I can’t believe it has been over a month since I last wrote a post. I can only apologise for my tardiness- in my defence I have been very busy with various different projects. There is a lot to fill you in on so I will begin:
First up, I have decided to quit my job at the Benefit concession at a House of Fraser in South London. For the most part, working there has not been a happy experience. I have enjoyed meeting customers and doing their make-up, but that’s about all. I am sure a lot of people really enjoy working for House of Fraser and/or Benefit, and it is not my intention to speak badly of either company, but I will just say that working there was a not the right career choice for me and I will be glad to see the back of it. This does however present me with the problem of not having a regular income to depend upon again, but I have always been one to follow my heart and I really believe that when something’s not working for you, you have to get out of it or it will drive you mad and make you miserable. Also, I feel a bit more confident in my ability as a make-up artist now and feel like I can apply for freelance jobs that a few months ago I would have felt too inexperienced to apply for. I have no idea what the future holds and if I will look for another retail job or just try and go it alone. Only time will tell!
Anyway, as I said, I have been busy working on some shoots and projects in the last month or so. Here is an overview of just some of the things I’ve been up to:Thursday 8th March: AIU Graduates’ Fashion Show, Old Vic Tunnels
As part of a team of 8 make-up artists, I worked on the American InterContinental University’s annual Fashion Show, entitled ‘Flight’, held at the Old Vic Tunnels, London. The school donated all proceeds from ticket sales for the show to FSSA (Funding for Secondary School Assistance) Zambia.
The look for the make-up was made very striking with bright blue, green, yellow and orange triangular shapes stretching from the models’ eyelids to the hair lines, but the rest of the face was kept quite neutral. It was a good opportunity to test out the colourful OCC eye shadows and paints that I bought from IMATS at the beginning of February. 
Friday 9th March: 90’s inspired shoot
On this day, I had the opportunity to work again with the wonderful Dan Korkelia and Zara Sparkes, with whom I worked on the Xsenia & Olya Lookbook last month. I also recruited my good friend Mira Kozlowska to style the shoot and we used some great jackets designed by Olya Shishkina. We wanted to achieve some gorgeous, black and white and colour shots. The look was reminiscent of the late 80s/early 90’s supermodel era: sexy yet classy, with tousled hair, heavily lined eyelids and strong contouring. I played around with the make-up throughout the shoot and added influences from the 60’s and 80’s to mix it up a little. I really love the results:
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| Photography: Dan Korkelia Model: Zara Sparkes Stylist: Mira Kozlowska Hair/MUA: Donna Harris Jacket designer: Olya Shishkina |
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| Photography: Dan Korkelia Model: Zara Sparkes Stylist: Mira Kozlowska Hair/MUA: Donna Harris |
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| Photography: Dan Korkelia Model: Zara Sparkes Stylist: Mira Kozlowska Hair/MUA: Donna Harris |
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| Photography: Dan Korkelia Model: Zara Sparkes Stylist: Mira Kozlowska Hair/MUA: Donna Harris |
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| Photography: Dan Korkelia Model: Zara Sparkes Stylist: Mira Kozlowska Hair/MUA: Donna Harris |
Tuesday 27th March: My ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ inspired shoot
Given that I have not had the opportunity to work with many male models, I decided to organise my own test shoot and try my hand at male grooming. A couple of month ago, I was watching ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ and was admiring the styling in the film and thought that it would be great to do a shoot inspired by the film, tying it in with the summer trend for turn ups and boat shoes in men’s fashion. I wanted to replicate the look of Jude Law’s character in the film, Dickie Greenleaf, with his sexy, ‘too-cool-for-school’ cockiness, but also make it a bit edgier and more modern. I will write about the shoot in a separate blog post once I get the images back from the photographer.
Thursday 29th March: NABS Charity Event – Heaven and Hell
Last Thursday evening, I worked at an event organised by NABS (National Advertising Benevolent Society), entitled Heaven and Hell, held at Battersea Evolution. The event was hosted by Sara Cox and the headlining act was Pixie Lott. Unfortunately, I wasn’t doing either celebrity’s make-up, but instead was helping to make-up the twenty or so hosts and hostesses helping the event to run smoothly. As the theme was Heaven and Hell we had to first make the hosts and hostesses look angelic with light, iridescent make-up and then later we had to transform them into Hell’s angels with black smoky or kohl-rimmed eyes, dark lips and red contact lenses. Unfortunately, I was far too busy to take any photos of my work so have nothing to show you!
Friday 30th March: Music/Dance Video Shoot
Last Friday I worked on a music video shoot produced and directed by the multi-talented Sarah Peace, for Roberta De Francia, an acoustic/alternative singer/songwriter, originally from Italy. The video featured the beautiful French-born ballet dancer, Alize Biannic. It was really fun to work on something so different from my normal shoots and also to be on a film set again because it reminded me of my time as a dancer.
Once the video is ready I will post it on my facebook page. Here are some stills from the shoot. You can see my first attempts at mehendi designs on the hands and shoulders of the singer and dancer:
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| Dancer: Alize Biannic Photography: Sarah Peace Hair/MUA: Donna Harris |
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| Singer/Songwriter: Roberta De Francia Photography: Sarah Peace Hair/MUA: Donna Harris |
So there’s a quick snapshot of some of what I’ve been up to in March. I’ve missed out a couple of shoots which I will either blog about separately or post photos on my facebook page, so remember to ‘like’ and keep an eye out for them. I’m looking forward to a few days rest in April and a quick trip to Paris to stock up on some make-up goodies. I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and I promise I won’t leave it so long before I write again.
Happy Easter, Darlings!
