Rouge Make-Up Artistry

Residenz (a web series I worked on with the lovely and talented Make-up Artist Elizabeth Grace) is coming!

Not only will it be great to see the show, but this means I can post a few pics of the make-up we did!

Official trailer from the website:

A while ago I wrote a post about different make-up schools/academies in the UK and one that I mentioned was Brushstroke at Shepperton Studio. I wrote that I had heard nothing but good things about them, but someone left a comment saying that “it is a con” and not to go there. They left a pretty scathing review, but never replied when I asked how they were doing now and if they had sorted out the problems they said they had with them.

Brushstroke got in touch with me recently so that they could make an official reply, so I thought I’d make an actual post with the reply for all to see.

Brushstroke’s reply:

“With regard to the statement our comments are as follows:
1: “DO NOT go to Brushstroke at Shepperton. It is a con.”
Our prospectus is broken down on a daily basis and our terms of business are clearly stated, an informal interview is carried out prior to all enrolment’s to ensure that a prospective student makes the right decision for themselves.
2: “The company web site is a con, it claims to have links with the studio but it does not”
The website is a mirror of the prospectus and it includes only students work, we have run our business from Shepperton Studios for over 20 years, within that 20 year period we have built links within these studio, other studios, productions companies, make-up designers, makeup artists etc.
3: “The students are under aged teenagers who have no success in higher education so they go there: the school will accept any student as long as they have the money to pay”
Our student age groups generally range from 16 – 35, when generalising the 2 year course was developed for the younger age group 16- 25 and the 9 month course for the 20-30 (change of career type), although that is not to say when choosing whether to do the 2 year or 9 month is personal to the individual. We interview all students and write to them afterwards to tell them whether we are happy to offer them a place or not.
4: “They force you to pay everything up front and offer no refund”
The 2 year, 3 year and 9 month have a payment plan which is structured over a duration, but as a private company students are duty bound to pay our fees. The reason we go to such lengths in the interview process is to ensure students understand exactly what they are letting themselves in for, therefore as we have taken such time to explain everything in detail we expect students to only commit to the course if they intend to follow it through.
5: “If you don’t like the course, you have to go through legal channel to get your money back”
Prospective students who are unsure whether they would like a course are offered the ability after interview to sit in for a day or as long as they need to decide and ensure that they will like the course. It is their decision.
6: “The tutors are not great artists working in the industry”
All tutors to work at Brushstroke must be currently employed working in the industry, they are only allowed to teach subjects which are appropriate to them i.e. High Fashion- taught by fashion make-up artists , Theatrical by West End Theatre make-up artists, TV make-up and hair by television make-up artist and so on.
7: “The lessons are very slow and have no structure”
Lessons are structured inline with the prospectus that clearly shows subjects to be covered over the duration of the course.
8: “The course drags out over 2 years so they can charge more money”
The 2 year course is cheaper per annum than the 9 month course, i.e. pounds per hour
9: “There is no equipment in the classroom”
In the 20 years of running these courses our Facilities and equipment are second to none. We have 1 special effects/ life casting/mould making make-up room; 4 separate make-up rooms sizes- ranging from big-small- There is an HD/Photographic with a permanent running HD Camera, Large Wide Screen monitor, photographic back drops, LED lighting running daily for student make-up checks; Students buy their own electrical equipment for the course as these will make up part of their kit, although, should they need to use any electrical’s we have enough to cope with 3 courses running at any one time. Make-up kits are supplied free for the course and in addition we have a huge amount of make-up stock from various manufacturers. Brushstroke wig stock room contains over 76,000 wigs ranging from Professional West End wigs; complete Teddington wig stock; human, acrylics and yak hair pieces; beards, side burns, moustaches etc.
10: “I do not know where you got good reviews for Brushstroke”
Without knowing who this person is, we can only say that we pride ourselves being the Premier training school. From experience I would guess that these comments are being made by an individual who has had a change of heart in what career to follow and is looking for somebody to blame, or possibly from an inferior training provider that is struggling to ensure standards.
The industry is extremely small, you cannot survive for 20 years as we have without delivering standards. In addition, it is not possible to be registered with UK Boarder Agency or be able to offer BTEC and ITEC Qualifications, which are external qualifications without offering quality standards which are checked annually.”

