Siân Lidgate Makeup Artist - Blog

Lip Saver

2012-01-19T22:34:00.000Z

Just wanted to write a quick post about my favourite ever lip balm.
The recent cold snap had left my lips dry and chapped, and there is nothing worse than trying to apply lipstick on cracked dry skin. I'd tried a number of different balms all of which provided instant relief but didn't really improve the condition long term.
Them I came across this little stick of wonder from Burt's Bees at the back of my bedside cabinet.

It has been absolutely amazing! As well as providing that all important instant relief, after a couple of days use any dry chapped skin was completely gone and in it's place soft, supple smooth lips :)

It's a bargain at only £3.69 Available from Boots and online at burtsbees.co.uk

I love the foot cream from Burt's Bees too and the body scrubs and body moisturiser and the hand salve... I could go on!

Best of all though, the products contain mostly natural ingredients and are cruelty free.

Another one from Brian Rolfe

2012-01-13T21:22:00.000Z

I had arranged another test shoot with Brian Rolfe this week, however we had to cancel as he's been suffering with a very bad ear infection for the past couple of weeks. As a consolation he sent me another photo from our shoot back in October with Ashlee.

I remember seeing this on camera on the day and it was one of my favourites so I'm very happy to see the finished version :)

Get Well soon Brian! x

KJ busts some mineral myths.

2012-01-11T11:21:00.000Z

I want to print this off and give it to every single person that asks why I don't use mineral makeup "because it's much better for you than normal makeup."

The Truth About Mineral Makeup

I'm not saying mineral makeup isn't the right option for some people. It has it's place, but it's not for me and it's certainly not for my work where professional photography is involved.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

More from the Chanel Show

2011-12-11T23:33:00.001Z

By far the most comprehensive collection of photographs from the show it self and backstage can be found on I Know What You Wore Last Season.

Check out the show photos here, and the backstage shots here.

This dress is probably my favourite from the collection.

Absolutely stunning and in my favourite colour!

Backstage at Chanel’s Métiers d’Art show

2011-12-11T23:03:00.001Z

I just found this article on FashionMagazine.com with absolutely beautiful backstage photographs from the Chanel show on Tuesday. Photography by Benoit Peverelli.

Here are a few of my favourites, this one with Daphne Groeneveld,

Alina Kozelkova and Lindsey Wixson

Lovely Sophie Srej

And of course this one of the beautiful Edie Campbell.

Benoit Peverelli / Chanel

CHANEL Paris-Bombay Métiers d'Art 2011/12 Show

2011-12-09T10:56:00.001Z

This week I had the unforgettable experience of working under the instruction of the wonderful Peter Philips at the CHANEL Paris-Bombay Métiers d'Art 2011/12 Show in Paris on Tuesday. I am so grateful for this opportunity, it was like a dream come true.
I can still hardly believe I was there and a part of it all!

Edie Campbell (VIVA) and Sophie Srej (IMG)

You can view the video of the entire show on the Chanel website, but for your immediate viewing pleasure here is the edited version.

Enjoy.

Bel Ange

2011-11-25T23:05:00.001Z

Here's a sneaky peek at a couple of photos from the shoot I did for Nicole farrell's Bel Ange project last month on the beach in St Andrews. You can read more about the Bel Ange project in my earlier post here and also on Nicole's blog here.

Gillian Gamble has photographed the whole calendar, her photographs have a beautiful dreamy feel to them, perfect for this project I'm sure you will agree. You can see some more of her work on her website.

We Own

2011-11-25T22:47:00.001Z

A couple of advertising shots for We Own, shot by Derrick Argent with Nicole Farrell.

Makeup and dip dyed hair by Me.

And here are a couple more of my favourite shots from that shoot using the

very cool t-shirts from We Own.

Check out the entire collection on their website and now on ASOS market place too!

Ashlee by Brian Rolfe

2011-11-24T11:59:00.001Z

Favourites from my shoot in London last month with Brian Rolfe and Ashlee.

Photographer: Brian Rolfe

Ashlee @ Leni's

London Baby!

2011-11-15T21:46:00.000Z

Last month whilst down in London with work I managed to set up a test shoot with a couple of amazing London based photographers, Brian Rolfe and Kurtay. They were shooting 3 new models from Leni's - Ashlee, Natasha and Charlotte. All the girls were experienced models, just new to Leni's. Ashlee is from Canada, Natasha is from Australia and Charlotte is a London girl.

I had such a great time working with these guys, Everyone was so friendly! Kurtay was an amazing host, as well as taking over his living room for the shoot and creating some amazing shots, he also made lunch for all of us! That's definitely a first :)

Here's a little behind the scenes shot of Brian shooting the 3 girls together to wet your appetite. Pure, Clean Beauty was order of the day, I'm looking forward to adding some amazing clean looks to my portfolio.

In Loving Memory Of Kienna

2011-10-25T22:21:00.000+01:00

On Saturday I had the pleasure of working with the beautiful Lara-Nicole again, this time alongside male model Elliot with photographer Gillian Gamble. A cold and windy one on the beach at St Andrews.

For the past few months Nicole and Gillian have been working together on a Calendar project "Bel Ange". The calendar is being created in memory of Nicole's baby neice, Kienna, who very sadly died earlier this year, only a day old.

The shoot on Saturday was for the December images... the photographs for the calendar are now all complete and work has begun on the layout. All that remains now is to get sponsors for the calendar to pay for printing costs. All proceeds from the calendar will be donated to SANDS (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Support). If you or anyone you know could sponsor the calendar in anyway please get in touch with Nicole or Gillian Directly.

I feel very proud to be a part of a project for such a fantastic cause and will let you all know how you can order a copy of the calendar when it is released.

Sleep tight Angel xx

Black Tied

2011-10-10T20:25:00.000+01:00

Here are a few of the finished photos from the shoot I had with Derrick Argent and Lara-Nicole recently. I've added a closer full colour crop to my original behind the scenes post, here, to show the makeup more clearly - have a look for details of the products I used to create this look.

Model-Morphosis

2011-10-07T23:06:00.000+01:00

Just stumbled across these from the New York Times. How cool are they!?

I love seeing the transformation of models for fashion week, so fascinating and inspiring.

Click the link under each pair of photos to see the original posts on NYT website.

Iris Egbers at Alexander McQueen

Sigrid Agren at YSL

Frida Gustavsson at Jean Paul Gaultier

Josephine Skriver at Emilio Pucci

Flavia Lucini at Emporio Armani

NotD - In the Navy

2011-10-05T10:35:00.001+01:00

Was having a little play with the new Mat Top Coat from Chanel yesterday and came up with this cool but sophisticated look. I used Chanel Blue Satin, the new Mat Top Coat and then brushed across the tips with Chanel Extreme Shine Nail Lacquer.

Please excuse the state of my cuticles, my skin is very dry at the moment.

I am loving the Mat Top Coat, but I know it won't be for everyone. Personally I prefer it on darker shades rather than nudes or lighter colours. I really like this combo of the Mat with High gloss on the tips though. What do you think?

Black Tied - Behind the Scenes

2011-09-28T23:15:00.002+01:00

This weekend my friend Abi came to visit from England. Abi is a hair stylist so as soon as I knew she was visiting I arranged for us to shoot on Monday. Originally we were going to be working with my good friend David Sams, Lauren Andrew and Lara Nicole. Unfortunately David had to postpone that shoot due to a important interview down in London.

