Illamasqua Once collection

As well as the beautiful MAC Heirloom collection, another favourite brand of mine Illamasqua has an equally beautiful range, the Once collection. This collection to me screams timeless Elizabethan beauty. Like the MAC Heirloom collection the models illuminated, bright skin is one of my favourite things about these make-up looks. The styling in this shoot accentuates the age in which the look is influenced by with the low neck line, neck ruff, ruffles and patterns and textures on the fabric and the dress in the image above reminds me of one worn by Elizabeth in one of her portraits I have already researched during this project, which was one of the first things I noticed when looking at this collection again after my trip to the National Portrait Gallery only because of the silvery-blue tones in it.

The pale skin against the gorgeous red hair always wins, I love the wild, disheveled styling of the hair which is so contemporay, but still maintains the texture and height of the Elizabethan trends. This make-up to me is flawless and so clean, the rouged cheeks and understated brows, eyes and lips are so subtle but so effective. I love the dark contouring of the eye sockets which is a detail I have been looking at whilst designing for my final look. These images give the model/character a persona that appears to be young, innocent and care free. I love that by using styling and make-up you can create not only a look and a final image, but make the model into a story character instead of just the face of an advertisement, in this instance I think it worked beautifully.

Images sourced from the Illamasqua web page http://www.illamasqua.com/explore/collections/once/

MAC Heirloom

Since beginning this project I have found myself noticing Elizabethan influence in a lot of things, whether it be the movies or television I am watching, when looking at fashion I actually think about where the inspiration and ideas came from for the colours, decoration and shape of garments and also make-up trends on the catwalk and even in the collections brought out by make-up companies. When having a little wonder in my lunch break at West Quay, I strolled into the MAC counter in John Lewis to see if they had anything new for me to look at and add to my ever growing make-up wishlist. I couldn't help but stop at the promotion table for the Heirloom collection as the costume, accessories, hair and of course the make-up struck me as a very New Elizabethan fashion look. I noticed the pearls hanging around the models necks in a very structured way that looked like the accessories and garments that could be seen on noble women and royalty like Elizabeth I. The pearls are a very Elizabethan accessory that were to symbolise wealth and status among the high class as they were very expensive and could only be afforded by these kind of people. The pearl necklaces had a scallop shaped edge which reminded me of the edge of the ruff that we see worn by Elizabeth in many of her portraits. In the center of the neck area on these necklaces were adorned with medallions with the profile of a womans face who looked like royalty, this also reminded me of the image of the Queen we see on our coins and pennies. The hair featured a lot of texture, structure and height that looked like it would have been achieved using frizzing techniques, crimping, a lot of backcombing and even more pins! We have been using these techniques in our hair class to create similar Elizabethan inspired looks.
I adored the make-up as it is similar to the kind of designs I have been looking at myself when researching for my final look, the snow white illuminated skin and subtly blushed cheeks, understated eyebrows, a bold dark lip which is always on trend during this time of year and gorgeous smoky, subtle but bold eyes. I love how current this look is but at the same time very clearly references to the Elizabethan eras in the make-up and hair styles, styling and colours and textures used. 

Image sourced from the MAC cosmetics website: http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk/whats_new/13506/New-Collections/Heirloom-Mix/index.tmpl

Vivienne Westwood, my New Elizabethan

I chose Dame Vivienne Westwood to be my New Elizabethan as she is appreciated and respected among everyone who works in all the different fields of fashion and her name is known by people who even have nothing to do with fashion and the industry, I have used her as inspiration for my work throughout both Fashion Design which I specialised in during my BTEC level 3 course in Art & Design and still now as a make-up artist. I adore her brand and take a lot of pride in items I have saved up and purchased for myself including my handbag and heels! To me the reason she is so influential is not just her work, but her personality, humour and pride in what she does. Everything she has created for herself has been through hard work and dedication as she started from the bottom and it makes me feel inspired to see how far doing something you love can take you.

