Fashion Photo Shoot

So.......

Early this week I had a photo shoot with a lovely up and coming fashion designer. It is early stages for her brand but she is hoping to sell her garments to the likes of Selfridges, Harvey Nics and Liberty London.

Her pieces are on trend whilst still holding onto a certain uniqueness that I feel you just won't find on the high street. 

The shoot was for the brans upcoming look book. Sophia the designer contacted me asking if I would be available to do the hair and makeup for the project, obviously I jumped at the chance. 

I spent sunday night throughly cleaning and sorting out my kit - removing any items I knew I wasn't going to be using, such as my dirt bag full of silicones, fake bloods... the such like. Monday morning I was buzzing, I jumped on the tube, whizzed off to Earls court, grabbed a Starbucks (necessity) and got down to business!

The desired look was a fresh, dewy nude skin. Clean, groomed brows. Nude and natural eyes and a pretty muted pink lip. For the hair Sophia asked for a simple sophisticated look, so we went for dead straight centre partings and slicked back - leaving the lengths of the hair loose behind the shoulders.

Achieving the look 

Favourite tools used 

Here are 5 little beauty tools which helped me greatly with achieving the look for the shoot.

1 - Dr Bronas Magic Soap 

This stuff is amazing! This little bottle of wonderful has fast become a staple in my kit. 

It is an oil based soap that really deep cleanses your brushes, it gets them squeaky clean but also conditions them at the same time, leaving them really soft and fluffy.  Clean brushes are a must on a shoot, not only for the obvious reasons such as hygiene, but deep conditioning your brushes will enable you to mould them back into there original shapes; keeping tapered brushes on point instead of a big domed mess!

2 - Real Techniques Expert Face Brush 

Pretty self explanatory this one! I used my expert face brushes on the models to give them a flawless finish without creating a heavy or cakey base. 

3 - Mac 217

As the eye look was fairly natural I used my 217's to both pack colour all over the lid as well as adding a darker colour in the crease for definition. 

4 - Shu Uemura Eyelash Curlers

These really are the Rolls Royce of the curling world. Curling the eyelashes really makes the eyes look wide open, very important for photography.

5 - Illamasqua Mixing Medium 

This little guy is so handy and also has a permanent home in my kit. It turns any powder into a liquid, which means you can transform your favourite shadow shades into eyeliners. I used this on my Urban Decay Naked Basic pallet to outline the models eyes subtly for definition.

Makeup Used

From Left -

1 - Bourjois Healthy Mix in Shade 3 and 4

2 - Mac Lipstick in Myth

3 -  Nars Creaming Concealer in Vanilla and Custard 

4 - Mac Cream Colour Base

5 - Naked Basics Pallet - using the 4 middle shades (Foxy, W.O.S, Naked 2, Faint)

6 - Tanya Burr Lip Gloss in Just Peachy

7 - YSL Shocking Mascara in black 

8 - Naked Flushed pallet in Streak (I used the highlight and blush but not the bronze for this look)

All in all it was a great shoot, the team was lovely and the models were simply stunning. I hope to work with Sophia again in the future, her clothes are simply beautiful.... and she provided a lot of chocolate for the crew (always a bonus)!

Let me know what you think of the shoot, and if like me, you would kill someone to have legs like the lovely ladies above!

Lots of love, 

Dan

xxx

Makeup Training - one year!

Hey internet chums.

With my second graduation fast approaching, I decided to summarise the last year of my life. I spent it training at a wonderful academy for makeup and hair. 

There where tears, tantrums, exams, essays, fall outs, laughs, glitter, dry shampoo overdose, fake blood, silicone, more tears, more laughter and a LOT of very hard work. 

Throughout the course I learnt everything from basic bridal makeup, to dressing wigs, to making moustaches for film, to blood pumping wounds, to changing someones gender and back to catwalk glamour. 

The course isn't your basic beauty degree, it trains you in every aspect of makeup in regards to fashion, special effects, hair, prosthetics and in the ins and outs of film and television. 

It was the most intense year of my life, university was hard but there were big chunks of rest and even bigger chunks of drinking and dancing. 

The academy runs 10-4 every, 5 days a week. You are constantly being assessed and analysed, it is exhausting! However this makes you work that much harder, and really prepares you for the industry myself and my class mates were striving towards. 

At the end of the year we had a big assessment, which was basically a presentation of many different makeup criteria, this was a gruelling process but well worth it in the end!

I have graduated with a Merit, the equivalent of a 2:1, and now it is time to face the big wide world of being a free lancer! I have to do my own taxes... vom. 

So here is a summery of the years work in photos, I hope you enjoy!! 

1970's Punk Rocker

Scarification Tattoo

Fashion

Before and after 

aging foragingtheatre

Before and after 

gender swap                   

Prosthetics Piece 

Chip Fat burn

Beaten up boxer

Scabies (gross)

Recreation of a famous painting

 Before and after ageing for Film

 Before and after, classic beauty

 Male makeup

 Before and after mature beauty

 Fashion

 Cat walk glitter

 Fashion mime

 1940s makeup and wig

Body painted galaxy and corset 

Beauty makeup and

      bald cap

Fashion Barbie

So!! This is some of what I have been up too in the last year! 

Its now on the next (very scary) chapter! 

Got any questions regarding my training? or any handy tips on being a freelancer? Leave me a comment :)

Dan

 xxx

HELLO AGAIN!

SO. It has been a while internet pals.

