Illamasqua Style Shoot

Hello my dear readers,
First of all I must apologise for not blogging for so long! What with the move to Sheffield and then my laptop breaking, I just haven't had chance to blog! However, I have had time to do lots of photoshoots, which I shall tell you all about :D
Last Thursday, I worked for the first time with model Pinderella (Donna) and Hayley Jayne Photography. I was super super excited to work with them both! Hayley had mentioned her stylist had a vintage black and white jacket that she'd love to shoot with, so straight away I got thinking of makeup with a black and white theme. I decided to go for Illamasqua stlye makeup - not your regular every day stuff! I'd been wanting to try this look for ages, and practised it on myself first to check everything worked (which it did, apart from it's hard to blend products onto a white face, and it was hard to get the white to be completely opaque).. I did this at about 1am and woke poor old Danny up to show him - he had a fright!
So last Thursday I went and got Donna from the train station, she's so pretty in person, and such a wonderful character! I instantly felt at ease and we had a good chat and giggle together :D The shoot was at Hayleys house, she had the most perfect white brick wall as a backdrop! Hayley was also so lovely in person, and really made us feel at home in her lovely house!
I got to work on the makeup, and boy it took a long time, but was super worth it!
Here's some sneak peek pictures I took of the shppt. What do you guys reckon to it? Isn't Pinderella just beautiful! And I love the black and white shot, amazing! And that jacket, wow!







LOVE these pictures!


xxxxxx

Up! / Quirky Wedding Shoot

Hello my lovelies,

So last Thursday I had a photoshoot with a photographer I've been wanting to work with FOREVER! Gillian Gamble is a photographer based in St Andrews, I love her style so much - it always looks so vintage looking. And she does illustrations too, which are beautiful. She has amazing talent, and I'm 100% sure she's going to go very very far. Check her work out here;

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gillian-Gamble-Illustration-and-Photography/137651049589093

I also got to work with model Rosie Gowans, who I've met before at the Bridal Fayre I did in Dundee in January. Me and Rosie laughed that everytime I see her she is in a wedding dress! :) On the shoot we had an outfit change, plus some amazing props. Gillian bought the dollshouse in an auction for £1, amazing! I think the balloons set off the blue sky amazingly, just love the whole shoot :)

The below pics are when Rosie was wearing a lovely silky green dress with matching green shoes. I did her lovely red lips for this to really bring out the green in her dress. Her eye makeup consisted of browns, golds and taupes from the wedding dresss shoot.

We shot this on East Sands beach in St Andrews, and it was SO WINDY! The balloons were going all over the place, Rosies hair kept going in her eyes and mouth and covering her face, - I think both Rosie and Gillian have done an amazing job despite the crazy wind!

So half way through the shoot we had an outfit change in my car, which was interesting, as when me and Rosie walked up to Nelly my beloved car, there was a van full of greasy men eating their butties there, ready to ogle Rosie getting changed! Needless to see I quickly sped Nelly round the corner away from their prying eyes!

The wedding dress was again another 'prop' from Gillians - she bought it in a charity shop, and though it doesn't look like much when it's not on, I think it looks so beautiful and amazing in this shoot! Just shows, you should always try things on ;) For the wedding shots we experimented with Rosie having her green wooley hat on and with a pink flower corsage in her hair, but I really love all the shots we got. I can't pick a favourite!

I love this one below, our dear bride is floating away!

I like the one below as it really shows the eye makeup off :)

I'm so glad I finally got to work with these lovely ladies before I moved back to Sheffield. I also got to nose round Gillians house, which was AMAZING! Exactly how I want to have my house, think shabby chic / Cath Kidston / fairy lights - I love it so much! Definitely a source of inspiration for my next house decoration mission ;) :)

After the beach shoot Gillian made us tea and toast, yey! And we did a quick few test shots for a Snow White style shoot involved with the Byre theatre, can't wait to see those pics! :)

Get inspired everyone, :)

xoxoxo

Guest Blog: What it means to be a Make-up Artist

Hello lovelies,

So a while back I asked fellow Sheffielder and Makeup Artist Amy to do some guest blogs for me. Amy is a makeup artist trained in all areas of the trade, and is amazing at what she does, so much so MAC employed her straight away and she's still there creating beauty now! She also goes to uni studying Fine Art, blogs lots on her tumblr, has a long term boyfriend and finds time to look incredibly beautifully amazing everyday! Here's a picture of her :) look how perfect everything about her is! :)

So here, I bring to you, Amy's first post!

