Awards season has been in full swing for a while now, but today it was time time for good all Oscar to enter the celebration of talent, entertainment and skill. Oh yes the big guy has finally arrived with much a fan fare, splash of colour, swirling dresses, sky rocketing heels and of course beautiful eye candy Make-Up! There are just soooo many gorgeous oscar 2010 make up looks to talk about that I could spend hours droning on about it, however I wont…I will just give you the cream of the crop.

Anna Kendrick

Photo courtesy of Just Jared

I feel like I should always mention that look that is beautiful for its simplicity, I believe that Anna Kendrick’s Make up is just that. She is like a porcelain doll with beautiful flawless pale skin, perfectly shaped eyebrows and a fantastic smile.

Nicole Richie

Very often on the red carpet people play it safe. I love it when someone decides to push the boat out a little. I am loving Nicole’s sixties inspired Make Up Look. The feline shaped eyeliner accentuates her gorgeous hazel eyes.

Image courtesy of Just Jared

Stana Katic

I thought I would mention Stana, because of her twist on the classic hollywood red carpet look. She has gone for the flawless complexion, defined eyes and nude lips, however it looks like she is wearing false eyelashes on the bottom of her lashes. This is definitely a trend that I am seeing more of lately and it is a great way to make your eyes look alot larger.  The whole look is effortless glamour.

Stana Katic

Sandra Bullock

One of my favourite tricks for brightening up my complexion is a bright coloured lipstick. This fuscia coloured lipstick will give a youthful vibrancy to any look.. Sandra teams it with a clearly defined eye and a hint of blusher.

Queen Latifah

A smokey, sultry salmon and black combination make Queen Latifah’s eyes the centre of focus. She has a great ability to connect with the camera and smiles with her eyes in this photo.

Miley Cyrus

She is just absolutely stunning, this shimmery, vibrant look is just gorgeous teamed with her champagne dress. She has strong black liner on and thick black eyelashes which really make her blue eyes pop.

The Irish Film and Television Awards were on recently and the ladies were out in style! I know that this is a bit of a delayed article, but I have been mad busy…better late than never.

Amy Huberman

I think the style award for the night definitely goes to Amy Huberman. She radiates an effortless glamour and style. She is primped and preened, however she knows the exact measure needed for red carpet perfection. Her fringe sweeps gently across her warm lightly bronzed face, framing it so that your attention is drawn to her dark lined eyes and beaming smile. This look really compliments the gorgeous green dress.

Photo courtesy of www.jmcphotography.com

Saoirse Ronan

The leading lady of the night was off course Saoirse Ronan. Not much to say makeupwise, but I do REALLY like her nude shoes, they make her look tall and long legged.

Photo Courtesy of entertainment.ie

Colette Fitzpatrick

Colette and Amy must have looked at the same hymn sheet because their Make Up is very similar. Again this is a very pretty fail safe look which enhances your natural beauty. The upstyle makes a real feature of her statement jewellery which are so pretty I am extremely envious!

Image courtesy of www.jmcphotography.com

Aisling O’Neill

I always like to see a bit of red lippy on the red carpet and Aisling did not disappoint! She teamed this with a well defined black eyeliner and tons of mascara which ads an extra hint of drama.

Image courtesy of www.jmcphotography.com

I was loitering around one of my favourite beauty haunts the other day. I was determined that I was just browsing and was going to look but not touch. I happened upon the newly relocated Make Up Store, a Swedish make-up brand that is available exclusively in Arnotts on Henry Street. What caught my attention was the cover of a very interesting Make-up Magazine. I was happily flicking through the store’s magazine which is published by the beauty brand twice a year when I was approached by a counter staff member.

She had very cool make-up on which consisted of stark black elongated eyeliner matched with contrasting silver and white lines. The problem with the Make-Up was that it had started to slide on her face and wasn’t the best advert for the brand. However I will say that she was really friendly and had a very warm approachable aura. She asked me if I needed any help, which I said I didn’t was just flicking through the magazine. She promptly engaged me in chat and offered to give me a free copy of the magazine.

