Good Things products

I love going into  Boots or Superdrug and seeing what they have got. I do this every few weeks. I loved a product called Good things which was amazing for my spots. I was a bit sceptical about getting it as every other spot product used to just make my skin worse.  but with the natural ingredients I feel in love with it. the spot would look less angry within a hour ( it also smelt amazing) A little went a long way and lasted me for ages and for £4.99 you can't complain! 
When going into boots I saw their range had got 10x bigger. They have two collections "super fruits" and "Manuka Honey" (new collection) .

The spot gel (stop that spot)  worked so well I just couldn't help myself! I got the Manuka Honey Daily Moisturiser which smells amazing. It has Royal Jelly in and Bees venom, When I tried I fell in love instantly.
 Never had a moisturiser which melted straight away into your skin. My skin Has never felt so soft. I think it is going to be one of my favorite products of all time.  its so soft and gentle and made my skin feel completely nourished. 

The other Product I brought from their range was from the "super fruits" range called Deep Pour anti blemish  lotion.  which has wild strawberry and fig in it.  its a cleanser and toner which is a double bonus.  it helps unblock pours without stripping natural oils which a lot of products can do and for me having sensitive skin It didn't sting or leave my skin all red!  its a big bottle for £4.99 and I definitely recommend this product.

I have VERY sensitive skin and there whole collection has worked wonders for me!

Advertising

Here is some knowledge for Makeup Artist on Market Research, I have researched the following and hopefully this will help others progress into the industry.

Where is the best place to advertise?

Wedding Fayres.

I recently did a wedding fayre. It was my second wedding fayre. The first fayre I did I was assisting another very well recognised Makeup Artist. it was such a great experience working with someone else because I got too see how they spoke to people and advertise them self. I would recommend this to any trainee Makeup Artist because this would give you the experience doing makeup on brides, what your boss wants and the expectations needed.

It was unpaid but I would definitely recommend it.  The second fayre was also unpaid but if I did the models makeup I got a free stall which are normally £80.00 and got to put my cards in every brides goodie bag, which was really good. This is the best place to advertise yourself (if this is what you want to get into) they are normally at the weekend but if you are going to do weddings then you will be giving up your weekends anyway.  There were meant to be 15 models but in the end there was 5, which wasn’t bad at all as another MUA was there. This is a chance for you to really show off your skills and do a flawless makeup. Having the models go down a catwalk in-front of brides to be is prime location.

This really helped me as I don’t know what I still want to do. I try and do a bit of everything because it will help me choose a path in the makeup industry.  For makeup artists weddings are your bread and butter money.  All you need to do is a couple of wedding fayres to promote yourself and then you will start getting jobs.  Remember a lot of it is word of mouth so keep doing it!

Portfolio hosting.

You can always advertise yourself on sites like purple port, portfora, model mayhem and carbon made. This is a great way of advertising yourself for free.  Write a paragraph about you and what you have done in the past and put up some of your favourite pictures.  Even though it takes some time to post it up its worth it as you can network and potentially get jobs. 

Competitions.

I got through to the Olympia beauty competition this summer, it was futuristic theme and I got in the final ten which was a proud moment. I didn't win but it was great to put in my cv and was an experience in its self.  Always look for a competition. students was free to apply but for professional's it was £35.00.  There are lots of competitions so always keep a lot out and see what’s out there!

Blogs.

 What a perfect place to show your work and express what you are feeling you can give tips and show demonstrations, do whatever you want and it’s free! Personally I love blogger, easy to use and can use it on your phone.

Social networking.

 I will do a post more about social networking. But this is a really good way of getting yourself out there. Like Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest. Keeping people updated with your work shows people you are busy and love what you are doing and makes them interested in you.

Hope this post has helped you. Em xx

Top 10 kit must haves

top 10 kit essentials 

Top 10 kit essentials

People ask me on makeup jobs what are my kit essentials so I thought I would share with you guys what is a must for me. Everyone is different but here are my top 10 kit essentials that I can’t leave the house without for a job.

10. Mints.

 There is nothing worse than a makeup artist with smelly breath. It puts your client off massively. I always remember when i was little going into a shop with my mum and Nan and we stopped at a makeup counter. We were looking at products for my Nan and the lady came over to us and offered to show my Nan what it looked like on her. My Nan was so put off by the smell of the girl’s breath she made an excuse and went away.  You wouldn't like it if you had a professional doing your makeup breathing on you with smelly breath!  VERY OFF-PUTTING!

9. Cleanser.

  You will always need a cleanser or wipes in your kit. I carry a few different things so it suits the client im with, nars makeup remover water, simple foam cleanser and I got 3 different types of wipes sensitive, normal and dry. You will always need some kind of cleanser whether its wipes or oil. It’s not nice for the clients if you can't be there with a wipe if needed!

http://narscosmetics.co.uk/en_GB/skincare-makeup-removers/0607845022510.html#start=1 £19.50

http://www.simple.co.uk/our-products/product/kind-to-skin-vital-vitamin-foaming-cleanser.html £4.49

8. Bag, bin or box.

  I always hate it when I see other MUA's not have anything to put their rubbish in,. It look so unprofessional have all your dirty wipes disposables over the table.  You can buy a mini table bin, I have got one which you can fold down after you have used it. http://www.gurumakeupemporium.com/epages/BT4080.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT4080/Products/683 which is £4.75 (highly recommend it) just make sure the table is tidy! 

