LFW Day 1: Fyodor Golan, #HPMLFW, Eudon Choi

Phew, it's been a busy old weekend for me - London Fashion Week is here, showcasing the designers' Autumn Winter collections for 2013-2014. It kicked off on Friday, which is where I began... you'll have to forgive the picture heavy post, but it was a busy day!

It started at The Savoy, doing make up for Fyodor Golan as part of the AOFM Pro Team with key make up artist Michelle Webb. Here is the model who's make up I did.

To create this look, we prepped the skin then applied an illuminating cream (I used MAC Strobe Cream) then used a Bobbi Brown stick foundation one shade lighter than the skin to create a pale base.
We then used Make Up Forever HD Foundation mixed with a little more of the illuminating cream mixed together, stippled on then buffed in with a clean brush.
We used a peach concealer under the eyes then let the foundation set in while we got to work with the rest of the face.
We then used a matt sand colour eyeshadow all over the lid (I used MAC Wedge) and up to the eyebrow then using the foundation brush blended it in at the eyebrow area to create and natural and seamless finish.
We added Urban Decay Sidecar to the lid, making sure to pat off the brush on the back of the hand to remove excess shimmer, then took the sand shadow under the lower lash line and buffed it out to blend the edges.
The brows were concealed out which we did a tiny bit at a time using a light shade of concealer on a mascara wand through the brows layer by layer, then a little liquid concealer to create a nice finish, and buffed out the edges of the concealer.

Photo by houseofmari.com

We used a mixture of Make Up Forever Aqua Rouge 9 and 11 for the lip colour, creating a pointed edge to the lips, then used black gel eye liner to line the lips then blended it up using a small cotton bud, then added the gloss from the Aqua Rouge and went around the edges of the lips with a nude coloured pencil and blended out with a cotton bud.

Photo by houseofmari.com

We used MAC Lightscapade for a light contour then a sandy coloured blush on the cheeks.
To highlight the face we used MAC Soft & Gentle down the nose, on the chin, forehead and cheekbones.
To finish, we added MAC Vanilla pigment to the inner corner of the eye using the little finger and blended out with a brush, then added white liner to the waterline. Powder was added in the lineup.

Photo by houseofmari.com

Photo from Vogue

A film crew were with me filming for Handpicked Media's YouTube Channel - HandpickedMediaTV which was rather exciting, although I was having one of those days where I just didn't feel I looked like myself so it'll be interesting to see the video once it's finished!

There was time for a quick pitstop at the Handpicked Media London Fashion Week Suite at the One Aldwych Hotel, which is always a pleasure. It's a little bubble of calm in amongst the hecticness. Seascape were offering massages which I was so gutted I didn't have time for, but still enjoyed sitting down for a few minutes with a Vita Coco and Curly Wurly and looking at the goodies on display. Superdry were there doing make up - it looks like a really great range and the prices look good too, I'm looking forward to having more of a play with that. Playful Promises were showcasing their underwear, which was gorgeous too, and I was surprised with the prices as I thought they'd be a lot more than they were! 

It was then onto Somerset House for the Eudon Choi show - which I was working as part of the AOFM Pro Team with Adam de Cruz as the key make up artist.

The collection was based around Russian doll styling and Russian folklore, so the makeup was kept very simple with the main focus being on the skin. We were trying to achieve clean, expensive looking skin with dewy highlights and glossy lids. Here is the model I made up for the show.

We started with prepping the face then giving it a massage with Embryolisse moisturiser to wake up the  skin. We then buffed it in with a brush and added a light cover of Bobbi Brown Tinted Moisturiser.
We used Bobbi Brown concealer with a pointed brush around the nose and any other areas that needed concealing, then buffed it out with a bigger brush.
We used a pink Bobbi Brown colour corrector under the eyes and for the inner corner of the eyes.
To achieve the smokey brow we brushed them up then added eyebrow powder on a brush which had most of the product brushed off it already, then a dry cotton bud to blend out the edges.
We curled the lashes then added Bobbi Brown gel liner to the waterline depending on what colour hair the model had - the blonde girls had grey, black hair had black, and brown hair had brown.
Glitter was added to the eyelid in lineup, and Tom Ford cream Highlighter to the cheekbones.

Photo from Vogue

I'll be back from more tales from behind the scenes in the next couple of days. Hope you enjoy!

