Final Project

For our final project we were given four themes to base a look upon. They are, Pagan, Day of the dead, Tribal and Masquerade balls of King Louis XIV. I have chosen Pagan as my theme.

Paganism is any religion that has more than one god. Through my research I have learnt about the Ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses and decided this is where I am going to take my inspiration from. Out of all the Greek goddesses the one I am the most drawn to is Hera.
Hera is wife of Zeus who is king of the gods therefore I will incorporate some regal colours into my make-up. An animal that is sacred to her is the peacock, this gives me the opportunity to play with colours I would not normally use.

I will be doing some practise and research help me create my look but as it stands now I think I would like to create a look that features a clean dewy base with some gold shimmer, A statment eye using peacock colours and a gold lip.

For hair my first thought like was to create a low Grecian bun similar to the one I created in a previous lesson. However having seen a statue of Hera I feel it would be better to give the hair a wave and pin it back in a similar way to hers on the statue.

Year 1 Evaluation

The first year of my higher national diploma at West Thames college has been a lot more full on than I expected. When I chose the course I had no idea how many projects I would be given or how many different styles of make-up I would cover. I was also completely unaware of the fact that I would also study history and art. Something else that was unexpected was the emphasis on hair. I have learnt a lot over the duration of my first year and realised that I will need to start making connections over the summer in order to give myself a stepping stone into the working world at the end of year two.

The first unit we covered this year was make-up and hair spanning from the Victorian Era up until pre world war one. I found the make-up lessons in this unit interesting in that a lot of products that would be essential for most women today, like mascara, were not used during this time period and if they were it was a very minimal amount. I did find that these lessons became a bit repetitive as the make-up was fairly similar throughout this time period. The hair section of this unit I also found very interesting. To me what was so fascinating is that even though women of today have a lot more technology out day to day hairstyles tend to be much simpler. Hair was something I really struggled with and at the beginning of the year I felt completely out of my depth. I had never even used a roller before our first class so I found it really hard to then have to create an elaborate hairstyle and I came away from nearly every class feeling incredibly deflated. I think this was reflected in my final image. I found the history section of this unit really enjoyable although I did find it a bit inconsistent. I had so many notes for the Victorian era that I was five times over the word limit on my essay, but with the pre world war one section of the unit I received far less information.

The next unit to discuss followed the same format as the first one but this time we looked at make-up and hair spanning from the nineteen twenties to the nineteen sixties. I found this unit more relatable as there are film stars and singers from these era’s whose performances we can see. I found the make-up from the nineteen twenties and thirties more challenging that what we had done previously as blocking out eyebrows is something I am not very confident with. I really enjoyed nineteen forties and nineteen fifties make-up as it was at this time my grandmother and her sister were in their twenties and thirties and they were probably the most glamorous women I knew. I also really enjoyed the sixties as the is decade in which most of my favourite bands and musicians rose to fame and the generation that people who know me say I should have been born in. I again struggled with hair in this unit I don’t think I have achieved anything to be particularly proud of although I did get used to the tools more. I also really enjoyed the history lessons in this unit coming from a countryside town where children were evacuated to during world war two and being of English and Caribbean descent it was really interesting to hear the historical context behind my grandparents and older relatives stories of the time. My only wish is that we had covered the sixties, but that’s probably just me personally due to my love of music from the decade.

The theatre unit was probably my favourite. Having studied acting for ten years it held the most personal interest for me. Having said that it was the unit I found the most challenging, I don’t think there was any look that I was one hundred percent happy with form the unit. My favourite lesson from this unit was creating injuries and this has made me really excited to study special effects fully next year. I enjoyed doing the research for this unit due to my interest in the theatre. At the moment theatre is where I am thinking I would like to end up. There are still a couple of looks from this unit that I need to perfect.

My fashion unit was the one I was the most nervous about seeing as I do not follow fashion and would not consider myself a particularly fashionable person but I ended up really enjoying it. Being honest I did find the first few make-up and hair lessons a bit tedious as it was covering the basics but I understand that we need this as a basis move on to the more advanced make-up and hair. Out of all the units I feel that fashion is where I have created the looks I am the most proud of, possibly because I’ve been able to create a look myself and have some level of creative control. I really enjoyed putting my shoot together and this is probably the make-up that I am the most proud of from the year. I also find the blog the easiest and best way to present my work. I wish all units could be submitted on a blog.

Overall I feel it has been a good experience and I have grown a lot as an artist. I am really looking forward to being able to be more creative next year and improve and expand upon the skills I have built this year. I know that we have less projects next year as well so I am going to try and gain experience where possible.

Development of my mask

Final Practise

Today I did my final practise prior to my assessment.

I followed all the same steps as before with a few slight changes.

The first change I made was to work on balancing. This time I managed to get my balance right I also made sure to blend the colours better as I noticed from my photo on my last practise that the gold and teal had a slightly too obvious line between the colours so I made sure to blend that this time.

The other thing was worked on was my my contour slightly more subtle and finding a more appropriate coloured highlighter for this I applied extra sun beam to the high points of the face. This worked better than the eye-shadow but I still feel that I need something a tiny bit paler so I think for the assessment I will use Mac's soft and gentle.

