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From Mac OG to Agency Founder with Heidi Scarlett King
This week I sat down with Sydney-based makeup artist and King Co Creative founder Heidi Scarlett King — and yes.
Heidi has one of those careers that sounds like fiction. She started at Mac in Sydney when the brand had just launched, assisting Fashion Week shows a season. Then she packed up and moved to London with no plan, started again from scratch, ended up at the Mac Pro Store in Soho, ended up on ITV This Morning as a beauty expert, got on Pat McGrath's runway team in Paris, and came home in 2014 to build an agency with 45 artists on the books.
This one covers the full arc. The exciting bits, the lonely bits, and the hard-won truths that only come from doing this for a really long time.
We cover:
Starting at Mac in the 2000s and what Australian Fashion Week looked like at its peak
Assisting legend Dottie and why those early years were the making of her
Starting over in London and what six years there taught her about resilience
Getting onto Pat McGrath's team at Paris Fashion Week and what that world is really like
Accidentally becoming a TV beauty expert on ITV This Morning
Why she moved back to Sydney in 2014 and how hard it was to restart — again
How the industry shifted post-Instagram and why events became where the money went
Directing Australian Idol and The Voice — and how that gave birth to King Co Creative
Managing 45 artists: what she values more than talent, and why integrity can't be taught
The Cartier Opera House event: 63 hair and makeup artists across 10 Sydney hotels
The best advice she has for artists just starting out
Plus Heidi shares her current kit favourites — the By Terry powder she's been using for 15 years, her new Tarte tubing mascara obsession, and why the Half Percent lip liner is her ride or die right now.
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In this episode of The Insider Diary, I give a personal update on how work and content creation have been going. The main focus is my Instagram growth, I've picked up almost 2,000 followers in five weeks by posting reels daily, and I break down exactly which reels worked, which ones flopped, and the workflow behind it all. I also cover my content days and open the waitlist for my upcoming hair masterclass.
Started posting reels daily from 18 March this year. 
Nearly 2,000 new followers in about five weeks.
Biggest lesson from the whole run: people only watch for 7 to 13 seconds. The hook decides whether they stay.
My workflow: uses ChatGPT to help with captions, hooks and on-screen prompts, edits everything in the Edits app, posts to Instagram first, pulls the original file from Edits (not a re-download from Instagram) to post on TikTok, then reposts from TikTok to YouTube Shorts.
Next move: repost her best performers again with a reworked hook, using ChatGPT to help tweak them.
Advice for anyone starting out: just start. Mistakes are part of it. You'll find your style along the way. Collaboration helps (like her episode with Max) but isn't essential.
Announcement: the waitlist is open for her hair masterclass. Format isn't locked in yet (leaning look-and-learn), and it'll be offered virtually too, so it's not just for Sydney or Australia.
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Adam Garland has worked backstage, assisted Sam McKnight, and had two shots at getting onto Guido Palau's team. Right now he's in his dad's garage in Somerset, UK, building a hair education platform from scratch. In this episode we talk about how he broke into session work (Model Mayhem, zero plan), the real cost of working for free, imposter syndrome, addiction and recovery, why chasing the agency dream was holding him back, and what changed when he finally let it go. He also shares the products he genuinely uses on set and why the humble ponytail elastic deserves way more respect than it gets.
How Adam fell into hairdressing at 14 and went from a village salon to Vidal Sassoon, Tony & Guy, and eventually session work
Finding his way into editorial around 2008-2010 via Model Mayhem, testing before he even knew testing was a thing
Assisting Sam McKnight backstage at Chanel with Karl Lagerfeld and Kendall Jenner in the chair
What nobody tells you about walking into those environments for the first time when you're from a small town
The industry language nobody teaches you: options, confirms, releases, pencils, hard outs
The pay debate: why working for free is not a free university, it's one day of university
His experience on Guido Palau's team, twice, and why it didn't work out either time
Addiction, recovery, and how starting his recovery journey around 2018 changed everything
Why Sam McKnight's team stood by him for five years through the hard stuff
AI in the creative industry and why "AI slop" is the wrong response
Letting go of the agency dream and what happened to his career when he did
Building sessionhair.com: 1:1 mentoring, a free initial consult, and an education platform coming soon
Archive research and why knowing your references is how you find your visual identity
Products covered in this episode:
Bedhead TIGI Queen for a Day thickening spray
Keune Get a Grip texturiser
Keune Sea Foam
Sam McKnight Modern Hairspray
Session Kit elastics (sessionkit.co.uk)
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This week I sat down with Sydney makeup artist Max May. Nearly 30 years in the industry, self-taught, Armani Australia ambassador, Charlotte Tilbury Glow Squad, and one of the first artists in this country to build a blog and digital presence when the industry told him it would ruin his career.
In this episode we cover:
How Max got started — growing up in the country, moving to Sydney, falling into hairdressing by accident and discovering makeup on set
Why he never did formal training and why he still thinks assisting is the best way to learn this industry
What it was actually like to assist in those early days — it was tough, the industry was different, and he got on a bus to pick up dog poop for the person he worked under
His years doing fashion weeks in Paris, New York and Milan
Being the Australian Armani ambassador and what that role actually looked like
Directing fashion shows in Australia for ten years straight
Working with Jennifer Hawkins, Laura Bingle, Sarah Murdoch, Cheyenne Tozzi, Miranda Kerr and Mel B on The Masked Singer
Why he finds editorial more creatively satisfying than TV
Being one of the first Australian makeup artists to go digital — he lost work and friends over it and did it anyway
His social media formula: how many times he posts a week and what the algorithm actually wants right now
Why he has zero interest in TikTok and is not sorry about it
His thoughts on AI and staying relevant in a changing industry
Full list of products mentioned over on The Makeup Insider. 
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3. The Inside Edit 
Tannia T has been doing this for over two decades. She started at the Napoleon Perdis counter and worked her way to global artistry — training staff, creating content, and travelling to LA and New York for major industry events.
Today she runs her own home studio, takes one-on-one clients, does bridal work, and has some clients who have been with her for over ten years.
In this episode, we get into what that kind of longevity actually looks like. The kit, the tools, the booking system, the products she keeps coming back to, and the real talk about social media as a working artist.
We cover:
How Tannia went from Napoleon Perdis retail to global artistry
Training staff and creating content for a major brand
Travelling to LA and New York for industry events
Building and running her own home studio
Balancing bridal work, one-on-one clients, and being a mum
Her Surratt eyelash curler obsession (and why it's worth it)
Sonya G brushes — quality over quantity
By Terry CC Brightening and Benefit Brow Glaze
Her honest take on social media as a business tool
How she manages bookings: manual tracking meets Google Calendar
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