Bloggery

I've been lagging behind with the whole blogging thing.
When I created it last year I thought I'd make posts every week..
Its been a year and I've made about 5 posts, this is going to change.
From today, I promise I'll post more things :)
Photoshoots I've did, fashion that inspires me, nails and hair.

Illamasqua The Art of Darkness

The Mistress of Ceremonies

"With her authoritative aura, all eyes are drawn to the Mistress of Ceremonies. It is she who ensures the forces are balanced and the gods appeased. Her body is a patchwork of mythical symbols and semi-precious stones - a walking celebration of the earth and the heavens..."


So this is Illamasqa's new collection, so far we have only been introduced to the new liquid liner (which I might buy today if its instore)
It seems like Illamasqua are steering away from their 1920's Berlin expressionism style, this new collection along with their last collection Body Electrics, seems to be more futuristic and fantasy, I think I prefer their older style.

I have a feeling this line is going to be all about liquid metals, amber shades and dusty blue hues.
Still, Im excited about the fact there are going to be new products, but I think they should focus on their darker imagery, I think it works better for this brand.

I have an interview with Illamasqua on Thursday for their new headquaters in London, very exciting ! I cant wait to just meet the crew, maybe even Alex Box *dies a little*.
The guy told me on the phone that Ive been one of the 8 selected out of a few hundred, so I hope I live upto their expectations, I also cant wait to see the other candidates and their skill.


*Edit*

I got the job ^___________________^

I was so so nervous going in to the point I felt phsyically sick.
But as I got in there and the introduction started, I knew, deep down, I was going to get this job.
They started off with a video about how they based the brand on German Expressionism art..
My eyes lit up as I did my degree piece on German Exprssionism and its my all time favourite art movement, of course I didn't hesitate on telling them this.
After that, i was extremely confident and knew I could get:)
So im still waiting on this weeks rosta when I start ^_^
So excited as this is my dream company, everyones lovely and we all share the same aesthetic.
YAY!

MUA FAQ

Recently, I've been getting a lot of people asking how they can become a make up artist / what course I did etc..
So instead of answering these questions over and over I'm gonna write some little lists and facts.

Going back to the start, I started doing make up when I was a child, basically.
One of the first presents I asked off Santa was a make up kit, and was devastated when I woke upto a plastic make up kit under the tree! True story.
I started studying make up when I was about 14. I still have really dodgy 90's make up books in my room that I bought when I was younger. I used to study them back to front.. which honestly taught me everything I know now, and I started doing other people's make up back then.
When I left school I didn't persue make up as there was no career options in make up back then so I studied art and design for 5 years and then did my make up course. Some people in my graphic design course were so passionate about design, they spent all their time practising it and ate breathed and lived design. I LOVED my course but felt that I was as passionate as them about make up, not design and knew that make up was what I was meant to do.

I started a make up course in October, finished in Feb.
It taught me sweet fuck all..no actually, it taught me nothing (except how to avoid infecting people!!!) I started working on photoshoots whilst I was doing the course and learned more that way.



So. Here's some guidelines to know if this is the career for you.


Do you feel that you aren't fantastic at make up, but that a make up course will teach you make up?

Then it's not the course for you. Courses teach application, professionalism, how to use materials, it does not teach you creativity, passion, talent. You have to be born with it.
If you can't put make up on your own face, why would people pay you to put it on their face?
Think about it.
If a person that can't draw decides to do an art course to teach them how to draw and comes out after a year of studying art ..... would they call themselves professional artists?
An artist is born an artist, courses will certainly teach them how to expand their skills, but it's something you're born with, not something you can create.


Are you an artist / are you good at drawing/painting/sculpting/design ?

If you are, then its just about looking at make up as your materials and the face as a blank canvas and using your creativity and I think that if you're a good artist you can become a great make up artist.
I find mua harder than art because in art the canvas doesn't move!
If you can't draw/paint/ aren't creative then you're gonna have a hard time, I think anyway.
Look at body painting/face painting. Its still art, just with different materials.
























Do you people compliment your own make up and ask you to do their make up constantly?

Then you definitely should persue a career.


Are you extremely passionate about make up and a total make up nerd and secretly spend hours on end practising it?

