January 20, 2017

Meet Gilian D’Amico of The Mermaid Bar in Woodland Hills

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gilian D’Amico.

Gilian is a hair and makeup artist from San Jose with education from Los Angeles. Her training includes Pravana, Wella, Schwartzkopf and Redken, while specializing in balayage and blondes. She has a strong makeup background which includes NYX, Giorgio Armani, and MAC. She has worked on photoshoots and special events for both hair and makeup in both the Los Angeles and Bay area.

Gilian moved to Los Angeles in 2009 and attended Cal State Northridge, majoring in Apparel Design and Merchandising. Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 2013, she still had a strong passion to pursue a career within the beauty industry.

After completing cosmetology school, Gilian wanted to assist a stylist and further her education. She admired a stylist on Instagram, Jeremie Anderson who was a stylist at Butterfly Loft in Encino. Upon graduating, Gilian messaged Jeremie on Instagram and asked her if she would take her as an assistant.

Jeremie Anderson is a hair and makeup artist from Los Angeles with 16 years of experience in the beauty industry. Her foundation training in cut and color are from Vidal Sassoon, Sebastian International, Goldwell, Toni & Guy, and L’Oreal. She is now a certified master colorist in modern color and techniques including Pravana, Joico, and Wella. Refined styling background comes from being a salon educator and ambassador for the Bumble and Bumble Company, having attended their University in New York for styling and public speaking, furthering her skill and dedication to the craft.

To round out her skills she is also a trained makeup artist with a background from Mac, Temptu, and Makeup Forever Cosmetics. She has worked on-set hair and makeup for high profile events and bands in Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco such as the Oscars and has enjoyed freelancing throughout the west coast.

“We met while I was working at The Butterfly Loft in Encino. My family and I had just relocated from Beverly Hills and a few months after working there I got an Instagram direct message from Gilian asking if I needed an assistant. I said yes and started training her from then on.

After a vigorous hands-on tandem training with me, we became such close friends and I felt she was ready to just jump right in and let her creativity flourish. We quickly outgrew the space and talked with our mentor and owner of the Butterfly Loft/U-bungalows and at the time they didn’t have any space for the two of us.

As her mentor and friend, and for myself as well, we decided to leave and support one another’s dreams to have the space to grow more in the beauty industry as a whole and in a healthy way.

And here we are, less than a year, we have a growing friendship and business has expanded since we broke out of our cocoons. I have gained a friend and business partner in a little over a year because we share that creative connection and fellow entrepreneurial drive.

It’s rare to find a down to earth kindred spirit and I really value that.”

–Jeremie

“My first day assisting at Butterfly Loft, Jeremie had me work on her client right away. She showed me such love and encouragement from the second I met her. That is not something that every assistant experiences so I quickly realized how lucky I was. Jeremie truly cared about myself and my growth. She made sure I was turning my weaknesses into strengths and making my strengths perfection.

When the time came for me to graduate into a full independent stylist, Jeremie and I still wanted to work as a team. There was no room for the both of us at Butterfly Loft so we both decided to leave and start a new business together and encourage each others growth and creativity.

Jeremie was not only a mentor to me but turned out to be one of my best friends. Social media is such a powerful tool that it brought together two strangers and turned us into best friends and business partners. We have learned a tremendous amount along the way and have realized that if someone closes a door on you, add that fuel to your fire for success and there are other doors that will be open. There are bigger and better things out there for you, you just have to find them!”

-Gilian

Together Jeremie and Gilian created a unique beauty company called the Mermaid Bar. The Mermaid Bar offers hair and makeup services in the Woodland Hills area. Their clients love their new space! In fact, the love it so much they have decided to expand to the Bay Area! Gilian will be in charge of the Northern California region while Jeremie will be in charge of the Southern California region. They are expanding their company from hair and makeup services to makeup and beauty products. Keep an eye out for their new products and creations! Follow them on Instagram @mermaid_bar @gilianmademepretty @remierainbow

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Owning your own business is never a smooth road! We have had a lot of trial and error but it makes the journey a lot smoother when you have someone to share it with.

We have had many people tell us no, but we never let that stop us. We continue to encourage and inspire each other while still holding each other accountable. There is a lot of coffee and brainstorming involved but together we always come up with an alternative if our first plan was not quite right. We want people to know that trial and error is okay and you should never let that stop you. You will have the people that will doubt and discourage but you have to listen to your heart and soul and keep going. We have amazing family and friends who support and encourage daily. The best is yet to come!

Please tell us about The Mermaid Bar.
Together we created a unique beauty company called the Mermaid Bar. The Mermaid Bar offers hair and makeup services in the Woodland Hills area. Their clients love their new space! In fact, the love it so much they have decided to expand to the Bay Area! Gilian will be in charge of the Northern California region while Jeremie will be in charge of the Southern California region. They are expanding their company from hair and makeup services to makeup and beauty products. We are so proud of being able to have a successful business that doesn’t feel like work. We have such a passion for beauty that we put in overtime to better our company and ourselves for our clients and customers. We want to inspire and encourage people all over, especially the ones who were told no. We want to encourage them and with time and hard work, you can do absolutely anything!

Jeremie specializes in haircutting, fashion colors, and airbrush makeup. Gilian specializes in blondes, balayage and glamour makeup.

What sets us apart is that we truly care about people. We thoroughly enjoy meeting people and biking a friendship beyond a clientele. We absolutely adore our clients and look forward to seeing them. We want to encourage others to be successful because there is enough room for everyone to make it!

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
We believe that all things happen for a reason and you learn from all experiences in life. We are thankful we did not have to take this business journey alone and have created an unbreakable bond! We want people to know that everything happens for a reason and doors will close on you, only because something better is waiting for you. We have definitely learned that! We’ve pushed each other to keep going and to never give up.

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