What it means to be a Make-up Artist

When deciding what to write about for my guest post on this blog I thought about talking about something that’s very close to my heart and something I want to talk about more openly with everyone … which is what it means to be an artist.

My dream since being a little girl was to be noticed for my talent for art and photography and anything creative. I have such a passion for art that I was determined to make this a career. Nowadays I work for MAC and since doing that I am inundated with questions about how to get the job and what qualifications people need etc etc. No one ever asks me about my job outside the brand so heres my little post about what matters to me in art.

I think art is very open, there are so many avenues to explore that the desire to lead a creative life is always present. I live my life as an artist. Its about the way you think, the way you can critique work, how you approach life and overcome problems. Art is more about a way of thinking then just technical skill. It has to make your heart skip a beat.

I want to stress make-up artistry isn’t about the glamour or the ‘cool’ status that seems to get pinned to the title. Its about exploration, painting a real life canvas. Stretching your imagination as far as it will go and having no limits.

Its about personal ritual, having that quiet time to reflect or meditate on the day ahead, it's carving the person you are, letting them into the real world. How many people look exactly how they feel they are on the inside? Make-up stems from a primitive ages and has been used for celebration, war, lifestyle, adornment, as tribal protection and for spiritual purposes. Make-up can be so much more fascinating than a oil painted canvas because it is an art you live your life in. It’s a pure injection of personality, emotion, colour and vibrancy. Make-up has the power to do anything. Even on the lowest of days it can make you feel invincible. Every one is unique in make-up no two people look the same, every time you pick up that make-up brush there are subtle differences.

One of the problems professional make-up artists encounter is competition, feeling inadequate because of someones opinions, feeling like you haven’t the contacts, the skills, the willpower to carry on, especially if you have an awful client. Its not always easy to pick yourself up after a bad day. Luckily I feel I have overcome a lot of competition by staying true to myself and trying hard to achieve my dreams. There have been bullies and hardships along the way, I've lost several friends who resented me for making something of myself. MAC was a big hurdle, I enjoyed a new found sense of accomplishment, that out of hundreds of girls MAC thought I was special enough to invest in and give me this wonderful job, but the price of that was people I worked with became bitter and jealous and nasty towards me.

I think we all shouldn’t be as down on ourselves! True inspiration doesn't happen when we are stressed out and can’t cope. We try to juggle so many things and it ends up stifling our creative spirit! Its never wrong to take time out to reflect, pamper and enjoy your own company or spend time with loved ones, it helps the artist develop and its very important to feel free and open to new ideas. Humans are not machine we cannot work 24/7 and expect perfection!

A strong work ethic is important, but also not to take life too seriously, learn to laugh at yourself, push yourself and be brave and confident of who you are J

If lovely people have said to me I'm an inspiration to them; it’s the hugest and most amazing compliment I could receive!! To be in a position to be who you truly want to be…. sometimes takes effort and courage and to shrug off the opinions of people who say you cant do it. Because if you want something badly enough you will keep on trying until it happens for you! xoxox

Find Amy at her beautiful tumblr here;

http://amyeemae.tumblr.com/

I don't know about you guys but I can't wait to read her next guest blog post :)

xoxox

Danny... Man to Woman!

Hello my dears!

So last night after looking through magazines and Illamasqua's stuff, I got inspired at like 11pm and forced Dan to shave his stubble and lie back as I turned him into a woman! Now I must say, he wasn't too impressed! I got him to lie down comfy on the sofa and he ended up falling asleep while I did his makeup haha! I do actually think it kind of suits him!

Here's Dan before...

And after! I put him a pink bob wig on but cos his head's a big big it didn't fit quite write but don't think you can tell too much from these pictures. I also got him wearing my pink fluffy dressing gown :)

Super defined cheekbones! hahaha

He does look a little dishevelled bless him!

Rocking those false lashes and hot pink lips ;)

Dan hates people fiddling round his eyes so that posed a problem with eyeliner and false lashes, but suprisingly he took to the false eyelashes really well! Another problem we had was Dans eyebrows, as with most men, they're set really close to his eyes (check the 'before' picture) so I had to somehow cancel them out. I used special effects wax for the first time, I don't think I did too bad a job but it was so fiddly! Definitely something I'll need to practice again. I remembered after that apparently pritt stick is easier to use, so I'll be trying that out sometime soon too! :)

Dan minus the wig!

I wish the wig looked a bit more lifelike haha it's so shiny and fake looking!