Of course I was delighted, it made me stay on the counter longer and I ended up telling her that I was running a bit low on mascara. In the end she showed me what they had on offer and let me road test one particular mascara. In the end I bought the mascara, which was 31 Euro, not a bad sale when you consider I was determined not to buy anything. Either she is a great sales person or I have the will power of a kid in a candy store (I’m gonna go for option 1!).

The Magazine was the best part of the experience, packed full of amazing high fashion/fantasy images and interviews with people in the industry. It is a great reference book for aspiring/working make-up artists. A great feature of the magazine is that it lists out all the products used and method of application. I have even seen a few things that I would like to try out and I will be heading back to purchase supplies sometime soon. I shall post the images up when I do.

Counter Atmosphere: 8/10
Consultant Friendliness: 10/10
Make-Up Application: 7/10
Product Suitability: 9/10
Pressure to buy: 15%

Image courtesy of Empire

I love Carey Mulligan’s short crop, she has gorgeous features that really suit this cut. She has kept her Make-Up very pretty, flawless skin, black eyeliner and false eyelashes, just showcasing her dress.

I absolutely love Edith Bowman and she has kept to a winning formula here, smokey eyes, with a beautiful black lined eye and lashings of mascara. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!

Courtesy of bafta.org

I am loving Kate Winslet’s strongly defined eyebrows, they are great, really help to frame her face.

Photo courtesy of bafta.org

I have to mention the jewel of Irish exports, the fantastic Saoirse Ronan, she is blooming into a wonderful young woman. She pulls of simple sophistication like a seasoned pro.

Photo courtesy of bafta.org

Audrey Tautou’s red lips looked great with her soft twisted upstyle.

Image courtesy of empire

OUTSTANDING BRITISH CONTRIBUTION TO CINEMA
JOE DUNTON

BEST FILM
AVATAR James Cameron, Jon Landau
AN EDUCATION Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
THE HURT LOCKER Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
UP IN THE AIR Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, Daniel Dubiecki

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
AN EDUCATION Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey, Lone Scherfig, Nick Hornby
FISH TANK Kees Kasander, Nick Laws, Andrea Arnold
IN THE LOOP Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy, Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche
MOON Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler, Duncan Jones, Nathan Parker
NOWHERE BOY Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae, Kevin Loader, Sam Taylor-Wood, Matt Greenhalgh

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
LUCY BAILEY, ANDREW THOMPSON, ELIZABETH MORGAN HEMLOCK, DAVID PEARSON Directors, Producers – Mugabe and the White African
ERAN CREEVY Writer/Director – Shifty
STUART HAZELDINE Writer/Director – Exam
DUNCAN JONES Director – Moon
SAM TAYLOR-WOOD Director – Nowhere Boy

DIRECTOR
AVATAR James Cameron
DISTRICT 9 Neill Blomkamp
AN EDUCATION Lone Scherfig
THE HURT LOCKER Kathryn Bigelow
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Quentin Tarantino

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE HANGOVER Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
THE HURT LOCKER Mark Boal
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Quentin Tarantino
A SERIOUS MAN Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
UP Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
DISTRICT 9 Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
AN EDUCATION Nick Hornby
IN THE LOOP Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE Geoffrey Fletcher
UP IN THE AIR Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
BROKEN EMBRACES Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar
COCO BEFORE CHANEL Carole Scotta, Caroline Benjo, Philippe Carcassonne, Anne Fontaine
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Carl Molinder, John Nordling, Tomas Alfredson
A PROPHET Pascal Caucheteux, Marco Cherqui, Alix Raynaud, Jacques Audiard
THE WHITE RIBBON Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, Margaret Menegoz, Michael Haneke

