Styling for Photography - Group Project

This project was designed as a group task - groups of 5 came up with different ideas/styles for a photoshoot for a major brand. In the end we chose Illamasqua and although not my ideal choice we chose bridal make-up as the style. I guess it's good to experiment though right?

(Don't know what happened to the bottom photo quality oops)

To say this was our first photography/styling shoot I don't think it went too bad, I'm excited for this year to learn more and hopefully do some bolder shoots!

I'm back!

Never mind 3 months, a YEAR and 3 months later and I've finally decided to come back to writing on here. I don't really use Tumblr any more and I've just finished my first year at uni so why not use this to show what I've been doing all this time?!

I've been in Birmingham for a year now and it's a lovely city, bit of a change from the endless countryside near me but there's plenty of things to do.

I'm now studying Specialist Hair and Media Make-up and it's a great course - I've learnt everything from casualty make-up, prosthetics, hair cutting and styling, to pathology and historical context. I'm going to aim to post a bit of everything from the year in this next week and then keep on top of it when I start next year. I'll probably throw in cosmetic reviews as I go along and stuff I've played around with at home!

I'll start off with the first thing we covered - Casualty/Special FX. I'd already studied a bit of this at college but it was fun to learn new techniques and casualty make-up is definitely something I enjoy to do. Hoping I get a lot more placements where I have chance to do this as I've already done 2 with the police which was exciting.

(Apologies for the name tags in the photos, I was using them for uni work)

The 1st/3rd picture were my favourite to do because they gave a realistic effect up close and on the skin - I used the Principality FX gun which I definitely need to invest in, love the stuff you can create with it and it's so easy to use! 

Anyway, that's it for now but I'll try update throughout the week til I'm back up to date with year's worth of work haha! xo

Illamasqua Haul

My mum decided to be a total babe and treated us to some Illamasqua stuff. I'm glad she did because finding a foundation pale enough for me is difficult. I often find with some of the high street brands I've used the foundation oxidizes around the edge of my face and creates an orange line, which is never attractive! I've completely forgotten the reason but I think it's something to do with the SPF in it that reacts with the oils in the skin. Feel free to correct me!

What I like about this foundation is that it's easy to blend into the skin and you can build it up if you want more of a flawless finish. The shades can be matched to pretty much everyone - they range from palest of the pale to a fairly dark shade. I like that they have a white which will blend with others to alter the colour. I was originally going to opt for shade 3, but after testing it on my face it was far too yellow for my complexion. Surprisingly shade 2 was/is a perfect match as it has a pink undertone..

You have to buff it into the skin quite fast as it dries quickly. I find it's easy to apply onto the skin first with a foundation brush and then buffed in with either a latex wedge or fluffy blending brush. Of course it can be applied with your hands but I just find it easier. I was also told by the girl on the counter that it can be used as a concealer as it's buildable coverage which is great. The only problem for me would be that I suffer from dry skin occasionally and the foundation sticks to some of the dry patches. To prevent this I would make sure you take all your make-up off each night and moisturize to keep the skin healthy. 

Powder foundation - 120 (pink undertones)

Powder Eyeshadow - 'Nymph'

After testing this I tried the powder foundation and a bit of light pink powder blush - possibly 'Nymph' (that I didn't buy but definitely will when I've got a bit more money) which gives a bit of depth on the cheeks without being too dramatic.

My mum also bought some of the skin base foundation along with a cream blush (Devour) which will last ages, you only need the tiniest bit on your brush and it goes a long way. I would definitely recommend Illamasqua to anybody as they have a range of products suited for everyone and you get what you pay for - it's good quality stuff and will last a long time. I've just got a new job so I'll be raiding the store soon when my first payday comes along, hahah.

Last but not least, shout out to Rachel on the Illamasqua counter in Birmingham for being so lovely and then taking time to help us pick out the products best suited to us - we came in originally looking for lipstick, oops!

Royal Opera House Challenge

Our college was entered into the ROH challenge, so we had to look at 'La Boheme' and create designs based on our own interpretation - be it past, present, or future. My first themes were 70s/glam rock because there's a lot of scope for make-up etc. I then looked at post-apocalyptic themes (think 'The Tribe') and kind of merged them both together to come up with this! I chose to design for Mimi quite a bold character. 'Rent' is a good production to watch as it's a lot easier to understand than La Boheme. With Opera it can often take a bit longer to understand the story as it's going along. 'Rent' is based in the 90s and the songs are extremely catchy.

Above: The wig I styled. Below: Before and after pictures. My friend volunteered to be my model and she has a great face to work on - especially cause she has big eyes and prominent cheekbones. Also think she suits black hair!

I didn't win, but my work was looked at by ROH staff who regularly design for productions, and it was also displayed in a mini exhibition. It was nice to see what kind of ideas other people came up with. One person from our class got a mention for her steam punk themed set design which was really cool. We also got to watch a matinee performance of La Boheme which was nice because I haven't really been to many operas. Sitting in the ROH itself is a great experience though, the building's beautiful and when we were watching La Boheme they left the curtain up when doing a set change - you don't realise how small the set is compared to the stage area and how many others they can fit backstage, it's massive!

1940s Hair for 'We'll Meet Again'

40s hair for a dance show we did - definitely a nightmare to secure when the routines involved rolling on the floor/forward rolls.

3 Months Later...

So my last post was about LCF - didn't get in unfortunately but Birmingham was my next choice, and after an open day I love it! There's a lot of opportunities for make-up (some of the students have just teamed up with the transport police for special fx, a few have worked on 'Hustle', and there's even been chances for small films). The facilities are great though, should've taken some pictures. The rooms used for hair and make-up classes are massive, and the campus I'm on is also for hairdressing/spa training. Anyone can book in for these treatments so that's a £1 cut and wash for me with a £7 facial! haha. I've been invited to a night out with a few people who are going to the college as well but I'm in production, booo! Anyway, providing I get my grades I'll be moving away for 3 years and my mum's already trying to talk me into clearing my room which is nice...

Looking fashionable in a sequin outfit xox

Once again I've neglected this blog but I'm going to keep on top of it and post regularly - I've just finished 'A Chorus Line' at college so I'll post some of the pictures from that up. I'm managing a group of first years for 'The Kitchen' which is set in the 50s so I'll put the pictures from that up as well once it's over.
My mum treated me to the Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation and Powder Foundation which was really nice of her - I'll put up a review tomorrow so I can do a before/after face photo to show coverage etc! x

LCF Interview

So I've got my interview on Wednesday for Hair and Make-up which is exciting! I really want to go to London because of all the connections they have and the course looks great. I really hope my tutor at college brings in my hair portfolio otherwise I'll pretty much only have make-up, eek!
Once again I haven't put up much recently, I'm working on an assignment for the Royal Opera House which I'm trying concentrate on as it covers a lot of criteria I want to bump up. I might put up a couple of reviews in a bit because it was my birthday last month I had a bit extra to spend on myself. I went on a bit of a make-up haul (can never have enough) so I'll put up some of the things I bought etc! x