L.F DOES A/W - COOL TONE

McQueen woman - strong yet innocent. Somewhere in the darkness there's always beauty and elegance. Am I making any sense or is this just fashion nonsense? Probably the latter. 

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I was initially drawn the the use of gold and silver against this warm ochre winged haze. The face and lips were paled down and paired with a bruised cheek stain.

No brows just highlights how I have zero facial definition *le sigh*

My interpretation is very a cool toned version and the wing of the eye is less heightened. The overall undertone gives a more corpse-like vibe but it's interesting to do a fashion take on looking dead whilst playing around with metallics. Gold and silver make a good pairing!

KEY PRODUCTS:

MUFE FLASH COLOUR - GOLD AND SILVER

MAC PAINT POT - GROUNDWORK

MAC EYESHADOW - ESPRESSO

MAC MINERALIZE SKINFINISH - LIGHT FLUSH

CONCEALER FOR BROWS AND LASHES

Hey guys, so last weeks look was kind of a 'pretty' and feminine, so it's only natural I do the complete opposite this week. It's a bit haunting and not so much beauty enhancing, but it's a fashion take on a looking like a corpse. I mainly focused on the juxtaposition of gold and silver, with a mirage of cool earth tones to bring some sort of definition and structure.

Hope you like it. Also a bit random but I got aggressively verbally abused by some random man today, and even though I don't know the guy and everything he said should be meaningless because it's all untrue, I was really shaken up. Sucks being at the wrong time and place sometimes. 

CHIARA FASHION BLOGGER EVENT SHOOT

Spencer from Le Bibliotheque rocking a green smokey eye, bronzed skin with glossy lips.

Rachel from Lost In Lipstick with a soft brown smokey eye, defined brows and red lips.

Em from EmTalks sported a warm brown smokey eye, peachy fresh skin and soft nude lips.

I'm usually a behind the scenes girl, but I got asked to take some shots of me doing my thing... so here's a totally non-contrived shot of me touching up Rachel's lipstick. 

Disclaimer: all photos belong to Chiara Fashion.

Hey guys, so last week I had the awesome opportunity to work with Chiara Fashion to be the make-up artist for their blogger makeover event. This was a great opportunity to not only work with a fashion brand but also to get to know some bloggers in person.

I do blog, but I wouldn't call myself a 'blogger' (especially compared to the standards today) - I just keep this as a personal journal. So it was very exciting to meet the girls who do it on a  larger scale and get some insider knowledge on how they keep it up and their motivations in starting in the first place.

The concept of the day was that the girls chose their own outfits and they'd be a photo shoot documenting their looks. It was a pretty hectic schedule so I was doing each girl one after the other, meaning I didn't have time to come onto set to do any touch-ups (until the last girl). I also met a lovely Chiara colleague who also does hair and make-up, so we worked as a duo making up each girl - she did an awesome job on the hair!

I want to say a massive thank-you to the team at Chiara Fashion for inviting me over and spending the day at their studios. I had a really lovely day meeting the bloggers (I'm not just saying that) and being part of the makeover team.

If any of the items from the photos takes your fancy head over to Chiara Fashion! They have some really lovely pieces and I was very luckily gifted an item from their store which I will feature in my next post.

Hope you guys enjoyed this post. Which look is your favourite?

L.F DOES S/S - PINK

Sophie Sumner for Beauty in Vogue by Miles Aldridge

Pink eyes, cheeks and face! I'm looking a bit hamster-like too here. 

Webcam captures the lower lip line highlighting detail.

KEY PRODUCTS:

SUGARPILL PRESSED EYESHADOW - FLAMEPOINT AND LOVE+

MAC EYESHADOW - PASSIONATE

MAC LIPSTICK - FANFARE

NARS BLUSHER - TORRID

Hey guys, back in Barbie style! I picked up May's Italian Vogue recently and I fell in love with Miles Aldridge's cover. Personally it reminds me of a pink pin-up esque look? With MEGA highlighting. The flashes of orange on the lid and mid lower lash line adds some neon summer fun.

Hope you guys like this, I'm currently back home in Leeds for awhile to sort some stuff out.... I KEEP GETTING REJECTED. I know you are not suppose to take these things personally, but it sucks!

L.F DOES S/S - PRIMARY COLOURS INSPIRED BY VAL GARLAND

Interview with Val Garland discussing how she started and her career highlights so far. I'm obviously nowhere near as talented as she is, but it's inspiring to hear how she's self taught and how her pure talent has paved into the amazing career she has today. I know I sound slightly in awe. I am. 

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One of the looks from makeup visionary Val Garland's recent global M·A·C master class tour. When I first saw this look I just KNEW I had to recreate it. Blocks of sporadic primary colours contrasted with beautiful black flow of lines. So simple, yet so striking.  

I think I'm particularly fond of the lips. It's like pop art meets Picasso.