Pretty valid points from where I’m sitting. I don’t know any details about the person who left the message, perhaps they’ll reply to this one and leave more info on how they think they were badly treated!?

Make-up courses can be pretty varied from school to school and it can get a bit confusing, especially for those not sure which specific area of Make-up Artistry they want to belong to. Perhaps that’s what happened. Like I say, we can’t really comment on the individuals reasons/experience as we don’t have enough info, but I hope this clears things up for anyone who might have had concerns and you can always go straight to Brushstroke themselves with any queries.

The Vancouver Zombie walk wa last weekend and so I got to have some fun with my make-up!

I killed myself, Greg (hubby) and two other guys called Aidan and Jacques. I have a couple of photos of how Greg and me turned outand hopefully I’ll get some of Aidan and Jacques in the next few days. Jzcques turned up at the last minute so didn’t really have as much done to him as the rest of us, but I definitely think greg turned out rather Un-Dead indeed! I’m not sure if I have a photo of Greg stomach which is a shame as that was the best bit. I made it look like his stomach was falling apart!

It was a lot of fun and people kept stopping us and taking our photos, hehe! There are now photos on Facebook of me eating Gregs intestines and trying to bite random people who mistakenly got too close

The photos are from the lovely Joel who was there at the Zombie Walk taking pics of all us beautiful undead. You can see his work on his website. (He doesn’t just do the Undead, incase you’re wondering!)

I thought I’d give you a little more information about the RISE movement since this will be my third post about it in as many weeks, haha! You can link through to the website here and check out the clothes (and my natural, youthful make-up on the two lovely models )

There’s a lot of really nice stuff to buy, so head on over and have a look (I really like “smoking” and “beaches”). You can check out more information about the collections and designers too! Here’s the blurb from their website:

I got a phone call on Saturday from Jasmine, one of the models I worked on the the RISE fashion show. She had been asked to do a photo shoot for the RISE website but they didnt have a Make-up Artist so she called me.

I had to be at work at 4pm, but I was to meet her to start her make-up (and hair) at 1pm so there was plenty of time. When I got there I had a second model too that Jasmine hadn’t know about! Luckily, I had enough time to do them both before I had to leave (I took my work uniform with me so that I could just go straight to work afterwards if need be). Everything was kept very clean and fresh with simple, youthful hairstyles. I came to the rescue with some pins when one of the models was too thin for one of the dresses, haha, and left them some bits and pieces such as lipstick in case they needed to touch up after I’d gone. I can’t image they needed to, but it’s better to be safe than sorry

I would have prefered to be there for the whole shoot, but it was a last minute thing and needs must!

Looking forward to seeing the end results!

Yesterday was the RISE Fashion Show at the Roadhouse Community Centre!

It was a great evening and I met some lovely people, including a model named Jazmine and the Key Make-up Artist Jacqueline Parker who did a great job designing the two looks we were to re-create on our models and organising all the Hair Stylists and Make-up Artists on the evening. (Jacqueline also put together little goody bags for everyone as a thank you for helping out, which was a lovely touch ) I also bumped into a Make-up Artist/Hair Stylist that I met at the Nygard show, Elena Ismail. Always nice to see a familiar face!

The looks were quite simple to recreate as we were provided with photos and a small step-by-step guide on creating them. The first one was a smokey eye with pale lip, the second a natural eye with a gorgeous dark berry lip. We were told to just bring along our brushes and brush cleaner as the make-up we were to use was being provided for us by a company called Sappho Cosmetics. I’d never heard of them until this event, but I did really like their eyeshadows and bronzer!