AOFM Bridal Make Up Course GIVEAWAY!

I soooo super-duper excited to tell you that AOFM, The Academy of Freelance Makeup - where I trained at in 2011, are offering TWO  extremely lucky Super Gorgeous readers a spot on their Bridal Make Up Course this March.

The course runs over 5 days where you will learn everything from basic bridal make up application to advanced techniques, as well as bridal hair. It's a great idea for anyone into make up looking for some training, already working as a make up artist but would like a bit of guidance with bridal work, if you'd like to work as a bridal make up artist, or if your sister has roped you in to do the make up at her wedding later in the year! You can find out full details of the course here.

AOFM's way of teaching is something I really enjoyed - every day is taught by a different industry-leading make up artist or hair stylist, so you can pick up different tips and techniques and grill them on how they got to where they are today.

As well as the make up course (which costs £950), they will also be giving each winner an AOFM brush set which has a £250 value - whoever the lucky winners are are going to be extremely happy boys or girls! All you have to do to enter is put your details in the Rafflecopter widget at the bottom of the post, where you will find a number of different ways to gain extra entries.

The giveaway is open internationally but please note that the course takes place daily at the AOFM studio in Soho, London - the prize does not include travel or accommodation. You will have to attend every day from 11th-15th March 2013. As a past student myself I know that AOFM do not tollerate lateness as it disrupts the rest of the class. If you are repeatedly late or miss a day you will not be invited back - so PLEASE only enter if you are passionate about make up and this is something you really want - this is an amazing opportunity for two very fortunate people so please don't waste it.

The giveaway ends on Wednesday 6th February when a winner will be selected at random. Both winners will be contacted via email and announced on Twitter and the Rafflecopter widget.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

AOFM Week Three

Thank you very much to the person that reminded me yesterday I hadn't written up week three of my course at AOFM (Academy of Freelance Makeup)!

So... on the Saturday at the end of week two we'd completed the make up part of the course. On the Sunday I had my photoshoot. This is included as part of the course - you get to make up two models - one has to be a natural look, which would be used as a beauty shot, and other had to be an editorial look, but nothing to 'out there'!

We had a week to plan and make mood boards, so by the time the day came round we knew what we were doing. We had our photoshoots in groups of 6, so it wasn't too crowded in the rooms we were working in. We didn't know which model we would get - just whoever sat at our stations first! All of the models were gorgeous, but I was really happy with the two I got!

We had a hair stylist working with us - Jan Prezemyk, who asked what kind of thing we wanted, asked what kind of clothes we had chosen (we had a stylist and a big rack of clothes to choose from) and he then created a hair style based on that. We then went and shot the photos in one of the rooms that had been converted into a studio for the day, with photographer Lou Denim.


We had 45 minutes to create each look...

For my editorial look I went with smokey eyes and nude lips.

And for my beauty shot I tried to make it look like my model wasn't wearing too much make up, while enhancing her natural good looks.

On the Monday, we started learning about hair. We had a different teacher on each day, again, which was really interesting as we got the chance to find out different tips and tricks that each of them had. Our teachers during the week were Jan Prezemyk, Desmond Murray, Ben Gregory, Chrysostomos Chamalidis and Simon Maynard. We learned a variety of stuff but a lot of it was aimed at the editorial route.

We learned about the products and what they did, how to reate texture, how to blow dry properly, how to section, how to curl using rollers (wet set, directional set, and brickwork), GHDs, curling tongs, tin foil and wands. How to get wavy hair, how to get mad crazy hair, how to give someone with straight hair an afro, how to crimp, back comb, finger wave, and make dread locks.

We learned hair up styles - pony tails, low bun, chignon, a bun, how to use padding and nets, how to create volume on the top, putting hair into a bow shape, a french pleat, onion hair, glam big hair, fishtail plait, rikracking, sleek hair, and how to apply extensions.

On the Saturday we had to take in an image we wanted to recreate, which we did under the guidance of our tutor.

Here are a few pictures of some of the things I did in hair week:

I feel like I learned a lot, but as I had absolutely no hair experience before I found it quite a lot to take in. I have written a zillion notes so I plan to buy a dummy and practise at home.