KEY PRODUCTS:

MUFE FLASH COLOUR - BLACK, RED, YELLOW AND TURQUOISE

Hey guys, this is just a quick look I did whilst playing around which I really really enjoyed doing. I obviously had Garland's reference in the background but there's an organic painter-like style with this look which I found quite relaxing to do - it didn't have to be perfect, more about conveying an emotion. I've done a previous look inspired by her work here you can check out.
VAL GARLAND YOU ARE A LEGEND! Please let me intern/assist with you one day!

PLAYING WITH PIGMENTS

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Prada Fall 2013
Tumblr. My first port of call when I'm looking for inspiration. The purple/berry undertone within the make-up caught my eye. It's not S/S at all but I'm a sucker for A/W make-up.

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When it started getting to the point of being unwearable for everyday life, I referenced back to one of John Galliano's make-up looks which has this beautiful undone quality.

Webcam shot which highlights the different undertones and layers that the flash took out! Haha. 

Layers and layers and layers of pigments!

KEY PRODUCTS:

MAC PIGMENTS - GRAPE, FUCHSIA, KITSCHMUS, PINK OPAL, SOFTWASH GREY, CHARTREUSE, NOCTURNAL PLUM AND DARK SOUL

MAYBELLINE COLOUR TATTOO 24HR - PERMANENT TAUPE

DANIEL SANDLER WATERCOLOUR CREME -ROUGE BLUSHER - SOFT PINK

AVON SUPERSHOCK GEL EYELINER - BLACK

Hey guys, I'm back! Second year is FINITO! And for the time being (before full time job hits me/reality) I get to indulge in make-up, films and reading. WOO. To get myself back into the swing of things I decided to grab my bag of MAC pigments and try to create a whole look out of them. I used a few cheat products but mostly I just used the pigments wet and dry to vary the intensity and finish. 

My course mate has asked me to do her make-up for her birthday so I'm looking forward to working with a red-head. Porcelain skin and blue eyes.... ahh the perfect canvas!

PAINT IT

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Love the contrast of the stipple brush strokes against the black. Love love love.

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The main reference/direction we decided on when consulting E.H about the look she wanted. I love the sort of acrylic paint effect going on - cracked and slightly peeling off with a rustic brown-red through the lips and cheeks. Abstract, but perfect. 

I took these while E.H was shooting away, hopefully you can grasp the idea I was going for.

Me at work! So true that you can spot a make-up artist by their hands - always a messy palette.

KEY PRODUCTS:

MUFE FLASH COLOUR PALETTE - BROWN AND SILVER

MAC LIPSTICK - RUSSIAN RED AND CYBER

SNAZAROO FACE PAINT - WHITE

Hey guys, another collaboration with my friend Emily Hewitson (studies fashion design), who I worked with last time here. I had free run on the day but we both agreed on the image above would suit the garment she made. Once I perfected the skin, the white paint was literally a one take only approach - which adds to the 'slapped' on effect. For the rest of the face I went with a bruised bitten lip and a hazy brown eye with silver accents, and finished the look with a strong brow.

Hope you guys like it, and it was a really fun brief to do because I don't often get the chance to these more editorial style looks. 

THE 'HELLO MARGARET!' PROJECT

The film in all its glory! I'm even in the credits section at the end. I did all the make-up apart from opening 'tear' scene. 

The 'day' looks I had to do for the characters Lucy, Daisy and Ruby. I was given quite open briefs for each character but even though this was a fashion film Jenny still wanted the characters to look 'real' - so I had to create looks that were wearable (wouldn't look out of place in the streets) but still with an edge.

I've included this photo as a before and after with how I adapted the brows after reviewing the photos from the first day. The brows were over plucked but I didn't 'deal' with them effectively so..... 

This is the second day and hopefully you can see the brows look more fuller and overall more flattering to the face. With the Daisy character she had to have an 'edgy' look. I decided she could have a 60s mod vibe to her with the statement eyes and nude lips.

Ruby was the rock chick out of the gang. I played around with black eyeliner and cream textures to create a greasy creased look. She has a more 'distressed' vibe going on and I played around with creating the outer wings of the eyes by dabbing brush marks using the cream to create a feathered effect. For the lips I went for a stained red, focusing the colour on the inner parts of the lips and faded the edges using a cotton bud tip.

Ruby's look had to look 'well put together' so this make-up was more muted and I did a classic smokey brown eye with gold cream dabbed onto the inner corners just to liven things up.

Onto the experimental looks for the characters! This was probably my favourite look from the whole project. Ruby is still rocking the rock chick vibe but it's much cleaner as I decided to go with precise winged eyeliner, painted lower lashes, pink neon lips and holographic stars and glitter to the face. It's quite simple but it has such a statement factor. She was also a dream to work with because her skin and facial features were a make-up artists DREAM.

Daisy's gone to the dark side. I had Brody Dalle vibes going through my head whilst doing her make-up. Playing around with navy tones and a winged shape. For the lips I decided to go all out on the stained inner lip effect. P.S Ruby's look was just an amped up version of her existing day make-up with added glitter!

