The Making of a Beauty Shoot - part two

The day had come, the studio was ready! Aside from a very stressful tube ride to the studio (northern line, I hate you), I was relaxed and ready for a fun day. I find doing hair as well as makeup quite a lot of pressure so I was thrilled to hand over the reins that day to Rachel Williamson, and I was super excited to be working on a shoot with a stylist as not many test shoots have that luxury. 

JC Candanedo working his magic with a little help from Rachel Williamson

The team met at the studio at 10am and started setting up. The clothes Eizabeth Adena had chosen for the shoot were lovely - a perfect mix of sophisticate, rock chick and disco queen. I may or may not have rushed home to purchase a certain furry disco queen jacket at the end of the shoot. Shhhh. 

Christiana working on her first look with Anastasia

Jessica shooting her first look. For the final versions please go to my portfolio page.

The first looks of the day were natural looks mainly for the models to use in their books. I love doing this type of makeup, I find my natural skin-focussed style lends itself well to this kind of shoot. My model was Jessica and I kept the look very simple, just sweeping a taupe colour through the socket, adding some mascara, grooming brows and keeping the lips pretty natural. I love the movement of her hair in the final version of these shots which can be seen on my portfolio page. I love a wind machine!

Anastasia with her natural look by Christiana

Once we had those looks nailed, we moved on to the more creative and exciting looks. Christiana shot her model Anastasia first with these incredible statement lips. Anastasia has such beautiful, full features that she pulled the look off with ease. I'm afraid some of these shots are being kept under wraps for the time being as they are part of an editorial submission, but trust me, they are amazing!

Rodarte inspired look on Jessica 

My first creative look was on the delightful Jessica Turner. I was inspired by the Rodarte AW2014 runway show so I went for a dense application or brown cream shadow over the socket teamed with a metallic lip which I mixed up using Bellapierre loose pigment.

Next up it was my turn to do a statement lip and I went for gold foil (stolen from my daughter's craft box). Truth be told, I hadn't really done too much of a practice on this look prior to the shoot, but boy I was happy with how it went on the day. A happy accident you might say. 

My final look was on Anastasia. I was inspired by a picture of Amanda Seigfried ... a purple smokey eye, a glossy lip. It took a while to get this look happening from a styling and hair point of view, but after a few clothing changes, we got some really lovely shots.

Anastasia on her final look .. before we changed some of the styling around. 

So what did we end up with? Well you will have to wait for part three of my post for the final images. Behind the scenes snap shots by me and Christiana, but professional photography by Grey Pistachio. Our location was the fabulous Flash Avenue Studios.

Monthly Favourites - February

I am posting this a little bit early this month and I do hope you will forgive me. I am been very busy working on some really exciting test shoots to expand my portfolio. While these shoots are brilliant experience for me, they have meant that my blog has been a little bit neglected. I will get back on track in the coming weeks and have just invested in a fancy new tripod and light which means I will no longer have to bribe my husband to take pictures of me. So stay tuned for a few more tutorial type posts in the coming weeks. 

Makeup Forever Foundation Brush #100 - I tend to use Makeup Forever's HD foundation a lot when I am working and I recently invested in one of their brushes. It has a round tip which is different from your usual flat foundation brush. I find the round tip helps to 'push' the foundation in to the skin giving it a more flawless finish.

Revlon Matte Balm in Striking - I wrote a full review of these (which you can read here). While the matte texture has taken a bit of getting used to, i'm loving this punchy colour at the moment. There is something quite uplifting about applying a vibrant lip colour when the sky is so grey. I can't wait to see which colours they release next.

Bellápierre Eye-shadow Trio​ - I picked up this eye-shadow set featuring the colours Champagne, Earth and Cocoa at my local TK Maxx for about £15 in November. It also came with 2 brushes and a makeup base. Like anything by Bellápierre, the pigments are strong so you only need to use a tiny bit of product to get an amazing effect. They are really pretty for day time looks and I am now stalking my local TK Maxx to see if they have any more.