With a background in customising her own clothes as a school girl and studying fashion and silversmithing she pursued a career as a primary school teacher and selling her own made jewellery at Portabello market on the side and went on to create her own wedding dress when she married Derek Westwood in 1962. She didn't believe as a normal, working class girl she could make it in the fashion world. This is why I feel a lot of people can relate to her so well as she came from a completely regular background and wasn't thrown into the industry by status and money, it all came to her after hard work and her designs being original and quirky, just like her. She started out in 1971 designing clothes for her lover McLaren (Manager of the Sex Pistols) shop on the Kings Road called Let It Rock, later and more commonly known as Sex. Her clothing was inspired by the punk scene, bikers, fetishists and prostitutes. Some say she was responsible for bringing punk styling into the mainstream during this time. Together her and McLaren dressed the Sex Pistols in their designs. This was the beginning of her huge and amazing career, still and if not more one of the most famously known fashion labels and designers of all time and was named Britains Greatest British Fashion Designer in 2011.

Sex Pistols T-shirt designed by Westwood and Jamie Reid, customised by Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols in the late 70's

I find Vivienne Westwood to be a very relevant New Elizabethan due to her love and fascination of The Golden Age and Queen Elizabeth I. A lot of her collections are clearly inspired by the era and the fashions of the time and I think Westwood uses a bit of inspiration from Elizabeth in her own style and the way she likes to look, she see's a bit of herself in her which I wrote a bit about in a post on period hairstyling on my other blog which will be linked at the bottom of the page. In this portrait of Westwood she looks like she is supposed to be Queen Elizabeth I as the whole image is so heavily inspired by her, she is even posing like the Queen did! Her hair and styling looks so similar to the Elizabethan fashion at the time that you couldn't possibly miss the reference, she is wearing pearls around her neck and to adorn her hair which was a sign of wealth and status in the Golden Age and I love that she is wearing her labels orb in the center  of her hairstyle at the top to add a personal touch. The shape and style of the garments look very Elizabethan and her jacket looks velvet in the image which reminds me of luxury fabrics in which rich people would wear at the time. 

When talking about how she thinks this is the worst time for fashion and that people have never dressed as poorly as the present time, Westwood said "in History people dressed much better than we do. If you saw Queen Elizabeth it would be amazing, she came from another planet. She was so attractive in what she was wearing." Quote found from: http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/vivienne-westwood-biography

In many ways Vivienne Westwood reminds me of Queen Elizabeth I. Like the Virgin Queen, Vivienne Westwood is loved and respected and highly influential in her own way and both have the achieved a lot throughout their lives. They are both strong and inspirational characters for women to look up to and will both be remembered for a very long time and remembered for the work they did and what they created and that will live on long past Westwoods time, just like it has with Queen Elizabeth I. That to me is why Dame Vivienne Westwood is a New Elizabethan. 

References: 

http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/vivienne-westwood-biography

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/v/vivienne-westwood-designs/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivienne_Westwood

Veins

I have been inspired for my final design by the way Queen Elizabeth had veins painted onto her skin to create the illusion of paleness and translucence which was the contouring and Cara Delevigne brows of their time and incorporated this idea into my design with a modern twist. I decided to do some research on veins as after I did my initial design I realised the veins I had tried to paint onto the face chart appeared more like tree's and branches than actual veins, so by looking at pictures of real veins found on Google I will be able to incorporate them into my design as I develop it to make them look more realistic. Here are images I collected as inspiration.

Images sourced from : https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=veins&client=firefox-a&hs=Yzn&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=XA5pVNmvMYnuaMDygfAD&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1047&bih=491

I also looked at some make-up looks with veins incorporated and uploaded images of the ones I found most most inspiring and interesting. I am looking at the different ways they used colours and techniques to make a veiny effect and will be practising similar techniques while concentrating on making them look quite realistic.