My model has sparser eyebrows than my classmate whom I have previously practised on so I filled her brows lightly using a Mac eyebrow pencil.

Second Practise

For my second practise I decided to implement some of my research into 80's make-up so I have started to use multiple colours on the eyes and add some colour to the contour which I learned I need to add from my last practise.

I still wanted to incorporate the gold colour to my make-up so I started by applying this to the inner third of the eye purposefully taking the colour around the inner corner. I knew that this time I wanted to add some more colours to the eye so I added a teal colour from my Revolution pallet to the centre of the eyelid and applied the blue that I used in my last practise and created sharp edge on the outer corner of the eye taking it into the crease. I preferred this look but I felt the crease needed a bit more definition so therefore I added some of the lilac tone to the crease. I also added some dark purple from my Revolution pallet to the lash line I kept this fairly subtle as the rest of the colours were so strong.

I then followed my previous method of adding 'Sun Beam' to foundation but this time I used Illamasqua 'skin base'. This created a nice finish to the skin. To conceal any bags under the eyes I applied some d32 greasepaint I then applied additional foundation over this. After this I applied some more gold, teal and blue to under the eye matching where the colours were placed on the lid. The model I was worked on had very full brows so I just ran through them with brow gel.

I contoured the face by using a darker foundation. This worked well but I applied a bit to much to the jaw line so it ended up looking a bit muddy in this area. I then highlighted the face using the gold eye-shadow I used previously. This gave a nice golden sheen to the skin but I feel it was a bit too bronze and I need something slightly lighter. I also added a bit of lilac eye-shadow to the cheek contour. I really like the effect that this has given and it is defiantly something I am going to keep.

My final step for the look was the lips. From my previous practise I had learned that the gold lip was not going to work and so I opted for a purple lip instead. For this I used the Mac lipstick in 'up the amp'. After applying this I decided I wanted a subtle ombre lip so I applied some dark purple eye-shadow from the revolution pallet to the outer lip line and blended it in. I liked this look and will keep it for my final piece.

Something I need to work on is my balance. On one eye the pulled outwards more and one side was pulled upwards more. I need to balance this and find a lighter highlighter.

The influence of 1980's Make-up and Fashion

Having looked at fashion through the years I can see that the 80's had some Grecian influence. This is clear from the big shoulder pads and the fact that many of the super models of the time were very athletic looking.

Due to this influence I have decided to take influence for the eighties for my make-up and hair. This includes several colours on the eyes and strong coloured blush or contour and lip. It has also given me inspiration for my hair. I thought I might use rollers or curlers to create soft waves but the eighties inspiration has made me want to crimp the hair.

Crimped hair at Stella McCartney SS15

Example of eighties make-up

First Practise

Today I practised a make-up look on myself using my concept for my final piece.

I started with the eyes. I first applied Urban Decays 'half baked' all over my lid. I chose this colour as it is a true bronze gold and reflective of some of the tones in peacock feathers and quite lavish looking.
I then applied a blue colour from the Revolution 'mermaids vs unicorns' pallet to my crease and blended these two colours enough so there was not a harsh line but not so much that they became one colour. I also applied some of the blue colour to my bottom lash line. I added a champagne tone to my brow bone and inner corner as a highlight, for this I used Urban Decays 'sin'.
For my liner I used Barry Ms waterproof eye pencil in 'bronze' and applied this to my water line to echo the gold tone on the lid. I also used a dark purple eye-shadow also from the Revolution pallet to my top lash line. This didn't work very well as I wanted the colour to be much bolder so on the other eye I experimented with putting a white eye-liner on first and then adding the purple. This make the eye shadow more vibrant but still did not give me the desired effect.
My last step for my eyes was to add a layer of mascara. I don't want to add a fake lash to this look as I feel it will just hide the colours I have used.

For skin I used a medium coverage foundation on my skin but on my models skin I may be able to get away with sheer. On myself I opted for Collections 'lasting perfection foundation' this foundation has a satin finish which is good as I am mixing it with Benefits 'Sun Beam' to give it a golden shimmer. I am really happy with how this has made the skin appear and I will use this method in the final assessment. I then concealed my dark circles using my mac concealer pallet. I need remember to do this before I apply eye-shadow to my bottom lash line as it ended up getting a bit messy.

I then filled my brows I thought I would try this with a shimmery colour. My reasoning for this was that I was creating a character who is a goddess, not human and human does not shimmer. I think this technique may have worked but I chose the colour 'toasted' from the Urban Decay Naked pallet which was too light and ended up looking too unatural.

My final step was to create the gold lip. I don't have a gold lipstick so I improvised by mixing some of the gold eye-shadow I used previously and mixed this with a clear lip balm. I really liked the idea of the gold lip but unfortunately I think with the skin already being very golden I think it was a little but too much. I am going to find an alternative to the gold lip as if I have to sacarafice one of the two I'd rather keep the golden skin.

Although I like this look I don't think it's exactly what I am looking for. I think I need to add some more colours to the eye as right now they are looking Egyptian due to the blue and gold. I also need to add some contour to the face as right now it is looking a bit flat due to all the shimmer.