My absence can be fully explained by the whirlwind which was finally finishing university.
The last few months of my degree were completely pre occupied by my dissertation. Which luckily was not as hellish as I was estimating. Don't get me wrong, 60 pages in size 12 font is not my ideas of a carnival, however with the help of some very good friends and an awful lot of tea it did pass quite smoothly.

After completing my dissertation, 10K words on the feminist theories surrounding prostitution, freedom was firmly in my sights. After ALOT of drinking, BBQ'ing, laughing, crying, bar crawling, chatting, reminiscing and packing it was time to say goodbye the the University of York.
EASILY the best 3 years of my life. There were hard times, its true, but 90% of my memories of my time at uni are good ones.

At the end of it all, the hard work, tears and tantrums paid off and I ended up graduating with a 2:1!
No words for my happiness! And with that my parents and I traveled back from spain for 3 days so I could wear a silly hat and collect my scroll.



As a congratulations my parents gave me this beautiful emerald and diamond ring. It's safe to say I have yet to take this off!

Professional Makeup Artistry Interview

HEY.

So today I had my interview for the makeup school of my dreams. MY GOD IT WAS BEAUTIFUL.
I took a lot of time deliberating what I was going to wear and how I was going to do my makeup.
I had my hair re-dyed a cool black toned brown the day before (despite it being a year ago, my old red hair dye seems to continue to seep through!) so at least that was one worry of my mind.

I know in an interview scenario, you should be more concerned with showing off your personality and your skills then your appearance, for a fashion and beauty degree however, I couldn't help but think differently.

I decided to go for a brown lid with a little gold highlight on the inner corners for my eye shadow, with a small black winged eye liner just to give it a more polished look.

I tried to keep my makeup looking very precise and professional looking (as professional as I could make it) as I didn't want to look too made up.. or like I had made a huge effort... which I OBVIOUSLY had.

Here is the makeup I used to create my look for my interview. As a general rule, this is the makeup I reach for every single day. Minus the lipstick, which does change on a daily basis.

Daily Makeup

Holy Grail Foundation

Eye Shadows chosen

Bellow is the overall makeup look, its pretty poor lighting as it was snapped quickly before we ran out the door. I was VERYYYY paranoid about being late.

 After much dithering, I decided on a bright orange midi length body con dress, my snake skin blazer, Vivienne Westwood jelly shoes and skeleton necklace.

skeleeeeee

Unfortunately, the full length picture is pretty shocking... out of frame and can you read the 'HURRY UP WE HAVE ONLY 1 HOUR' face I am pulling.... OH WELL. I hope this gives you a general idea of the look.

On arriving at Ealing Studios, we were escorted by some hefty security fella to the academy.
After a pretty daunting interview where I was asked questions like: 'Criminology to makeup... really?' and 'why do you think you belong in this industry?' I was shown around the studios.

OH MY LIFE.
They were fantastic, so light and airy yet completely professional. We looked in on one class who where designing period wigs, it was like Downton abby on a stick! (which coincidentally was being filmed on location).

We also went into the prosthetic department where the students were undergoing an exam.. I was utterly gob smacked! and not just because of the INCREDIBLY pungent latex smell!
Some of the things the students were doing where out of this world! Imagine Xmen means Harry potter goblins cross bread with something you would see in saw!!

At the end of the tour we went back into an office and I was asked another batch of questions... and at the end of that.......

THEY OFFERED ME A PLACE!!!!
que the inspirational music.

As of september I will be starting me degree in professional makeup artistry.
Christ on a bicycle that is exciting!

Now... it is back to the grind... time to get my nose down and really  despair concentrate on my dissertation.
Any wise words for motivation?

LATERS FOR NOW CHICKLETS xx

Oh Hi York! 

Danielle x

Makeup artistry... the beginning!

Hi ! Welcome to my verrrry first ever post on my shiny new blog.

My name is Danielle Wetherell, I am a 21 year old university student aspiring to become a makeup artist. In 3 days time I will have an interview for a advanced makeup artistry degree corse at a  makeup collage. OOERR.

I am nervous. 


For the past 3 years I have been studying Criminology and Sociology at The University of York. I have loved it, I have hated it. With all good times inevitably comes hard times. Especially when I knew all along my vocation was to be in the beauty industry.  I am, HOWEVER, incredibly glad and grateful that I went to university as it really did/has changed my life in so many ways. Having a degree is a great thing, I will be pleased when I can say I have it safely under my belt, the overall experience of university however is so much more then a graduation and a 2:1 at the end of it all. 

I know it is terribly cliche but uni really has been the best days of my life, it has moulded me as a person and I have changed in ways I couldn't even imagine - never being able to touch tequila again for instance. I have acquired some astonishing memories and even more so made some phenomenal friends. 

University Night Out Memories

Despite these amazing times, I now feel I have arrived at the point where my uni life must come to an end. Yes I will miss the freedom, the resources, the friends, the nights out.. but I just know that it really is time for me to move on. Time for me to make my way into a world in which I long to be in. 

Beauty. 

With less then 3 months to go until I finish uni for good, I am struggling to find motivation, especially as I have my interview so soon. The idea of windows of opportunity flying open all around me makes it VERY hard to concentrate on 'feminist theories regarding women in the criminal justice system'! 

So, here I am, inviting you to follow me through the closing of one chapter and the opening of an even more exciting one. There are so many blogs floating around where accomplished makeup artists share there lives with us... they are great, I read them religiously. 
I, however, am starting from scratch. Join me in the journey of becoming a professional. 
I want you to be with me from start to hopefully finish.

I am going shopping tomorrow to choose an outfit to wear on wednesday. 

I will be sharing this with you too. 
WISH ME LUCK! 

Danielle (ME) 

Danielle 
x