Images sourced from: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=makeup+painted+on+veins&client=firefox-a&hs=XJT&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=MA5pVLbnO8rWauahgfAK&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1047&bih=491

The Taming of the Shrew - BBC 2005

In Sharons class last week we watch the BBC modern film version of The Taming of the Shrew. The reason for this was so we could see how Elizabethan influence could be noticed throughout this modern production in costume, characters traits, hair, colours, anything! I was pleased we watched this rather than the traditional version as I think I would have found it a bit boring and hard to follow due to not being able to understand what was happening in parts because of the language that would have been used, AKA olde English. As I have never read or seen The Taming of the Shrew watching this new version made it easier to grasp, and as we are doing a project on New Elizabethans it makes sense to watch a more current take on the play!

It is about Katherine Minola played by Shirley Henderson who's shrill voice and ability to portray this single, appallingly bad tempered and ill mannered politician was spot on, clever and very humorous. Katherine Minola is known for all her bad personality traits and shows herself up in a restaurant when meeting with her mum and glamorous, beautiful sister Bianca, by shouting at the waiter and then tipping the table over causing a huge scene where everyone is looking in shock. In the time that this play was written, a position in parliament like the one that Katherine holds would have been laughed at and impossible. When she is told that her reputation and campaign will have a much higher success rate if she marries a man she was at first horrified, playing the independent woman that doesn't need or have time for anything or anyone besides her career. The Taming of the Shrew has a lot of feminist references and is about women and their different roles in society, the less confident woman who relys on a man and the self reliant, stubborn and strong minded woman who knows what she wants and doesn't need anyone else. The name 'The Taming of the Shrew' also implys how men put women in their place. Her will to not be married and the fact that she is a virgin reminded me a lot of Elizabeth's reputation as 'The Virgin Queen'. Queen Elizabeth was pressured at times to be married in order to become more appreciated however never gave in as she wanted to show her country that it was more important to her than any man ever could be, this is how I feel Katherine felt with her career at the beginning of the film.

The first thing I noticed was Katherine Minolas pale appearance and center parted hair which has huge reference to the Elizabethan make-up and hair styles, she also had no shirt on with her smart, square shouldered suit leaving her neck exposed and a sharp silhouette which shows Elizabethan styling inspiration. The colours she wore were very formal and smart, black and white mainly to show her seriousness towards her job and roles in life. All the colours in her office were dark, dark red and dark wood interior which looked quite old and like a room in the Elizabethan era would have been. Katherines sister Bianca is quite the opposite, she is a dark flowing haired beauty with a flirtatious personality, she appears to be the renaissance idea of beauty. There seemed to be sibling rivalry between the siblings and Katherine even faced pressure to marry from her family, and her sister claimed that she wouldn't marry until the day Katherine did in thinking she never would. 
When Katherine finally gave in to the idea of marriage and had a proposal from Petruchio who is an Earl, she turned up to her wedding to be humiliated publicly by the outfit he chose to wear which was inspired by mens attire from the Tudor and Elizabethan era in a quite modern and ridiculous way, and to add insult to injury he was more than a little bit tipsy. The jacket he was wearing was velvet and in a rich, dark shade of turqoise with part of his chest exposed to show reference to an open neck collar, he teamed this with fishnet tights, high heeled boots and a garish shirt. He looked a sight!

 

On poor Katherines disastrous wedding day she wore a dress that didn't look very much like the typical wedding gown you see today, it wasn't very fashionable or on trend but did have an Elizabethan influenced look to it with the low, square neckline, raised collar and angular cut with the cinched in waist. The satin fabric also made it look like it could have been worn in the Elizabethan times. Her hair was neatly styled but her parting was slightly more side parted in this scene. The shade of the satin fabric against her dark eyes and hair made the paleness of her skin stand out particularly in this costume, she almost blended in with the dress! 

