Oh hello there.

Hello there. Long time no see.

I am back. I am back from a much needed holiday back to Brazil and seeing friends and all that good stuff. I have been missing in action, I know. I will do my best to keep up with the blog. Like I said on my last post I have so many ideas and new products and tips to share with you all.

Please bare with me as I still need to make some adjustments to the blog. New year, new look! Will try to do at least a couple of posts a week! 

On the mean time, I will leave you with my latest find, which happens to be the best find this year so far. Bold statement I know, but very true!

Whilst on the plane on my way to Brazil I was very bored as it was such a long flight. And times like these you can only do so much, having watched pretty much all the films available I decided to look through the duty free magazine they had on board. And there it was. Something I never heard of before. Magnifibres! It just caght my attention instantly.

I'm sure we all want longer looking lashes everyday, but despite being a make up artist, I don't reach for falsies on a daily basis just because I don't like the feel of them during the day. I love individuals, but simply don't have the time to put those on in the morning before I rush out the door. So I rely on coats and more coats of mascara. I've tried pretty much them all and my current favorite at the moment is the YSL False Lash Effect Waterproof Mascara. Love that stuff and it's a difficult one to replace. I was never too bothered with length and always focused on fuller looking lashes and this mascara has it all for me.

But since discovering Magnifibres I completely feel in love with it. I must say I thought it was a bit of a gimmick at first, but I always fall for it and buy anyways and end disapointed with the product. At the time I remember thinking "what have I got to lose?" I was bored and knew something like this would keep me enterteined for a while.

First of all, I thought this was like one of those lash primers that you buy from Mac or Dior, those white ones that you just add an extra coat of mascara on top to thicken and lenghten the lashes. But to my surprise there was actual fibres on the wand. Almost like cotton fibres on them, and the first thing I thought was that if I get this stuff in my eye, it will be very uncomfortable. And I was right!

Like I said I thought it was sort of a lash primer, but this is applied between two layers of your mascara. Apply a coat of your favourtie mascara, then add a coat of Magnifibre, wait 30 seconds and add a second coat of your mascara and voila!

It says on the box that it lengthen lashes by up to 5mm and definetely gives a fuller looking lash effect and I love it. The only thing I dont like about it is that it takes a lot of effort and very good oil based eye make up remover to get rid of it but this can also be a good thing if you have very oily eyelids like myself and you need a primer for everything.

It is made of viscose fibres and it is suitable for contact lens wearer. As far as getting it in your eyes, it only happened once and never had an irrititaion from it. I would definetely recomend it for those who like a false lash effect without the falsies as it is so much easier to carry around and theres no mess.

Be sure to follow the instructions carefully and you shouldn't have any problems with it. Also spread it evenly so you don't get a clumpy lash effect instead! Have you heard of this product before? 

xxx

Make Up Artistry Course Part 3

This second week of the course was the advanced week. We had a lot more to cover and less time to practice as we were getting closer and closer to the shoot day where we had 45 minutes on each model to create a fashion look and a beauty look. So this week every minute was valuable. 

Day 7:

It was about photography lighting, natural make up for beauty editorials and lips again. It was also about glowing skin, so Nicci also created two very different looks and applications to show us how to create a glowing skin.

Hannah with the "J-Lo glow"

Me with the an editorial look

My take on the 'glowing skin' make up

Day 8: 

TV and film make up, HD products. Nicci basically explained the difference between the products and how they would affect the finish on the skin. Also we had a super fun demo showing us how to deteriorate the the facial features. Nicci made it look easy, transforming a 19 year old to this:

When it came to doing it it felt like I had completely forgotten how to do everything she just thought me one hour before. It was almost like my subconscious was fighting me and telling me: "this is make up, why are you trying to make someone look old and grey? Make them look pretty". This is the effect make up has on me and since I started using i always tried to enhance features, not deteriorate it. So I panicked and became so critical that I almost didn't want to finish it. But with Nicci's help I managed to do it and also won a little prize for most realistic effect. Honestly, I was surprised because I was so focused on how bad I did it, I didn't think to step back and analise my work properly. Looking back at the pictures, its not bad at all. Your mind can play with you sometimes.

Maria before make up

Maria after make up 

All of us shot, please note Hannah's face on the back right corner

Day 9:

 Day 9 was glamour makeup. I never thought of it being 'TOWIE' style makeup. It's not my style but Nicci did it so effortlessly that everything came together so nicely it would have looked weird not to have everything there. She warmed Diana's completion quite a bit, added a lot of bronzer and a lot of eye make up. And of course, eyebrows. She used gel eyeliner for the brows and it really pulled the look together, it would have looked as nice if the brows were not as strong. This look was about more is more. She also gave us a quick demo on how she would use Airbrush make up to achieve a flawless finish on the skin, and although it was much darker than her natural skin tone, the finish was actually quite amazing. Can't wait to learn how to use Airbrush make up.