Then go for it!


Do you want to become a make up artist because it seems like a cool, glamorous and easy career?

Lady, step awaaaaaay from the make up before I stab you in the eye with tweezers!!!



I certainly do not know everything about make up..im still learning, I need a lot of practise still, but I've just had so many people ask me these questions, I felt they needed to be answered.
I think too many people think this career is easy & that it's glamorous.
At the end of the day, it isn't about how many make up qualifications you have, it's about the looks you create for your portfolio.

ranty mc rant

MAC Massacre

As a make up artist, I'm constantly building up a collection for my kit, so whenever I can I splurge on make up! I used only purchase high end make up and believed that anything less just was not worth putting near your face..to some extent I still believe that, but after discovering a few cheaper products that have all the quality of brands such as MAC, but without the price tag, I've changed my mind.

I used to be a MAC obsessive, I thought the brand could do no wrong, but after having brief experience in the cosmetics manufacturing industry I've came to believe that MAC products are average and over hyped, it's my belief that the success of that make up line is down to it's clever use of advertising. MAC pay a lot of celebs to advertise their product like Fergie etc

I also bought a MAC lipgloss recently and find it not good at all.

The tub is tiny and it comes off after a few mintes and I paid something like €17. 50 for it.

Personally I have never used their foundations, so I cant really comment on them, but I have used them on other people.

The face & body foundation is 80% water, so you're basically paying for a bottle of ballygowan, and some of their other foundations are really runny. But, I haven't used it myself so I cant really comment. Some of their products are good, but I can probably find a cheaper alternative.

So I'm going to write about products that everyone can afford that has the quality of over priced products such as MAC, Armani etc etc.

The foundation I have sworn by for years is Georgio Armani Luminous Silk.

(It's specifically for dry/normal skin, I wouldn't recommend it for oily skin at all)

This foundation gives a dewy glow to the skin and you can layer it on without it looking too heavy and it makes your skin look really natural and every moviestar and film star swears by it.
The pricetag, however is €41 here in Ireland (i think its about $60 in the US).

The bottle lasts about 4 months, and the product itself will last on the skin for 12 hours or longer.

But, i've found an alternative foundation that does everything the Armani does. It leaves the skin very dewy, gives it a glow and you can also build up coverage by layering it without it looking too ckaed on or heavy, and comes in at a very affordable €11.99 and that product is Maybelline's dream Satin liquid:

I discovered in one day in my local Superdrug when I spotted it reduced to €4 on the shelf because it was missing a lid and bought it for my kit, but as soon as I tried it on myself I was hooked and straight away swapped it instead of my my usual Armani.

However the downside of this product is that it doesn't last as long on the face as the Armani, but I would definitely recommend it for those who have dry/normal skin and want the same glow as the Armani gives you.

Next up is eyeshadows. I've been collecting MAC eyeshadows for years since I was a kid and at this stage I've used up most of them. The colours I still have are the ones I wouldnt use very often like bright pinks and bright blues. The last eyeshadow I bought from them was a pink shade called 'Sweet Lust' and like a lot of other MAC shadows, I found i had to put quite a lot of layers of it on to be able to even see it, I thought it was quite frankly rubbish quality which put me off their eyeshadows for good.

Last week I came across a brightly coloured eyeshadow palette a friend had, I asked to see it to try out the colours and as I tried them on my hand I was amazed! The colours very very highly pigmented and vivid, I needed to buy this palette right away.. I asked her where it was from, thinking it was something expensive like Smashbox or Make up Forever and she replied "Oh it was like €12 from Claire's accessories" So I went in and bought the palette and went home and started experimenting with them. Every single colour is without a doubt MAC quality. The turqoise was the exact same as MAC's Aquadisiac that I own. The MAC on cost me €14 alone, I put the MAC one on one lid and the Claires one on the other and honestly, I could not tell the difference. The MAC one lasted a little longer but nothing that was noticable.

MAC's Aquadisiac:

Claire's accessories palette (its not the exact one that I bought)but the aqua shade in it looks familiar)

Every single shade in the palette is gorgeous, highly pigmented (so much so that you wouldn't even need a primer) and I'm certainly swapping Claires for MAC. However I've tried other Claires eyeshadows and some are rubbish, I think it's hit and miss really, Ill try get a picture of the one palette I bought up.

