A little piece of me...

Hello Lovelies 

So I thought today's post would be a little more personal rather than just about my work. 

I know it's really old school (and in no way original) but I thought I would present my own little Q&A sesh, a way for you to get to know me a little better.

Enjoy :)

What is the ULTIMATE Beauty NO-NO!?

Okay, I am going to cheat a little, as I cannot just pick one. I have a few niggling pet hates:

Bad Fake Tan! 

(Orange and Uneven tan is NOT sexy!)

Tacky False Eyelashes 

 (the ones that resemble a bat, not trimmed properly and are hanging half way down your eye)!

Bleached Eyebrows 

 (just no.)

Chipped Nail Varnish!

The Desert Island one...If you were stranded on an island what beauty products could you not live without?

M.A.C Dirty Blonde Eyebrow pencil and a pair of pointed tweezers.

Face&Body sun cream in SPF 50

Sudocrem

If you could pick one celebrity's make-up style, whose would it be?

Blake Lively

What is your favourite cupcake filling?

The Elvis Presley cupcake! Yup, it is made of banana bread with peanut butter buttercream on top. It is amazing. Anything with banana, toffee or peanut butter would be eaten up in seconds. 

These cupcakes in Westfields shopping centre are amazing!

www.buttercupcakeshop.co.uk

What item of clothing is essential to your wardrobe?

A good pair of Levi jeans. My dad bought me a pair when I was like 12 years old and I still fit into them today! 

What would be your worst nightmare?

Falling into a bath of Goldfish! I hate fish!! They give me the heebie jeebies!

If you could pick a celebrity make-up artist to do your make-up on your wedding day, who would it be?

Without a shadow of a doubt it would be Lisa Eldridge, she makes everyone she touches look flawless. Now if this was the perfect wedding day, I would be marrying Robert Downey Jnr. 

If you could play the role of a super hero for the day, who would it be and why?

I would be Black Widow (the character Scarlet Johansson plays in the new Avengers film) Why?She gets to kick bad guys ass with some worldies (hot guys) by her side!

What did you have for breakfast this morning?

A packet of Oreo cookies

What was the last movie you watched?

I had a film day yesterday and I watched Hugo and Sherlock Holmes 2, both amazing films!!

If you got trapped in a lift, who would you want to be there with you?

Will Ferrell, Amanda Seyfried and Jack Black, and maybe Ed Westwick. Will and Jack would keep me entertained, I could drool over Ed and I think Amanda just seems like a pretty cool chick and I would love to do her make-up some day.

If a magic lamp fell into your lap right this second, and a genie came out and told you you had three wishes, what would you ask for?

1) A lifetime supply of Peanut Butter M&Ms

2) A St Bernard Puppy called Shirley

3)A penthouse apartment in New York with an Auston Martin Virage thrown in for fun.

Now I am just going to drool over the car of my dreams :)

See you soon,

Beach Bloopers

This is the latest girl to have been in the make up chair this week, Jess Davies. 

Another gorgeous glamour model.

We started the day off shooting at the villa...

Scott lunging in the sand... Don't ask.

In action!

This looks a bit erm.. awkward...

and finished it off at the beach. 

Do not let those blue skies fool you, it was SO WINDY and I was freeeezing cold, even though I was wrapped up in a hoody!

Unfortunately I cannot give you a sneak preview of the pictures from this shoot, as they are going forward for syndication, but as soon as I can grab one for my portfolio you guys will be the first to see it. 

See you soon!

In Extra Dimension

"Introducing a new liquid-powder formula with prismatic reflections that sculpts, highlights and models the face. Two products to try: Extra Dimension Skinfinish and Extra Dimension Eye Shadow" M.A.C Cosmetics

Hey Guys. 

Before I flew back to Mallorca, I popped into M.A.C, over in Liverpool, to replenish my kit, only really needing to buy disposable mascara wands...it was when I walked into the store that I saw them twinkling at me.

It really was love at first sight, the NEW Extra Dimension Skinfinish highlighters are purely and simply gorgeous. I picked up Whisper of Gilt and Glorify without  even trying them on my hand, (love a cheeky swatch test), I just had to have them!

One of the in-store artists then persuaded me to get the final shade Superb, and I am so glad I bought it, as it is now my favourite of the 3 available shades. Having used the Mineralize Skinfinish powders before I expected them to be the same, but too my surprise... these are SO much better. The pigmentation is so vivid and the texture -super silky! The promise to last 10 hours meant these were a must-have buy for my make up kit. I also picked up 2 of the eye shadows, Lunar and Warm Thunder, (there are 10 different eye shadows available). The eye shadows are meant to last for 6 hours. These are LIMITED EDITION and will sell out very soon so get your hands on these bad boys before its too late. I didn't realise at the time when I bought them that they are ltd and I am dying to get hold of the other 8 eye shadows now.

Lunar Eye shadow

Warm Thunder Eye Shadow

Glorify Skinfinish - coppery gold shimmer

Superb Skinfinish - a soft, peachy nude. ( I believe this has sold out online)

Whisper of Gilt Skinfinish - a light, soft white gold.