Clinique Moisture Surge Gel Creme - I have been slathering this on every night in Winter and my skin has escaped any major dryness. I love how it feels as if it is creating a barrier on your skin yet at the same time it is very light-weight.  Well played Clinique ... well played indeed.

The Last of the Beauty Sales ….

I banned myself from from buying any makeup while holidaying in Sydney and that ban extended to the Boxing Day sales online. Oh how it hurt when I saw all the email notifications from Space NK, Beauty Bay, Adore Beauty and beyond. I'm proud to say I stayed strong and haven't bought a thing, however I have done a little round-up of what I think are the best savings still online now - AND they all ship free INTERNATIONALLY!

Beauty Bay 

Beauty Bay have a great range of brands. I have blogged about them before here. They are UK based however they ship internationally for free with no minimum spend. At the moment they have 50% off all Bellapierre. The foundation colours are running low, however they still have loads of their shimmer stacks, eye shadows and blushes here. 

ASOS

ASOS have some good bargains on Pixi Beauty left, notably the Pixi Flawless Beauty Primer here and the Pixi Eye Alchemy Set here. I have been so impressed with all the products I have bought from Pixi Beauty this past year and i'm tempted … (currently sitting on my credit card chanting 'NO')

Adore Beauty

At 20% off, the Adore Beauty won't set any world records but any discount is better than no discount and if you prefer to shop local and support an Australian company, then this is your best beauty bet. My pick of the small selection of sale goods remaining, is the Alpha-H Liquid Gold Discovery Collection. This is a brand I have long been wanting to try. It has received rave reviews in the UK and a set like this containing 5 trial-sized products would be a great introduction. You can see this here. 

I must apologise for the lack of quality images in my posts lately. I have very limited resources working from my parent's house. I will be back in London by the weekend so you can expect my images to be back to their usual quality by next week.

Happy shopping. I am with you in spirit.

Mineral Makeup - Bellápierre

I touched on Bellápierre the other day in my foundation wardrobe post (which you can read here) but wanted to go into a little more detail. 

I don't have a good track record with loose powdered mineral makeup. I first tried it a few years back while I was going through a bad skin period. I had a consultation at my local beautician's with a Bare Minerals rep and bought their foundation and kabuki brush. As I used it, it seemed to just highlight all the imperfections in my skin. I didn't enjoy the buffing technique or the results that I yielded and then one day the lid of the jar malfunctioned and I lost half the powder down the sink. I hadn't gone near it since then. 

I was introduced to Bellápierre by the lovely Amanda Bell at The Session School. I was sceptical given my last dealings with mineral makeup, but as the day progressed I was impressed. This was such a better quality of powder consisting of pure pigment (no talc or nasties) which can be applied in a variety of ways - the aforementioned buffing it into the skin, adding it to moisturiser to make your own liquid foundation, using it with a makeup base to create a concealer consistency and more.

Here is the look Amanda Bell created using Bellápierre at The Session School

I was lucky enough to work on a fashion parade recently which was sponsored by Bellápierre and we were given a range of their products to use on the day and to keep after the show. Impressed once again after using the products, I decided it was worth incorporating them into my personal makeup routine. I must admit, the thought of having loose pigments flying around my predominantly white bedroom scared me but so far so good. The container seems sturdier than the Bare Minerals one so i'm confident I will have better luck with Bellápierre. I do find the quickest and easiest method for me is to buff it on after using the Bellápierre primer. I do this by tapping a small amount of the powder into the lid, swirling my brush into it, tapping off the excess and then applying it to the face in a circular motion. This method for me doesn't give a full coverage, but it gives enough to keep things looking natural, which is the look i'm after when i'm just going about my daily routine.

The backstage Bellápierre supply ....

I really love the blush in 'Desert Rose' which I have been using on my cheeks and also sweeping across my eyelids. The shimmer stacks are also amazing as you get 9 colours and they can be mixed and used in such a number of ways. I also saw some shimmer stacks heavily reduced in TK Maxx the other day so it is worth keeping your eyes out. 

Featuring blush in desert rose and foundation in ivory ... and some of their mini travel brushes which are a delight!

You can buy Bellápierre online here in the UK and here in Australia.