell and Ian was delighted when she moved right next door to his own successful business operation; The Singing Barber Gentleman’s Club in Merry Street, Motherwell.
“There’s a great atmosphere in the barbers’,” Charlie continued. “I’ve got my own space next door, it’s a bit more zen and bohemian. It’s really peaceful and I wanted it to reflect me and who I am rather than the typical white towels, lights and mirrors. My clients love it. Some of them have been with me since I worked at Tom Ford.
“The products I use are all exclusive brands and it’s a high end professional service that you might only get in a big city that you can now get here.”
Bang Bang Beauty recently landed two awards including South West Hair and Make Up Salon of the Year award at the Scottish Wedding Awards.
And Charlie admits it felt more real than her earlier industry recognition.
She told us: “I won best make-up artist award last year but it was strange because nothing was happening because of COVID.”
Although specialising in bridal work, with 14 years industry experience, Charlie’s creative talent as a freelancer has always been keenly sought after.
But her career path took a diversion when she became a mum and returned to freelancing and working at renowned ONYX Make-Up, alongside other artists such as Rachael Hunter and Jamie Genevieve – now famous as a beauty blogger.
The mum-of-two continued: “I went back to freelancing to allow me to be with my kids as family is really important to me.
“Anyone who is into make-up knows ONYX. I worked with some of the best artists in the country there so it was great experience.
“I’ve also done a lot of shoots for editorial work, and for videos for the music industry.”
Charlie can be contacted by emailing: hello@bangbangbeauty.uk
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