Mikayla Nogueira has a mission statement for her brand, and it’s this: Be yourself. That’s the all-day-every-day mindset that guided her when she started her TikTok makeup artist empire four years ago.
In her social media bios, the Massachusetts resident defines herself as a MUA (makeup artist). But the way the world and her nearly 16 million TikTok followers see her is so much more than that. She’s an artist. She’s a comedian. She’s a straight shooter. All the qualities that have made this one-woman show into a household name for anyone who knows the difference between a lipstick and a lip stain.
Her initial viral moment—almost overnight—meant there was no time for creating any kind of manufactured identity. Hers was already cemented. “I came right out the gate and threw my whole personality out there. I was super honest, whether it was about beauty products or my personal life,” Nogueira says. “I think that has really helped me grow a community. I don’t just have followers—I have a community.” A self-described workaholic, she structures her days like an executive, from strategy to execution. “I never half-a– anything,” she says. “That’s very important to me.”
So, to that end, her work week actually starts Sunday evening. That’s when she creates a filming schedule she can stick to, shooting five videos every day.
Here’s what a typical weekday might look like for Nogueira:
7 a.m. Morning routine
Nogueira’s business requires her to start with a blank canvas every day. So, the first stop on her to-do list is the shower. “I always want to start every day with a fresh face and fresh hair,” she says. “I have to put time into my hair and accessories and outfit because that’s the pre-prepping for filming.”
8 a.m. Studio session
Nogueira sets up her own studio equipment—tripods, lighting, microphones. Then, she’s ready to shoot, which she does without a script. “When I film, I find that there is a sense of authenticity when you’re getting my first reaction. A lot of my videos are first takes and never-been-done-before moments,” she says. “You get a genuine reaction out of me…. I have to be raw for the videos to be authentic. I work best by myself, so I handle all of the filming and editing. I’m very type A.”
1 p.m. Building community
Nogueira’s day is often planned down to the minute, so her rule is to post her first video at 1 p.m. Once it’s live, she spends about 20 minutes replying to her followers. “I make sure I respond, answer and thank them. It’s hard to picture 15 million people in your head,” she says. “So, I look for ways to engage with my followers as much as humanly possible.” And so it goes with every video she posts.
1:30 p.m. Staying up to date
“People say don’t turn your passion into your job because then it’s no longer your passion. But I am someone who truly bleeds makeup. It’s the world to me,” she says. So, she devotes a robust amount of her afternoon looking at what’s new on the Ulta and Sephora apps. She searches for trends, innovations, the essentials and the not-so-essentials to stay up to date on industry news. “I add things to my cart all week, and then, at the end of the week, I check out,” she says. “If you’re a large influencer like me, it’s super important to do that. And, then, when those packages come, I already have video ideas ready to go for the next week.”
2:30 p.m. Mentoring
Nogueira built her business organically, so aspiring beauty influencers often come to her for advice. If she sees potential in what that person has done so far, she’ll do what she can to help them navigate the unpredictable nature of social media. “It requires so much research… because it’s not a well-known career,” she says. “I will tell them how you can find management, how you can get paid and how to improve videos. I love giving that kind of advice to people. People want the influencer space to be a community, so I try to put in the effort to make it one.”
3 p.m. Delegating
It’s not all just makeup tutorials for Nogueira. She has to find time in her week to work on the business of beauty: meetings, phone calls, media, podcasts and any sort of administrative work. And it also means giving a handful of people on her team their own to-do lists. She has public relations professionals, a financial adviser and managers to help her behind the scenes.
3:30 p.m. Monetizing
Nogueira has several different income streams, and she counts on the relationships she’s built with makeup, fashion and lifestyle brands to be the biggest part of her paycheck. Everybody wins with brand partnerships. “They send you the product they want you to promote, you test it out and then you move forward with a contract. That contract has a scope of work,” she says. “So, say a beauty brand wants me to create one TikTok about their product: I create the video, send it to the brand, they approve it and we set a date for it to go live.” After that, she sends the brand her analytics and an invoice. Other sources of income include the creator payments she receives directly from TikTok and the earnings from her Amazon storefront and from her affiliate links. “There are a lot of ways to make money,” she says. “You just have to be smart about it.”
4 p.m. Family
The late afternoon is when Nogueira switches gears and starts getting ready for time with her husband. She cleans their home, starts dinner and then is fully present when they are together at the day’s end. “My husband and I have dinner together, and that is my most cherished moment of the day,” she says. After that, they spend time with their dogs and have some much-deserved downtime for books, shows or games.
9 p.m. Rest
Early to bed; early to rise. That’s the way Nogueira is wired. “I am an old lady in that I go to bed around 9 p.m. Getting eight hours of sleep is so important. I can’t function without eight hours,” she says.
These events were taken from a typical day, and some illustrate the highlights of Nogueira’s life as a beauty influencer and content creator.
Photo courtesy Mikayla Nogueira