KimPlotel

Global Make‑Up Artist•
Trainer•Educator•Broadcaster

Introduction

I teach artists to do their best work in the chair, and the people who sell it to do theirs on the counter. Two decades on set, on air and in the classroom.

I started on the makeup counter — still the best training there is — and I've spent the two decades since moving between editorial sets, television studios, classrooms and the radio booth. Makeup artist, sales trainer, educator, broadcaster: one craft, carried into every room. Along the way: By Terry, M.A.C, Trish McEvoy, Tom Ford, Armani Cosmetics, Becca and Soho House.

On set

The work, up close.

What I do

Four rooms, one craft.

Makeup Artist

Two decades of editorial, beauty, campaign and grooming — magazine covers, music videos and public figures. A portfolio built for every skin tone and every light.

Sales & Product Trainer

Empowering brand teams to sell with confidence, and showing customers why they want the product. In‑store tutorials and technique that turn consultants into top sellers — delivered globally for By Terry.

Educator

Building the next generation, from first technique to a working career. Recruited from the industry to teach at a leading London academy, with masterclasses and one‑to‑one mentoring alongside.

Broadcaster

At home on air and on camera — presenting, demonstrating and directing makeup for television, plus a long‑running fortnightly show on NTS Radio.

Sales & retail

I make people want it.

The best product in the world still has to be sold. My work is giving the people on the floor the confidence to sell it, and showing customers exactly why they need it. I trained the By Terry team globally to know the product, use it, and put it in front of a customer with conviction.

Kim Plotel team training, Taipei 2012 — Taipei 2012 · Team training

Kim Plotel on a By Terry promo shoot, Hong Kong 2012 — Hong Kong · By Terry shoot

On the floor

Global sales training for By Terry — in‑store tutorials that turn consultants into confident sellers
“Meet the Artist” customer events, showing shoppers the product and the techniques to recreate the look at home
Top salesperson nationally and internationally for Trish McEvoy, Tom Ford and Armani Cosmetics
Product knowledge, demonstration and the close taught as one connected skill

Why it works

I started where the selling actually happens: the counter. It is the best training there is — reading a customer in seconds, demonstrating with your hands, and sending them out loyal. I am not only a trainer. I sell, and I teach others to, with a way with people that turns a demonstration into a sale.

Trish McEvoyTom FordArmani CosmeticsBy TerryBeccaM.A.C

Training & Education

The teaching is the point.

Anyone can hold a brush. My work is building the artists who go on to hold their own — with a method that translates just as well to a live audience as it does to a one‑to‑one chair.

Kim Plotel on set at a GQ shoot — training tutorial coming soon

Makeup tutorials coming soon

How I train

Courses that take complete beginners all the way to paid, working artists
Live, to‑camera demonstration — teaching that holds a room and a lens at the same time
Colour and technique across every skin tone and every lighting set‑up
Product and sales training that turns retail teams into confident sellers
Confidence coaching for anyone stepping in front of an audience

Big Creative Academy

Art & Design Tutor · 2022–present / Theatrical Makeup Tutor · 2021–22

At one of London's leading creative academies, I prepare 16–19s for real careers in makeup, film, TV and set design. Big Creative recruits its tutors straight from the industry — it wants working practitioners, not just teachers — so students learn from someone who has actually done the job. I bring two decades of professional work into the classroom and set them up for the roles that really exist.

Kim Plotel at Big Creative Academy, on set with the camera crew

20+

Years teaching

Countless

Artists trained

Since 2009

On air & on camera

Workshops & masterclasses

Led by me, both corporately and privately. Where conversation, connection, and creativity meet.

At Soho House

Smoky Goddess: Create Ritual.

A members’ makeup masterclass — smoky eye and a considered face, hands‑on.

The Drawing Room

Artist‑led drawing sessions.

Two hours at the table — ink, portraiture, meditative mark‑making.

Kim and Pia, hosts of The Kim & Pia Show on NTS Radio

Radio personality

On air, on NTS.

NTS Radio is one of the most respected independent stations in the world — started in a Dalston record shack in 2011, now broadcasting around the clock to millions of listeners a month, with resident hosts in more than 80 countries. Human‑curated, ad‑free, home to the likes of Jamie xx and Four Tet. Kim presented her own show on it.

The Kim & Pia Show was a fortnightly fixture on NTS. Kim and Pia — best friends since they met on a beach in the South of France — ran a Saturday‑morning mix of soul, hip hop, house, reggae and R'n'B, with live guests from Children of Zeus to Martelo, and shows that charted worldwide.

