Practices

Practising as a make-up artist

First Practice

The first time I practiced AJ's make-up design went quite well as I was able to complete all of the elements in her design. However as it was my first attempt and we spent quite a bit of time talking through the design I did go over time so we knew this would have to be improved on for the assessment day. The blending of the base and contouring we were happy with but we felt the contouring needed to be darker so that it showed up a bit more on camera. Also we decided that more of the darker eyeshaow needed to be added to the outer corners of the eye to define them more. The gold eyeliner was neat but needed to be thicker so that it was more obvious and more gold should be used on the lips to make it stand out more. Also AJ felt the base was too heavy for her desired look so we decided to use less base and buff it in more next time to give a lighter coverage. As AJ has a very clear complexion this should work well as she has no spots or blemishes that require heavy covering. The purple line on the face was too thick and very messy so I need to do this with more precision and we are going to try using a thinner line so it doesn't distract from the rest of the make-up too much.

 Second Practice

In preparation for the second practice I had practised the make-up on myself at home so that I hopefully had improved for when I did AJ's make-up again. This time AJ was happier with the colour of the contouring and the eyeshadow and liner also showed up a lot better on camera. Having more gold on the lips was defiantly an improvement and so was doing a thinner line of gold and purple around the face. We tried a few different designs for the line around the face including having detailing on the nose but we thought that this was too much and decided to keep the lines on the cheeks. I also blended in the purple lines and broke up the line so that it wasn't continuous, this worked well as the line was no longer over powering. We changed the gold colour from an eyeliner to Illamasqua Liquid Gold which I found better to work with as it was easier to make the line as thick or thin as we wanted it to be so we are going to carry on using this product.

Third Practice

The next time we practised the make-up it was important that I finished the look in time and luckily I did and this made me feel more confident about completing the look on the assessment day. The line on the cheeks was a lot better than it had been and it is easier now we had decided on a definate shape for the line as I can practice the shape so I get it correct on the assessment day. I also used white eyeliner to mark out  the line because if I make a mistake it is easier to remove this than the gold and purple, but hopefully I will do the line correctly first time. One thing I need to improve on is the lipstick on the bottom lip as AJ has a small stain that she wants to be covered, so I need to make sure this is covered fully so that she is happy with the look. Also AJ decided to have her eyebrows brushed up which I attempted but the hairs flattened very quickly so on the day I need to try and brush the hairs up more and use a bit more hairspray to try and get them to stay in place.

Due to illness we missed one practice that we had planned to do so therefore I practised the look on myself at home to make sure I was fully prepared for the assessment.

Practising as a designer

I gave AJ a face chart with my design and notes on it for her to use when we practised. The first practice went quite well, the base was blended really well and so was the eyeshadow although we thought this would look better a bit darker so that it showed up more in photographs. I was happy with the eyeliner and mascara as it was very neatly applied. The application of the contouring and blusher was very good, I just thought the blusher was a little too heavy so would look better if it was more subtle. I decided to change the design of the lips as in this practise it looked a bit clown like which wasn't what we wanted. So in the future we are going to try using different shades of red and pink and blending them together more.  

Unfortunatley we missed a couple of practices together in the studio as we were both very ill on different days. So I practiced my design on myself and AJ practiced on another model when we were not together. I tried out different colours for the eyeshadow and tried purple on one eye and green on the other to see which looked the best. I chose these colours as they were popular colours for clothes in Elizabethan time that were associated with nobility and wealth. I liked the colours but still felt that the black and grey smokey eye worked the best with the white eyeliner and the rest of the look. I also tried using white eyeliner under the lower lashes but felt this was too heavy and having the liner in the water line and on the top lash line was enough to create a dramatic effect. I also used softer shades of lipstick and blended them well which created a much softer lip which I preferred.

We then practiced a few times at home so that we were prepared for the assessment day. AJ suggested grease contouring may work well to create a dramatic look so we tried this when practising. Although I do think the grease looks good and AJ blended it very well we both thought the shades of colours in the powder bronzer palette were more flattering on my skin tone and look more modern so we are going to keep using them, but it was good to try something different. Also the eyebrows were filled in more and the eyeshadow was darker which we both thought looked better and looked more dramatic in photographs. Blotting the lipstick also helped to create a softer look and helped to merge the colours together nicely.

AJ continued to practice my make-up look using the powder contouring and kept everything else the same as our last practice. She completed the make-up exactly how I wanted it to look and in the time we would have in the assessment. This meant I was very confident that she would do the same on the assessment day.