Lara Nicole and I decided to try and get another shoot organised and it happened that Derrick Argent was available. I worked with Derrick on the shoot for Cameo Vintage back in June so it was really great to work with him again, on something a bit more creative this time. Abi has been hairdressing for around 8 years, but this was her first time working on a photo shoot, she did an amazing job! In fact everyone involved totally nailed it. Such a great team!

As a bit of an experiment I made a short time-lapse video of Abi and I doing the hair and makeup prep. The lighting wasn't great, but for a first attempt I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I'm hoping to do more of this in the future so keep an eye out for those.

And a quick run down of what I used to create the look, see below for a close up of the finished look.:

Eyes:

Bobbi Brown Gel Liner in Black

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in Illusoire and Mirifique

Chanel Inimitable Intense mascara in Noir

Skin:

Smashbox HD Foundation L3

Illamasqua Loose Powder in 010

Bobbi Brown bronzer in Natural to contour

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Beige to highlight

Lips:

Illamasqua pencil in Vow

Chanel Aqualumiere Gloss in BonBon

Shade Parade

2011-09-20T12:54:00.002+01:00

Chanel Academy Projects

2011-08-25T21:27:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd share with you the 4 face charts and finished makeup looks I designed and produced recently for a project I was set as part of my Makeup Specialist training at the Chanel Academy. For this project I was given a list of themes from which to pick three and then add a fourth theme of my own. The three I chose were 'Chocolate', Doll Face' and 'Vintage Vixen'. The fourth theme I came up with I named 'Turquoise Coast'.

I really enjoyed the exercise of researching each theme, producing a mood board and designing a look based around it, and to then receive the very positive feedback from our mentor - the legendary, Sharon Dowsett - that I did, was absolutely amazing.

So, here are the face charts and finished makeup looks. You can click on the face charts and view them full size to read which products I used if you're interested - all Chanel of course!

I'd love to hear what you think.

Chocolate

Chocolate

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Doll Face

Doll Face

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Vintage Vixen

Vintage Vixen

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Turquoise Coast

Turquoise Coast

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Thank you so much to my wonderful models, Miss Lauren Andrews, Amy O'Rourke, Fiona McKay and Holly McDowell. xx

Colourful Beauty

2011-08-18T00:04:00.004+01:00

At the end of May I had a shoot with a fantastic photographer across in Edinburgh, Anna Olszewska. Be sure to check out the rest of Anna's work on her website, and also have a read of her blog. She's a very talented lady and I hope we can work together again soon. Our model was a gorgeous girl called Ciara and I had arranged a hairstylist too to take some pressure off! His name is Myles Cockburn.

On the day of the shoot we had planned to start at 10am, however my car broke down on the main motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh and I had to be rescued by the AA! After the drama of that I was beginning to think I'd never get there, but thanks to the nice man from the AA giving me a lift to the train station after dropping my car at the garage I finally arrived at the studio at about 1pm.

Our original plan had been to shoot a series of brightly coloured beauty shots to submit to various magazines for possible publication - however after losing half of our day due to my break down we only managed to shoot 3 looks, which was probably not really enough for a beauty story unfortunately. I am so pleased with how these turned out though. Considering Anna said she hadn't really shot any beauty type shots before I think she did an amazing job.

The two shots here are my favourites, but you can see the rest on my Facebook page if you like. As this was to be a submission piece I also took a note of all the products I used to create each of the looks. I'm going to try and do this at each shoot from now on, especially for beauty shots. I'd love to know what you think of these - feedback is always welcomed!

Pink look

Foundation: Smasbox HD Healthy FX Foundation in L1

Powder: Illamasqua Loose Powder in 010

Blush: Chanel Joues Contraste in Espiègle

Eyeshadow: MUFE Flash Color in Fuchsia 005, Naked Pigment in Shock Effect 04, Yaby Pearl Paints in 056 & 049

Lipgloss: RMK Gloss Lips N in H-05

Green look

Foundation: Smasbox HD Healthy FX Foundation in L1

Powder: Illamasqua Loose Powder in 010

Blush: Chanel Joues Contraste in Espiègle

Eyeshadow: MUFE Flash Color in Yellow 013 & Leaf Green 008, Yaby Eyeshadow in 135 & 160

Eyeliner: Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner in Cobalt

Mascara: Chanel Inimitable Intense in Marine

Lipstick: Chanel Rouge Coco in Byzantine

Lipgloss: Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Tantrum

A Roof Top Adventure

2011-08-16T23:31:00.007+01:00

On Sunday I had a fun day shooting with Colleen McMahon, it's been such a long time since we worked together last, we'll need to ensure it's not so long again until next time! Our models for the day were the gorgeous Lauren Andrew and Elliot Mackie.

This was the 2nd time I've worked with Elliot - last time was on his first ever shoot - go and check out his blog, it's just new but he's written about his first ever shoot there with some very sweet words to say about me which made me smile! I'm sure his blog will be one to watch.

I've linked to Lauren's blog before, but here it is again. It's so well written, and she's much better at keeping it up to date than I am but then that wouldn't really be very hard!

My friend Amy came along with me to assist. Amy is a makeup artist too but primarily retail and bridal work so far and hoping to move into more fashion & photographic work. I've never had an assistant before, and I've never actually assisted anyone on a photoshoot myself (only catwalk shows) so I didn't really know what to get her to do! But she did a fantastic job of keeping an eye on things on set whilst I was working on the other makeup and also some touch up's in between different outfit/location changes. Thanks for all your help Amy, you can come again :)

Finally, big shout out to Chris Baldie for letting us take over his office for getting ready, and giving us access to the rooftop of his building for the shoot and also for being 2nd shooter to Colleen for the day - I'm looking forward to seeing your shots too!

I can't wait to show you the photos, the sneaky peek I got on the day looked brilliant. In the mean time here are a few behind the scenes shots. Including one of me actually doing makeup for a change, courtesy of Amy - usually I'm the one taking the behind the scenes shots so I'm rarely in them!

xxx

CakeUp Artist

2011-06-24T21:19:00.002+01:00

I've had a couple of messages from people wondering where my baking posts have disappeared to recently, so just though I'd post a link here to my new CakeUp Artist blog.

I wanted to keep this blog purely for makeup stuff so decided to set another one up for the baking pieces. I'd love it if you'd follow me there too if you're interested.

xx

Less is More

2011-06-24T20:25:00.001+01:00

I love watching videos of behind the scenes in makeup at photoshoots and fashion shows. it's really inspiring and I always learn something new.

There is this myth flying around that you need to pile on the makeup when it comes to this kind of work, and that quite often just isn't true. More often than not, "Less is More" - this is something I think many new makeup artists out there would do well to remember!

I also love seeing the pros using the same products/brushes/techniques as I do, at least I'm doing some things right!

I've had a day off today and have come across lots of great videos on YouTube - here is one of my favourites. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Cameo Vintage

2011-06-12T20:31:00.000+01:00

On Friday I had a catalogue shoot for a brand new Vintage Clothing company, Cameo Vintage. The website is currently under construction but in the mean time 'like' the facebook page here.

The photographer for the day was the very talented Derrick Argent. It was such a pleasure to work with him, I've admired his work for a while and hope that we can work together again sometime soon. Check out his work on his website it's absolutely stunning.