 7. Hydra veil.

 This is the best thing for a mua. It completely changes the clients face. It’s a must, there are no words to describe this magical mixture.

http://www.illamasqua.com/shop/products/complexion/primers/hydra-veil £30. 00 

6. Lip balm.

This can be used at the start of a makeup look to rehydrate the lips or to give a finishing touch. Not only a hero for the lips, you can use it as a glitter medium or to create a wet look eye.  I have every Vaseline in my kit. They last a long time and are really good value for money.  Can change the way the lip feels straight away. 

5. Disposables/ cotton pads/tissues.

EVERY mua should have disposables in their kit. It is the safest way to apply makeup like mascara and lip-gloss.  I have two boxes full of different disposables from different types of wands to

Special fx wands.  I have a box of tissues and cotton pads as they both come in useful from blotting the lips to using as a protective barrier under eyes. 

4. Business cards.

You never know who will be there. Always give your cards out so people have your number and details (you never know they could pass it on to someone else) always offer them to every client you work with. 

3. Setting powder.

There is nothing worse than a shiny face. Make sure you have powder so you can powder throughout the shoot, or job.  It’s a setting barrier and will stop the makeup from moving, this makes your job easier when touching up!

2. Hand sanitizer.

 Always use this, it keeps everything safe, even if you stop and go get a drink, it puts your clients at ease knowing you are being safe and hygienic. You can get lovely smelling ones so it’s not too harsh when going back to doing the makeup.

1. Lashes.

You can never have enough eye lashes, and you never know what your job is going to be, I feel eyelashes can change a look completely and finish it off.  You don’t have to get really expensive eyelashes and they are reusable (if you are going to reuse make sure you clean them properly!) 

This is what I can’t live without when doing the makeup, most of them are nothing special but just makes it a lot easier for you to be a professional makeup artists. Hope you enjoyed reading.

   Em

Xxxx

Graveyard Photoshoot

As Halloween is coming up, my friend and I decided it would be a good idea to do a graveyard fashion shoot.  We had 5 different outfit changes and found this amazing unused graveyard. It was so creepy and it only had a few dog walkers round so it was great for us to shoot...

The makeup look

 I wanted to give it a modern day look on the Addams family daughter Friday, so gave a black lip (illamasqua-Pristine) with a glittery centre using mac eye shadow cinderfella as it gave it a new twist on the gothic look.  For the eyes I created a Smokey look  mac cinderfella and inglot  shades 88,75 and 23. A bushy eyebrow using benefit brow zings.  

Friday - addams family

 Here are some of the pictures from the photoshoot hope you like! 

 hope you like them as much as we did shooting! 

love em 

xx

My work this year!

Here are my creations I have been up to so far this year. I have used lots of different things for inspiration e.g. different cultures, Alice in wonderland, Glinda the good witch, ghosts and Africa.  In the next few posts I will be showing how I made the costume and how it was a design on paper and made it come to life.

  The skirt was made out of all hand stitched roses which took about four weeks to make. The wig was made from scratch and weaved the hair which took about 2 months to make. Even though it was a lengthy progress but was so worth it. Will do a post on how I designed the whole look including body paint, makeup, prop, wig and skirt.

Cultural inspired look.

 Sunset bodypaint 

Sunset Bodypaint 

 The sad ghost 

Hope you enjoyed looking at my work, if you want any step by steps please feel free to leave a comment. 

em 

xxx

business cards

over the three years I have been studying make up I have had lots of different business cards and each car I seem to outgrow, for  my new cards I wanted something smart and stood out.  Instead of the stereotypical business cards I went for square cards to make them different from the rest. The company I used was moo ( which is well worth the money)  I didn't just want one picture of my work as all my work is so different from doing body paint, hair, makeup and costume! so I choose 5 different images of my work and  one statment image on the back, I kept the writing minimal and plain black and white as it stood out!  here are some images of my makeup business cards!

 hope you like them as much as I do! 

em xxx 

forest photoshoot

So after lots of planning with Danni and Emma we choose a date and location for our forest shoot, it came around so quickly. Danni ordered smoke bombs and  we had about 9 outfit changes we finally got to do it! For the first look I choose a subtle eye using a light brown and a chocolate brown for the socket of the eye. For the skin used illamasqua  hydra veil then HD Ben nye pro pallet, I contoured the skin and gave the lip a nude pink shade then added some gloss! 

For the second look it got darker with the eye, I added a darker browns and golds. For the lips I used lime crime velvetines  Colour -Salem 

I loved doing this shoot and can't wait for the next shoot we are doing together!