I got him to shut his eyes to show the eye makeup :) The eyebrows remind me of Cruella De Vil haha!

Look at those big pouty pink lips! I ran some blue and purple glitter through the gloss too and I think it looks pretty hot!

Well, what an insane transformation! I'm starting to feel a little sorry for Dan being my makeup guinea pig (only a little bit ;) )

What do you guys think?

Emily

xoxox

What's in my makeup bag?

Hello my sweet hearts,

Now I thought I'd show you all inside my everyday makeup bag. Now I must stress, as I'm a makeup artist, I have a thousand times more stuff than this, but this is what, if I was on a desert island, I'd take! :) I use the products shown here everday - and therefore love and would highly recommend them all! :)

Here's my makeup bag when it's empty. I chop and change between loads of different ones, but this is the bag of the moment. It's just a clear plastic one from Superdrug, and was nice and cheap and cheerful. :)

Here it is packed full, and it still couldn't fit all my everyday makeup stuff in!

Here you can see my stuff all laid out.. :)

The big bottle of Cetaphil is moisture cream, I love it! It's sorted my eczema out :) I also have eye drops which my Mom recommended to me and I pop a drop in each eye before doing my makeup.

Here's a mini size version of Urban Decays Eye Shadow Primer Potion - you can get them with all Urban Decay palettes, or just go the whole hog and buy a full size one! I have a full size one, and a mini purple one, and another mini one in shade 'Sin' . The mini ones are perfect to pop in your makeup bag :)

Here you can see my makeup sponges, I get a big pack of these for super cheap from Superdrug after my friend Hayley recommended them to me, and boy do I love them! I use them to apply my MAC Mineralise Skin Finish Powder, as this gives a smoother finish than using a brush as you can really sweep it on! The top ones you can see have been used and look pretty gross, I wouldn't use them so lord knows why I've kept them haha! I'm just a hoarder I guess! I read somewhere that brushes to apply face powder are bad for people with super dry / eczema skin as they buff / gently exfoliate the surface skin layer - meaning it's getting slightly irritated by the brush and therefore can worsen the dryness and cause irritation - which it always did with me, no matter how soft the brush. Therefore I'm so happy I've found these sponges! They do not cause any sort of problems like that :) plus they apply any powder or the mineralise powders loads better!

Here are some of the brushes I've just thrown in my bag, they're not particularly my favourite brushes or ones I use most, they're just the ones that were closest at hand when I was packing my little makeup bag up.. there is notably one missing which I usually always have on hand, MAC's 210 eyeliner brush - and that has been sorely missed while I've been travelling around!

The brushes I have here are (from left to right);

1. A pink handled Crown brush I got in my goodie bag at Kandee Johnsons Glaminar in London - I love it, one cos it's an amazing brush, and two cos it reminds me of such a wonderful day, and three cos it's got a pink handle! :) I use this to load on a base colour such as MACs Brule or Vanilla and it really packs on the colour well. MAC does a similar brush to this in the same shape, and I use it just as much too :)

2. MAC 217 brush - looking less than clean! I've been working the lilac eyeshadow look so that's why the bristles are pink. I love this brush to bits, it's so useful, you can do whole eye makeup with it, apply concealer with it, ever apply super defined contouring! However, I use it almost always on the eye to blend stuff and pack colour on. I love it! If you're going to start buying MAC brushes, buy this one, you'll fall in love!

3. MAC 266 brush - this is the limited edition one which has slightly more hard bristles than the 266 that MAC always sells (I have both and use them both loads). I use this brush for my eyebrows. It's so perfectly shaped for such a job and defines my brows lovelily! If I was a bit more adventurous I could use this brush for eyeliner, and for lip colour, but it serves me perfectly to do my brows.

4. Crowns large flat paint brush - this is one of the brushes that is not neccessarily there because I use it religiously, but more cos it was close by. However, I do use it and really love it. The bristles are sooo soft, and I use is with the same use as brush no.1 - to apply a base colour. It works great as this, and I also sometimes use it to apply other eyeshadow colours if I'm going for a big swash of colour.

5. Unknown brand of angle brush. This brush is one of those ones I got forever ago and before I was really bothered about makeup. It's part of a super bad kit, and was probably like 50p from Homebargains or somewhere... but.... it's a little gem! I love love love this brush! It's an angle brush but not super defined, so has more of a soft edge to it. It's perfect to apply defined eyeshadow along the crease, or when using black eyeshadow to create eyeliner with soft edges. I really love this brush, and it's one of the reasons I never dismiss brushes or makeup, no matter how cheap or unknown it is! :)

6. Crown long crease brush - this brush is very similar to the 217 but slightly longer so gives less precision. However, the hairs are loads softer and always feels nice and relaxing on the eye! I again use this for blending and/or applying shadow.