 

Their honeymoon began even more terribly than the wedding but after a while and after her little breakdown it appears that Katherine is 'tamed' by her husband Petruchio, she becomes less vicious and stubborn and seems like a much kinder person, which is strange to watch as we have known only one side of Katherine Minola throughout the whole film. At the very end of the film she makes a very memorable speech in front of Petruchio, her mother and her sister about how her husband wouldn't expect her to do anything for him that he wouldn't be willing to do for her, and in that the battle of the sexes are over, Katherine is finally happy and equality is agreed upon. Her mother and sister Bianca looked shocked and confused the whole time as they couldn't believe what she was saying, the change in Katherine was almost unbelievable. At the end of the film she has less of her chest showing to show that she is spoken for, and also is wearing lighter colours such as the grey pictured below and is wearing a flower. The way she dresses shows how much lighter hearted she ends the film with compared to the beginning and the colours also portray this a lot in my opinion.

 

 

 

Val Garland

Val Garland is a very respected and well known London based make-up artist in the fashion industry who started out as a hair stylist and colourist in Australia where she lived for a while. While Val was working in Australia people used to compliment her make-up and would suggest that she did make-up for people and on shoots as well, while reluctant at first Val filled in once for a make-up artist who didn't show up at a shoot and the image ended up being published in a magazine and it all began from there. However itt was when she moved back to London in 1994 her career really took off. She has since worked for designers such as Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano and Alexander McQueen, celebrities such as Kate Moss and Lady Gaga and been published in magazines such as i-D, Vogue and Dazed & Confused. Val does such a large range of work from catwalk to editorial to celebrity make-up and likes this variety as there is never a dull moment or a routine which she doesn't like. 
"I like that today I'm doing a master class here, and tomorrow, I'm working on a film. The next day, when I arrive in London, I get off the plane and I'm working with a celebrity. I like the mix. But, I do especially love doing shows because I like the mania and the manic panic of 'how the hell are we going to get this done,' and then we just do."

 

Val was the brains behind Lady Gaga's bizarre looking cheekbones and horn-type-things on her head in her Born This Way video. (Images sourced from Google images) She wanted to do something different and thought about prosthetics, experimenting with bits of folded paper and placing them around Gaga's face before sending images to a prosthetics specialist. 

 

She has had a long and strong relationship with MAC after being approached in the early 90's by MAC's senior vice president of make-up artistry Gordan who offered to sponsor her to use their make-up, Val is very passionate about MAC products because their products work and are consistent with their quality, where as she has found with some brands that their products look good, however don't deliver the way they should. As a huge fan of MAC this is good to hear coming from someone as experienced and professional as Val Garland, I know that I am not wasting my money and everything I purchase is a good investment. Her favourite products are the mineralize foundation, cream colours and the prestigious Ruby Woo lipstick! A quick tip I have discovered during my research from Val Garland herself is to soothe and calm red and irritated skin, she recommends spray Evian water spray onto the face every fifteen minutes and uses this technique when a model arrives with bad skin.

I love the work of Val Garland as it is the kind of make-up that made me want to be a part of the industry in the first place. Her work reminds me a bit of the work of Pat McGrath who is another of my favourite make-up artists. I have had a look through images of Vals work and have uploaded to this post some of my favourite images of her work that inspire me.

 

 

 This image is my favourite piece of Vals work that I have discovered so far. I love the mixture of colours used and also the softness of the image even though the make-up is quite extravagant. I am a lover of gold and metallics so adore that aspect of the image but it also reminds me of something that was partially inspired by the make-up worn by the nobility during the Elizabethan era due to the pale powdery looking skin, soft circles of blush worn in the center of the cheeks and the red lip. Even the eyes remind me of the Elizabethan era even though this make-up would never have been seen during that period! I think that is because the make-up around the eyes although being striking and bold, they are not defined using eyeliner so have a lighter and more subtle effect, but that is just my opinion.

 

This is a very striking and bold image, I think the make-up is very modern and has a young feel to it teamed with the fun hair style and funky looking garment. The blue and orange eye make-up not only matches the clothes and hair, but are also complimentary colours on the colour wheel and I think this is why it works so well.

