FUN L.F MAKE-UP FACTS

MORE JULIE VERHOEVEN!

1. Apart from stealing my mothers darkest lipstick and smearing it all over myself. My first ever 'proper' experience with make-up (14-15?) I can remember is playing with my sister's really cheap (and surprisingly good) smokey eyeshadow kit and I could not understand why I couldn't blend all three colours together without them looking the same! Was using sponge tip applicators may I add....
2. 3 years ago I was a full-blown make-up addict and I started to buy high-end make-up. My poor bank account.
3. My first ever M.A.C product was select moisture cover concealer.
4. I think the first ever YouTube makeup tutorial I ever watched was from Lauren Luke or Leesha (xsparkage).
5. I can still remember the guilt from the day I bought my M.A.C 187 brush which was then £28. My parents went ape shi.... you can finish the rest.
6. If you ever get the chance to go to a CCO. Do it. Discounted M.A.C..... I must be dreaming.
7. Colour phases I particularly got obsessed with were blues, greens, purples, pinks, orange and now currently greys.
8. My parents never really supported my hobby with makeup even though they got me a huge vanity cupboard-y thing lol. But up till about a year ago my mum decided I could possibly have a future with makeup. My dad still goes with the motto "guys like girls with natural make-up". OK dad. I'm not putting on make-up to impress guys. Really!
9. What makes my dad even more pro with his motto is me and my sister have totally different makeup styles. Because while I usually like my makeup more 'obvious'. My sister likes the I-spent-an-hour -looking-like-I have-nothing-on look.
10. I give away almost all the makeup I don't like to my sister.... lucky bugger.
11. I used to be obsessed with mascaras, then it was eye-shadows, blushers and now it's foundations!
12. I used to have a STUPID philosophy of having to buy at least something from each new collection from M.A.C as it's 'limited edition'. Not wise..
13. I did plan on making YouTube videos with Michelle but then the idea went away.... I actually do have all the facilities to do it but I'm rather scared.
14. I am planning on taking a make-up course next year as I want to fully learn the basics from the pro's. I'm currently looking at AOFM in London but the course is around £1000 :(
15. I used to keep my interest in makeup a secret. I guess I thought it was superficial and I felt kind of stupid telling people. But I eventually didn't care and just posted my looks on social networking sites for people to see and the response has been positive ever since :)
16. I hate doing the lips!!! So far it's the hardest technique I've yet to master and false eyelashes took me awhile!
17. IRL my favourite MUA ever was a women called Aimee who worked at M.A.C Leeds and she looked identical to Dita Von Teese, she no longer works there anymore though but she was so nice to me!
18. ATM my favourite mua is Pat McGrath. She is so AMAZING. I admire her creativity!
19. My favourite YouTube guru for makeup tutorials are the pixiwoo sisters as they are so professional and give you an insight into a real life working mua's kit,
20. I wish I could afford more NARS! I love their products so much but now I have so much mu I can't justify buying eye-shadows from them :(
21. My second best friend, Elly is the only friend I know who shares my obsession with makeup. Michelle is so sensible, she'll like something but wont buy it (unlike me). And she always tell me off if I want something :p
22. I used to want to be a fashion designer.... until I watched project runway and I got a real sense of what a designer would have to do. Now I am hoping to become a successful mua or a fashion photographer, film director or work for Marc Jacobs.... see I'm open minded!
23. I can't even begin to explain this to you but I have a sort of recent obsession with lip products, namely nude-y shades or 'berry' glosses..... but I never wear them out! I don't even understand it myself but I hate putting on lip products (day-time)... so why do I buy them?!
24. I don't know why but I find putting on make-up therapeutic so I often do this in the middle of the night or shall I say morning (2am) or when I have exams looming.
25. I find it weird when I find out people who read my blog from my school.... I seriously didn't think anyone would read it!

Hope you enjoyed this post as it's all fun and light hearted and hopefully you've gained some insight about me. Feel free to shares yours!

?!!