The owner of Cameo Vintage is Julie Lyle. She has collected a fantastic selection of vintage clothing and accessories from various sources around the world... there were still soooo many pieces that we didn't get to shoot in the time we had available, but we were none stop shooting all day. Our two models, Lauren Andrew and Julia Bell, worked so hard with literally hundreds of outfit changes each. (Lauren writes her own blog Wannabe She, check it out!)

Lana Cairns did a fantastic job on hair - she is a friend of Julie's and although she's an experienced hairdresser, it was her first time working on a photo shoot. I can safely say I will definitely be getting in touch with her to work on something else together. I do like doing hair, but it definitely takes the pressure off having someone there to concentrate solely on that while I concentrate on the makeup.

I'll let you all see some images and will post a link to the website when they're done :)

xx

Les Fleurs d’Été de Chanel

2011-05-21T00:05:00.006+01:00

I'm thinking I definitely need the Soleil Tan de Chanel in Bronze Rose, the eyeshadow Quad in Lilium and the Stylo Yeux Waterproof in Rose Platine in my life right now.
xxx

Trend Vision 2011

2011-05-18T09:51:00.025+01:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of working with Alison from W eir Hairdressing in Elgin at the Wella 2011 Trend Vision competition which was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow. I've worked at a couple of these competitions before, and love the atmosphere on the day. The nerves and the excitement.

The way Trend Vision works is each team consists of 3 people, the competing hair stylist, a model and an assistant. The assistant is often a fellow hair stylist or in my case, a makeup artist. The competitor has just 1 hour to create their chosen look on the model, any makeup must be applied in that time too (except base and cheeks which can be done before hand). The competitors are judged as they work and then the models are judged after the looks have been completed as well, the hair stylists have to then do a small presentation for the judges about the inspiration and thoughts behind their chosen look.

The event continues throughout the day and into the evening where Wella put on a fantastic catwalk show and hair dressing demonstrations before the winners are announced.

Yesterday I finished up at about 3pm after the last lot of judging when Alison did her presentation, but I got a text at about 9 o'clock to say that Alison had won!! This means she will go on to compete at the next stage of the competition in London later in the year. I am so pleased for Alison and her colleagues, and very proud to have created the makeup look for their entry.

Alison chose the trend inspiration "Passionista" and on the website the cosmetics inspiration area suggests: Cherry red lips are balanced with freshly flushed cheeks in nude soft peach and pastellized strawberry tones.

A lot of the times at these hairdressing competitions the makeup is very dramatic and over the top - although not always done well, so we decided to keep this look clean and simple, whilst still making a bold statement.

On our models skin I used a blend of Bobbi brown stick foundation, Smashbox HD Foundation and Smashbox artificial light to create a glowy yet flawless complexion, with a flush of CHANEL Pink Explosion and Espiegle blushes on the cheeks.

I used colours from my Yaby 'Best of both Worlds' palette to create a soft peachy eye, with a hint of pink in the socket line and lots of mascara.

The bold cherry red lips were created using a custom mix of the red and pink from my MUFE Flash Palette topped with a little bit of CHANEL lipgloss in Silex in the centre for shine. This created a long wearing lips colour that needed only minimal touch-ups even after lunch!!

Bright, colourful eyes and glossy lips.

2011-05-16T20:14:00.004+01:00

I love this video that Lisa Eldridge put up the other day. It features Lindsay Wixson and footage from her latest shoot for VOGUE and the VOGUE iPad app. I adore the use of strong colours in these makeup looks, it's unusual to see such bright colours used together in such a beautiful way.

These snippets of whats available from that iPad app make me want an iPad even more!!!

If you haven't already you should definitely check out Lisa's website and blog, as well as her youtube channel. She truly is an inspiration.

Listed!!

2011-01-18T23:39:00.002Z

I found out the other day that I have been included in this "40 Best Makeup Artist Blogs" list.

What an honour to be listed along side people such as Amy Chance, Lisa Eldridge & Jessica Jean Myers, whom I admire so much.

*happy*

Last Days of Fall

2010-11-17T23:20:00.001Z

Back at the beginning of October I spent an amazing day shooting with Colleen McMahon up north near Loch Goil. I was inspired to organise this shoot when I was driving up to the idyllic venue The Lodge on Loch Goil for a bridal makeup job a few weeks previous. The scenery along the way was absolutely breathtaking and on the way home I found myself stopping to take some snaps on my phone. Colleen and I had been talking about doing an autumn/winter knitwear shoot, and I knew these locations would be perfect.

The morning of the day it was pouring with rain and I was beginning to think my plan for a spontaneous guerilla style shoot may not have been the best one, but we carried on regardless! An hour and a bit drive from Glasgow to the stopping place "Rest and Be Thankful" where we started getting the model ready and the rain eventually eased off.

View Larger Map

Our model was a girl called Holly, this was only her 3rd shoot ever, I couldn't believe it - she was brilliant! From our starting point we just drove towards Loch Goil, stopping anywhere on the way that looked interesting. Whether it be because of the backdrop, the light... or some sheep with big curly horns! After trudging through an ankle deep, water logged field we discovered the sheep weren't so keen on being in the photos, despite our attempts to lure them with crisps!

Any hoo... onto the makeup, I wanted to focus on the lips in this shoot so the skin and eyes were very paired down.

I used a base of Smashbox Photo Finish Primer and Smashbox HD Foundation on Holly. Her skin was flawless already so I literally used the tinyest amount of foundation just to even out the skin, but still letting her light freckles show through. I used a cream blusher, MAC Brit Wit, lightly on the apples of the cheekys for a fresh dewy look, but again keeping it very minimal.

On the eyes I used a bit of Smashbox Lid Primer, and then just washed the whole eyelid lightly with Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Beige, for a neutral but sheeny finish. Then coated the lashes with black mascara and lightly groomed the brows with a light brown eyeshadow and a bit of clear brow gel.

I'll describe what I did for each different lip look underneath each of these 4 shots, so you can see which colours I am referring to easily. I hope you like! (click for larger images)

I started with a deep plum shade which i mixed myself using a mixture of L Blue, L Lilac and LC122 from my Kryolan liprouge palette.

For this second look I removed the plum, which left a slight stain and patted the lips down with a little bit of concealer for a paler more nude effect.

For the 3rd colour I used a deep berry pink shade again, custom mixed - this time a blend of Bobbi Brown - Pink and a little of an unnamed deep blue/red from a palette.

This was my favourite one - I bought Illamasqua's Desciple especially for this shoot and I couldnt have been happier with the results. I did put a little bit of the L Silver Blue from my kryolan palette over the top in the centre of the lips just to lift it slightly. Navy Blue Lipstick - Love it! Unfortunately it fell out of the car at the petrol station on the way home and got ran over so, I'll need to re-purchase if I want to use it again, but I am delighted with this shot.

Let me know what you all think, and as ever feel free to ask questions. I appreciate your feedback.

Siân xx

Shooting on Film

2010-10-07T13:56:00.001+01:00

A couple of weekends ago I had a shoot with David Howat and Rowan Clarke. David is the photographer who I worked with on an entry for The Herald magazine's Jean Muir competition where we came 3rd place:

I hadn't worked with David since that competition, despite both our best efforts so this was a long awaited shoot. When he contacted me and suggested Rowan as our model I was more than happy to oblige and we set a date that suited everyone.

David's work is all done on film, I love working in this medium. Some people have suggested in the past that a photographer working on film should worry me. Something about there being no photoshop involved must put the fear into some people, however I am confident that when I work I do the best I possibly can without relying on post processing techniques. Of course retouching can help in some cases, but it doesnt scare me when a photographer doesnt rely on it! Photographs taken on film just have this feel and atmosphere that you don't seem to get in digital, I love it.