Eye application with tape to create a sharp edge

Here is my take on the Glamour make up on Festina. I love how the colour contrast and the strong lips. It is quite a full on look, but I think is much more wearable, specially for a night out. 

Day 10 

We had awesome make up Artist Francesco teaching us about catwalk makeup. It was such a chilled out day and it was really nice to see a working artist showing us different techniques and the way they apply the products. The afternoon practice we used a lot of pigments and also tried to create a catwalk look. I worked on Festina and I was SO happy with the outcome. 

Very natural look with a winged eyeliner. Love it! 

I used Mac Studio Tech on her skin, it's such a beautiful finish! 

Day 11

was SHOPPING DAY! Yay! It was such a fun day. We started our day at the Mac Pro Store in Soho, the we went to Illamasqua, Muji and then Charles Fox. I bought so much stuff and spent way more than I should have, but they were so generous with the discounts that it was rude not to! haha

We finished our day with lunch at a noodle restaurant and it was so yummy. It was make up heaven. If I had the chance I would do it all over again. 

Day 12 

was a practical day. On past courses I think people get more creative and do whatever make up they want to. But as things went on we all sort of decided to recreate the looks for our shoot day. As it was only a couple of days away and we needed to make sure we did everything on time we all practiced our looks using all the techniques we learned through the course. Honestly, everything I have learned in the course was invaluable and I would definitely recommend doing a course like this if you want to go professional. I thought I knew everything from all the videos I have watched, but practice is what will give you the experience. I met some amazing people and that will stay with me forever. I loved every minute of it and I can honestly say I am very passionate about my new career. I just need to find a job now. haha :)

Natural make up for the beauty photoshoot

Soft colours, natural lips and healthy looking skin

Mac Satin Taupe all over the lid with Embark just to define the socket

Soft autumnal colours on the eye with a black  khol liner smuged on top and bottom lashes for a moire defined eye

As it was our last day, we all received  feedback from Nicci and received our Certificates. I can now proudly say I am a make up artist and I am passionate about my new career. :) 

xxx

Make Up Artistry Course Part 2

Long time no see. I thought it was about time to post the rest of my journey here. Aw I miss it so much. I wish I could do it all over again. Even when I'm applying my own make up I feel professional. haha I have only been practicing on family since the course and have been waiting for my photo shoot photos. One is ready but the other one isn't. Just a waiting game now. Okay let carry on! 

Day 4:

On this day we learned about false lash application, glowing skin, cheek sculpting and brow shaping. As we all started off quite slow with the foundation application progress we also had the time to practice things we learned on previous days and add it to the process. Here is the picture of the lovely Laura. She already have amazing skin, so by no means it was difficult to even it out. A bit of Mac Strobe Cream with Illamasqua Skin Base to achieve this dewy finish on the skin, not greasy looking at all. Just perfect healthy looking skin. I love it these products together. Laura had lovely big eyes and an amazing socket so I just brought that out by drawing a thick black line along the lash line. I could have added a flick to extend the eye shape, but I love how big and round they look. The only thing I should have done a bit less of is shaping the eyebrow as she already have naturally dark, thick brows. Live and learn eh? Also a bit more coulour on the cheeks and accentuated the contour a bit more. But as it was the first time doing it on someone else, I was so scared to over do it. So the trick for photography is to add little by little of the makeup and take pictures as you do this process to check if you are happy with the result. Is better to add less and often then try and take it out. 

Day 5: 

It was all about lips!!! Primers, application techniques, different effects. Apparently this is the day people start crying on the course. And I now understand why. When you look closely, none of us have perfectly symmetrical lips and when it comes to photo shoots and the lip is the main feature of the make up, you can see mistakes straight away. Here Nicci showed us different techniques on us and she made it look so effortless. She took a good 5-10 min doing each of us, but when we started doing it, it took way longer!!! But practice practice practice will make it perfect and effortless one day. 

Here is Sem with an editorial look and Manuela with the perfect red lip 

Here is me with a dark berry glossy lip. I have to say, I wouldn't go out wearing this but it has definitely shown me that is applied properly, dark bold lips can look amazing! 

Hannah with glittery blue lips. Love the colours!!!

