Tutorial: Eyebrows

Whoops, I've not updated for a while. I've been moving house! But maybe I'll post about that another time.

I've had a few requests for more makeup tutorials, some of which I'll be posting to the Playful Promises Blog, but one common request has been about how I do my ombre eyebrows.

There are plenty of tutorials for those of you that do have natural eyebrows (I shaved mine off as a teenager and never bothered to grow them back), but this is mostly for those that don't, or people who cover and re-paint them.

The below could also work for filling in and shaping your natural eyebrow, but instead of drawing on your base shape in it's entirety for step 1, just reshape your eyebrow to the desired starting point using a pencil.

1. Starting from scratch, I put on all of my foundation first (and if I'm doing eye makeup I do this first - you could also accentuate your brow bone with a white or light eyeshadow), then mark out the basic eyebrow shape with a pencil. I use Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Dark Brown.

The highest point of your eyebrow should roughly line up with the outer corner of your eye - you can check this by laying the pencil vertically at the corner of your eye. If in doubt, make a mark where the pencil lines up and work from there. You can go as arched as you like; obviously I like my shape quite severe. The easiest way for me to get the right shape is to draw the first line from the inner end of the brow (nearest my nose) upwards, then to create a second joining line from the high point to about a centimeter above the first line. Don't take the inner eyebrow too close to your nose to start with.

2. Next I use the Collection Liquid Eyeliner in Brown to line the bottom edge and outer corner of the eyebrow, giving a strong defined shape. If this is at all messy, don't worry right now. 

3. Using Illamasqua Precision Brow Gel in Glimpse and a thin brush (I don't use an angled brush as I don't find it any easier, but you may do) I fill in the majority of the brow, blending the colour slightly into the liquid eyeliner. Again, if it's messy, don't worry. At this point you can also add any extra shaping to the top of the eyebrow also. Don't take the colour too close to your nose, you'll need to leave about half a centimeter of space there.

4. Using a lighter brown pigment and the same (wipe it first!) or a similar brush, blend in from the inner corner of the eyebrow into the darker sections. Don't bring the inner eyebrow out yet. I just used an average cheap brand of eyeshadow for this, but I really need to get a good reddish-brown to match my hair!

5. Using an even lighter brown, and your same brush, blend the inner corner outwards. Make sure you keep your brush angled so you are sweeping in the same straight line as the rest of the eyebrow. You could just blend the pigment in step 4 outwards, but it'll be easier to create an ombre effect if you use a very light brown to blend.

Tidy up the eyebrow with something like the Pro Pencil from Anastasia Beverly Hills, which is also handy for lips and any other areas where you need to tidy up precision. 

This tutorial can also be used by swapping in different colours, although as you are unlikely to find suitable colours of liquid eyeliner, you'll need to just work with pigments.

Makeup Tutorial: Green and Gold

So a few people have asked me to do a makeup tutorial, for blending in particular. Before I start, I'll point out that I'm not a professional makeup artist, so my techniques may not be the "proper" way, but I've been asked to show how I do it. If you'd like to know how makeup artists do it, you can probably find dozens of tutorials on Youtube.

The makeup I used for this look, not including my foundation and contouring. 

Before you begin, make sure you've moisturised your skin. Some people choose to do their eye makeup before their foundation (to avoid a mess), but I always do my foundation first. Before I put on my foundation I used a primer; in this case I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance in Candlelight, which has a nice gold sheen.

To begin your blending, use the lightest colour first, which should sit on your brow bone. I use a fairly large brush for this. Goldilux from Sugarpill is my saviour.

Choose your main colour for your eyes; I'm doing a green and gold look, so I've gone for the Forest Green on my Crown Brush palette. If you want a strong look like mine, choose a strong colour (like a red, or a blue), but you could also recreate this technique with neutral colours like browns or greys for a smokey eye look.

Using a slightly smaller brush, pull the colour into the crease of your eye, rounding underneath the eye. Make sure you get the pigment strong in the crease of your eye (don't worry about being neat right now).