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Makeup wise we did 2-3 different looks. I started with a nude eye, red lip combo, then added a little bit of smokey liner to the eyes for an inbetween look then for the 3rd look I took the lips down to a nude pink and did a deep black sparkley smokey eye per Rowan's request.

Rowan has the most amazing skin, which didnt need alot of work. I started with Smashbox Photo Finish Primer, then used Smashbox HD Foundation lightly just to even out the skin tone.

- In the first look I just used smashbox lid primer and a little bit of phloof! by mac on the eyes, with Bobbi Brown - Red - on the lips.
- I added Smashbox jet set liner smudged out around the lash line for the second look.
- And for stage three I layered Illamasqua's pure pigment in Android (from the dystopia collection) on top of Bobbi Brown -Black Pearl - cream eyeshadow and more Smashbox black Jet Set liner, teamed with a pale nude/pink lip using Smashbox lip colour - Flawless.

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Here's a couple of behind the scenes shots of David and Rowan at work:

These were taken on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app, I'm a little bit obsessed with it at the moment.

So far I only have the colour images from David, he is going to be developing the black and white ones himself so they'll take a little longer, but I''ll add them here when they're done.

Testing again

2010-08-23T14:23:00.002+01:00

Since taking up my full time position with Smashbox in June I haven't had much time for doing freelance work or for testing. So am trying my best to organise as much as I can for my days off to keep a hand in and keep my portfolio up to date.

Lindsay contacted me a little while ago about doing makeup for a test shoot she had coming up with a photographer from Edinburgh, Robin Frowley. Lindsay and I have been trying to get a shoot together organised for quite some time and I've admire Robin's work for a while now, so I jumped at the chance to test with them both on my only day off last week.

I will post some of the finished shots once I have them, but here are a few behind the scenes ones for you in the mean time.

You can see Robin's work on his website www.robinfrowley.co.uk

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My segment from Gok's Fashion Fix

2010-06-24T09:04:00.007+01:00

Back in April I was booked to do Brix Smith-Start's makeup for a segment on Gok's Fashion Fix that was being filmed at the Mackintosh Factory in Cumbernauld, near Glasgow. The episode I was involved in aired last Tuesday on Channel 4 - here is the segment I worked on. (The quality isn't great I'm afraid.)

Makeup for Brix Smith-Start - Mackintosh - Gok's Fashion Fix from Sian Lidgate on Vimeo.

I wanted to take some photos to show you all, but my phone decided that it was having a day off that day!

Brix requested a natural look for this, but with a glowy complexion. I've received lots of lovely compliments on the makeup I did from people who saw the show and a few people have been asking what products I used on Brix's skin for the filming -so here's a little run down in order of application:

I prepped the skin with Dermalogica skincare prior to makeup application.
Smashbox Anti-Shine - tiny amount applied to the t-zone area.
Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Light - applied allover the face.
Bobbi Brown Stick Foundation - for a full coverage with natural semi-matt finish.
Bobbi Brown pot rouge - Cabo Coral - just used a little dab of this on the apples of the cheeks.
Smashbox Halo Bronzer - this was its first outing after I recieved it - verdict: Love!

I did a very soft natural eye makeup using matte shadows - a mixture of Urban Decay, Smashbox and mac - but I cant remember what colours I'm afraid, sorry!

On the lips I mixed together Smashbox photo finish Lipstick in Flawless with a tiny bit of Tulle from Bobbi Brown for a pinky nude with a soft sheen.

Missing in Action

2010-05-28T23:33:00.002+01:00

On Sunday I am off on holiday :-) Andrew and I begin our road trip to Nürnberg for Rock Im Park!

We are getting the ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam. The festival begins on Thursday, so we will have a few days here and there in other places on the way down through Holland and Germany. The only plans we've made so far are a stop over in Amsterdam on Monday night and the festival it's self so... A bit of an adventure!!

I thought I'd make a quick post about what I'm taking with me cosmetics wise.

• Lush Shampoo and Conditioner bar - Godiva.
• Original Source mint and tea tree shower gel.
• Neal's Yard cleanser and moisturiser.
• Bobbi Brown Luminous Moisturising Foundation.
• Smashbox HALO powder.
• Bobbi Brown pot rouge - pale pink.
• Smashbox Fusion Softlights - dusk.
• Smashbox blusher - Radiance.
• Bobbi Brown Gel Liner.
• Smashbox Limitless Liner Pencil - Peacock.
• Random selection of eyeshadows from Bobbi, Smashbox and MAC.
•Burts Bees lip balm.

That was me trying to keep it minimal... oops!

See you all when I get back, with lots of pictures no doubt!!!

xxx

- Posted from my iPhone using the Blogpress app.

Cruelty Free?

2010-05-12T18:16:00.002+01:00

When I tell people that I only use cruelty free makeup and skincare products I often get asked how that is possible ... this puzzles me a little, because it's never seemed a difficult task to me.

I don't believe in using animals to test cosmetics, full stop. As far as I am concerned it is a pointless exercise. Cosmetics are a luxury, and while it is true that virtually every ingredient, at some point, has been tested on animals in the past, if cosmetics can't now be developed without causing horrific distress and harm to animals then in all honesty, I'd rather go without.

But do not fear - We don't need to go without!

Information about companies that do and don't test their products on animals can be found on the caring consumer website www.caringconsumer.com.You don't have to trawl the Internet for hours on end finding obscure brands, there are plenty of cruelty free products that are readily available and easily accessible, so I thought I'd do a post about what I use personally.

I'm going to start with Skin, Body and Haircare I think... Makeup will need to go in a seperate post else you'll be here reading for the rest of the week!!

Bath/Shower

Everything and Anything by Lush!
You all know I'm a massive Lush! fan... my favourites are Mmm Melting Marshmallow Moment bath melt and Creamy Candy bubble bar - I like the ones that smell like sweets!

Every morning before work I use Original Source mint and tea tree shower gel because it's fresh and minty to wake me up!

Hair Care

I recently discovered the Shampoo Bars from Lush! I'm currently trying out Seanik, but my favourite is Squeaky Green. I've never received so many compliments on my hair as when I was using this. It leaves my hair nice and shiny, and I don't seem to need to wash it as often either which is always a bonus!

My favourite conditioner is also from Lush! It's Coolaulin which contains coconut milk and fresh coconut flesh which is great for dry, coloured or curly hair. I really want to try out Jungle next time though, I love my solid shampoo so would like to give solid conditioner a whirl too.

Skin Care

I'm a big fan of Bobbi Brown Instant Long Wear Makeup Remover for getting rid of stubborn eyeliner and mascara!

About a year and a half ago I started using Neal's Yard products and my skin has never felt better. My skin tends to be quite dry, but with a tendency to break out occasionally. I religiously use the following:

Calendula Cleanser - I use this in the morning and at night to remove my makeup, I rub it into my skin then remove with hot wet face cloth.
Orange Flower Facial Wash - I use this instead of the Calendula Cleanser when I am in the shower.
Jasmine Enriching Cream - I only apply moisturiser in the morning, its just a personal thing, I don't like the feeling of moisturiser on my skin at night. Weird I know, right?!
Wild Rose Beauty Balm - This is a multi-use product. I tend to use it just on specific areas of particular dryness as a treatment, and occasionally I will use it allover my face and leave it on for 20mins, like a face mask, then remove it before moisturising as normal.

