BEING CREATIVE

Being creative with make up is not just adding lashings of make up but being clever with colours and techniques and the trick is to get them all blending as the one look. It can be tempting to keep adding and adding and end up with a scary looking model. Nowadays we are lucky to have photoshop to clean up looks and change colours if you have to. However I love the art of make up that minimum retouched has to be done. Generally I love working with colours and experimenting with different materials and texture. Its a step by step layering process where you add just enough. It is easier to have less on the skin and then build up so you don't waste time in correcting your make up. A lot of my creative looks have happened by accident with a general idea of what I want to achieve but depending on the day of the model skin type and look this can sway me to change my mind. This comes through experience of following my gut feeling if something doesn't look right. it is important to customise the look to fit the model. Not the model to fit your look unless you are in charge of the casting. It is important to discuss the way it should be photographed with the photographer first as certain lights may not be flattering for the look especially on a photo shoot. Here are examples of some of creative looks that have challenged me shot by Nuno Veleso, Fabrice Lachant and Camille Sanson.

Who is edge?

This was an experiment of working with a

graffiti artist edge and combining all the elements of a fashion team to creating an

artistic fashion

shoot. Amazing fashion and beauty photographer Camille Sanson, Stylist Shyla Hassan fashion and celebrity booker at Recognise Magazine who all constructed the garment from various materials and then Edge worked his magic with his graffiti sprays and worked on the backdrop and blue dress. I was impressed with the final look of the sprayed material as it looked like leather and plastic. The make up was avant garde with a modern twist taking inspiration from Dior shows during their couture fashion week. Blocked out eyebrows with fine scar wax and set with a sealer. Thin 1920 eyebrows drawn in to keep it delicate. Soft MAC eyelashes were used on top and bottom with just a delicate eyeliner to blend in. Skin paled out with white face and body mixed in with white full coverage and W10 full coverage. Soft Pink Shock cream blush by MAC and Russian Red MAC lipstick to finish the look. As we shot we had all assistants on hand to move and throw the dress while I directed the fan to give extra movement onto the garment. Different moments were shot separately and then as the last shot I threw loose pink pigment paints over the model. It was so beautiful to watch....

To see a video by Edge of the shoot visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_v9MYdJ2oQ

My Jobs

Now that you know about me I can go through my most interesting jobs and test shoots where you can understand how I have grown in the industry. I still remember my very first test shoot with a photographer called Jason Lloyd Evans and model Jamie Gunns. Whom both are now very established and successful in their careers. We ended up doing a few looks which were very soft and I had used only natural tones and stayed safe by adding a soft smokey eye.

From this test shoot the model agency was really pleased with the result and so encouraged us to carry on testing with their models and hence then I built my portfolio. I remember shooting with the contestants of next top model on the very first series and that was probably my first encounter of working hands on with someone who had been on TV and was a personality. After a while with those images shown to other photographers I started to collaborate with different photographers which lead to meeting more teams and developing my portfolio further. It was a great journey and as i grew confident I started to develop my own unique style of make up.

My Story - The Beginning

Welcome to my page and here I promise to tell the truth and nothing but the truth about my experiences in the make up industry. Behind the scenes and anything that will give you an insight to my everyday work life. I have chosen to share my knowledge in hope that it will inspire others to go for what they want and anyone interested in make up. There is so much to tell and its hard to know where to start so this is the beginning of my story.

Growing up in a small town called Waterford in Ireland I knew that I wanted to be an artist. Hoping to be the next Picasso or Rembrandt my favourite artists I always painted and took part in art competitions. However with a Vietnamese background I was always urged to follow an academic path instead but no matter how hard I tried art was always my best subject. Probably because I gave it my all on every project I had, maybe if I had given as much detail to my other subjects who knows. So at the age of 12 our family moved to London and here is where my eyes opened to a lot more opportunities I never knew existed.

London is an amazing multicultural city with so much going on that anything is possible as long as you put the hours in. After studying GCSE and A'Level in art I knew it was time to take it seriously. I was encouraged by my art teachers to pursue a career in Fashion which lead me to Central Saint Martins at the age of 17 being the only one in my class to secure a place. I felt very lucky and after 3 years of studying something strange happened which was the sign in my eyes that make up was the key and what I had been searching for all along.

My last day of my project deadline was coming and as I was preparing my final sketch after working on it for 3 weeks days and nights I had taken a tea break when I heard a bang! The ceiling had come down! my work was destroyed and I had no energy left to start again so I gave up! It had given my confidence a knock and so when an opportunity came to work in PR for the summer I took the chance to try something new.

It was a chance meeting that lead me to work at a photographic studio. Here I was given a set of brushes and told to help out as they were short staff for make up and hair. Not even qualified I gave it my best shot. My best advice for myself was to just put myself in their shoes and to do what I would do if I had their face! Simple as that. Women or men just want to look good without having to try too hard. So I kept the looks simple but just enhancing their best features. I got to work on all skin types, men and women, young and old. There wasn't anything that I didn't deal with and this was the basis of my training. So here I started to get to know photographers, stylists, and other make up artists but my best experience was yet to come. In a lift a funny man who happen to be a photographer approached me and asked if I would help him on a shoot for a client. I was so excited and remember had a very small make up kit. Being a girl and follower of fashion and beauty I took everything I owned with me just in case. It was a success and after my shoot he asked me to go to Paris Couture Fashion Week to assist him backstage. Here I mingled in with the likes of Naomi Campbell, Paris Hilton, P Diddy, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Helena Christian, Kylie, Tom Ford, and saw the likes of supermodel Natalia Vodianova, Alec Wek, Maria Carla, Gisele, Eva Herzigova careers take off. I remember my first meeting with make up artist Pat McGrath as she was smiling away backstage at Dior working her magic with the girls. My inspirations come from that show with all the diamonds and sequences on the skin and lips. It was so sparkly and beautiful I knew from that moment that this was my answer to an artistic career. It wasn't all that glamorous as I was working all day and night to hit deadlines for the papers. My job was to interview models, edit the images from backstage and catwalk, process and send them to all to the picture syndications around the world hoping to get a hit for the press the next morning. Choosing only about 10 images out of 1000 pictures is hard work. Being in the photographers pit at a show like Louis Vuitton along with sweaty and aggressive photographers was not my idea of fun and was actually scary at times. The silence of the clicks of the cameras during the catwalk show to the chaos straight after was so different I wish I had videoed it for my own amusement! There was a bond I had especially with the Italians who looked after me well and always made a point of giving me a helping hand. All the teams seem to gel like a family outside the shows and that was nice to see. But after 6 seasons of NY, Milan, London and Paris and I was getting a few grey hairs from the lack of sleep and meals I decided to give it up to concentrate on my portfolio and take the plunge to work in make up. Besides I had a head start in knowing what I was getting myself into regarding the pressures of the fashion shows. Understanding the roles in the industry is so important and to me was my training. From the designer, model, celebrity, an editor, stylist, photographer, make up artist, hair stylist,casting director, pr, agents, everyone is connected and have an important role to play and can all have an effect to each other.