Fancy a quick one

I would love to be part of his project http://www.rankinlive.com/

Rankin is “shooting the public”, he is going to photograph the general public all in the name of charity. He is a master who has shot tons of models and celebrities. There is no way that you would be able to afford his talent until now. The once in a lifetime opportunity for only £50, with all profits of participants’ fees going to Oxfam.

Hmmm….might be worth the trip to the UK

Some behind the scenes action from throughout the years. For some reason I always look terrible when I am working, you see they are normally the crack of dawn starts and I have no time to beautify myself! I swear I don’t normally look that bad

Emma, Model Alexia and Hair Stylist Anne, again in Melbourne.

Doing the make-up for commercial video Skills in City, shot on location in Dublin City

Emma doing the make-up for Skills in the City on set.

Lifecasting a leg for Sopranos Last Supper

Had a photoshoot the other day with some great models Cha and Lou.

Lou

Cha

Was my first time working with the girls and it was brilliant. Had an early enough start time. After a rather tempestuous start: my hand and the eyeliner were not communicating! We headed over to the stylist’s back garden which was a wonderful assortment of old, new and simply bazarre. There was even a Bentley in the back garden! But unfortunately the the weather literally rained on our parade, before we could shoot it. We did get some great shots on the tractor though!

After this shot we headed indoors to a metalwork shop which was fantastic to shoot in. There was just so many props for the girls to use, will probably have more photos of that when I get them.

Already planning the next shoot with the girls

Model: Lou Daly
Model: Cha Roberts
Photographer: Freddy Lee
Stylist: Alice Collins
Make-Up Artist: Emma Farrell

Seriously!! Wish that somebody could give me some tickets to Electric Picnic!! I will do your make-up for free

Some of my favourite bands will be there!

Royskopp:

Flaming Lips:

Haha! Love the costumes in that video.Especially the froggy thing..?! It would be so cool to have my own bubble that I could walk all over people in! Just as well the wind didn’t pick up and blow him away…wouldn’t have been able to finish the song, now that would be a tragedy. The hand puppet is the cherry on the already wonderfully weird ice cream sunday. Man I wanna see this LIVE! It has it all!

Anyway…I am gonna stop talking about this now, it’s making me sad.

Or perhaps that is what credit cards are for. Watch this space.

Laters xx

Photo Editing and the Affects it has on Society:

This is one of my favourite youtube videos, I saw this back in 2006 and showed it to all my friends and they couldn’t believe it, they had no idea that kind of thing happened. Even though I work in the fashion industry I was shocked to see it go to this extreme.

I remember growing up that I was really self concious and unsure of myself. I had moments where I felt fat or ugly or different. I know now that this is all a part of growing up and perfectly normal. I found it hard and time really does help you to gain some perspective on things and of course yourself. I have found that I have finally accepted myself and the way I look and use the skills that I have as a make-up artist to accentuate what was given to me.

It makes me ponder how the kids emerging into todays photoshop wizardy years can cope with the pressure of the superhumans…people that are stick thin but have big boobs, size zero but no ribs protuding, perfect eyelashes etc little do they know that this is all covered up with the brilliance of photoshop.

Another example:

Don’t get me wrong, I think that photoshop is brilliant and I even used it for this article (WARNING: the image above is photoshopped lol!) I just think that the general public should just be more aware of whats going on and not take what they see too literally.

Fashion, Film, Tv, Theatre, Magazines…its all smoke and mirrors and meant to push the imagination! It is not reality! You wan’t reality check out Big Brother, it’s not that pretty

Believe it or not, Sue is not a professional model! We used to work together in Aurora Creations we had a great time together, but unfortunately we both went our seperate ways because of location difficulties, she was based in Wexford and I went travelling the world!

The idea for the photoshoot was Sweet like chocolate…poor Sue was quite a while trying to get all the foundarion out

Ok, so I managed to restrain myself a teensy bit, surprise surprise!

I went to the MAC Pro Store in London, which is located in the heart of West Soho. My visit happily co-incided with the Gay Pride Festival, so there was a fantastic buzz about the place. I really enjoyed the vibrant energy and taking a peek at the wild drag make-up. I managed to “drag” hehe myself away from the parade to pop into the store and buy a few bits and pieces.

I got me some pigments of course…soo hard to resist!

I bought Fuchsia, Neo-Orange and Gold. I am looking forward to using these bad boys! Have a photoshoot coming up which I think will be a good time to experiment, will post the photos later so keep your eyes peeled.

I also got a fantastic glitter pigment called Crystallized Lime, think this will be really cool with the Neo Orange pigment to create a neon raver look!

Of course I needed a medium for the pigments so I got the eyeliner mixing medium, because it is safe to use in the eye area and it has a nice thick consistancy, which I plan to use for some intense colour.