7. Crown angle brush - This brush is so similar to the MAC 266, but is made of synthetic hair rather than animal hair so is a little more stiff - which means it's a bit too scratchy for doing my eyebrows, but perfect for gel liner - especially since my MAC 210 is lost in my suitcase somewhere. This one's doing brilliantly to replace it for the time being :)

8. elf angle brush - I love this brush, again another one there more because it was close by - but I do love it. It was my first ever brush for gel liner, and it serves its purpose brilliantly. I also use it to load black eyeshadow on and go over the gel liner, to ensure it lasts loads longer, doesn't smudge and is waterproof :)

This is my Z Palette, it's the small version in the leopard style, and I love it to bits! The actual palette is so much more sturdy and the base more magnetic than MAC palettes, I would only buy Z palettes in future! This is my lilac/purple palette, as I've really been loving this look recently. I go for a lilac lid with a pale silvery lilac pop on the inner corner of my eye, then a deep cranberry crease which wings out slightly :) I love how girly it looks with my pink hair and super pink lips! The bottom left colour is a MAC eyeshadow which I use over Barry M lip liner on my brows :) Let me know if you'd like me to list the shades of the eyeshadows here! :) I love them all :)

These are my two favourite lip liners, the deep pink, and the more fun baby pink from Barry M. I use the deep pink (top) on my brows, it stays on FOREVER, is fairly waterproof, and provides such bright pigmentation - I love it! I then use the below candy pink lip liner for my lips to provide a base for my lipstick. Love them!

Here's my DUO eyelash glue. I've had it since last summer and I'd say use it atleast two or three times a week - but it's not even showing yet in the tube! It still feels packed full! This is the most amazing eyelash glue EVER! I would never ever ever even consider using the lash glue that comes with false lashes - it's so shit, kills if you get it in your eye, dries so hard, pulls all your lashes off no matter how gentle you are removing the lashes... it's awful! Treat your eyes to this glue when you're going to wear false lashes, it dries tackily, so means it never ever hurts when removing false lashes, but sticks lashes on SO WELL you wouldn't believe! Plus, if you get any in your eye, which, lets face it, we all do :), it doesn't hurt at all - you hardly even notice! Which is testament to how safe it must be to use - SO GET SOME! :) It's also useful to attach stuff like gems on the face and little things like that :)

Here's my Shu Uemura eyelash curlers - I was devastated as I thought I'd lost them but lo and behold Dan had popped them in a handbag I hardly use to 'keep them safe' after my last Sheffield adventure! Bless him! These guys are very expensive in comparison with the rest of the curlers on the market, they're £19, but believe me, they actually are worth it! Every person I've used these on has commented on how amazing they are - and I just love them! They just do something insanely incredible! Your lashes will be so long and curly and hold their curl so brilliantly and your eyes will appear so open and pretty - aaaaah I love them! :)

Here's my Yaby Palette, another super expensive item in my makeup kit but one that is more than worth it :) The palette was actually £80, but with 40 shadows in, that's £2 an eyeshadow, which is actually pretty cheap when you look at it in that context! These shadows are beyond incredibly good. I love and worship MAC eyeshadows, but these ones have managed to top MAC ones by a mile. They're soooo pigmented, you use hardly anything so they last forever, and they have this wonderful creamy yet powder texture that adheres to the skin perfectly. I can't recommend them enough :) Plus you get a big mirror in too, which is great for on the go touch ups! :)

In my makeup bag I also have three MAC lipsticks. I am in love with looooooooooooads of lipsticks... GOSH ones, Lime Crime ones, NYX ones, and lots of MAC ones too.. however the ones that are in my makeup bag are in shades 'Snob', 'Angel' and 'Viva Glam Gaga'. LOVE THEM! :) They're all super fun candy pinks, with Angel being slightly more muted, but I love them sooo much! :) They keep lips super moisturised but also full of lovely colour :)

Here's my Z Palette when it's closed - it's great that you can see through the lid as it means as a makeup artist when you're on the job and need to be quick it's really easy to find what you're after! :)

Now lovelies, that's the end of the insight into my everyday makeup bag, do let me know if there's any other blog posts you're after,

Emily xoxo