I decided to put the 6 & 10 hour promises to the test. Say hello to Sam Kellett, one of my most favourite models to work with. Here I used Glorify and Whisper of Gilt as eye shadows with a hint of Warm Thunder. I then used Whisper of Gilt to highlight the cheek bones, along the bridge of the nose and in the cupids bow. (If you would like to know exactly how I created this look and the product list to match please leave a comment below).

Sam's day of shooting started at 10am and she wore her make-up till late on in the evening, I didn't have any retouches to do asides from reapplying lip gloss. These highlighters really do last up to 10 hours. The eye shadows did not crease or smudge, overall I was very, very impressed with these products. I am tempted to buy duplicate I loved them that much.

Close- Up 

The above images show what the make-up looks like after being shot on a professional camera in natural light.

See you soon, 

Listen Up Y'all

Hiiii. 

I have been a busy little make up artist these past few weeks and not wanting to write a post for the sake of it, I decided to wait till I had something worth talking about. 

I must warn you, this post is most likely to turn into a rant of sorts. 

Enjoy :)

Rant Subject:

SUN DAMAGE!!!!!

Related Topics:

DEHYDRATED SKIN! DAMAGED SKIN! SUNCARE! SUNBEDS! FAKE TAN!

Ok, over the last two weeks I have done hair and make up for around 15 girls from different agencies in the UK. Only one girl out of fifteen had healthy skin. When I say healthy, her skin was radiant, hydrated and plump. Yes, she had one or two spots,  but spots are normal, especially for a 19 year old. 

The rest of the girls had problem skin - a make up artist's worst nightmare! This opened my eyes to how many girls actually are unsure of their skin type and how to look after their skin efficiently! The age group of these girls ranged from 18-28 - and not one of them really understood how important it is to take care of your skin NOW. 


Everybody wants to look young forever, look after your skin when you are younger and you will see the benefit of taking good care of your skin when you reach 40-50 for sure.


I was also shocked at how many of the girls use sunbeds. When I say use, I mean hammer or temporarily live on. Thus, I felt compelled to write this blog post/rant.

Here are TWO examples of "problem" skin:

Dehydrated skin - 
Many of the girls had dehydrated skin, which meant even with a good moisturiser the skin can still look dull and become flaky. Dehydration lines around the eye area can be mistaken for fine lines/ wrinkles. Dehydrated skin is self explanatory. It is thirsty skin, dying for water. Make-up will always look PANTS on dehydrated skin.

Solution - 
Drink more water! ! ! Everybody says it, but I cannot stress how important it is to drink plenty of water. Water flushes out all the toxins your body would otherwise hold onto. Your skin will instantly look brighter. Instead of a fizzy drink, opt for a bottle of water and you can thank me later. Using a hydrating serum helps too. My favourites are: Kiehls Ultra Facial Micro Serum & Chantecaille Vital Essence. Both are great for all skin types including oily skin as they just contain water and algae based ingredients. 

Acne/Breakout skin - 
Some of the girls were either suffering with minor acne or had scarring from where they had previously had chronic breakouts. Acne unfortunately is in your blood. It is a genetic problem. So you will constantly battle against it. But you know what, all that effort to get fresh, clear skin is so worth it. I have suffered with breakouts and it massively knocked my confidence. I completely changed my skincare. See an earlier post here on my skincare routine. (I still get the odd spot!) I can now go out the house and not feel like everybody is staring at my face. 


So what is Acne?


Acne is trapped bacteria in the hair follicles that cover your skin, these are what we call pores. The bacteria comes from sebum getting trapped underneath the surface of the skin. Non inflamed skin blemishes are your white heads and black heads. When you get painful spots and inflamed areas this is when your white cells are rushing to the area to try and heal the broken skin. 

Solution -
Ok first of all, do you have acne, seriously? Or do you have a few spots. If you feel like you have acne (a lot of sore, inflamed spots) go and see your GP or a dermatologist to get a second opinion. Next. Ditch The Harsh Scrubs. Exfoliating your skin is great, but harsh exfoliation is going to make things worse. Moisturise! Do not ditch moisturiser even if you panic about it making your skin more oily. Moisturising daily is so important, just get a light, oil free product. Double cleanse! With a gentle, gel formula that does not strip the skin. See an earlier post for more information on a cleansing routine: Dermalogica. Try skincare with ingredients such as GLYCOLIC, SALICYLIC ACID, LATIC ACID, RICE BRAN, GERANIUM AND SEAWEED.

I will be doing a post very soon, more specifically on treating acne skin, in great detail, so if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. 

Now then, SUN DAMAGED SKIN, is the main concern I wanted to tackle in this post. 

See the picture above? Say Hi to Sammi Jo. This girl is a glamour model for Mode Model Management and not long ago she took part in the show Embarassing Bodies. You can see an article explaining what Sammi thinks about sunbeds and the damage they can cause here.

The picture above showed what damage her sunbed addiction would do to her in 20 years time. 

Her skin would look like leather. 

NOBODY WANTS TO LOOK LIKE THE LADY IN SOMETHING ABOUT MARY!!! 