I was also loving their lipmixes, so picked up three of them, Burgandy, which I thought would be great to darken any of the lipcolours I already have. Crimson, because it is such a fantastic femme fatale red and Gold to go with the gold pigment I got…I feel a gold themed look coming up

And of course it wouldn’t be a MAC visit without getting some of the old faithful, face and body foundation. This is one of my favourite MAC products, I go through tons of this stuff. I tend to only use a bit of this in the summer as I like my skin to glow. Also alot of the models I work with have impeccable skin so I only have to use this with a teeny bit of concealer.

Ok it wouldn’t be a a MAC visit without getting a few brushes….hehe well you know what they say, a bad workman likes to blame his tools so I just make sure to arm myself with only the best. I picked up the 188 brush, which is very similar to the 187, but smaller.

This is great for the application of foundation, because its quite small it gives you more control and lets you get right into the inner eye etc, but with it’s duo fibre you are able to get that airbrushed effect and build layer upon layer if needed.

I also bought the 214 brush, this is a nifty little thing for applying eyeshadow without getting any fallout.

I love using it for intense colour and bulding darker shadows. Because of the short hairs you can use it for very controlled application which make it brilliant for applying shadow to the lashline and smudging for that sexy smokey look.

The 217 brush is another tool I added to my make-up belt, it is brilliant for applying creamy colour base and applying concealer under the eyes.

I use it to apply the Hush base that I bought in London and my old favourite Bobby Brown Concealer “Creamy Concealer Kit in Ivory”

I also bought the 219 Brush For precision shading on lid, this is absolutely awesome for any blending that you need to do.

I can’t reiterate enough how important good brushes are. When I first started out as a make-up artist I bought cheap brushes from eBay…they did the trick at the time, but all I can say is that I have really stepped my game up in the last few years because I have invested in good tools which certainly make the job easier.

I also bought some other bits and bobs, but there is no point going into everything. Thank goodness for my MAC Pro card is all I can say, because it all ended up coming to about £300 but with my discount it only cost me £200. Still a lot of money, but  a bargain in comparison. Was around €250 with all the conversions.

Alexis is a fantastic model who I worked with in Melbourne Australia. We wanted to use the city as a backdrop to the shoot and I think it worked really well. This is a gorgeous beauty shot.

Alexis was fantastic to work with and she really was a trooper! We were asking her to do the impossible, to look gorgeous while staring directly at the sun. People always look nice with the sun shining on them, but unfortunately it isn’t so nice for the eyes.

She is from Edmonton in Canada and does mainly promotional/commercial work. If you would like to get in contact with her for a booking go to:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52343819991&ref=ts

Me likey alot!

Sick of carrying a ton of slap around with you, just to maintain the perfect look? Always manage to drop and smash an AWOL  eyeshadow, that jumps kamikaze style out of your bulging handbag? Want to try and reduce the space when travelling but can’t give up your make-up?

Well Bobbi Brown have the answer. They have come up with a nifty idea of making your own personalised palette where you can keep all your beauty must haves in one personalised compact. I always keep an eye out for palettes and have been known to buy a few in my time, but I always end up with shades that I don’t use and this can be a waste too. However with Bobby Brown you choose what goes into it. It’s really slim and you can fit nearly everything you need into it, eyeshadow, blusher, lip gloss and even foundation! There is a melted down version of their foundation sticks. This is a great portable make-up kit.

So I decided to get my own make-up palette and bring you through the steps.  This one would be ideal for a bride on her wedding day, or for a natural beauty look. I did notice that the colour swatches aren’t an exact representation of the actual colour, so just be careful! I have used alot of these shades before so I know what they are actually like.
1.) Choose which Palette you would like:

2.) Then it is on to selecting the eyeshadows. I have kept them very neutral and matt. The reason that we use matt eyeshadows for bridal make-up is because it looks beautifully natural. I have chosen “Bone” this is a great base eyeshadow  and for placing under the eyebrow. I find that this is one of the eyeshadows in my kit that I can never get enough of.

3.) The second eyeshadow to be popped in is Hot Stone. This is a warm brown that I like to place on the lid for a lovely natural, but pretty eye.

4.) The third is Espresso. This is a great defining colour and adds a bit of drama to a look. I use this in the socket and ensure that it is nice and smokey. I also like to use it as an eyeliner for both the top and bottom of the eye. It makes for a nice soft alternative to say a liquid or gel liner.

5.) Just went for a really soft gorgeous blusher called Tawny that gives you a lovely flush of colour. This will suit most undertones.

6.) Lipgloss in Cherry Pink, a  vibrant pink that makes your lips look irresistibly kissable. Gorgeous worn lightly during the day or pile it on for a more intense colour at night.

7.) Lipgloss in Pink Cloud, this is a gorgeous marshmallowy sweet lipgloss, beautiful worn for a day look.

Et Voila! Beautiful Make-Up nicely compacted for your handbag, I am an instant fan and I think you will be too. My only little gripe is that I think you should get a huge discount for buying it all together…it gets a little expensive. Thats all I got this time, but I think the next time I will investigate the foundation and also the quad lipgloss set…four miniature pink glosses that only take up one space in the palette, but thats another days work (and paycheck)!

Laters xx