Hey guys, I was going to upload these during the week but heck I'm treating you guys to another post. I'm not sure where I was heading but anyway everything was groovy till my card reader said my card has malfunctioned... AGAIN. It's happened to me twice now and you have to delete any existing photos to make your card work :( So I just really lazily attempted to take some photos and they are so bad, that I've cropped them to only my eyes!

See you soon!!

MY FIRST GIG

THE LOVELY R.T :)

Hey everyone! So this a post about my first ever proper freelance gig for the lovely R.T for her birthday party on Friday. There should of been a trial but I think by the time things had been sorted, it happened to be 'that' textile week and I was honestly beyond stressed to even want to think about make-up. Instead we went through all the details via facebook message!! lol

R.T basically said she wanted a smokey eye but nothing OTT and after reviewing some images she sent me I recommended a simple block colour blended eye would look nice (am I slightly biased since I do this look on myself all the time? Ha)

Anyway the night before I was still in textiles mode and I just quickly and I mean quickly gathered everything for the gig and even got my sister help me sanitise everything! Since I knew I would get at least get an hour or so to sort things out after school the next day. So what happens? The school bus breaks down 5 mins after setting off. SIGH. So I'm late home and have to crazily sort out my kit (pack brushes, double check key items and put them in right compartments). I set off and I already realise I've forgotten my 'look book' (a book I've made for clients to either pick a look/help visualise the end result), thank-god we had planned or I would been buggered. Forgotten item 2 was tweezers for eyelashes :(

By the time I get to the 'start location' I am 15 mins' before the gig starts and I need to get to hers which from the instructions she gave me would take me 15 mins' to walk to. Bad times. To cut things short I got lost big time, and to make things worse my phone wouldn't allow me to contact her, phone/text (call says couldn't get through and text says error. GREAT.) and I think by that time I was 20 mins' late so I was thinking by the time I get there she would have to leave. Anyway I eventually found her house and I ideally it should of been relaxed and I would set out my kit properly and R.T would of been able to pick and choose through my kit but time wise wasn't exactly great and I am prone to take my time so I had to try speed things up.

R.T couldn't of been a better client and made my job really easy as she naturally gorgeous anyway (look at her cheekbones!!), her skin was near perfect, gave me a lot of freedom and she's the nicest person to get along with ever!

Here are the steps to create R.T's make-up:

1. Face is already prepped (moisturised etc.), I use eye primers (I used two) all over the lids
2. Using my fav' highlighting shadow I brush the shadow all over the eyes (I used a matte as opposed to a shimmer)
3. I then used a cream product (Benefit's cream shadow) to draw out the shape. This also creates a nice base for the brown shadow
4. We then decide on what browns to use. R.T picked out M.A.C's satin taupe, I pack this all over the lid and blend slightly winged out
5. I use a gold duo-chrome shadow in the crease to create gradations
6. I then used a matte dark brown shadow and blend near the lash line to darken up the eyes
7. On the lower lash line I slightly smudge the cream product used earlier to add subtle colour
8. Using a cream eye-liner (E.L.F studio cream liner in black) I line her upper lash line and slightly flick at the ends
9. I then got R.T to curl her lashes and apply a light coat of mascara (she uses Clinique)
10. I then applied false lashes using duo glue (the lashes she used was the girls aloud nicola lashes which I love too!)
11. To refresh the face for face make-up I spray M.A.C's Fix + all over
12. I then start on her face and use Smashbox's photo finish primer all over her face with a M.A.C 187 brush
13. Using a M.A.C 224 I used M.A.C's select cover up in NC15 all over areas with pigmentation so under the eyes, chin and around the nose
14. R.T uses mineral foundation and concealer (Lily Lilo) so I let her apply her own foundation/concealer to build up the coverage she prefers
15. Using the 187 brush I buff the skin and add E.L.F studio complexion perfection powder to prepare the skin for blush etc.
16. Using E.L.F studio blush and bronzer duo, using the bronzer side I define her cheeks bones
17. For blush I used Cargo's tonga but later added M.A.C's blush ombre ripe peach to the apples
18. To highlight I used M.A.C's MSF in soft and gentle on the temples of the cheeks, chin, cupids bow and tip of the nose
19. I again buffed the face to make sure it looked natural and flawless
20. Using a clean spooly aka a mascara wand I brush through her eyebrows upwards which lifts the eye and also gets rid of any excess powder etc.
21. R.T then applied a second layer of mascara to join the false lashes
22. Lastly R.T just used YSL lip balm on the lips

TA-DAH!