My favourites for Body moisturising are the Body Butters from Korres. My favourite scent is Fig... but I also love their best seller, Guava for its fresh summery smell. I must have Burt's Bees for my hands - Hand Salve and Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme are my favourites.

Eyeko nails

2010-05-10T02:27:00.001+01:00

After seeing Mizz Worthy's blog post the other day about her dupe for Chanel's "in demand" colour of the moment, Particuliere, I decided I needed to get in on that action!!

I went to the eyeko website and bought 2 new nail varnishes "posh polish" (the Chanel doubler) and "vintage polish". I love them soooo much!

The consistency is quite thick although I definitely felt I needed 2 coats to get the full colour, but at £3.50 each you can't really go wrong!

- Posted from my iPhone using the Blogpress app.

A work look

2010-05-06T09:42:00.002+01:00

I'm really liking the makeup look I've been wearing for work recently so thought I'd share it with you. It's pretty quick and easy to do - perfect for first thing in the morning application!!

Of course this look consists of all Smashbox products, but that's not to say you couldn't combine some of your own products with a few of these and adapt it to suit you.

I'm using the original photo finish foundation primer and camera ready full coverage foundation F0 as my base at the moment, finished with a little bit of Halo powder Light.

The main focus of this look is the eyes. I start with Smashbox lid primer all over the lid and a little under the bottom lashes.I then use the lightest shade from Smashbox eyeshadow trio Megapixel allover the upper lid from lash to brow. This is a light neutral/pink shade with a soft sheen to it.

Now I use the new limitless eyeliner pencil in peacock quite thick along the lower lashline and smudge with my finger to soften the edges.

I tightline the upperlashes and inner rim with jet set liner in black and finish with the new Hyperlash mascara.

I am loving Radiance blush at the moment, it's a strong shocking pink so you only need a little. It works brilliantly on all skin tones too - I used this the other day on a girl with the most beautiful dark chocolate coloured skin and it was absolutely gorgeous.

A bit of dark brown brow tech and a quick slick of Flirty lip colour and that's me ready to go!

- Posted from my iPhone using the Blogpress app.

Brix Smith-Start & Gok's Fashion Fix

2010-04-30T17:24:00.002+01:00

I got a call on Monday from Endemol UK asking if I was available on Wednesday to do makeup for a segment in the new series of Gok's Fashion Fix! You can imagine how surprised I was being as the majority of my work tends towards the editorial side of things rather than TV, but I was free so of course I accepted.

I was to do makeup for Gok's co-presenter Brix Smith-Start for a piece about the Mackintosh factory in Cumbernauld, just outside Glasgow. This piece will feature as part of a segment in the new series about the best of hand made, home grown, British fashion. I'm not sure yet which episode it will be in or when it will air, but as soon as I know I will let you know so you can all watch out for it.

I was all set to take some behind the scenes photos - the production process in the factory was absolutely fascinating - but right after I took my first photo of the day my iPhone packed in, so this is all I got.

I used my new favourite product, Smashbox Anti-Shine, along with Photo Finish Primer Light to keep Brix's skin nice and shine free, then used the new Smashbox Halo Bronzer to finish to add a natural glow to her skin. Halo Bronzer hasn't been released in the UK yet, but it will be out in May so look out for that!!

Keep your eyes on the blog for details of the broadcast date, I'll let you all know as soon as I know. It'll be beginning of June... I have a feeling I will be on holiday when it airs so I'll need to get my mum to tape it!

iPhone came back to life that evening btw, convenient!

Colour Trophy with Scott Robb hairdressing

2010-04-26T16:53:00.003+01:00

I mentioned in my previous post about Smashbox Anti-Shine that I had been at the Colour Trophy competition. I was there working for Scott Robb Hairdressing from Falkland in Fife. Makeup for one female and one male model.

I took a few snaps on my phone during the day, and am waiting for the pro pictures that were taken on the night. In the mean time here are the ones I took:

I did take some photos of the male model Tom too, but they were when he was on the catwalk so not all that clear from so far away.

- Posted from my iPhone using the Blogpress app.

Product Rave - Smashbox Anti-Shine

2010-04-24T22:55:00.002+01:00

As many of you know, since January I've been working for Smashbox on the counter in Glasgow Debenhams. Although I work for the company I would never publicly rave about any products that I don't actually believe in. So I haven't been asked to write this, it's just something I felt was worth telling everyone about!!

----- ----- -----

Since starting working with Smashbox I have been slowly building my favourite products into my own kit for my freelance work. Last week I was doing makeup for the L'Oreal Colour Trophy with Scott Robb Hairdressing. The colour trophy was a day long event and consisted of 2 catwalk shows as well as the actual process of the styling of the hair on the competition floor.

All the makeup was to be completed before the competition started and only small touchups were allowed before the catwalks. I used Smashbox Anti-Shine for the first time outside my counter work environment, on both the female and male model underneath their foundation to control the shine that can often comes from long wear of makeup under the hot competition lights.

This product was my absolute hero that day!

When I went to do touch up's on Tom, the male model, there was really no touch up required except the addition of a little eyeliner, but nothing to do with the appearance of the skin. The same was true when I went to touch up our female model Fiona's makeup, all she needed was a little top up on her lipgloss! Absolutely amazing! Their skin remained beautifully matte all day and into the night, with no need to powder. The makeup looked just as fresh and flawless as when I had first applied it.

----- ----- -----

If any of you have problems with overly oily skin, or just with that t-zone shine developing over the course of a night out you should definitely give this a try. You only need a tiny little dot blended over the problem areas before primer and foundation and it'll keep you looking flawless and fresh all day/night long! It retails at £21.

Smashbox Anti-Shine also comes in a compact version which is great for carrying in your hand bag as it can be patted on over the top of your makeup as required.

More from Skeleton Key

2010-04-24T00:33:00.001+01:00

I have more finished shots from the shoot I did with Rebecca litchfield back in January, I'm very very happy with how these turned out and shall need to be getting a couple of prints for my book I think!

Photographer : Rebecca Litchfield
Styling : Krishan Parmar
Models : Natasha @ D1 & Patrick @ Oxygen Models

Hair : Kim Roy
Retouching : Eva Pirini

Fiona Taylor and Elmira final shots

2010-04-23T22:35:00.000+01:00

So here's a couple of the finished images from the test shoot I did with Fiona Taylor last month. Elmira's hair looks soooo shiney! I'm really pleased with how the makeup turned out too :-)

Fiona Taylor and Elmira

2010-04-02T23:54:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday I had a test shoot with the lovely Fiona Taylor. Fiona will soon be finishing her photography course at Glasgow Metropolitan College, I'm sure she has a great career ahead of her. Fionas blog here is definitely worth a read.

Our model was the even more lovely Elmira. Originally from Kazakhstan, Elmira has been modelling for about 4 years, however she is new in Glasgow so we were testing for Model Team - I hope she gets taken on, she did a great job :-)

Here are some behind the scenes shots. Finished photos to follow.

Anette Schive @ Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens

2010-04-02T23:43:00.001+01:00

Here are my favourite shots from the shoot I did with Anette Schive and michelle MacDonald at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh last month.

You can read Anette's blog over here

Anette Schive

2010-03-10T21:40:00.000Z

Today I had a test shoot at Edinburgh Botanic Gardens with Norwegian photographer Anette Schive and model Michelle MacDonald.

