Invoicing as a Makeup Artist

Makeup work lives and dies by the calendar: a bride’s date is worth nothing to you if someone else books it first, so the deposit isn’t a nicety, it’s how you hold the chair. Fee-Lion lets you quote the trial, the event-day rate, and the travel in one estimate, collect a deposit to lock the date, and let your client pay by card straight into your own Stripe.

Build the estimate the way you actually quote

Your pricing usually splits three ways, and Fee-Lion has a line type for each. Open Estimates in the left sidebar, start a new one, and mix:

• Tasks for time-based work like the trial session or the event-day timeline: enter hours and your rate (say 3 hours of bridal application).
• Fees for flat charges: the trial as a set price, a touch-up kit, or a lashes add-on.
• Units for per-head pricing: bridesmaids or party members at a fixed rate times quantity.

Add a surcharge for an early call time or a holiday date, or a discount if the bride books the whole party. Set your tax if you charge it, and choose a deposit % right on the estimate. For deeper line-item help, see pricing an estimate with tasks, fees, and units.

Handle travel without eating the cost

Two clean ways to bill travel, depending on whether it’s a quote line or a real cost you’re passing through:

• If you quote a flat travel rate up front, add it as a surcharge or a fee line on the estimate so the client approves it before the day.
• If you want to track actual mileage and parking against the booking, log it under Expenses, mark it billable, and rebill it. See track mileage and travel as an expense.

Tip: Set a default deposit in Settings → Preferences so every new estimate already asks for the percentage you need to hold a date. Then you only adjust it for the rare exception.

Send it, take the deposit, lock the date

Send the estimate and your client gets a no-login portal link. They review it on their phone, approve, and pay the deposit by card on the spot, no account, no back-and-forth.

1. From the estimate, hit send. Your client opens the magic link and sees the full breakdown in your branded portal.
2. They tap approve. With a deposit set, the portal walks them straight to paying it by card. See how a client approves an estimate.
3. The card payment lands in your own Stripe (a small platform fee applies). Connect it once under connect Stripe to get paid.
4. One click converts the approved estimate to an invoice, or to a project if you want a checklist and discussion thread for the big day.

Bill the balance on event day

After the event, open the invoice and the collected deposit is already credited, so the client only owes the remaining balance. They pay the rest by card from the same Pay button in the portal. If anyone wants to settle in cash on the day, you can record an offline payment instead and the invoice still closes out clean.

For repeat clients, like a salon you do weekly bridal trials for, set up a recurring invoice so you’re not rebuilding the same charges every time.

What’s next

• Collect a deposit on an estimate
• Track mileage and travel as an expense
• Set a default deposit percentage
• How a client pays an invoice