AOFM do offer a fourth week, which I decided not to do - it covers nails and air brushing, which I couldn't really justify the cost of learning about to be honest! So at the end of the Saturday, we all graduated. We were given a certificate and had a 5 minute feedback session each - we all had champagne and chocolates and said goodbye to one another. Working with people in such an intense environment for three weeks solid created some really good friendships and it was hard to say goodbye! We've created a Facebook group so we can keep up with what each other are doing - in the 4 weeks since we graduated we have been busy! Two of the girls are working for MAC, one for NARS and one for Chanel. Another is working for an agency which provides luxury department stores with make up artists. Others are doing their own thing, getting shoots organised and trying to build their portfolio.

Once you graduate from AOFM it acts as an agency, posting jobs on it's Facebook page which the graduates of the three and four week classes are invited to apply to. I have done some amazing jobs through them - Profile 2011, The Ideal Christmas Home Show, Fashion In Style, Sheer Cover launch and I assisted the amazing Yin Lee on a music video. If you'd like to keep up with my journey as a make up artist, please 'like' my personal Facebok page.

Also on offer to graduates are the free aftercare Masterclasses. I attended a MAC Masterclass at the MAC training centre which was learning about the new season catwalk trends, and a Dior Masterclass where Dior PRO artist Jamie Coombes gave a stunning make up demonstration and showed us the new seasons products about to launch, and we had a chat with Lisa Oxenham, Beauty Editor of Marie Claire magazine, about what she looks for when hiring a make up artist, the trends from fashion week, and her advice for us.

I think the aftercare is one of the best things that sets AOFM apart from all the other make up schools. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to do a make up course.

AOFM Make Up Course - Week Two

My course at the Academy of Freelance Makeup has now finished, but I was so busy throughout that it's only now I can update you with how I got on on week 2!


Week one of the course was basics, week two was advanced, the same theory applied - we had a different make up artist teaching us each day, so we could learn their tips and tricks and see what worked for us. The morning was usually spent chatting with the make up artist about what they do and how they got to where they are, a talk and demo relating to the subject we were learning, and after lunch getting into pairs and working on each other.

On day one we had Barbara B who taught us about the different periods and the make up associated with the eras. She demonstrated a 1920s look, which involved blocking out eyebrows. I decided to do the same look on my partner. Please bare in mind that the natural eyebrows would normally be Photoshopped out of the photo!

Day two's subject was Avant Garde which was taken by Philippe Miletto.  He showed us lots of tricks using make up in ways we had not yet - like using masking tape on the face to create straight lines for eyebrows, blush or just to add crazy colour to the face. We seemed to learn that with avant garde, anything seems to go! Philippe spoke to us about the importance of working to a time scale too - so we were only given 45 minutes to work on our partners, it was great to have to do the make up with a bit of pressure! I decided that I still wanted my make up to look beautiful, so tried out some new techniques which Phillipe had demoed to us, and these are the two looks I produced.

Maria Papadopoulou, one of AOFM's resident teachers took us for day three, where we learned about male grooming, working with different ethinicities, and mature skin. She demoed some different looks to us, but when it came to us working, she wanted to see if we could work to a brief so put 16 different briefs into a hat, which we each had to pick from. We then had 45 minutes to create our look! The piece of paper I picked out said on it 'a black eyeliner in gel that comes out of the outer corners of the eyes as a straight line.' I used the masking tape technique taught by Phillipe the day before to ensure my lines were straight. Whatever our item was had to be the main focus of the face. The light was terrible so you can't see too clearly in the photo, but I contoured her cheeks to compliment the horizontal lines at her eyes, highlighted the inner corners of her eyes to emphasise the drawn out look, and gave her a nude lipstick so as not to draw attention away from the eyes.

As part of the advanced class you get a shopping day - where you go along with one of the teachers to a few make up shops where discounts have been arranged, to start off our kits. On day four we met up with Breianne Zellinski extra early outside the MAC pro store, where we had a whopping 35% off, after spending a small fortune in there we headed off to Shu Uemera where we had 30% discount, Benefit with 20% off, Bare Ecentuals with 20% off and lastly to Screenface where we got 10% off. Here's a very bad pic of my bounty!

Once we got back we still had to complete a full day of school, so AOFM kindly provided us with lunch at the academy and then we got on with lessons - which was body painting with Carolyn Roper. It was a really fun lesson, but I found it a bit strange being put in the middle of our make up syllabus, nevertheless, we were all fairly frazzled so were glad to have a lesson where we could have a play!