Hey guys so I'm finally sharing with you the super cool project I was involved with! Jenny (founder of Hello Margaret!) basically asked me if I wanted to do the make-up for a commercial for her fashion company. And of course I said yes!

It was a 4 day shoot with a really tight deadline because it had to be done in time for the  launch of her website, but the video is brilliant (not biased at all). I'm really proud to be part of it and I got to work with such a fantastic group of creatives. 

Hope you guys like the video and here's a link to the backstage photos so you can see more of the makeup.

L.F DOES S/S - PAINT BOX INSPIRED BY VAL GARLAND

Such a make-up MAVERICK. I really love Val Garland's work because the looks she produces are so varied and original each time - she can do anything!
When I browse through my fashion tear sheet/magazine collection, she is usually behind some of my favourite editorials.

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This look has been on my 'to do' list for ages! The sort of mix and match of colours and 'that' brow *swoon*.

No flash *I don't think* (had wrong camera settings), so colours are true to life.

Also a mention about my skin.... this is after a months use of Clarisonic! 

One brow and one flick? Yes! In hindsight I should of covered my brows but I didn't plan on taking the colour up so far.

KEY PRODUCTS:

MAC EYE-SHADOWS -  BITTER, FIG. 1, SWIMMING, PASSIONATE, BLUE HEAT AND CLIMATE BLUE

URBAN DECAY EYESHADOW - GREEN GODDESS

MUFE 12 FLASH COLOUR CASE - RED, TURQUOISE, LEAF GREEN, YELLOW AND CORAL (USED ON LIPS ALSO)

Hey guys, this is my first look since being back at uni (this was done on 21/04/12)! All the looks you've seen so far have been scheduled ones - so I've had a 3 week Easter break from doing 'fashion' make-up!

I was going to keep this kind of tame but I decided to go for it when I gradually kept on adding more and more colours.

 The use of  MUFE flash colours helped the look to have more 'slap dash' feel because it was getting quite 'blendy-blendy' beforehand - I'm too much of a perfectionist :(

The added one brow and one flick is a direct nod to Garland's editorial work for Vogue Italia. And I think adds a 'quirky' playful vibe to the look without making the rest of the face match.

I think with make-up there's that line on how far to take things and learning when to stop (same with anything 'creative' actually).

Hope you guys like it! It was really fun creating this :)

EMILY HEWITSON'S CIRCUS COLLECTION PHOTOSHOOT- BACKSTAGE

Break time!

Me at work with my concentration face on

J.M as 'evil clown'.

 Sugarpill and M.U.F.E 12 flash colour case saved the day!

 Blending!

 For the lips I decided to fade the upper lip which I think worked well

E.B as 'cheeky clown'

Her tights inspired this make-up and coincidentally my M.U.F.E case had the exact same matching colours.

I divided her face in two halves and concentrated the colour at the centre and then faded them out to blend into her bare skin. For the lips we reversed the colour ways, which was actually E.B's idea and works with the clown idea

 H.C as 'doll clown'

For this look I painted on some bottom lashes and focused on the rounded bright pink cheeks placed on the apples. For the lips I pressed on a matte eyeshadow on the centre of her lips to create a doll-like mouth appearance

 M.G as 'happy clown' 

Using a triangle stencil which I prepared earlier I just placed the triangles onto her eye area and filled it in using the turquoise shade from my M.U.F.E case and for the lips I used an O.C.C lip tar which I don't recommend as it feathered like mad! This make-up was inspired by the diamond tile pattern on her garment

S.H as 'geeky clown'

Using the gold Collection 2000 glitter liner (LOVE these) I just patted this around her eye concentrating at the lash line area. The lips I used a dark berry shade to tie in with her garment

All laughs and no tantrums!

 In character mode!

Clowning about *badoosh*

After a long days work!

PHOTOGRAPHY AND GARMENTS BY EMILY HEWITSON

Hey guys, I actually did this shoot on Thursday but I've been too lazy trying to edit photos as I had to trawl through over 400! Anyway my good friend Emily Hewitson asked me if I would be interested in doing the make-up for her circus themed fashion collection, and of course I said yes!

We had a brief discussion the day before on plans on the make-up, but we pretty much made them up on the spot with the help of her garments and the themes each one had (p.s I am not responsible for the horrible names for each one!!!).

I really enjoyed the shoot as this is actually my first one where I could have a lot of freedom and input and create more fashion inspired looks. 

The day was very intensive working from 10-4. I was also very fortunate to have models whose skin were flawless! I had such skin envy!!! And obviously the environment was very nice (thank-you guys for looking after me!) and I enjoyed helping out my friend (known since 6th form) who is very talented and hardworking (she ended up taking responsibility as photographer aswell as directing everyone!)

The final images I will upload in a couple of days, so for now enjoy these behind the scenes shots :)