Some images from The Story of Motown in the Olympia Theatre. These are a couple of images that I took backstage.

http://www.antoinette-dunleavy.com/

http://www.antoinette-dunleavy.com/

Here are some photos that people from the audience took of the show. I found them on facebook:

I had a great night at the Filmbase Special FX Make-up Night which took place on the 28th April, there was blood, guts, burns, bruises and zombies galore

It was a very funny night and there were demonstrations by Tom McInerney, Terri Pinnell an Conor McMahon. I particularly liked Conor’s hilarious demonstration for home made blood and brain recipes which left the poor victim with a sticky syrupy mess all over her head! Just as well its not summer or she would have been attacked by wasps & flies on the way home!

I was a burns victim for the night…it was weird being in the Make-Up Chair for once, but I found it strangely relaxing!

Before

After

I also got a chance to catch up with some old Model Making people who were displaying their armour and props at the event. (Note: I used to be a modelmaker myself in a former life)

I particularly liked the fact that I could see Tom McInerney (Fairycatcher, The Formorian) create a green, ghoulish character from start to finish, he made it look so easy!

At the end of the night we all had to do a Zombie Dance which was filmed…so watch this space…I will update you when I have the video

The Story of Motown

I am really looking forward to doing the Make-Up for the show: “The Story of Motown” in the Olympia tonight. I am sure that it is going to be a fantastic night out and if you haven’t got your tickets already get them now for the bargain price of €25!

I have been doing some research and absolutely love the glamour  and flair of the Motown Musicians. Diana Ross, the Supremes, Gladys Knight, Teena Marie, The Marvelettes, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas all make up this fantastic music genre.

I wrote an article for Beauty Bag recently on Make-Up Secrets that the Pros don’t want you to know. I just thought  would share it here in case you haven’t seen it:

1.) Always start with a good base. It is imperative if you want your Make-Up to last. Primers are great. If you have oily skin make sure that you use a mattifying primer.

2.) Brushes are the key to a great make-up application. If you can’t afford to buy a whole set of brushes, just ensure that you pick up at least a good quality eyeshadow brush. That is the only way that you can achieve the dramatic smokey eye.

3.) White eyeliner on the inner rim of the eye helps to make the eyes look larger and is great if you haven’t had a good night’s sleep.

4.) If you want to get a nice defined eye, but can’t get the hang of tricky liquid eye liner, try and use a pencil eyeliner instead. Roughly draw a line on the eyelid as close to the upper lashline as you can manage. Afterwards you can smudge the line with a brush or finger. Then set this in a matching eyeshadow colour so it lasts all day.

5.) The face isn’t the only thing that needs to be primed before you begin applying your make-up. You can now get primers for your eyeshadow which makes it last and last. Also you can get lip primers, which are especially great for older skin as it helps to prevent lipstick bleeding.

6.) If you find that you are getting oily by the end of the day, get a tissue and pat it on the face to absorb any excess oil. Afterwards use some blotting powder to refresh and mattify your look without making you feel caked in make-up. If you don’t remove the excess oil first you can end up looking very ashen faced.

7.) Contouring is your best friend, you can give your face a beautifully defined look and create bone structure even if you don’t have any.

8.) Always curl your eyelashes, it helps to widen the eyes and make them appear larger. There are great heated eyelash curlers on the market if you can’t figure out the manual ones.

9.) To make your lipstick last all day, you line your lips with your lip liner. Then you fill in the whole lip with the same pencil. After this you apply the first coat of lipstick. Then you use translucent powder to set the colour. Then apply a top coat of lipstick.

10.) Although not technically a make-up product, eyedrops really enhance your make-up look, this makes them bright and clear.

For more advice and professional make-up visit www.emmafarrellmakeup.com

I attended a MAC Trends Masterclass which was hosted in the Brown Thomas headquarters. The masterclass was run by Lesley Keane and Nikki Gillick.

The day started off with a snappy video of all the backstage action in London, Paris, Milan and New York. I love seeing the mayhem and discord before a big show. Leslie fresh from behind the scenes herself was able to regale us with tales and anecdotes. The biggest trend (which I was talking about in a previous post) is definitely bleached eyebrows.

This can be done using the good ‘ol Jolene, usually a staple for the lady bleaching her top lip, you can now use it to stay on trend and brighten up those brows. If you don’t want to commit fully to this look, you can always cheat it by using MAC full coverage foundation and working it into the brows with a mascara wand. Make sure you brush them in all directions ensuring that every side of each hair follicle is covered.

There were a few mentions of this season being a real throwback to the 70s with strong colours and a more rounded eyeshape, following the natural curve of the eyesocket.

I went away from the event inspired.

Here are the finished looks:

Here are some of the MAC Trend Facecharts for Spring Summer:

American Nomad Trend

Dye a Tribe Trend

Pale n Dandy Trend

Underground Society Trend

This is a photoshoot which was supposed to be entitled broken down mechanics…I did the bodypaint as planned, but ended up getting carried away with some colours afterwards. In the end these photographs ended up looking even better than the planned shoot. This is what I love about creativity, there are no rules and sometimes the best things happen by accident.

Make Up: me
Photography: Edel Kelly
Model: Sarah Tapes

Photographer: Edel Kelly @ Secret Boudoir
Model: Emi Hashem
Make-Up & Hair: Me

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%

ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP
VANESSA REDGRAVE

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