Induction Week

 

In our first week of University, we had an 'induction' to the course and all of the happening's that will occur throughout the year. During the Summer, we were asked to make mood boards which I have previously elaborated on. When we met our peers, we were then asked to present these to one another in small groups. We then evaluated our mood boards, explaining what we liked and disliked, and perhaps some things we may have done differently to improve the overall finish. This was nice as an ice breaker as it got the whole class chatting and feeling at ease with one another. It also gave us a little bit of background knowledge into one another's ambitions and dreams for the future.

Another task was set for the class, in which we were given brown paper bags. We then had to create a piece of 'art' upon these bags which was in relation to who we wanted to be in 5 years time. This was quite amusing and interesting to see how creative other people were with their imagination! I rather enjoyed this light hearted task, as it also got the class chatting and mingling with one another. It was definitely a positive way to get everyone interacting. Here is a photo of my paper bag!

 

During this induction week, we were very lucky to have had two different makeup brands come in and do a talk with us about various different products and the great use of them. The brands were Illamasqua and Charles Fox/Kryolan. This was so helpful and gave us all a real taste of what is to come from this course and the experience that we will gain from it.

Charles Fox is only located in one area; Covent London. They have been around for 160 years and they are still a great success. They usually sell their products mainly to makeup artists. They also have over 80 Kryolan stores all over the world, as they are an incredibly well known brand/company. This company also produce other products than their own including; Becka and Illamasqua. Charles Fox provides for a wide variety of makeup industries, such as; special effects, TV and film, catwalk, body art and photography.

They explained many products and the way they work which was so helpful when I'm hoping to become a success in the fashion editorial makeup career path! Here's a number of different makeup products they mentioned and explained:

- HD primer
- Ultra under base; very hydrating for the skin
- Perfect matte; helps for makeup to grab onto the skin e.g. good when trying to camouflage a scar
- Ultra setting spray; keeps the makeup looking 'matte'
- Loose powder; waterproof, good for bridal, underwater or theatre shoots
- Translucent powder; ideal for beauty or theatrical work
- Ultra cream powder; good skin coverage and setting the makeup
- Lip stains; they leave a matte, velvety finish on the lips
- Makeup corrector pen; great for when doing fine line work such as eyeliner if you make a mistake
- Cream eyeliner; water and smudge proof

We were given another task to do for this induction week which helped us to become familiar with our surroundings and find areas in which may be of use to us throughout the next year. We were required to take a 'selfie' of different locations. I did this with one of my friends from the course; Amelia Gravelle, We were asked to find some 'hero products': MAC, Smashbox, Benefit, Bobbi Brown, and Laura Mercier.

Hero Products
Bobbi Brown- Shimmer brick
- Gel eyeliner (Bobbi Brown were the first to bring an eyeliner out!)

MAC- Lipsticks
- Fix plus spray
- Studio fix foundation
- In extreme dimension lash mascara

Laura Mercier- Secret camoflauge
- Foundation primer
- Tinted moisturiser SPF 20

Smashbox
- Photo finish foundation primer
- Waterproof shadow liner
- Step by step contour kit

Benefit- Hello flawless oxygen wow SPF 25
- Boi-ing industrial strength concealer
- Watt's up soft focus highlighter

Illamasqua DIMUA's 2014

 

The first week of University, Illamasqua came to us and presented information about the company and the various types of products they sell. They helped to promote these products by showing us a demonstration upon one of the students in the audience. This gave us all knowledge as to which products to use and what works effectively and well on different skin types; dry, oily etc. I really enjoyed this particular afternoon with Illamasqua as they are very laid back and open to answer any queries or questions we may have had. Two people from the team were with us on this particular day; Spob and Charlotte.