Anette has been visiting Edinburgh on holiday this week and when she contact me to shoot while she was here I jumped at the chance. I love the soft dreamy feel of her photographs and have admired them on both Deviant Art and Model Mayhem before without knowing their creator.

Here are some of my favourites from her portfolio:

You can take a look at more of Anette's work on her website www.anetteschive.com and her blog is anetteschive.blogspot.com

Today was such a lovely day for our shoot, I thoroughly enjoyed being outside for a while even if it was a bit cold!! I took a few behind the scenes shots during our shoot, but not many as I forgot my camera so was just using my iPhone.

Michelle got some bunny ears to use for the shoot, we just had to try them on!!

Such a great day :-) I can't wait to see the results. I'll be sure to post some here when I have the finished ones.

xx

- Posted from my iPhone using the Blogpress app.

POSED Magazine Lands

2010-03-10T09:44:00.000Z

After 3 months of hard graft since our limited edition issue 0 was completed. We finally took delivery of our first proper issue of POSED Magazine, yesterday!!

I can't help but say it looks absolutely amazing in "real life"! Big thanks to everyone involved, I am so proud to be a part of such a wonderful team.

Issue one is available to buy now at www.posed.biz and will be with our stockists in Glasgow and Edinburgh by the end of the week :-)

The POSED launch party is taking place next Thursday 18th March from 7-midnight at Classic Grand on Jamaica Street, Glasgow. There are a final few places still available, If you'd like to come along send an email to rsvp@posed.biz

xx

- Posted from my iPhone using the Blogpress app.

Resignation

2010-03-02T21:16:00.001Z

After much consideration I'm quitting the 365 project thingy I said I'd do... I've had so much going on recently, both work and personal, I felt like I had to find interesting things to do each day just so I had something to write about, it's just too much pressure to be honest!!

I'm just going to go back to blogging as and when I have something to write about - I really don't think life is interesting enough at the moment for me to write every day!!

When it gets more exciting I'll be sure to write about it here!!

xxx

- Posted from my iPhone using the Blogpress app.

Clean Beauty

2010-03-01T23:25:00.005Z

Last Monday I had a shoot with Photographer David Stanton and gorgeous Model Elaine Ford. My aim was to get some good clean beauty shots with "no-makeup" makeup, I chose Elaine to model because I'd seen her portfolio and thought she had a fantastic face for beauty shots, as well as being good at posing if we were to do some fashion shots too.

First of all I plaited Elaine's beautiful long hair across the front of her head, and then wrapped it into a bun at the nape of her neck for a fresh, elegant look. I started with a very clean makeup look, flawless base, nude eyes with defined lashes and brows and a natural lip. I am slowly adding more Smashbox products into my kit so this was my first chance to use what I have so far in a shoot. I've listed all the products I used below for you.

- Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer - I feel like I can't do makeup without this now!! Yes, I work for them but honestly they don't pay me to say these things on here! It is just amazing.

- Bobbi Brown Moisture Rich Foundation - I've been using this as my liquid foundation in my kit pretty much since I started doing makeup and while I still like it I am on the look out for something different, but Elaine has great skin and this worked beautifully on her.

- Bobbi Brown Corrector and Smashbox HD Liquid Concealer under the eyes.

- Illamasqua Cream Blusher in Rude just a tiny little bit to add warmth.

- Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer for a matt neutral eyelid.

- Dior Iconic mascara.
- I defined the brows lightly with a light brown eyeshadow, but I cant remember what it was called sorry. I then set them with Illamasqua Brow Gel.

We also did some more fashioney type images with this makeup look. Styling by Pamela Reynolds:

Next i wanted to have a play with my Make Up For Ever Flash Palette that I bought at IMATS back in January. I kept the same base and eye makeup and just adjusted the look by defining the brows further with MAC Carbon eyeshadow and tried out a few different colours from the Flash palette on the lips. Here are some examples, Let me know what you think of everything. xx

LUSH haul

2010-01-20T23:52:00.002Z

Ok so as I reported last Friday I made a visit to my local LUSH store on Buchanan Street in Glasgow.

I had intended to just pick up a couple of candy cane bubble bars, which I LOVE - they smell like those pink and whit drumstick lollies! Yummy... mmmm. So in the end this is what I actually bought:

You can see the beloved candy cane bars on the right of this picture. These make a lovely sweet smelling bubble bath and leave the skin feeling silky smooth.
Next to those the little white one is a "butterball bath ballistic" this one I have also tried before. It's got loads of cocoa butter in so is really moisturising and makes a nice creamy bath.

Something I'd wanted to try for a while from LUSH was the shampoo bars. I've been finding it increasingly difficult recently to find reasonably priced shampoo from a company who are anti-animal testing. I'd also never really been sure how to use a shampoo bar!
One of the girls working in the shop gave me a very helpful demonstration of how to use it, followed by a wee description of all the different bars available. I settled on the "squeaky green" one after much deliberation as I was told it was good for removing hair products and leaving the hair nice and shiney. I also picked a small bottle of "Coolaulin" conditioner to try, which has creamed coconut and lemon juice amongst it's ingredients for moisture, volume and shine.

I am not sure about the smell of the conditioner, i can't put my finger on what it is I don't like about it though - maybe just will take a bit of getting used to. I'm definitely converted to the shampoo bar though, such great value (it's equivalent to 3x 250ml bottles of liquid shampoo!!) - also better for the environment and kind to the bunnies too!!

Finally I picked up a marshmallow moment bath melt and a creamy candy bath bubble bar. (can you see a pattern developing here? Yep, I like things that smell like sweeties! The lovely girl in the shop picked up on that too.) I haven't used either of these before so I will report back when I do.

The whole point behind this big buy for me was that I could stock up and get a free goodie bag worth around £30 - for some reason the girl (I feel so rude, I wish I knew her name) that served me thought I perhaps liked sweet smelling things, so I got a goody bag with these 3 gifts sets in:

Seasons greetings.

Snow fairy.

You shall go to the ball.

I have never tried any of the products in these sets before, so that was really good. I am particularly looking forward to the glitterbug massage bar from snow fairy!

I'll do mini-review posts as I try each product I think, this one is massive! I applaud anyone who has read this far!!

www.lush.co.uk

New Year... New Beginnings

2009-12-31T22:01:00.004Z

Right, I'm giving up trying to play catch up on everything I haven't blogged about for ages... there's just too much!!

So starting tomorrow I am embarking on 365 day, photo-a-day project to try and encourage myself to at least post a little something on here every day! I think it will also be of help to me to see how things progress through 2010, and remind me what I've done when I get to this point next year - because right now I feel like I haven't a clue what I've been doing for the past 12 months!

Another new start for me - as of today I now work part time for Smashbox, and no longer work for Illamasqua. I am sad to leave - I love Illamasqua products and (most of) the people I worked with totally rock, but for reasons I'm not going to discuss it wasn't making me happy. Life is too short to be stuck doing something you dont enjoy, so when the opportunity arose to move on I grabbed it.

I had my first day for Smashbox today and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I got to test out almost everything on the counter today which was great. I went in early so I could do my own makeup with Smashbox products (I don't own anything other than the photo finish primer yet). On first impressions the High Definition foundation is to die for, and I love the HALO powder. No doubt I will be posting more about my favourite Smashbox products in future blogs!

