Illamasqua demonstration

During induction week on Wednesday 24th September we were lucky enough to receive a visit from Illamasqua, a very prominent British independant make-up brand. Illamasqua are one of my favourite brands as when I first discovered them I immediatley got the impression that they were different from other brands I have come across. They are different, very creative and there is something for everyone. I love the look of the counter at Selfridges, and most of all the flagship store on Beak Street of Soho in my hometown, London. It was initially the look of the stores that brought me in. I already had seen the work of Alex Box the Creative Director of Illamasqua who is one of my biggest inspirations in the make-up industry.

The members of the team who visited were Spob O'Brien (Head of Professional Development), Charlotte Savoury (International Brand Ambassador and Make-up Artist) and Josephine O'Brien (Events Manager). While Spob gave us a very inspiring and interesting talk about her experience and background in the make-up industry, Charlotte demonstrated a look from the Sorapol SS15 runway show while talking us through what she was doing and what products she was using step by step (all Illamasqua). The Sorapol show was inspired by the themes of African tribalism, Marie Antoinette and the Renaissance which worked perfectly with Illamasquas new collection Once. 

After the demonstration we were put into groups of 4 or 5 people and had to create a make-up look with a limited amount of products from the range shared between the whole class and no brushes and we had to create a story to go with our finished look. We had roughly half an hour to do all of this, it was to create the feel of a backstage situation when the courier hadn't turned up with all the make-up and equipment and we had to work with what we had. We decided to each take on a different role in order to get the task completed as efficiently and easily as possible, one of us wrote the background story of our look, one sat as the model, one helped decide on products and collected the products and two people were in charge of the application. We had Amelia as our model and decided to use the colour of her hair as inspiration for the story. As Amelias hair is blue it reminded us of the ocean, sea life and mermaids. Our idea was 'A mermaid washed up on the shore and laying on the sand, battered and bruised by the storm. She hasn't slept in days and is unaware of her surroundings.'.

Products:
- Skin Base Foundation 02 as a base
- Brow Cake in Gaze on the eyes for shadow
- Gleam in Supernatural to add a glow to the face and cheekbone area
- Cream blusher for lips (Can't remember the shade! Dixie/Seduce)

Our outcome was quite subtle with a grunge feel. I am happy with our outcome as we worked with what we had well as a team in a short space of time. I was very impressed with the finished look as it was applied with only fingers and cotton buds! If we had a longer time to plan and more tools I would have liked to have created a more dramatic look.