The only thing constant in this world is change....

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 8^th 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 9^th 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:

Photography: Dan Korkelia
Model: Zara Sparkes
Stylist: Mira Kozlowska
Hair/MUA: Donna Harris
Jacket designer: Olya Shishkina

Photography: Dan Korkelia
Model: Zara Sparkes
Stylist: Mira Kozlowska
Hair/MUA: Donna Harris

Photography: Dan Korkelia
Model: Zara Sparkes
Stylist: Mira Kozlowska
Hair/MUA: Donna Harris

Photography: Dan Korkelia
Model: Zara Sparkes
Stylist: Mira Kozlowska
Hair/MUA: Donna Harris

Photography: Dan Korkelia
Model: Zara Sparkes
Stylist: Mira Kozlowska
Hair/MUA: Donna Harris

Tuesday 27^th 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 29^th 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 30^th 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:

Dancer: Alize Biannic
Photography: Sarah Peace
Hair/MUA: Donna Harris

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!

My Fashion Fortnight

Just as soon as I’d finished complaining to you guys that I’d taken my eyes off the ball and missed out a few opportunities, a number of great opportunity knocked on my door and between these and my days as a Benebabe, I have had a hectic but exciting couple of weeks.  I will recount my adventures in the order that they occurred.  Prepare yourselves, it’s gonna be a long one...!

Firstly, on 10^th February, I was booked to assist international creative hairstylist, Johnnie Sapong at London Fashion Week on the menswear day (22^nd February).  Assisting at London Fashion Week has been my dream since the very start so I was overjoyed to have made the assist list. I haven’t had the opportunity to do much male grooming work since graduating so I was looking forward to the challenge, especially under the tutelage of Mr Sapong, who has been hailed as “probably the best hairdresser in the world” by The Sunday Times.  Plus, playing with cute boys’ faces and hair for a day didn’t sound too awful!

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better and was eagerly planning what products to stock up my male grooming kit with, I got booked to assist with hair and make-up on a lookbook shoot for an amazing new brand called Miss Matahari, designed by the lovely Natasha Stuart. Miss Matahari is fitness wear for all women – from exercise novices to elite athletes, regardless of their size or shape. Inspired by Mata Hari, the icon of glamour and seduction that made her name synonymous with femme fatale during WWI, this brand celebrates and flatters the female figure, and manages to accentuate your assets and conceal the parts you’d rather not draw attention to, owing to the clever use of “some of the most technical fabrics available today”. It’s definitely a brand I’ll be wearing to Zumba class once it launches next month – “ this is seriously sexy fitness wear that ticks all the boxes”. The hair and make-up for the lookbook had to reflect this strong brand ethos of female empowerment so the brief was big, sexy, tousled curls for the hair and the make-up had a strong emphasis on the eyes, using browns, taupes and greys.

The shoot took place at a personal training studio near Tower Bridge in London.  We had a hair and make-up team of five, including me, and four models (one of which was also a make-up artist on the shoot).  I was a bit nervous to begin with as I didn’t really know what to expect and also because I knew I would be expected to help with hair, which is not my forte.  I don’t even like doing my own hair, but as a MUA its always a bonus if you can do hair as well.  I can do enough to get by when it’s a test shoot and I’m in charge of hair and make-up, but when I am assisting proper, experienced hairstylists, I tend to get a bit embarrassed about my hairstyling skills.  But the team was really nice and once I got into it, I think I did a good job, and actually ended up doing more hair than make-up on the shoot.

Whilst the photographer shot the stills for the lookbook, videographers were also making a film for the brand which saw the models running around outside in weird and wonderful locations and pretending to have arguments with one another.  I also played production assistant, holding reflectors, and bits of equipment and generally being the runner.  I  love just mucking in and helping to get a job done.   It was one of the coldest days of the year so far and the models and videographers  were obviously freezing  outside so it was important to be there for them in case they needed anything and to also help speed up the process as much as possible.

I can honestly say that this was one of the most fun shoots I’ve worked on so far.  I love meeting new people on the creative team and talent; discussing make-up with the MUAs and chatting to people about their experiences in the industry.  I can’t wait until Miss Matahari is launched next month and I get to see what we created that day. Of course, I will post them on my blog for you all to see too.

Well, as they say, no rest for the wicked, as the very next day I had shoot for another lookbook.  This time in was for the A/W 2012 collection from Xsenia & Olya.   Xsenia  and Olya, the design duo from Central St Martins, debuted their first collection ‘Staircase Wit’ at SS 2012 London Fashion Week.  The Fall/Winter 2012 collection showcases their experimental nature by introducing Digital Knit – the inter-weaving and morphing of knit and light to create unique knitting patterns unattainable in nature.   Their collection is absolutely beautiful.  By using light fabrics such as silk jersey, silk satin, light wool and crepe de chine, and a bold palette of red, grey, mustard and purple, the collection promotes comfortable elegance to hurdle the challenges of day to night dressing. It is about the woman and the limitless amount of possibilities that she can account for in one single day.