Either use another brush (I used the other end of my brush, which was a much smaller brush-head) or your fingertip (clean, obviously!) to smudge the pigment up into the gold. I drew the green up and out into a wing as this suits my eye-shape; you might want to keep to a rounded shape, if you prefer. Experiment with which shapes suit your eyes.

You can also use a lighter green colour to help blend the colours together.

Use a black pigment in the crease of the eye, using the same technique as above to blend the edges into the green pigment. Keep your eyelid clear of colour for now.

Use the gold pigment on the eyelid to make it pop. My eyes are quite squinty (although I do play that up by having such heavy makeup on the top of the eye rather than underneath) so to help open them up, I always put the lighter pigment into the bottom corner of my eyes. 

Line your lower lid with black kohl eyeliner (I use Maybelline Expert Eyes pencil liner) and use mascara on the top and bottom lashes (at the moment I'm using Maybelline's Great Lash)

Finish off your look with liquid liner on the top eyelid (I swear by Collection 2000 Fast Stroke), keeping the line thin in the corner of the eye, and thicker towards the middle and edge. I create a wing shape to echo the green and black. 

I also add some extra sparkle using gold glitter, and ombre gold-black eyebrows (I don't have a tutorial for these, because Mathu Anderson's tutorial is so on point). If you want a more over the top look, choose some big lashes. I found these amazing gold and black ones on Boohoo.com (unfortunately no longer available, but these lashes from Sugarpill also look amazing) - I've cut them down slightly to fit my eye, which gave me an extra piece to place in the bottom corner of my eye.

Lips! I can never understand WHY some people don't blend their lipstick like they would their eye makeup. I keep seeing dark lipliner and light lipstick which hasn't been blended together, creating a look that's only fit for a halloween costume ;)

For full, 3D lip realness, moisturise your lips before you begin, then line with a dark lip liner. If the shape isn't completely perfect, you can always fix it as you go. Fill the middle of your lips with your chosen lipstick (I used Rimmel Lasting Finish in Alarm). Now, using your lipliner, blend in the edges into the lipstick (just imagine how you would shade a pencil drawing). To finish off, use your gold pigment to dab in the middle of both the top and bottom lips. 

Voila!

I hope this tutorial helps; I'd love to see the looks you create so feel free to post a link to photos in the comments.

Check out my new wig! I just got this from Geisha Wigs, and this is what it looked like before:

10 minutes of styling, this is what it looked like after.

Thank you, Mama. 

Paid Photography: Approaching A Client

Dior Couture Editorial image by Patrick Demarchelier

Photographers! So you've built up your portfolio, you are happy with it, you have good branding and you want to venture out into the possibility of getting PAID to take photographs. I'm not going to lie, it's a cut throat world out there, and more often than not, you aren't going to get paid for your work. You should be. Don't get me wrong. But many of your clients will be of the mindset that there is always someone else that can do it for cheaper or for free.

Designers/Brands! There is a problem with free photographs, and it is that, as a brand, you will usually have very little say in the format and content of the images and you do not have a guarantee that they will be usable. This is fair enough if you already have some set images to act as lookbooks, that show your products in the greatest detail to your customers. But just remember that skimping on paying your photographer and expecting some professional, highly detailed and well lit images is naive. This is something that should be invested in when you begin your company, alongside the investment of stock. The images you use to promote your brand are incredibly important. 

Now that's cleared up, back to photographers. You think you are (and have received feedback from others confirming this) good enough, and have strong enough branding, to start being paid. You want to go down the route of contacting brands or companies that may consider paying you for your fine work. Here's a few tips to remember:

An example of lookbook/catalogue photography from River Island AW13

1. Preferably find an email address for the relevant person. Avoid messaging on social media platforms wherever possible. If you really cannot find an email address (actually take the time to look), then message asking for the relevant email. If you have the person's name (and you've double-checked it's correct), use it. Woe betide anyone that spells my name "Ann" or "Ana".