Years of live, unscripted air time: reading a room, holding a mic and keeping it warm. The same on‑air ease Kim brings to a camera, a counter or a classroom.

NTS

The Kim & Pia Show

Presenter · NTS Radio, London · 2014–2019

"No hang‑ups, just grooves." Soul, hip hop, house, reggae and R'n'B, fortnightly on NTS.

Listen on NTS

Episodes

04 May 2019

The Kim & Pia Show

Slow Jams · Classic Hip Hop · RNB

06 Apr 2019

The Kim & Pia Show

Slow Jams · Classic Hip Hop · RNB

09 Mar 2019

w/ Martelo & The Rabbits

Slow Jams · RNB

09 Feb 2019

w/ Maurice Alexander

Slow Jams · Classic Hip Hop · RNB

19 Jan 2019

w/ Children of Zeus, KSR & Alex

Slow Jams · Classic Hip Hop · RNB

15 Dec 2018

The Kim & Pia Show

Slow Jams · Christmas · RNB

17 Nov 2018

w/ Yome

Slow Jams · Classic Hip Hop · RNB

20 Oct 2018

w/ Martelo

Slow Jams · Classic Hip Hop · RNB

22 Sep 2018

w/ Tyson & Josephine

Slow Jams · Classic Hip Hop · RNB

04 Aug 2018

w/ Khori

Slow Jams · Classic Hip Hop · RNB

07 Jul 2018

w/ Loren & Mark

Slow Jams · Classic Hip Hop · RNB

09 Jun 2018

w/ Shy One & Mr Tropical

Slow Jams · Classic Hip Hop · RNB

The portfolio.

Editorial, beauty, campaign and grooming — a cross‑section of the work, including published tearsheets.

Drag, or use the arrows

SoccerBible — All Power cover, Alexia Putellas · makeup

Football editorial — golden-hour portrait, flat cap and tinted aviators

Football editorial — retro Liverpool shirt, portrait in a convertible

Football editorial — striped shirt, portrait against sky

Beauty editorial — smoky eye and defined brow, gold cuff

Black-and-white beauty portrait, sculpted lip

Editorial beauty — high-key skin, styled shoot

Full-length editorial, monochrome styling with bold lip

Beauty portrait, warm skin and defined eyes

Natural daylight beauty against a textured wall

Soft glam beauty — coral tones and waves

Editorial beauty, cool tones and wet-look styling

Black-and-white beauty portrait with fringe

Public figures

Faces you'll know.

Grooming and makeup for actors, presenters and names in the public eye — published, credited work.

Peter Capaldi groomed by Kim Plotel for a Paul Smith fashion editorial — Peter Capaldi

Grooming · Paul Smith fashion editorial

Styling Jamie Stewart · Wardrobe Paul Smith London

Noel Gallagher groomed by Kim Plotel for GQ Men of the Year 2013 — Noel Gallagher

Grooming · GQ Men of the Year

GQ, October 2013 · Icon of the Year · Photograph by John Wright

AJ Odudu, Vick Hope and Jimmy Hill with makeup by Kim Plotel for 4Music's Trending Live! — AJ Odudu, Vick Hope & Jimmy Hill

Lead Makeup Artist · Trending Live!

4Music

Micky Flanagan

Lead Makeup Artist · GQ Comedy Special

On set, behind the chair · 2013

Laura Groves — Pale Shadows — Laura Groves

Lead Makeup Artist · “Pale Shadows”

Official music video · DEEK Recordings, 2013

As seen with

Brands, stages & screens.

Jocks & Nerds

Twenty years in, and I still adore what I do. The creative world so often centres the self — but for me, it’s the teaching, the training, the collaborating, that keeps the joy alive. It’s the community around the craft that makes my heart full.

Kim Plotel

In their words

What people say.

i
She took a team that knew the products and turned them into people who could sell them — confidently, and in the customer's own language. Our strongest months followed her training, and to this day she's the best seller I've ever watched work a floor.
Global Head of Sales
ii
Calm, fast and completely unflappable on set. The makeup read beautifully on camera in every light we threw at it, and the talent adored her. First name on my call sheet.
Producer, music video
iii
Students leave her sessions ready to work, not just ready to pass. She brings the industry into the room with her, and you can see it land. The feedback is the best we get.
Training coordinator
iv
I've never felt more myself than I do in Kim's chair. She listens, she reassures, and somehow you leave looking like the best version of yourself. I won't let anyone else near my face now.
Private client
v
She reads a room instantly and has everyone leaning in within minutes. Our members left glowing and asking when she's back. An easy, immediate rebook.
Workshops & events

Let's chat.

07904 146348 hello@kimplotel.com