I regularly share my knowledge and techniques with budding make-up artists. Here are a few shots from my “Fantasy Make-Up Class”

A while ago I told you guys that I was going to do the Make-Up of Avatar for halloween. Well I have had a really busy schedule which has meant that I haven’t been able to put aside as much time for this as I would have liked.

Anyway I have started the process and here are a couple of shots of me during my lifecast. We used fast set alginate and plaster bandages. First you vaseline all the back of the head and any hair in the front like eyelashes, eyebrows, nape of neck etc. Then you apply bald cap, in this case we just used a swimming cap as we had a bit of a disaster with our bald cap! You then build up the back half of the head using just plaster bandage as the detail of the cast doesn’t have to be that defined. Then you mix a small amount of alginate and do the nose first so that you can breath out of it. Then you go ahead and mix the rest of the batch of alginate and cover the entire face including eyes, ears and mouth. Be extremely careful that the noseway is kept clear at all times…you have to breath! After the alginate is set you then cover this with plaster bandages to strengthen and support the structure. You can then start to wriggle your face and pull apart the mould. All going well you should have a perfect cast of yourself.

Word of warning! Don’t wear make up while doing the life cast, for some reason whatever make-up I had on my eyelids really liked adhering to the alginate and made for a REALLY uncomfortable few minutes when I thought I wouldn’t be able to get it off!  Also this lifecast was done by professional Make-Up Artists (myself and my friend). We are highly trained, we are just sharing the information with you, so please do not attempt to do this at home!

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

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

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 did the make-up for a shoot a while back with Brian Dowling, John Lovett and Alan Hughs, here are the photographs, which were taken by Jenny McCarthy. Sorry for the delay!

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

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