A make-up artist who stacked shelves in a high-street store to 'make ends meet' now rakes in six-figures with a global makeup brand that the A-listers love. Sean Maloney, 29, who is originally from Blackpool, was scraping together change and couldn't even afford a train ticket before making the bold business move.
The talented makeup artist and online influencer, who shares his snaps with more than 100,000 followers, first realised his love for make-up when working at the No.7 counter in Boots in Manchester, working tirelessly to start out on his own - with reality star Khloe Kardashian and singer Fleur East among the stars who have been pictured wearing his lashes.
The businessman studied journalism at university, but fell into the make-up industry by accident when working at the No.7 counter in Manchester. He then began working for MAC cosmetics around a decade ago and started doing peoples' make-up semi-professionally on the side.
It was when he travelled down to London for an internship that he got a life-changing call from a friend, asking him to do the make-up for reality TV star Amy Willerton for a newspaper shoot. He had car-shared down to the capital because he didn't even have enough money to pay for a train ticket.
Sean bunked off his first day at the internship and put his skills to the test at the shoot. Immediately afterwards, his work saw him booked to do make-up on TV stars for the red carpet and premieres.
"I was originally at university doing journalism and had absolutely no interest in make-up," he told the Manchester Evening News . "I started working at the No.7 counter in Boots just to be able to earn some extra money to make ends meet because I was absolutely skint.
"I was approached by a member of staff from MAC cosmetics asking me to come for an interview. I didn't even know what MAC was at the time and still knew very little about make-up."
During his time working as a cashier at the MAC counter in Selfridges, Sean began to develop an interest in make-up. But, he said he was told by those around him he would never be successful in the industry, which spurred him on to try everything to make it work.
"I had to go down to London for an internship at a magazine as part of my degree. I had booked a hostel, where I was sharing a room with 15 other people on bunk beds and had to carshare to get down there because I couldn't afford the train.
"I just realised it wasn't for me at all. I then got a call from a friend who asked me if I had my kit with me, to do the make-up for Amy Willerton for a photoshoot. He must've been really struggling and I think I was his last resort, as I was still in the early days of doing make-up."
The photoshoot was a roaring success. Sean immediately dropped out of university and knew that he wanted to pursue a career with his newfound love for makeup. Within days, he gained more followers on Instagram and was being booked to do makeup on TV stars for glitzy red carpet events, including the premiere of the Hunger Games.
"That's when things really started going my way and I knew makeup was going to be it for me. I just trusted my gut instinct and went for it," Sean says.
Things 'snowballed quickly' from there, with Sean being booked to do Lily Allen's make-up for her 2014 tour and work with the BBC on shows like the Apprentice. He was also working as a lead artist for Charlotte Tilbury and began designing his own lashes brand after winning £5,000 to start up a business from the Prince's Trust back in 2017.
He plunged every penny into his new business, SM Lashes, and just two weeks later, signed on the dotted line for a salon on Monton high street, with his name above the door: 'The Sean Maloney Makeup Academy'. Since opening, the academy has become a favourite with the cast of Geordie Shore, Love Island and The Only Way Is Essex.
"I had never thought about setting up a training academy or opening my own salon, but it all just happened so fast. It was one of the best things I've ever done," he said.
"I would work all day at Charlotte Tilbury, then go home and spend hours developing and designing my lashes, and then be up all night contacting PRs and businesses to stock them and get my name out there."
His lashes have now been famously worn by Khloe Kardashian on a prime time American TV chat show appearance, and by singer, TV personality, DJ and Strictly contestant Fleur East, as well as being stocked online with PrettyLittleThing. His makeup academy went on to win Best Beauty Salon and Academy in 2019 and 2020.
Sean still lives in Manchester and, despite the roaring success of his business, stays grounded by the memory of how little he had when he started out.
"Things just built really quickly and rapidly. I started landing more celebs to do their makeup and was sharing it all to my Instagram. It just grew in its own right to me becoming a makeup artist, and I expanded my business in different ways.
"It hasn't been an easy ride. I have still had so many doors slammed in my face, but I have never let that stop me. When I was told I would never make it as a makeup artist, it just made me even more determined."
In the last few years, Sean has taken his makeup academy further afield, launching SM International and jetting off to Australia and Bali for shoots with online influencers, giving those in the industry a chance to work from all corners of the globe with a host of brands. In the next year, his calendar is already booked up, with shoots in Las Vegas, Mexico and the Bahamas.
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