A Little Less Conversation...

I've realised that my last couple of posts have been a little word-heavy: I've been writing and describing lots of things to you and have neglected to show you a lot of the work that I have been doing over the last couple of months.  So in this post, I am simply going to show you photos from some of my latest photo shoots.

The first set of photos were taken by the lovely Karen Helle. The model is Samantha Hicks and the Stylist is Mariana Lourenco. Hair and make-up is, of course, by me. This photoshoot took place in a theatre and I think you'll agree that the photos evoke a sense of old Hollywood glamour with a modern, sexy edge:

The second set of photos are from a photoshoot which was organised as part of an Advanced Make-up course I did at The Session School, London.  If you are interested in becoming a Make-up Artist I thoroughly recommend you check out The Session School. The photography is by Tim Wheeler, who was absolutely amazing to work with.  The model's name was Erin, the hair is by the lovely Jo Baber. Make-up by me.  I had to create two different looks on Erin; the first one being a natural/neutral look.  For the second look, my inspiration was winter frost but I wanted to do an 'ugly-pretty' look rather than a fantasy look with glitter.  I wanted to take all the warm colours out of her skin and make her look pale and hollow. I decided to add a little bead ornament to hang off her cheek like diamante tears, to add some more drama to the make-up.

Testing my Skills

I am very happy because my blog has had over 500 page views.  I know that’s not a lot in the great scheme of the world wide web but considering ‘The Make-up Darling’ has only been up and running for just short of two months and is only publicised through my Facebook page, I think it’s pretty impressive! When I get to 1000 page views I will run a competition for one lucky reader to win some make-up goodies or perhaps a make-over, so keep reading and encourage your friends to read it too!

For the last couple of weeks, I have been working on getting my make-up kit together and building my portfolio by doing test shoots with photographers.  These shoots are unpaid, but are great for newbie make-up artists to gain experience and confidence on shoots and, of course, to get those all-important photos.  In the final week of my course, we had a photoshoot day too, where I brought in a model (my cousin’s beautiful 17 year old nice, Shamika) and created four different looks on her.  I’ve held back on showing you these photos as, much to my frustration, I have not received all of the photos from the school.  But, I couldn’t wait any longer so here they are:

The first look I created on Shamika was inspired by an old beauty shot of my idol, Tyra Banks.  It’s just a simple base with rounded black, smoky eyes and a neutral lip:





For the second look, I added in hair extensions and winged out the eye make-up for extra drama. I added two shades of purple to the eye and darkened the eyebrows.   I contoured the face and added a bit more blusher for a stronger look:

For the third look, I wanted to create a bronzed goddess look.  Starting with a clean face, I applied foundation and then contoured the face using a dark brown powder and a liquid highlighter in a gold shade.  I darkened and lengthened the eyebrows using a dark brown matt eyeshadow, and then applied a mixture of bronze and gold eyeshadows to the eyelids, followed by a thick sweep of black cake eyeliner.  To the lips I applied a gold lipstick and then stuck on tiny pieces of gold leaf.  For the hair, I added brown and blonde extensions, and twisted, dreadlock-like extensions to the hairline, twisted them around themselves and pinned in place.  Unfortunately, most of the photos of this look are missing- I only have this one of the work in progress:

For the final look, I wanted something completely different.  I wanted to play with bright colours and create a fantasy look.  Firstly, I added colour to the hair by fish-plaiting small pieces of coloured extensions.  I twisted some of the plaits around themselves again and pinned them up.  I added bright blue shades to the eyelids, a bit of glitter and some false lashes. Under the eye, I applied a bit of green eyeshadow.   I coloured the eyebrows bright pink using face paints and applied a bright pink lipstick to the model’s lips, followed by a clear gloss.  To finish the look off, I added some paper butterflies to the hair and stuck one on the models face using eyelash glue.  I also added a diamante beauty-spot.

I had a lot of fun creating these looks.  I think the last one is my favourite, just because it is so creative and colourful, although the bronzed look comes a close second (and once I get the photos of the finished look I’ll post them for all to see).  Please let me know what you think and which look is your favourite.   I also want to say a special thank you to my model, Shamika, for being so fantastic and patient on the day of the shoot.

Play Time!

This week, we have been getting more artistic at make-up school and working on more avant-garde and conceptual looks for photography and catwalk.  Having seen photos from haute couture fashion weeks with models sporting very imaginative, cutting-edge looks, I was keen to see if I could master the art myself.  However, I was never particularly good at art in school: I was always a bit too ‘safe’ and light-handed with my 2B pencil and this style of make-up definitely calls for you to 'play' with make-up, push the boundaries and design works of art.

We started by taking the 20’s inspired look (see previous post) and (under the instruction of our tutor) layering make-up over this to achieve a more artistic look:

Then, today, as I was the only student in class, my tutor and I had an opportunity to take the conceptual look a bit further.  I don’t know if any of you managed to grab a copy of this week’s Stylist Magazine on your way into work this morning, but in the beauty section there was an article and six page editorial demonstrating the work of an amazing make-up artist, Alex Box. Box is a truly inspirational make-up artist and her work beautifully traverses the boundaries between make-up and art. She is the Creative Director of Illamasqua, which is fast becoming my favourite make-up brand.

Using the ‘Cubism’ inspired look as inspiration, my tutor demonstrated the techniques for creating angular shapes on one half of my face and I did my best to complete the other half. 

Photo of the image in Stylist Magazine that inspired today's look!

Isn't make-up amazing?  Feel free to comment on this or any of my other posts.