Overall I think I am pleased as it looks natural and not like she's wearing make-up which I am happy about because my worst nightmare on a client would be she ended up with un-blended harsh blusher or something. I especially like the highlighting as her skin has a nice sheen.

Right onto the critiques.... End of the day the timing chaos was my fault. I was lucky she was forgiving and we had a tad more time then I expected but if a client books me its my job to get there on time, end of. Next would be the lashes, I had a slight problem with the inner lashes not sticking and honestly on one of eyes the lashes are placed slightly higher. Its not proper obvious but close-up you can tell. If I could change anything I would of tight lined the upper lash line so it would make it less obvious too.

I hope you enjoyed my post and I know its slightly long! But I wanted to give you the full details of what happened!

And lastly thank-you R.T!!!!!!!!! you are the best!

HAULIN' 1

ALL TOGETHER! IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE A LOT BUT IT COST ME LOADS HAHA. THERE IS A SIGMA 209 BRUSH IN THERE TOO :) I ALSO BOUGHT SOME E.L.F STUDIO BRUSHES BUT I DIDN'T PHOTOGRAPH THEM AS I'VE ALREADY USED THEM!

GEMS FOR A FUTURE LOOK? THE POP KIT IS WORTH £24* ODD BUT EBAY HAD ONE FOR £4 WOO!

M.A.C DEEP BROWN PIGMENT

L.F RAMBLES

Image for all my rambles?! I can't remember the artist but it was from Nylon magazine.

Short ramble I hope and not sure if these will become regular part of L.F MAKE-UP. But I am feeling the stress of my tec' deadline.... and this has happened for the last 3 years where one whole week I am dedicated to textiles. It is of course my fault I didn't get this all done and you know when it gets to the point you have so much its rather funny.....I have 2 days!!! Enough said.

Another update is I have my first proper gig this Friday where I am doing a friends makeup for her birthday party. I am quite nervous. I always say I'm ready to do freelance but when its crunch time and me being a perfectionist I really CANNOT f' it up!! She wants a smokey look without being too OTT so we discussed just having a block colour and blending it out.. so in my head I'm thinking of the look I did prior to my NARS makeover. I will tell you how it goes and take some photos hopefully... oh and I have 45 min's to do it in... go L.F!!

LASTLY all my haul orders came through this week and its so frustrating not being able to play with it all. I've taken all the photos but its just a matter of uploading which I will do on Sat' morning or after work at night. HOWEVER I was a bit bad today and played around with my new stuff namely M.A.C pigments and some new E.L.F studio brushes which are so good. Really. £3.50. STEAL!!! I love M.A.C pigments I ordered a bunch of samples and so far I have 22 different ones... shame I don't seem to pick them up that often to use but I get distracted with other stuff in my kit I ignore lol.

Right I need to wake up tomorrow for school as I've not been in for a bit and I miss my friends... and ummm I need to print stuff out for textiles haha. Cannot wait till this week to be over! And to see my best friend who I've not seen for about 4 weeks now? When she lives like 15 mins' away... lol doesn't make sense does it?!

See you!! L.F x x x

HIATUS AND RAMBLE

JULIE VERHOEVEN- LOVE HER WORK! AND A QUICK GAME IF YOU ARE BORED :)

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know L.F MAKE-UP will be going on a hiatus till the 17th of June. Which might sound long but I'm sure it'll fly by (unfortunately). In short I'm off as I nearly finish my a-levels and I really need to crack on as I've really slacked this year and I'm 'crap' at exams! I do media, textiles and art and the tough cookies are textiles and media!!! And if you're wondering why, textiles because there are so many different and not particularly interesting things to memorise...weaves, spinnerettes, properties etc. And with media I am just 'shite' with analysing texts especially unseen stuff which makes me a pretty bad media student *sigh*.