 I really loved graphic eye liner at the moment and would like to do some work using similar techniques myself and incorporate it into some work in the near future, I like that this look was teamed with a simple and flawless make-up with flatting lips and contouring with the undefined eyebrows so that the eye liner could do all the talking.

I love this image as I think the painted on bottom eyelashes are so beautiful and effective and really flattering which you wouldn't normally think. By looking at some of Vals work I think she understands completely that with certain looks that feature something really bold that makes a statement like this and the graphic eyeliner above (for example), she doesn't need to do that much with the rest of the make-up. I love the fresh dewy looking skin and natural look used here and the brushed up eyebrows really work.

References:

Images sourced from Google images as well as the links listed below

http://www.refinery29.com/val-garland

http://www.allure.com/beauty-trends/blogs/daily-beauty-reporter/2013/04/5-reasons-we-love-val-garland-makeup-artist.html

http://showstudio.com/contributor/val_garland

http://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/2013/04/08/val-garland-make-up-artist-interview-kate-moss

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing with Kat

In Kats lesson last week we had to bring in a sketch pad and sketching pencils to begin some basic drawing practise. As I have studied art at GCSE and BTEC level and enjoyed it my whole life I was looking forward to this, however I soon realised as we began I am very out of practise and struggled a lot! We began by trying to draw straight lines free hand and then drawing basic outlines of different shapes. After we had done this we began drawing shapes in 3D form and then shading them to make them look even more 3-dimensional and realistic. Kat asked us to choose an object from home and draw it using the techniques we practised in class. I chose a lamp and was quite pleased with the shading however found getting the initial outline and proportions correct a night mare!  Despite struggling a lot with this task it was nice to get back to doing a bit of sketching after a long time. 

Hocus Pocus

On Halloween evening one of my all time favourite movies was on TV, Hocus Pocus! It is a 1993 movie about the three Sanderson sisters that were resurrected in Salem after three centuries by a teenage boy and his girl crush, his little sister and a talking cat on Halloween night and follows their hilarious journey to end the witches reign of terror once and for all!
The Sanderson sisters had been executed in 1693 in the witch hunt era in Salem for the horrifying acts they committed which was sucking the life out of little children to remain youthful forever. After they were killed the only way they could live again was if a virgin lit the black flamed candle on the night of Halloween. It stars Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah, Kathy Najimi as Mary and Bette Midler as Winifred.

 Winifred is the oldest, ugliest and most evil of the three Sanderson sisters. Her look is very obviously inspired by the Elizabethan period with her heart shaped red hair that is the signature look of Queen Elizabeth I, pale skin, blushed cheeks, heart shaped red lips and undefined eyebrows. She is the most prominent personality of the three sisters and incredibly bossy, she is almost the Queen of the trio and her sisters appear as her sidekicks. Her teeth are a particularly ugly part of her make-up and are hard to miss as they are abnormally large and create a rat-like look to her face. The look designed for Winifred helps to portray her unkind and ugly personality and I think it does this perfectly. As well as the make-up and hair design, her costume is very Elizabethan looking in the style, shape, colours, material and detail. 

 

Throughout the film as the witches begin to age during their unsuccessful quest to find children to make them remain youthful. The make-up artists did an amazing job at showing them deteriorate and Winifred becomes uglier and uglier.  Lee Harman was Bette's make-up artist, Hazel Catmull was her hair stylist and Kevin Haney was the make-up in charge of her aging. I love the make-up and hair in this film and after watching this film over and over again I realised it is very relevant to our current project due to the heavy Elizabethan influence, although I feel it is quite unfair to Queen Elizabeth I to be connected to such a hideous and revolting character such as Winifred Saunders!

 

 References:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107120/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
http://www.themakeupgallery.info/horror/witch/hocus.htm
 

 

Halloween!