2. Never use the words "hun" or "hunny" in your message. I would have thought this was obvious in any professional environment, but some people seem unable to restrain themselves. Same goes for "x"'s or smiley faces.

3. Spell check. Please.

4. If you are contacting a lot of people, it's understandable that you will copy and paste the main section of your message. But DO take the time to understand the brand (e.g. don't tell an affordable brand they are "high end") and personalize your email. 

5. If you aren't sure about the flow of your email, or you struggle with punctuation, read the email out loud. Wherever you naturally pause or stop should be commas and full stops. It will also allow you to notice any sentences that are awkwardly phrased.

6. Attach a pdf portfolio (under 2MB) or a website that isn't overloaded with flash. Your work should speak for itself without a pretentious flash design, so keep it as simple (yet branded!) as possible. Make sure you have some images related to the type of product the brand makes (e.g. jewelery, lingerie, clothing etc). If clothing then ensure your portfolio has simple lookbook/catalogue shots as well as editorials.

7. Do not claim to have worked with brands that you haven't actually worked with. Most brands, if you are good enough, won't care about whether you've worked for one of their competitors or peers. But if you DO wish to list the brands you have worked for, make sure you have worked FOR them and not just shot some pieces the model brought along. Unless you have had a conversation with the brand about creating some images FOR them, you have not worked for them. 

8. Suggest a free quick test shoot, or offer to shoot a sample in an upcoming shoot you have booked. They might say they only want published images, but chances are if you are good enough, and they have enough samples to give out (remember that some brands have a PR company that will have all their samples reserved to go out to press), they'll probably go with that.

9. If there's anything else you can bring to the table then mention it (e.g. a model you have in mind that is interested in the project, a location you have access to etc). 

Go get 'em!

Can you think of anything else that one should keep in mind when approaching potential clients?

1920s Style on the High Street: Skullcaps

Image on the right from Rubylane.com, left from Salonofthedames

It's no secret, I adore 1920s and 30s fashion. But, unfortunately, I'm far too poor to buy genuine vintage pieces. 

Elaborate clothing and accessories from the early 20th century are usually rather rare, and being kept in such good condition for almost 100 years means that they usually remain in the hands of collectors and dealers that really know their stuff! And quite rightly too, as they need a lot of TLC!

I also saw vintage prices skyrocket during the Gatsby trend, which appears to be only just dying out again. And that's all well and good, but what happens when you want to recreate a 20's style without spending £100s? 



As you can see above, I'm focusing on the fitted skullcap style headgear. Everyone else seems to think that flapper headpieces begins and ends with a piece of shiny fabric worn across the forehead and a feather. This is a decade of opulence, and I'm sorry to say, but that cheap costume-store head-band doesn't fit the bill. 

But you don't need to spend a great deal on more authentic pieces in order to pull together a fabulous flapper look. Just a bit of creativity!

 

1. Silver Hair Chain - River Island // 2. Hair Brooch - ASOS // 3. Black and Gold Earrings - New Look // 4. Deco Shaped Earrings - River Island for ASOS // 5. Black Crystal Headband - River Island 

A few of the high street/online chains have recreated some beautiful art deco inspired pieces (particularly River Island's last autumn collection, oh my) at a fraction of the cost. Some even sell pieces (like 1 and 5) that can be your starting block. Here's a few tips!

1. Make use of the shape of headbands and chains that cover the head like the skullcaps above, and add earrings (3 or 4) or brooches (2, and you can use normal brooches too) to add more decoration. 

2. The vintage pieces use dangling ornaments just above the ears to give a little extra dazzle - and who said earrings MUST go in your ears?

3. If you are feeling even more thrifty, use some fabric (something sheer or patterned would work well) as an extra detail underneath the headband/chain so it sits flat against your head. Hand sew to the edges of the headband and cut away the excess. 

4. Visit your local haberdashery and buy up some beaded trims, fabric flowers or motifs to add onto your new headpiece!