HOWEVER, there will hopefully be 3 more posts after this as I have a major haul to show you and I've been booked to do 2 friends makeup!

Anyway I hope you understand and will still be subscribed as I know it can be annoying when a blog you follow never updates...and I'm quite slack anyway!!!

See you soon x x x

SIN CITY'S OLD TOWN GIRLS

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE LINES- "Shut up and keep your hands to yourself, or I'll cut your little pecker off."

FOR FUN

Hey everyone, as you can see I was inspired by Frank Miller's Sin City. I have been meaning to watch this film for awhile and thankfully my friend lent me it to watch. Visually its AMAZING, as well as the cast, narrative etc.

If I can remember correctly the old town girls are prostitutes that are strong, powerful, feisty and DEADLY. I think I look too innocent to pull of the 'sexy' look. But its basically just emphasizing every feature whilst still looking pretty... if you get what I mean.

Hope you like it!

CHEAP AND CHEERFUL - COLLECTION 2000

COLLECTION 2000 THE HIGHLIGHTER- FACE AND BODY ILLUMINATOR (£3?/8g). MULTI PURPOSE STICK FOR EYES, CHEEKS, LIPS AND BODY FOR INSTANT RADIANCE. BLENDS EFFORTLESSLY TO GIVE SHIMMERING ACCENTS FOR ALL SKIN TONES.

HEAVY SWATCH- 1,2,3 and 4

BLENDED

Hey everyone, just wanted to do a product rave about these cream highlighters as they are amazing.... and cheap. These are total rip-offs of Nar's multiples (£27 with 14g of product) but they do a similar job so I can't complain. The packaging is obviously not as luxurious and I find Nar's multiples much creamier but I prefer Collection 2000's 'harder' formula as I find them easier to work with and I'll imagine they would last much longer.

I've had Maldives (1) for about a year and I've been reaching for it non stop for a couple of weeks. And after a lot of persistent bugging, my sister bought me 2, 3 and 4 which arrived this morning!

Hope you get to try these out, and on Ebay these sell for about £2 including P&amp

PHOTO UPDATE

9/4/10- MY FRINGE IS BACK!! DON'T KNOW WHY I LOOK SO 'MIFFED'. I'M ALSO WEARING COLOUR FOR ONCE (ILLAMASQUA EYE-SHADOW IN MELODRAMA) AND MY FAVOURITE LIPSTICK OF ALL TIME (M.A.C HONEY LOVE- MATTE).

TAKEN LAST WEEK, WHEN I OFFICIALLY BROKE UP FOR EASTER! USING BARRY M'S LIPSTAIN LIPSTICK AND EYLURE'S GIRLS ALOUD LASHES (NICOLA).

TOPSHOP (£18), I'M NOT REALLY A BIG FAN OF TOPSHOP BUT THIS CAMI' IS SO CUTE AND IS A TOTAL RIP-OFF OF MIU MIU!!

EASILY AMUSED. LOOK I'VE BEEN BITTEN BY EDWARD HAHA!

FUN POP 'PASTELY' COLOURS

ME WEARING ROSE LIBERTINE. NAIL POLISH NEVER LASTS ON ME :(

MUSE COMPETITION

Hey everyone, I'm sure you've all watched and admired the Pixwoo girls from Youtube and their recent video talks about a competition run by MUSE Make Up Styling Education which is a unique and stylish make up school designed to make expert techniques accessible to everybody (www.londonmuse.co.uk).

All the details can be found on http://pixiwoo.blogspot.com/2010/04/muse-competition.html and I just wanted to give you a heads up on this competition as you could possibly win a 10 day course worth £1600! All you have to do is be a fan of MUSE'S facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/MUSE-Make-Up-Styling-Education/306364989574 and upload a photo and state where your inspiration is from and to win get votes via comments or likes, I think.

I hope this inspires you to enter and I would also be very grateful if you could vote for me too! I have uploaded my John Galliano/Dior look!!

Speak soon :)