Firstly we were told to do anything we liked, to get used to playing with the paints. OMG white paint is so so so hard to work with! I regretted starting with it, it's horrible!

Next we had a demo on how to do clothes - we were shown how to do buttons and stitching and how to make the clothes look like they had movement in them through light and shadows. Here is my attempt. I was rather pleased with my buttons and flower!

Next I tried a chain with some shading to look like it was coming away from the arm.

Day Five was Textures - which was taught by another AOFM resident teacher, Cristina Iravedra - she showed us an amazing eye make up demo using greasepaints and crystals.

Unfortunately the photo of my partner didn't come out well, but we had to create something using greasepaints, glitter, crystals annnnnnnd feathers! Luckily my partner was going to a masquerade party that night, so I created a little mask for her!

That weekend we had a photoshoot in which we had to create a beauty look, and editorial look - we had a hair stylist, stylist and photographer.... It was nerve-wracking but I loved it once it was happening! I will show you those pics once I get them back from the photographer.

Stay tuned for week 3!

AOFM Make Up Course - Week One

You may have noticed I haven't been around much this week - that is because I have started my Professional Hair & Make Up course at AOFM (Academy of Freelance Makeup). Before I continue I want to make it clear that I wasn't invited on the course to review it for the blog - I have paid to do this as make up is clearly something I love and would like to take further.

When I made the decision to do a course, there were only a few available that did short courses, and in the end AOFM seemed the best choice to me - they are well connected and offer graduates assisting jobs which can sometimes be hard to get when you are starting out.

I booked the course towards the start of the year and had felt like forever waiting for it to start. Now it's started it seems to be zooming by, but I am enjoying every minute (apart from having to wash my brushes at the end of every night!) I have just completed my first week of three, so thought I'd show you a little run down of what I've been up to.

The school is based in Dean Street, Soho - and has two 'classrooms' which are set up with portable make up desks round the edges. There are 28 of us doing the course, split in to two classes - my class has 16 in it, the other has 12.

Every day we have been taught by a different make up artist, which has been great - we get to hear their way of doing things, how they made a name for themselves and can ask them any questions we may have. We spend the morning chatting and having a demo, then after lunch we get in pairs and do the look on our partner.

On day one we were given our AOFM brush set which is a really nice set of 24 brushes in a roll. Jana Ririnui, the owner, came and chatted to us, and with Maria Papadopoulou we were taught the basics - how to do a no-make-up make-up look. Put simply, how to do foundation properly. Every day a new range of make up is brought to us, but for today we worked with MAC Face & Body. It was quite daunting having to put make up on someone else for the first time, and it took a while for us all to get how to choose the right shade.

Once we had done that, we were taught how to do a smokey eye

On day 2 Barbara, the eyebrow expert, showed us how peoples eyebrows should be shaped, we had to tweeze our partners eyebrows (omg how scary!) and draw them in how they should be. I never colour in my eyebrows so this is totally new to me and something I want to practice. We were shown how to do a Dita Von Teese look, and applied strip lashes to one eye and individual lashes to the other.

On day 3 Valentina Creti showed us how to contour, and how to create glowy skin. I won't show you the scary contour only pic! This was my finished look.

Louise Dartford came in on day 4 to talk to us about bridal make up. We had to do a classic bridal look - I found it really interesting to work with an oriental face, and learning how to flatter the eyes.

Day 5 was taught by Michelle Webb and was all about catwalk. It was fab to break out of the classic looks and get really creative! We based our looks on two of hers that she did at Fashion Week 2011.

Day 6 was taught by Barbara Braeunlich - who does a lot of make up for photographic work. We were taught how to apply make up for different lighting situations, and for black and white photography. She gave us a demo and we were told to find an image during lunch time that we wanted to use for inspiration - and we had free reign to create a look that would look good in both colour and black and white. I decided I wanted to do a glossy black eye, Barbara suggested I made it look really messy, which I found hard as we'd been learning to do everything so precisely!

So, that's basically been my week! I have loved it all - meeting some people that are amazing at what they do and having the chance to ask questions, being taught their ways of doing things - for instance Barbara (the eyebrow expert) likes to curl eyelashes with a spoon! It's really interesting to hear different ways of doing things from different people and finding the best way that works for you. All my course-mates are lovely - I have made some fab friends. We are all exhausted but really looking forward to next week!