Halloween for make-up artists has to be one of the most exciting holidays for make-up of the year! Since I began studying make-up I have attempted to try something new out each year, this year I decided to become a two faced burns victime! One side I applied a very glamorous make-up with heavy contouring and dramatic eyes, and the other side was scabby, peeling and crispy and just hideous! I love special effects make-up and it is a lot of fun, I find it so interesting to see how realistic and gross I can make myself look using a small amount of the incredible products available from Charles Fox, my favourite place for theatrical and special effects products.
What I used for the burns:
- Greasepaints in red, burgandy and black
- Liquid latex
- Latex sponges
- Stippling sponges
- Tweezers
- Small eyeshadow brush for detail

I really enjoyed this and was really proud of the final outcome! The pictures are not very good quality but I was impressed with the way the skin blistered and peeled when I picked through the latex with my tweezers. Although I usually favour creative fashion make-up I will definitely be trying out more special effects looks for fun from now on and I can't wait till next Halloween to upstage myself from this year!

Images of my work.

 

Extreme Contouring

In Sue's lesson we get taught and cover the basics of beauty make-up, so with Kat we got to see a more dramatic and creative look to try out and push our boundaries a bit, this lesson was on extreme contouring. Where as eyebrows were the biggest make-up trend last year, this years is contouring. Contouring is using shadows to define the bone structure of the face (and body if you wish) to give a more chiseled and framed appearance. Some peopke have a very prominent bone structure so just need a small amount of definition, however some people need a lot more to create the look they desire. When contouring first came to my attention I used to use the bronzer I would use all over my face to try and achieve the striking look we see on celebrities and catwalks, however during my last make-up course I learnt that it is better to use more grey toned powders or creams as when contouring you want to make it look like the natural shadows that would be visible with a very defined bone structure. I love the idea of contouring and think it is a really effective technique that can be used in so many ways in different areas of make-up, for example; subtle contouring for natural, wearable everyday beauty looks, very glamorous nights out, crazy creative fashion looks, theatrical character looks and the list goes on.

In Kats lesson she did a demonstration on Lucy and used a white base to really make the contouring stand out. I really liked the final outcome of Kats demo (pictured below) however didn't have enough time to have a go at it myself in class so I had a go on my class mate Sammie at home. I think Kats demonstration was so striking and worked really well with Lucys natural facial structure and colouring. It reminded me of a make-up that would work really well on a high fashion shoot in a woodland environment maybe. I liked the way it winged out and lifted at the corners of the eyes and Kat worked with Lucys amazing eyebrows and followed it on down the nose.

I was pleased with my outcome however would like to try again with more brown and copper shades as I really enjoy working with those colours and I think they would really suit Sammie who I practise with at home. I also think I would like to mix my mattes when contouring with a shimmery colour to create a more beautiful highlighted finish and be more experimental with the heavyness and lightness of the contouring in certain areas and maybe try and create some textured looks around the eye and eyebrows. I didn't contour the cupids bow and underneath the bottom lip like Kat did and I believe this would have really made my look stand out more and make Sammies lips look more 3D as the white base washed them out a bit. I am really looking forward to practicing and developing my contouring techniques as it is one of my favourite make-up effects (as well as the over drawn lip line!) and I will be using it a lot during my future work and career. Contouring is very on trend right now and I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon!

 
 

Face charts and make-up looks inspired by the colour wheel

Kat asked us to create some face charts using specific colour schemes following the rules of colour theory. We did our research and used that to decide what colours we could use to create our different looks. We designed an analogous look, an achromatic look, a complimentary colour look and a monochromatic look which we did in a practical lesson. Here are some images of my face charts followed by photographs of the monochromatic look I practised in class on Bekah.

Analogous colour scheme

 Acromatic colour scheme

 Complementary colour scheme

 Monochromatic colour scheme

In class we had to bring in our monochromatic face chart as we were going to practise it in pairs on each other, Bekah was my partner and I was really pleased with how my look came out. Usually I would go for a colour scheme like pink or blue but I decided to go for something a bit different to what I would normally and as well as being pleased with the application I was also very happy with how the colour suited with Bekahs colouring.