My make-up journey: The Day of the Assessment

The day of the assessment arrived and I bustled into college carrying my headdress, hair piece and plaster bust. Once I had set up my work station, placing base, eye and lip products and hair products in different sections, I adjusted my models seat so I was at eye level with her, applied a white gown and washed my hands.

I then cleansed my models skin and applied an eye lid primer to her top lids and pated it in with my ring finger before applying gold shimmer shadow along the lash line and blending a shimmery bronze eye shadow over three quarters of her eye lid. Next, I applied the orange shade from my Morag Ross Le Maquillage palette and blended it over the outer corner of her eyelid, bringing the shade upwards slightly to create a flattering eye shape. I then set this cream foundation product with a bright orange eye shadow shade from my Revolution palette to help stop the product creasing. I then lined her top lash line with a thin black line created using Mac Feline eye pencil and smudged it lightly with a small brush, as I did not want it (or any of the makeup) to be too refined. I then moved onto the lower lash line, which I shaded with Mac Smokey Taupe and lined the waterline with two different pencils- black in the inner corner and brown on the rest to create depth, while keeping the eye more natural and earthy looking. I then applied the same orange shade as before under the Smokey Taupe shade and blended it into the same shade applied to the top lid using a small brush and my ring finger. To finish the eye area, I applied mascara to the top lashes.

Next, I applied moisturiser to my models skin before applying a hydrating under eye primer and a photo finish primer. I then mixed together the two Mac Face and Body shades I had previously matched to my models skin (C3 AN N5) along with Makeup Forever cream foundation in Caramel. I applied the foundation using a foundation brush and my ring finger to diminish any lines caused by the brush. I then used my Mac Pro concealer palette to even out her skin tone and conceal any darker areas on her face. I also used the same bright orange Le Maquillage shade to conceal dark areas around her mouth and blended into the foundation. I then applied the highlight shade (Makeup Forever shade Natural Beige) to the centre of my model, Alicia’s forehead, along her brow bone; centre of her chin and under her eyes. I hen blended it into her skin for a natural flawless finish by bouncing a beauty blender over the areas. I applied the same method when blending the shaded areas on the face using Makeup Forever’s cream foundation in Chocolate Beige and shade 117 from my Morag Ross Le Maquillage palette. Once I had thoroughly blended the different shades, I set with Mac Prep+Prime powder using a fluffy brush, which I patted over her entire face.

Next, I moved onto the lip, which I lined and filled with a natural liner and lipstick. I then got my model to hold a tissue under her lip while I pressed the same gold and bronze eye shadows I used on her eyes onto her lips, using the gold shade to act as a lighter ombre shade in the centre of her lips. To add more shape and depth to the lip, I softly lined them using a brown liner and shading it into the corners of her lips to add to the ombre effect.

Finally, I began work on her eyebrows. I began by brushing them through, pointing the hairs upwards and filling in with Ben Nye Black eye shadow. I chose to use this product as it is well pigmented while still creating a soft effect, as I wanted to add detail to her eye brows, which would resemble feathery type strokes. I created this detail in the eyebrows by using a very thin angled brush to gently sweep the eye shadow upwards. To add more dramatic effect, I applied a small amount of spirit gum to a clean mascara want and gently brushed her natural eyebrow hairs upwards, ensuring to not stick the hairs to her skin, as I wanted to create texture on the face. I hen filled any gaps with more feathery detail using the black eye shadow. To finish he look, used an eye shadow brush bring the black eye shadow down the sides o the nose from the eyebrows. I blended it along with Coco Brown and Mink Stole to add depth and warmth.

I then moved onto the hair. After washing the makeup products off of my hands and lowering my models chair, I combed her hair through and sectioned it in preparation to create a pin curl. I took a section of hair from the middle, coiled it and cross gripped it into place. I then placed the hair piece onto the pin curl and used more grips to then secure it into place. Once it felt sturdy, I gathered up the remaining natural hair and formed in around the hair piece and secured with a hair band. I then took the black ribbon, tied it around the hair piece alongside Alicia’s natural hair and then wrapped it around and secured. This really made the hair piece feel secure. I then plugged in my hot glue gun and used it to help wrap artificial onion grass I had stuck together in strips of two or three around the ribbon. Using the ribbon also helped protect my models hair, as I glued the onion grass to the ribbon. Once all the onion grass was secured, I placed the flowing hair piece to the back of the hair by sliding two grips into the fish tail braid to conceal it.

I then began tidying up the rest of my models hair. As it is cut very short along the sides, a lot of hairs tended to stick up, as her hair is cut to fall a specific way and I was trying to secure the hair in the opposite direction. I used gel and hair spray, which I combed through the hair using a pin tail comb. Although some hairs remained stubborn, I managed to lay most of the shorter hairs down and conceal any grips.

I then attached the headdress into the hair, using grips.

I used my last few minutes to touch up any creases under my models eyes and tuck in loose hairs on the hair piece.

Overall, I am really pleased with the finished look. I am really proud of the hair and makeup looks I designed, especially the hair, as I tend to lack confidence in this area, which is why I wanted to push myself for the final assessment. And although it was still not the most perfect hair style, I am still pleased, as I feel I created quite a unique design that complemented the theme, headdress and makeup well. If I were to create this air style again, I would ensure the hair was as flat as it could be along the top and sides by smoothing the hair over using the same products, then laying a hair net over the area before applying heat. However, I would not change anything about the makeup design application or products used as I feel it really fit the character profile I created within the brief and the use of different textures worked well.