North Carolina Forces Makeup Artists to Teach Unrelated Skills or Face Thousands in Fines

Jasna Bukvic is a North Carolina-based professional makeup artist who wants to open up a school to teach others how to apply makeup like her. But there is a catch. The state will only give Jasna a license to open her school if she agrees to turn it into a full-fledged esthetics school, forcing her to spend 500 hours teaching things makeup artists do not do— like hair removal and facials— and at least $10,000 on useless equipment.

Jasna was surprised to learn about this after receiving a personal visit from a member of the North Carolina Board of Cosmetic Art Examiners, who found Jasna’s Facebook ad for makeup instruction. To the Board, it does not matter that Jasna’s students do not want to learn these unnecessary skills and that Jasna does not want to teach them. She either has to comply with the Board’s demands or she will not be allowed to open.

But makeup artistry is not the same as esthetics. Estheticians offer services like microdermabrasion, body waxing and facials. The Board refuses to make this distinction and instead forces makeup artists who simply want to teach others their craft to comply with its 600-hour one-size-fits-all curriculum or face thousands of dollars in fines.

North Carolina has no problem with Jasna applying makeup to someone: The state requires almost anyone who applies makeup for a living to become a state-licensed esthetician before working and Jasna went through 600 hours of schooling to get that license several years ago. Yet it has a problem with Jasna teaching people how to apply makeup unless she gets an additional license and turns her makeup school into an esthetics school.

It does not make sense to force makeup schools to spend hundreds of hours teaching skills makeup artists do not use. People like Jasna should not need the government’s permission to provide useful information. Jasna only wants to teach makeup and her students only want to learn about makeup. Under the First Amendment, the government cannot require a license just to teach something, including makeup artistry.

That is why Jasna and her prospective student Julie Goodall have teamed up with the Institute for Justice to challenge North Carolina’s requirements in federal court. The U.S. Constitution protects the right to speak for a living—whether the speakers are authors, journalists or makeup artists like Jasna— and it protects the rights of listeners to hear from those speakers.

http://www.ij.org/case/north-carolina-makeup-schools
Donate to IJ: https://ij.org/support/give-now/