‘It’s a life commitment’ – Makeup artist swaps high street stores for family funeral home to provide looks for deceased

A makeup artist who swapped high street cosmetic stores to provide looks for the deceased at her family-owned funeral parlour said her career change is a “forever-kind-of-thing”.

Jayne Lownds, 32, from Stoke-on-Trent, said she has always been “drawn” to makeup as she loves how it has “the ability to change the way people feel” – and she spent six years working for retailers such as Benefit Cosmetics and The Body Shop.

In March 2019, Jayne said she was approached by her parents, Kevin and Sue Lownds, 66 and 65 respectively, who established Kevin Lownds Funeral Services in October 2018, as there was a young woman in their care whose family had requested for her makeup to be provided in a particular way.

After completing the look and receiving praise from the family, Jayne said makeup became “so much more special” to her as she could bring individuals “peace” in their time of grief.

In March 2020, Jayne officially joined her family’s business, followed by her sister, Jacqui Bagnall-Lownds, 40, and her sister-in-law, Kerry Lownds, 34, and Jayne now wears “a lot of hats” alongside her role in mortuary cosmetology.

“I’m not a particularly religious person but I would always hope that if there was an afterlife and they could see themselves, they would be pleased with how they looked,” Jayne told PA Real Life.

“There’s a special understanding that those of us who work in the industry have about what we do.

“It’s a life commitment, it’s a forever-kind-of-thing.

“You feel really honoured when people choose you, you feel really special every time, and I think people do love that we’re a family.”

Jayne said she has always been “drawn” to makeup and cosmetics.

“I went to Benefit Cosmetics to have my makeup done when I was 16 ahead of my prom, and I said to my mum ‘I’m going to work there one day’,” she said.

Jayne went to university to study a degree in dancing and when she later entered the work force in 2014, she said she was “torn” between her two passions – especially when she was offered jobs in both.

She said she decided “on a whim” to pursue makeup and she started working for Benefit Cosmetics.

“I absolutely loved how makeup has the ability to change the way people could feel,” Jayne said.

“You could have someone approach the counter who was unsure on how to apply makeup, or they lacked a bit of confidence.

“Seeing people light up and their personality change, I loved seeing that.

“When they walked away, their walk was completely different than when they approached.”

Jayne then moved to work for The Body Shop as a store manager.

In March 2019, Jayne said her parents, Kevin and Sue, contacted her because they had a young woman in their care whose family had requested for her makeup to be provided in a particular way.

“The young woman was very specific about the way she did her makeup, and her family wanted the makeup to look as though she had done it herself,” Jayne said.

“It was my first experience of getting somebody ready in that way and it was a completely different feeling.

“Doing makeup was normally about the person who I was applying it to and how they would feel.

“But this was a different type of gift – it wasn’t the confidence I could give to the person, it’s what I could give to a family, and in a lot of ways, that was peace.”

After providing the makeup for the young woman, Jayne said she returned to the funeral parlour a few days later to check on her work before the family came to visit.

While there, the young woman’s parents requested to see Jayne.

“When I came through to the reception, they just threw their arms around me, they gave me a really big hug,” she said.

“They said I gave them something back that they never thought they would get to see again.”

Jayne said makeup became “so much more special” to her in this moment.

“I’d always loved makeup but I’d never thought about it in this way,” she said.

“I don’t think I could have put into words the feeling of being able to give people that peace.”

Over the next year, Jayne decided to pivot away from working on the high street and in March 2020, after spending time training and learning about the industry, she officially joined her family at Kevin Lownds Funeral Services.

Alongside mortuary cosmetology, Jayne said she now wears “a lot of hats” within the business, from leading funeral services as a celebrant to working on call to take the recently deceased into their care.

“When you work for a small, family-run, independent business, everybody has to be really multi-skilled,” she said.

“I studied dance and I used to do a lot of theatre performances, so I was very comfortable speaking in front of people and I used to really enjoy storytelling.

“I realised that celebrant work was finding all these beautiful moments in people’s lives and finding a way to tell the story.

“Our order of services are completely bespoke, you won’t see another one like them – they are works of art that tell a story of somebody’s life.”

Jayne and her family also work closely with Golden Charter, the UK’s largest provider of pre-paid funeral plans.

“I love pre-recording people’s wishes for their funerals because getting to speak to people when they’re not in a time of grief is really lovely,” she said.

“People say things like, ‘wouldn’t it be funny if we had this song?’ or ‘I’m going to write a funny poem for it to be read at the funeral and hopefully that will make people laugh’.

“You get to look at all the beautiful stuff and not necessarily the sad parts, it’s a lovely thing.”

Jayne said she is “so lucky” to work alongside her family as they “pull each other up”.

“I think if you have become desensitised, you’re probably in the wrong job,” she said.

“I think you have to remain sensitive and compassionate, but also brave enough to hold it in and know that it’s not your time to cry, it’s your time to be the shoulder.”

Reflecting on her career shift, Jayne urged others to “follow your passions”.

“Something I always to come back to is life is short, so many parts of our industry point that out to us,” she said.

“You’ve got to enjoy life and follow your passions.

“When something feels right, go with it.”