ANIMATED FILM
CORALINE Henry Selick
FANTASTIC MR FOX Wes Anderson
UP Pete Docter

LEADING ACTOR
JEFF BRIDGES Crazy Heart
GEORGE CLOONEY Up in the Air
COLIN FIRTH A Single Man
JEREMY RENNER The Hurt Locker
ANDY SERKIS Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

LEADING ACTRESS
CAREY MULLIGAN An Education
SAOIRSE RONAN The Lovely Bones
GABOUREY SIDIBE Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
MERYL STREEP Julie & Julia
AUDREY TAUTOU Coco Before Chanel

SUPPORTING ACTOR
ALEC BALDWIN It’s Complicated
CHRISTIAN McKAY Me and Orson Welles
ALFRED MOLINA An Education
STANLEY TUCCI The Lovely Bones
CHRISTOPH WALTZ Inglourious Basterds

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ANNE-MARIE DUFF Nowhere Boy
VERA FARMIGA Up in the Air
ANNA KENDRICK Up in the Air
MO’NIQUE Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS Nowhere Boy

MUSIC
AVATAR James Horner
CRAZY HEART T-Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton
FANTASTIC MR FOX Alexandre Desplat
SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL Chaz Jankel
UP Michael Giacchino

CINEMATOGRAPHY
AVATAR Mauro Fiore
DISTRICT 9 Trent Opaloch
THE HURT LOCKER Barry Ackroyd
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Robert Richardson
THE ROAD Javier Aguirresarobe

EDITING
AVATAR Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron
DISTRICT 9 Julian Clarke
THE HURT LOCKER Bob Murawski, Chris Innis
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Sally Menke
UP IN THE AIR Dana E. Glauberman

PRODUCTION DESIGN
AVATAR Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair
DISTRICT 9 Philip Ivey, Guy Potgieter
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS Dave Warren, Anastasia Masaro, Caroline Smith
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds Wasco

COSTUME DESIGN
BRIGHT STAR Janet Patterson
COCO BEFORE CHANEL Catherine Leterrier
AN EDUCATION Odile Dicks-Mireaux
A SINGLE MAN Arianne Phillips
THE YOUNG VICTORIA Sandy Powell

SOUND
AVATAR Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson, Addison Teague
DISTRICT 9 Brent Burge, Chris Ward, Dave Whitehead, Michael Hedges, Ken Saville
THE HURT LOCKER Ray Beckett, Paul N. J. Ottosson
STAR TREK Peter J. Devlin, Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Mark Stoeckinger, Ben Burtt
UP Tom Myers, Michael Silvers, Michael Semanick, Doc Kane

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
AVATAR Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones
DISTRICT 9 Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros, Matt Aitken
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE John Richardson, Tim Burke, Tim Alexander, Nicolas Aithadi
THE HURT LOCKER Richard Stutsman
STAR TREK Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh, Burt Dalton

MAKE UP & HAIR
COCO BEFORE CHANEL Thi Thanh Tu Nguyen, Madeleine Cofano, Jane Milon
AN EDUCATION Lizzie Yianni Georgiou
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS Sarah Monzani
NINE Peter Swords King
THE YOUNG VICTORIA Jenny Shircore

SHORT ANIMATION
THE GRUFFALO Michael Rose, Martin Pope, Jakob Schuh, Max Lang
THE HAPPY DUCKLING Gili Dolev
MOTHER OF MANY Sally Arthur, Emma Lazenby

SHORT FILM
14 Asitha Ameresekere
I DO AIR James Bolton, Martina Amati
JADE Samm Haillay, Daniel Elliott
MIXTAPE Luti Fagbenle, Luke Snellin
OFF SEASON Jacob Jaffke, Jonathan van Tulleken

THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
JESSE EISENBERG
NICHOLAS HOULT
CAREY MULLIGAN
TAHAR RAHIM
KRISTEN STEWART

Photographer: Ali King
Stylist: Michelle Jones
Model: Kristyna Kelemenova
Make-Up: Me

Touching up Kristyna's Blusher

I did a photoshoot recently for Style Tonic, a fabulous online boutique that had all the best that Irish fashion labels and retailers have to offer. Style Tonic unites Ireland’s top boutiques bringing their exclusive clothing and accessories right to your fingertips. Not only can you shop till you drop, but they also have style advice, photography, competitions and interview from those in the fashion know. Check it out now http://www.styletonic.ie/

Actual shots to follow.