I hope you all have a fantastic Hogmanay tonight - I'm having a quiet one in the flat with Andrew - I hope to speak to you all a little more in 2010, best wishes for the year ahead!

xxx

Bridal

2009-12-17T11:36:00.000Z

Last month I did a couple of bridal themed shoots for Photographer Kenny Wood of K and M Photography and Bridal wear designer Moira Withers of Glitterati.

The first of the two was at the beautiful House for an Art Lover on Glasgow's South side, here is one of my favourites from the day:

I am posting this from my phone so I only have a limited number of images saved to upload here, there are lots more.

The second shoot with these guys was outside at St Andrews in the Square - a stunning venue in Merchant City, Glasgow. I only have behind the scenes photos to post just now, but will add finished ones at some point.

It was absolutely freezing that day, so well done to the models for putting up with it and not moaning!

- Posted from my iPhone using the Blogpress app.

Cameron House cont...

2009-12-17T11:15:00.000Z

The shoot I did at Cameron House (see previous blog post) is now going to feature in the January due issue of POSED magazine.

I have the finished images but can't post them until the magazine is published, so you'll have to be content with the behind the scenes ones I posted before.

- Posted from my iPhone using the Blogpress app.

Cameron House Shoot

2009-11-07T12:04:00.000Z

Last month I did a shoot with stylist Sarah Munro at Cameron House, on the banks of Loch Lomond. The location was absolutely stunning.

The model was the gorgeous Amanda Hamilton from Superior Model Management, and our photographer was David Stanton. I'd been keen to work with both Amanda and David for a while, so that worked out pretty well!

This set is for submissions so I can't post any of the finished shots at the moment but here's some behind the scenes shots for you to enjoy.

Cameron House

Bonny bonny banks of Loch Lomond - the sunshine of earlier in the day had disappeared by this point, it was a bit grey - but still so beautiful.

Oh yeah, we borrowed a couple of owls and a Harris hawk from the bird of prey center who were there for a wedding on the day! This winter's 'must have' accessory - you heard it here first!!

I will keep you posted when we know where it will be published :-)

x

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Alex Box by Rankin

2009-11-07T10:49:00.000Z

I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy of Alex Box by Rankin!!

As well as being one of the masterminds behind Illamasqua, the company I work for, Alex is a huge inspiration to me.
Her style is so distinct, and not necessarily something I try to emulate everyday - I think my own style as a makeup artist is much more simple and clean - but it encourages me to think outside the box and try something different every now and again.

x

-- Posted from my iPhone

Projects Manager

2009-11-07T10:06:00.001Z

Wowee, I haven't written here for AGES! I may do a few posts today, I'm in my bed off sick from work - so will be blogging from my iPhone.

Most of my spare time recently has been taken up doing stuff for POSED Magazine. I was appointed projects manager, so I now have lots of organisation and coordination to do. Which is fine by me, because I love organising and coordinating!!

For those who have been asking, our first issue (issue 0) is at the printers as we speak and will be available on a limited edition basis very very soon. I'll try and remember to keep you posted here, but go sign up to the POSED blog - I'm in charge of that too - to be sure you'll recieve all our latest news. www.posedmagazine.com

We are now hard at work on our 2nd issue, so it's all hands on deck for the next few weeks.

x

-- Posted from my iPhone

Sassoon

2009-09-24T22:15:00.007+01:00

Back at the end of July I did a photo shoot with the stylists from Glasgow's Sassoon salon in Princes' Square. Creative Director, Sharz, and his team were to design a collection around a theme for a inter-company competition, there them was a mix of boys hair cuts on girls & experimental schoolgirls of the 70's & 80's.

The makeup was to be bold and experimental, but still polished - so I of course chose some of my new Illamasqua products to create the looks, here are my 2 favourites from the set:

In this first look I used rich liquid foundation mixed with satin primer to create a flawless but natural, dewy finish on the skin. With a little bit of Rumour powder blush to contour.
A blend of liquid metals Enrapture and Solstice, with pure pigments Halcyon and Incite, was used on the eyes. Gaze brow cake was used to define the inner half of the eyebrows.
On the lips we have the best selling red lipstick "Box".

For this second look I again used Rich Liquid Foundation, Satin Primer and this time a little Halcyon Illuminator on the skin.
On the eyes I used Furore pure pigment with a flash of Vulgar powder eyeshadow and a clean line of Mislead cake eyeliner and sealing gel. Vehement brow cake for a really defined brow.
And on the lips I did Welt lipstick with a slick of sheer glass Tantrum over the top.

Illamasqua Dystopia

2009-08-31T17:10:00.001+01:00

I'm sitting in the car waitin for andrew to finish work, so thought I'd take this opportunity to blog about the new autumn/winter collection from Illamasqua.

I popped into work today (on my day off no less) after my lovely manager phoned to say the testers for the new collection had arrived this morning.

Those of you who read the Illamasqua blog www.Illamasqua.blogspot.com will already have seen some of the product shots that Alex has been releasing so I though I'd post some swatches for you.

From top to bottom:

Phenominal liquid metal - like Solstice and Enrapture from sirens but a beautiful Silver colour.

Android Pure Pigment - a gorgeous black/gunmetal pigment with silver shimmer. This will make an amazing smokey eye!

Static Pure Pigment - an ethereal white/pink irradescent pigment, gorgeous to highlight or add a bit of depth to the many matt powder shadows.

3 powder eyeshadows:
Synth - Irradescent white with alight shimmer.
Matter - Dark grey gunmetal shade, lovely soft texture.
Machine - Matt black with silver shimmer particles.

Explode sheer lipgloss - pearly sheer lipgloss, slightly irradescent.

Galactic intense lipgloss - Amazing full on metallic silver!

Avenge lipstick - bright orangey pink lipstick, nice creamy texture full of colour (would you expect anything less?!)

Then we have 2 new nail varnishes, Velocity and Obsess.
Velocity - a lovely smokey grape, reminds me of stormy rain clouds! I love it. Will be popular with fans of DWS I think.
Obsess - neon purple pink, as Alex described - a perfect mix between Grab and Collide.

Last but not least there are two eyeshadow quads:

Top: (clockwise from top right) Quantum, Raps, Matter and Synth.
Bottom: (clockwise from top right) Spectra, Cancan, Fatal and Machine.

Hope you enjoy that preview there, Dystopia collection will be available instore from 10th September. If you'd like to make an appointment with the team in Glasgow Debenhams, give us a call: 0141 221 3889

Contact details for other retailers can be found on www.Illamasqua.com

x.

-- Post From My iPhone

You Saved Me Tonight

2009-08-07T22:47:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I was working on a music video for brand new singer/songwriter Scott Peden. A couple of months ago Scott hired me for the album artwork photoshoot upon recommendation from another makeup artist who was unavailable. So when he came to do the video for his debut single "Sauchiehall Street" he got intouch again.

Shooting started at 6pm and we were on the go till about 2am this morning. The director, Dan, specialises in guerilla filming on location, so we basically spent the night driving between different locations in Glasgow, jumping out of cars and quickly nailing the shot. It was so exciting! lol. I loved it :-)

The love interest was played by the gorgeous Amy McLelland from Superiour Model Managment. Such a lovely girl, very laid back and totally up for the relative madness that ensued! Sarah Munro the stylist was also awesome, she pulled loads of brilliant clothes for Scott and Amy.

Looking forward to working with Sarah and Amy again soon I hope.