Lucy with a Natural Lip 

Day 6:

It was ethnic make up. We had lovely Festina as model all day. She was the only person to have dark skin tone in our class and we were so lucky to have her. I think we all managed to pair up with Festina and I worked with her a few times so that was a great experience. On this day we had Aga teaching us all about darker skin tones and how bright colours look amazing on these skin colours. As we only had Festina as a model on the day Aga did two different looks, one on each side. I love natural, wearable looks on everyone and is was so refreshing to see Aga using the natural colours on Festina as I have never experience anything like that. Bright colours also look ah-mazing on her skin. The bright look is not as wearable but it has shown us that colours with more depth, pigmentation to it looks better on her skin tone. Colours that are too light and cool could make her look grey. 

Decisions: what colours to use? 

Natural defined look with neutral lips

Bright bold colours 

Both looks

Unfortunately on this day I was so run down that I only watched the demo in the morning and went home after the lunch break as I could not focus any more, so I had to leave and had no practice in the afternoon. I was upset to leave, but it was for the best. I will try and upload the last part of the course as soon as I can as I have so many ideas for up coming posts! 

xxx

Make Up Artistry Course

I thought I'd share my make up course journey here as I had the best time and met some really amazing people on the way. I have to say it was a lot harder than I expected, but in a good way (if that makes sense). I went to London Muse Makeup School. The course was 12 days intensive Monday to Saturday from 10 to 17 plus a photo shoot day. The first week was Foundation and second week Advanced. My tutor was Nicci Jackson and I also had other working makeup artists such as Franceso Lo Cascio and Aga Burowa on other days. We would focus on a specific part of the face in the mornings with demos and practice sessions in the afternoons.
I won't post all days in a post otherwise it will be too much but I'll post 3 days of the course per post to make things a bit easier.

Day 1:

We covered the basic principles. Hygiene, etiquette, skin prep, facial geometry, kit knowledge and all that jazz. By the end of the afternoon we all had to pair up with someone else and draw a perfectly straight square on each others face. As easy as it may sound, it was far from that. As obvious as it may be, peoples faces are differente and not the same technique will work for everyone. As you can see in the picture bellow not only have I failed miserably I had to take it all off and start again a few times, so that's my unfinished work on the lovely Festina. 

Day 2:

On day 2 we covered creating the perfect base, camouflaging and contouring. Our tutor Nicci talked us through different primes and foundations, their textures and what they are good for. Skin tones it is still quite confusing to me, warm, pink, yellow, cool, neutral. Ahh. I'm just hoping practice and experience will make things easier as I can still loose a bit of time finding the perfect match for others. I thought it was going to be easy as I have always put make up on my family and most of them use the same foundation colour as myself and I can now say we all have the same skin tone. But when it came to choosing a colour for someone else it was so hard. It took me a good 20 minutes to find the perfect match (with the help of tutors) but it worked out so well. Here's a picture of Sem and her skin perfectly evened out with Chanel Pro Lumiere in 20. It was such a gorgeous colour and texture for her skin. Sem choose MAC Studio Sculpt in NW20 (warm undertone) and it was a perfect match. I have always bought NC (cool undertone) foundations from MAC thinking that it would neutralise redness, but this is definitely a winner! Love it!! We also covered concealing imperfections and under eye circles. MAC Studio Finish concealer was one of the favourite but what really stood out to me was the Derma palette. It is a camouflage cream that covers everything. It is quite thick but it is also quite creamy when warmed up between your fingers. It comes in a array of colours and it comes in a nice little palette with 20 different colours, you can mix them and find your perfect match. Awesome!

Day 3: 

Smokey eyes

On day three we learned smokey eyes, eye liner effects and mascaras. Nicky talked us through a fool proof smokey eyes. Basically, starting your base with a dark kohl pencil and building up from there. If you know the technique well enough, just a smudged pencil across the lid will do the trick. On picture bellow Niccy used a khol pencil and built up using eye shadows and pigments. She also did a flicked eyeliner and it looked so easy until I tried. To be honest I can't do it on myself properly, let alone on someone else haha so I'll definitely be practicing it. The person I was paired up with had to leave the class so I ended up practicing on our tutor Nicci, and let me tell you, I was so nervous. Not only she was the tutor and I wanted to impress haha she also had a hooded eyelid, which I have never ever done before. Apparently I didn't do too bad for my first time on someone else's eye. :) Yay!

Nicci's work on Sem

Sem's work on Lucy

My work on tutor Nicci

Not bad eh? I absolutely loved every minute of the course and I can't wait to start practicing on every one I know and post the other days on here. 

xxx