I don’t have any photos as yet, but there was a professional photographer and videographer there photographing and filming the whole show and there are a few photos up on RISES’s Facebook page, but not of all the models or the whole show. Hopefully they’ll have the video up soon and I can link through to that for you!

All in all a fun night for a good cause promoting thrift and recyling

Last week there was a fashion show put on at the Nygard store down along Marine Way and I was there to help out as one of the Make-up Artists.

I could only be there for the early show, which was a shame, but I got to meet some great people (and win an Orchid in the raffle, haha!). I did make-up on a couple of customers and while I was doing that the two other Make-up Artist’s (Elena Ismail and another lovely lady I don’t recall the name of, sorry!) did the make-up for the three models (it was just a small show).

There was a photographer there, called Jennifer Strang, who was taking photos of everyone from customers to hair stylists and she sent a few photos out for people to show around. I think you can see more on her website, but here’s a few of us MUA’s a customer I did the make-up for, the organisers…

What a lovely day yesterday was!

Firstly, it was my fifth wedding anniversary (yay us!) and secondly I had a great day down in Surrey, with Clarissa Jorquera as my wonderful “First Assist” make-up artist, doing the make-up for five lovely young ladies on the lingerie shoot for Satin Lillie Creations!

We were down there for 9am, and created individual looks for each model to suit them and the outfits they were wearing. Robyn, the designer and creator of Satin Lillie Creations, was specific about a couple of things that she really did/didn’t want for two of the models. They were easy things to accommodate (”I’d like her eyes dark, her eyes not dark”, etc) and the day seemed to go really well. Throughout the shoot all the models really needed was lip touch-ups, so once we were finished with everyone (and had checked how they were looking on camera), we were able to relax and enjoy the lovely sandwiches, fruit and coffee that Robyn had set up for everyone (so thankful for the coffee since I’d been up since 6:20am, haha!). The hair stylist Dana Demure changed each models hair styles a few times and did a great job, they all looked lovely! Dana went with a 1960’s theme of big hair and curls so we had some serious bombshells on set!

Each model had five outfits each to wear and Robyn had set up a “bedroom” in her back garden using her lovely “sleigh” bed as a prop. The photographer not only used the “bedroom”, she used various areas of the garden (such as the big tree in the middle) as a backdrop. I can’t wait to see the finished results. I don’t really know anything about photography but it did look like a decent professional set-up Tara Cummings (of JuxtaPozin Arts) had going.

Out of the collection there was definitely one piece that stood out for all of us. It was a gorgeous long, white satin dress/nightgown with crystals dotted about. When the model, Aleasha, walked out of the changing area and onto the set everyone went to watch. It was beautiful! Perfect for any bride (could even be used as a classical, lightweight wedding dress!).

Robyn was kind enough to gift to me a lovely robe as an anniversary gift, and there are some pieces that I’m actually going to buy from her the next time we meet up!

All in all a wonderful day. Thankyou to everyone involved!

I did the make-up for an engagement shoot yesterday and the photographer, Anna Krasnova, has already processed a couple of images of the happy couple Jesse and CJ.

Jesse said she doesn’t really wear too much makeup so we didn’t go crazy, but I did use false lashes on the outer edges with pink and brown eyeshadow and dark brown liner. When we went outside I had to apply a bit more blush and lippy as the sun was out in force and she looked really pale in the photos. Jesse has a lovely complexion and is a lovely shade of pale anyway, but I did add a little bronzer just to help define her face in the bright sun shine.
I used my Ben Nye cream HD foundations and think they worked beautifully! MAC cream blush looked lovely on her cheeks and a mix of MAC and La Femme eyeshadows on her eyes

To the happy couple!

The very talented Tia Hoshizaki sent the rest of the final images from the Yukata shoot.

I wasn’t expecting to receive so many images, so this is wonderful! It might take me a while to decide which ones I want in my actual portfolio as obviously I don’t want too many of the same image, but they are all great photos

What do you think?