Spob is the head of professional development with this company therefore we were very honoured to have met this lady. She has many different accomplishments which makes me feel especially privileged to have met her. Some of her accomplishments are; Major box office productions ‘Kings Speech’, ‘Enigma’, ‘Inception’, ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’, ‘Ronin 47’ and the ‘Harry Potter’ films, and TV commericials such as John Lewis, Heineken and Hovis. .(http://www.illamasqua.com/explore/about-us/the-art-team/) We also met Charlotte who is an international brand ambassador. She has great experience with products and is the lady who did a demonstration of makeup for us.

After having had a talk and demonstration by these two ladies from Illamasqua, we were then set a makeup task by them. We put ourselves into groups of 4/5. We then had to create a makeup design of a character for a catwalk. We could design anything we wanted, as long as we had a believable pitch to present at the end of it. My group decided to go for a character from the 7 deadly sins. We chose one in particular which was envy/jealousy. The colours for envy are greens but we had our own twist on it; contouring the cheeks with green, adding a black matte lipstick, and shimmers to the forehead for more contouring. My whole group were really impressed with the outcome, and here is a photo of the final look.

 

After creating this look and pitching it, Spob and Charlotte then had to decide on two of the groups to be 'winners'. This meant, one person from each group that won, were then given the opportunity to work with the Illamasqua team at the Distinction Awards 2014. My group and another won, and then our names were picked out of a hat to decide who would be chosen to work with them. I was over the moon when my name was called out, I couldn't believe it! I've never felt so excited and delighted about winning something before. This felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity to me.

On Saturday 4th October, 2014 I helped the Illamasqua team out at their Distinction Awards. This was held at the BAFTA's in London, Piccadilly. The Illamasqua distinction awards is an opportunity for the unknown talents as well as professionals, students and non-professionals to create a piece of art upon the face and hair and compete against one another. This year, the brief set was 'Art vs. Textiles'. It was such an incredible experience for me.

On this day, I was working alongside a winner from the previous year of  the Illamasqua awards which was amazing. It gave me the opportunity to ask her various questions and found out how she went about competing and coming up with such a creative finish. The lady I was working alongside was Rona Skuodas who is now an events assistant for Illamasqua.  This is her winning makeup from the previous year. I did some further research into Rona to find out a bit more about her. She is a London-based freelance makeup artist and an art director. Rona mainly works within Fashion Editorial. (http://www.ronaskuodas.co.uk/About) This is great because my hopes for the future are to go down a similar career path therefore being able to work alongside her was really inspiring for me.

 

(http://www.illamasqua.com/socialise/wp-content/uploads/Rona-Student-Winner.jpeg)
We were together co-ordinating the stage area in which the makeup artists would compete. Everything had to be perfect from clean, ironed cloths, to spotless mirrors. It was worth the effort though as it looked incredibly professional. Each time a group of makeup artists had finished their look, they would then have to pitch with a mood board to the professional judges, including Alex Fox! Whilst this was happening, Rona and myself would jump up on stage and clear the station of all of their makeup ready for the next group of makeup artists to compete. It was quite intense, but there was never a dull moment. I really enjoyed just how busy it was, as I felt like I was part of the team able to help out as much as I could.

 

 

During one of my breaks to get a refreshment, I also noticed one of my all time favourite makeup artists was at the BAFTA's; Kara Powell. I got a photo with her and had a really down to earth chat to her. She was lovely just as I expected. We talked about different makeup brands and how she got to the position she is in now. She recommended 'Sugarpill' and 'Limecrime' as they are excellent for high pigmented products, just as Illamasqua products are. I am so pleased I got to meet such a talented woman.

Throughout the busy day, we did have time to grab a drink and refresh ourselves. Although it was a busy day, everything felt relaxed and under control; the whole day was organised excellently. At the end of this experience, Josephine (an events manager) thanked us all greatly for the hard work we did. She then very kindly said that we can choose any three products from the Illamasqua website to then email her and she will send them to us as a thank you for the help. This was just the icing on top of the cake - such a brilliant day and I would do it all over again in an instance.

Here are some photos from the experience I had at the BAFTA's!