EWWW!!

One model in particular, she knows who she is if she reads this, at 18 years old uses the sunbed 4-5 times a week and goes on them for 12 minutes everytime. To make matters worse she never wears the eye goggles. I was raging. A girl, especially at that age, should never, ever EVER contemplate hammering the sunbeds this much. The place where she goes should not even allow this. Restrictions to limit use should be put in place. GRRR.

This post is becoming a bit of a snore to read, I do apologise, so I shall try and summarise with this:

• Do you know what a tan is? A tan is MILD sunburn. The reason sunburn hurts so much is because your skin is dying and is trying to regrow itself.

• Melanin is your natural skin protection. When you sunbathe, melanin makes its way to the surface of your skin - this is the colour of your tan. If you have been out of the sun for a while, it will take your skin longer to protect itself, therefore you must always wear a high factor.

• People use the sunbeds to "prep" their skin for sunbathing on holiday. I do this, it is somewhat "acceptable" - HOWEVER, six minutes once or twice before you go abroad would be suffice. If you are very fair, I would not recommend this at all. DO NOT go on for more than 6 minutes. DO NOT go on more than once a week. 

• A sunbed is basically a bath of UV RAYS. Yes, it may be in a controlled environment, and when you are outside you can never really judge the strength of the sun's rays -so one could argue they are as bad as each other. Nevertheless, UV RAYS DAMAGE THE SKIN: THEY CAN CAUSE SKIN CANCER. PROTECT YOURSELF. 

• ALWAYS wear sun protection. Factor 30 or above. I personally wear 50 SPF as I do not want to look older than my years when I turn 25. I also burn very easily. REAPPLY EVERY 30 MINUTES.

• The higher the factor you have in your sun cream DOES NOT mean you tan slower. In fact, wearing a lower factor, means you are less likely to burn, therefore when that burnt skin eventually turns brown, it will then shed to let new skin through. If you wear a higher factor, your tan will last longer, as your skin will not be burnt and will not peel.

• I would just like to add that the sun is great source of Vitamin D. Ultimately 20 minutes of being outside every day can boost your immune system and will make you feel better. It's a proven fact that when the sun is out, we all feel more positive. Just don't over do it and alternate when sunbathing with staying under the shade. :)

I will be doing a post on sun care very, very soon so I will not go on anymore about the right sun protection for you. Just go out and buy some fake tan if you want to look bronzed all year round! There are so many on the market nowadays, for all shades and in all different shapes and sizes. It may not be your "true" tan but in years to come when you are contemplating skin peels and botox, or worse: laser surgery for pigmentation. You will sure thank me for giving you the heads up. 

You don't want to look like a crocodile skin hand bag at 30? Right?

I hope for those of you who do use sunbeds this post makes you re-think and act a little smarter :)

See you soon,

Mallorca Bloopers

Scott Ninness and Mike Roberts caught in action

Beckie Hague posing for Mr Ninness

Before...

...After

New Model Libby

Robyn Lambert

This gorgeous girl has her own ASOS Boutique. Check out her customised Levi shorts!
BeWorn.co.uk

Me earlier this week! Check the tashe on this dude! I went to see Wrath of the Titans!
Awesome film!!

Hello Lovelies, 

Where has the sunshine gone? Snow? In April! Oh no no no! 

Worst landing ever on Wednesday evening! I flew into Leeds Bradford airport and honestly, as we touched down onto the runway, I thought my days were over! Mr Pilot did not make me feel safe! I had visions of us not stopping and crashing into the airport. AWFUL. But hey, I survived ;)

Once departing the airport, suitcase and I, travelled into the city centre where I met some friends and we decided to take full advantage of Orange Wednesdays. I am a film geek, and having not been to the cinema in a wee while this excited me muchos amounts. 

There are so many films I want to watch this Summer: Marvel Avengers, Battleship,  American Pie Reunion, The Lorax and The Hunger Games. 

We watched Wrath of the Titans! Now, if you love a bit of Greek Mythology, (like me!) then hell yeah you are going to love this! The hot dude from Avatar is in it (his name escapes me right now) and Liam Neeson. 

Thursday morning, I had a wedding to attend. I had been booked as the make up artist and this was the reason for my return to the UK. Everything went super smoothly and everybody looked gorgeous. One incident did make me laugh however, the bride's wedding dress needed to be laced up, but the lace had gone missing. So, a pair of football trainer boot laces later and the dress was on. 

Tomorrow I am going into Liverpool to replenish my kit, I must not forget disposable mascara wands! I really need to learn to buy these kinds of items in bulk! If anybody can recommend a super reliable company for sending hygiene supplies out to make up artists, this would be muchos appreciated! 

Anyway :)

I thought I would update you guys with some more Behind the Scenes photos from Mallorca. I am really enjoying being out there, as I get to work with lots of new faces and upcoming models - the sunshine is an added bonus. I do miss home a lot too - my dog Alfie especially and Starbucks. 

I actually fly back tomorrow evening, I better get packing. Enjoy :)

 See you soon!

Portfolio Update: