Meet Amanda Bernard | Bridal Makeup artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amanda Bernard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amanda, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
If I was being honest, I never saw myself starting my own business. I kind of fell into it.

When I was growing up I didn’t feel beautiful. I suffered from what I know now to be low self esteem, and that created a negative image of myself. My mother, who I felt was the most beautiful women in the world always spoke life into me and told me how beautiful I was. However the two didn’t correlate to me, I didn’t see or feel like the beautiful girl my mother expressed to me. I’d watch her put on makeup and go off to work fully confident and that gave me the idea to play around in her makeup, but of course I had no idea what I was doing. My first experience with makeup wasn’t what I thought it’d be. I looked insane and what was supposed to be fun and would make me feel pretty, just made me sad. My mother, who had a way of making everything better, told me I was already beautiful and at that moment it meant the world. Of course I tried again, and soon I got better. Fast forward to today, that makeup became my mask I used to take on the world. It added the confidence I needed at the time to feel beautiful. Didn’t matter how terrible I was when I first started, all that mattered was I found my confidence behind that mask.

Shortly after that I started to offer my makeup services to family and friends. My artistry started to grow and soon I was doing makeup and uplifting women the same way I was able to uplift myself. A year later, I was booked for a wedding and from there my love for the bridal industry grew.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I started Pardon my pretty to help women feel confident and to be apart of their story. PMP is an on demand bridal beauty business. What sets us apart is our ability to connect with our clients. We feel it’s important to make sure our clients are comfortable, offer the very best services, and ensure their confident on their special day. The feeling of seeing someones happiness and knowing you were apart of that, brings an overwhelming sense of joy.

The bridal business can be tough, I admit. It took years to build my brand and to gain a following. However, I love it! Weddings have a lot of unexpected occurrences, but the one thing I always focus on is the bride and making her dreams come true. Ive learned as long as you prepare yourself, there’s no job that’s too big. That’s the lesson I take into each day. It can be overwhelming at times but that gives me a rush to succeed!
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I absolutely love Wynwood! If i’m ever showing miami off I would say thats my first destination. No restaurants in particular, but I love the art and the friendly atmosphere. The selfie museum is always fun, and there’s tons of art to observe and take in. I would also travel to the beach, do some shopping, and tour the city.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My mother,

Her grace, confidence, and love for me has really pushed me to heights I didn’t know I could reach. Without her guidance and pouring self love into me, I don’t know where I would be.

Website: www.pardonmypretty.co & www.amandabernardbeauty.com

Instagram: @amandabernardbeauty

Linkedin: Amanda Bernard

Facebook: Amanda Bernard

Yelp: Pardon my pretty

Image Credits
Loui Photos Reem Photography