Another palette worth SERIOUSLY investing in is the Coastal Scents 88 palette.

Its €20 for 88 vibrant shades that in my own opinion are certainly miles better than MAC. and the range of colours are amazing !

here's a rainbow look I did using this palette: (sorry its a bit big & excuse the horrific brows :P)

The next thing I'm going to talk about is fake eyelashes.

I have absolutely no idea why people would dream of paying €15 or more for eyelashes,

maybe if they were huge dramatic eyelashes then they would be worth it, but for plain ones?

Here are some lashes I also swear by:

(However I would use decent glue like DUO glue, as the glue that comes with cheap lashes is generally rubbish.)

Essence eyelashes, I think they're about €2 maybe €3 at the most and are available from most pharmacies:

They're full thick lashes and are re usable upto 10 times (once you take them off put them back in the packet so they keep their shape, also when you go to re use them you can peel off the old glue on them to make them look fresh and new)

More lashes I would recommend are these ones off Ebay:

You get a box of 10 pairs for €1.50 from Japan (with free postage and packaging).

Most cosmetic companies will buy these in bulk, put their own branding and packaging on them and sell them for at least €10 per pair, believe me, I have seen make up companies do it, I was the slave packaging them all!)

Another thing make up companies do is buy brushes in bulk and put their own stamp on them then charge us a fortune..especially Crown brushes. Ive spent €100 on a brush set before, only to realise a few weeks later that the exact brush set was from Crown and without the companies stamp would have only cost me half of that..and i bought the brush kit when it was reduced from €200 !! Personally, I don't even like the brushes I bought, I like some of the larger face brushes like the buffer brush and powder brush but the eyeshadow brushes are a joke, I never use them.

One thing I do swear by is MAC brushes, without a doubt the best investement you'll ever make with make up. I can't actually do eyeshadow without the 217 fluffy brush, no other brush compares. So if you're going to splurge on one thing, make it the 217 brush, I have NO idea how people blend their eyeshadow without it.

If you want to request any look at all, let me know I might start doing make up tutorials :)

It's been a while..

I forgot I even had this thing so I think I'll bring it back to life!
So what has changed since I last blogged?
Not very much ...

Well I've been made editor of the magazine I was working on.
Which sounds just fabulous! But believe me when I say it's more The Devil Wears Primark, than The Devil Wears Prada.

It basically just means I have complete control over the magazine, which is DEF a good thing. I've completely revamped the magazine, from tacky to a little more upmarket.
I'm taking a lot of inspiration from high end magazines like Vogue and Elle, tone it down a bit and make the design and typography a lot more sophisticated...before I got my hands on it it looked like a copy of the Argos catalogue!


This issue of Vogue is amazing.. but seriously, no eyebrows? Not even if you're head to toe in Chanel can you pull off the egg look. It's not attractive, and she looks like a corpse!

Talking about egg faced corpses, Im looking for a model as I'm setting up a high fashion photo shoot for my make up portfolio with a photography student who specialises in portraits, I'm so excited...and very nervous as it will be my first high fashion shoot. EVERYTHING I have done is very dark .. I also just set up another photoshoot to do Sylvia Ji type make up ..SO EXCITED!! I'm absolutely in love with Sylvia Ji paintings.


I love the contrast of beauty and death (as in Mexico, people celebrate the dead one day a year they build private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.)

Hmm, that's enough for now, I'll try update this more!
Not like anyone read it anyway!
I'm heading off to Camden on Sunday YAY! Such a beautiful city.. I might never come home. :)
x

cheesey music.

im loving the influence glam has in music lately...
i love proper old rock and roll with plenty of leather, guitar riffs, sweaty tattoooed boys with big hair and slutty hoes dancing around them.. i love it cause its so damn cheesey and fun. Not like all this whiney bullshit thats around lately.

i think im addicted to this song.
the dude from buckcherry is it in and thats prob the reason i love it, the other guy is a bit of a twat!
its got a bit of a neo - glam feel to it (yes i just made that up!love the video, everything! lots of tattooed boys and guitar riffs..nom nom nom.