Image courtesy of popnography.com

I wrote an article about Pat McGrath a while back which seems to be really popular on the blogoshpere. So it got me thinking that perhaps it would be nice to write about the other amazing Make-Up Artists out there who inspire me. There are so many of them that I have decided to have a segment called “Artist Spotlight”. One such artist is Debbie Zoller. She has had a phenominal career as a professional Make-Up Artist in the television and film industries.  Debbies’s CV which I found on the Milton Agency Website reads like my DREAM career path. If I could even have a tenth of her success I would feel like I had made it. She seems to have worked on most of the films that inspired and delighted me growing up, like Coneheads, Men in Black and Star Trek. Some of her more recent career highlights include Kill Bill, Pirates of the Carribbean, Castle and Mad Men. Debbie has been in the industry for 25 years and has no less than seven Emmy Award Nominations!

Image courtesy of movies.yahoo.com

Image courtesy of Bellasugar

Image courtesy of thesavvyshopper.ie

Frequently when I do Make-Overs I find women are wearing the wrong products for their skin or colouring. Asking them why, has turned up some very interesting answers. One of the biggest issues is that people are too intimidated to approach the cosmetics counters. Even more alarmingly is the fact that some people have gotten advise from the counters, but the wrong advise!

So I have decided to do a series called “Counter Spotlight” where I go into a counter in Dublin or wherever else I might be and give you a review of the service, the advice given and the general atmosphere. That way you will know what counters you can head to and trust.

So my first counter review is for Make-Up Forever in Arnotts on Henry Street.

It was a relatively busy Saturday as was Valentine’s Day the next day. I was browsing having a look at foundation. I wasn’t approached straight away rather left to my own devices, which I like. I turned and asked a girl for some advice on the foundation. She was very friendly and approachable. I thought that her Make-up was lovely, she had a quite a dramatic look with love hearts on the side of her face which was nice touch seeing as it was Valentines.

Image courtesy of Sephora.com

I said that I was currently using the Make-Up Forever HD Foundation, which I loved when I applied it, but after a couple of hours I was left with a greasy film all over my skin. I was promptly invited to sit in a nice furry high chair and she proceeded to try on my colour in Make-Up Forever’s Matt Finish Foundation. She also asked if I would like to try some concealer for under the eyes and my spots. Of course I said yes, not liking being “naked”(of make-up) in public. While she was applying the Make-up I mentioned that I had a voucher. As it turns out, in the Arnotts store you cannot use the Make-Up Forever Voucher. She then asked me if she should continue.

Image courtesy of Sephora.com

Now this I found a bit of a strange question…because why would I want her to stop applying the foundation half way through just because I couldn’t use my voucher in that store. That would mean walking around with half a face of foundation. I was only asking for advice on foundation, I didn’t say I was going to buy something there and then. So this means that she was only applying the foundation because she thought she was going to make a sale. In other words what she was asking me was: “Now that you can’t use your voucher, are you going to pay for this? Will I continue?” I let her continue and afterwards I said that I would like to see how the Make-up lasts.

She was very friendly and understanding, but I definitely felt like I was expected to buy it. I know that alot of people probably would have bought the foundation to save face.

The foundation itself was an exact match for both my needs and my skin tone. She also used the correct concealers for my problem areas. However the application was by no means perfect, it was really way to heavy and was not blended properly. Over some spots I had tons of product that was clearly visible and not blended.

So in summary:

Counter Atmosphere: 8/10
Consultant Friendliness: 9/10
Make-Up Application: 6/10
Product Suitability: 8/10
Pressure to buy: 90%