 Half of the lookbook had been shot the week before but unfortunately the MUA was unable to attend the second day, so I was called on by the photographer, Dan Korkelia, to take her place.  This meant that I had to copy the make-up she’d done on the model.  Now, I don’t know about other MUAs but I personally find it very hard to copy someone else’s work and I don’t like doing it.  Every MUA has their own style and areas of the face that they like to concentrate on.  For me,  I love a cheekbone – the more contouring and highlighting in the face, the better!  I love to see the angles of a face.  So when you have to match another MUA’s work it is hard to hold back on your own style and creativity.  Also, the make-up takes longer because you are working from a photo and trying to match all the shades, rather than working creatively and using your own instinct.  It will be interesting to look at the whole lookbook together, to see if anyone can spot the make-up done by me in the lookbook.

I had a beautiful model to work on, which always makes the job easier:  Zara Sparkes from BMA Models was fantastic to work with.  It was a new experience for me to work with the designers of the collection on the shoot: usually there is a stylist that acquires the clothes and puts items together, but I really enjoyed seeing  Xsenia and Olya fitting the clothes to the model as their relationship with each garment goes much deeper - they know how they envisaged the clothes looking and exactly what they want to bring out in the garment.  It was also interesting to work with Dan on a shoot. We have known each other since September 2011, having met on my first shoot (name link), but this was the first time I’ve worked with him.  By his own admission, he is a very hand-on photographer and likes to get into all aspects of the shoot, but I actually found it quite helpful to have his input: to see the make-up through the photographer’s  eyes and see what shades and colours the camera is picking up, because that’s what the world’s going to see in the end.  So here’s a look at some of the final images. To see the full lookbook click here and to find out more about Xsenia & Olya , visit the Xsenia & Olya website or Facebook page :

Model: Zara Sparkes @ BMA Models
Photographer: Dan Korkelia
MUA Donna Harris
Jacket: Xsenia & Olya (AW 2012 Collection)

Model: Zara Sparkes @ BMA Models
Photographer: Dan Korkelia
MUA Donna Harris
Dress: Xsenia & Olya (AW 2012 Collection)

Model: Zara Sparkes @ BMA Models
Photographer: Dan Korkelia
MUA Donna Harris
Jacket by Xsenia & Olya (AW 2012 Collection)

To my great disappointment, my London Fashion Week assisting job on 22^nd February was cancelled at the last minute. I was honestly gutted! But thankfully, my friend Nina Malone (www.ninamalone.co.uk and www.shootingbeauty.co.uk)  managed to get me booked as a hair and make-up artist for the Russian/Maslenitsa Fashion Show at the V&A Museum, sponsored by Fashion TV,  on the same day.  There were six hair and make-up artists in total and apparently 24 models, but I swear there were more.  We didn’t get given a brief before the day of the show, so I was a little bit worried about what the designers had in mind for the hair.  We were meant to be given full instructions on the looks at 12 noon on the day and then would have 5 ½ hours to do hair and make-up on four models each.  But, of course, at 12 noon the designers hadn’t yet given us any instruction and it wasn’t until about 1.30 pm when we finally started to pick up our make-up brushes.  By 4.30pm my hair and make-up station had descended into chaos, as had the whole room, with designers changing their mind on the hairstyles, models still not made up, and designers and presenters of the show requesting their hair and make-up to be done too!  I lost count of how many faces I put make-up on and because we had to move at the speed of light, I don’t think it was my best work.  We somehow managed to get everyone made-up and ‘coiffured’, our huge kits packed away and set bags with bits and pieces for quick touch-up at the ready, and jumped and on the shuttle bus to the V&A museum, where we arrived to find more chaos backstage, with designers unwilling to share their space with MUAs so close to their precious collections, show callers bellowing during rehearsals and three male models that needed to be made up.  So kits once again had to be unpacked in limited space!

It was exhausting but  somehow all the make-up artists managed to pull each other through.  I really enjoyed working with the other MUAs – one of the best things about being an MUA is that it never feels like you’re in competition with another MUA- you’re on the same team and you learn tips and tricks from each other.  And watching the models on the projector backstage we could see that we’d done a good job.  I can’t wait to see the photos and video footage from the night. Here are a couple of photos I managed to take on my phone:

One of my lovely models, waiting backstage

I got to play with cute boys after all - The male models

Finally, yesterday I did a test shoot for an advertising campaign, but I’ll wait until next time to tell you about it!

Thank you for reading.  Comments are always welcome (except if they are horrible, obviously!).  Check out my Facebook page and follow me on twitter (donnaharris_mua) for more up-to-the minute information.