Anyhoo, here's some snaps from the evening:

Scott & Amy

In the chip shop

Director Dan

Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow

Lots of running up and down alleyways!

Was a brilliant night :-) can't wait to see the finished article.

-- Post From My iPhone

Busy week ahead

2009-08-02T22:59:00.002+01:00

I can't believe how busy this week has ended up being!

I am off on Monday, tomorrow, which will give me a chance to tidy the house a bit - which I have been meaning to do since I came back from Spain about a week and a half ago!

I am then working tuesday wednesday and thursday... and on Thursday night I am shooting for a Music Video - bring on the red bull and pro plus: 5.30pm-4.30am after a full day at work...! I am really looking forward to doing this video, a while back I did makeup for the album artwork with the same artist, hopefully all will be revealed soon!

I am hoping that I will get to do a behind the scenes blog as we go, but it will of course depend how hectic things get on set! So don't be angry if I don't manage it!

Sassoon

2009-08-01T17:36:00.001+01:00

Last Sunday I spent the day in the salon with the team at Vidal Sassoon in Glasgow. We were doing a shoot for an in-company competition.

The hairstyles were brilliant, and I was so impressed by the models. None of them were professional models but they all worked it better than some I know who are!

I should get some shots back in a few weeks time so will post them for you to see when they arrive.

A shot of some of kit layed out.

-- Post From My iPhone

iPhone app

2009-07-29T15:48:00.003+01:00

I am feeling pretty terrible about my lack of blogging recently, and I blame it all on the purchasing of my lovely new iPhone 3Gs.

I've hardly used my pc since I got it, and have there for been neglecting most things online, except Twitter!!

Today I downloaded this handy application, BlogPress, so now I can blog from here too! Looking forward to behind the scenes posts from now on, I can post as it's taking place!

So erm yeah, please accept my apologies for my recent absence and keep your eyes peeled for future posts!

X

-- Post From My iPhone

Catch Up

2009-07-26T21:42:00.004+01:00

I can't belive it's been nearly a month since my last blog! I just don't know where time is disappearing to at the moment!

So here's a quick run down of what I've been up to this month:

I had a shoot with the wonderful Hamish Campbell - First I work with him on soething for the first issue of P O S E D magazine, then we decided to doing another shoot together.
Our lovely model was Numba, who deserves congratulations since she has just been taken on by Stolen in Edinburgh!

I am waiting on all the finished images from Hamish, but in the meantime here are a few examples:

Looking forward to working with both Numba and Hamish again in the not too distant future :)

----------------------------

Also this month Andrew had his Graduation. 2:1 BSc Music Technology (hons) - I'm so proud. Here is a picture of us on the day, Andrew looking gorgeous in his kilt!

We just got back from a 4 day break in Spain too... it was brilliant, just a shame we couldn't stay longer - I was quite enjoying the sunshine and swimming pool lifestyle!

Neals Yard Update

2009-06-29T23:50:00.003+01:00

A couple of months ago I blogged about a new cleanser and moisturiser I bought from neals Yard... you can read that post here. So I thought I'd update you on how I'm getting on 2 months down the line.

I am very very happy with these products, I think i have finally found something that works for my skin! Before I started using Neals yard my skin was very dry (even flakey in areas) but prone to break outs.

I have been using the Calendula cleanser twice each day (morning and night) massaging it into dry skin (after removing my eye makeup at night) then removing with a damp face cloth. I have only been using the Jasmine enriching cream in the mornings - I read somewhere about just letting your skin do its own thing with its natural oils at night so thought I'd give it a try as I often feel my skin is more oily in the morning if I moisturise at night. That seems to be working out pretty well for me!

I've still had a few little spots here and there, but no where near as bad as my skin used to be.

My only negative comment is that I am finding the Jasmine Enriching cream is maybe a bit too floral in scent for me... i really dont like flowery smells and although I didnt feel it was all that strong when i bought it, I'm finding it quite over powering now. So I may try a different moisturiser once this one is finished.

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On a side note I have changed my sugar. I read somewhere else online (you can tell I spend alot of time reading beauty blogs right!) that white sugar isn't very good for you or for the skin... so I replaced my white granulated sugar with Natural Golden Granulated sugar, and my white caster sugar for baking with Natural Golden Caster sugar.

Both are unrefined so much better for you and I would probably put part of my improved skin down to this change over too. The golden sugar is only about 35p more than regular white stuff, so well worth it in my opinion.

Not been here for a while

2009-06-29T23:26:00.004+01:00

Sorry I've not been blogging much recently... been mega busy doing not a lot!

Nah, I have been busy... things with P O S E D magazine are really starting to come together now... we have all the shoots for issue 1 in so now its just a case of working out the layout etc, contacting advertisers and then distributors and getting it out there! Very exciting stuff!

Keep watching the P O S E D blog over at blog.posed.biz for all the latest news.

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I'm hoping to get an iPhone very soon and am planning on being able to blog on the go, so that'll be fun if it comes off!

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Oh, go check out www.cakeupartist.com too, its my other blog... for cakey goodness! Not a lot on it yet, but hoping to expand as soon as I get time!

Oatcakes

2009-06-17T14:33:00.009+01:00

This isn't actually a blog about those biscuity cracker type things made from oats, best eaten with cheese rather than porridge - as our scottish ancestors did... thats a whole lot of oats right there!

In actual fact this post is about a very talented photographer Sarah Oates, aka Oatcakes.

I first met Sarah in summer 2007 when she modelled for a shoot I was doing makeup for with David Sams. This shoot took place just before she moved to Australia and unfortunately I didn't get the time to get to know her any better :(

I started "watching" her on dA, ... that sounds stalkerish - its not, honestly! That's what you do on deviantArt, watch people! I LOVED her photographs, their emotional honesty and artistic quality together made for compelling viewing. In no particular order, here are some of my favourites:

I only knew Sarah at this point from what other friends who know her had told me, and from reading her Journals on dA, she didn't want to be in Australia - the picture above told me "I want to come home"

Sarah is home now :-) Has been for a few months and I am happy to say I have had the opportunity to get to know her a little bit better both socially and professionally on a shoot for P O S E D magazine. I can safely say she's one of the nicest people I've met :)

Next week we're going to go charity shop shopping and hula hooping in the park, providing the weather holds up!

Check out more of Sarahs work on her website

Another P O S E D blog

2009-06-13T23:18:00.002+01:00

I just updated the P O S E D Magazine blog with some behind the scenes info from the past two days of shoots, go check it out.

P O S E D

The past few weeks have been HARD work for all of the POSED team, including our contributing photographers, but we are getting closer and closer to having a final product and I am so excited! The shoots I have seen so far for issue 1 are looking great :)

Keep your eyes peeled!

New Illamasqua Blog

2009-06-11T22:52:00.004+01:00

Just wanted to let all my lovely watchers know about the new Illamasqua blog...

Run by marketing assistant Alex Cummings, the blog aims to bring you not only the latest news, events, gossip and development from the world of Illamasqua, but also endeavours to give you a glimpse into the hectic and fun world of cosmetics – introduce you to the team, see who does what and show you how a beauty company works.

Add it to your list, I am positive it will be a fun one to watch :)

Illamasqua Blog

Nothing much to talk about...

2009-06-03T23:08:00.003+01:00

I feel like I haven't written on my blog for AGES!

Not entirely sure why but I'm pretty sure the glorious weather we've been having has had something to do with me not wanting to spend too much time sitting in front of my computer.

On Sunday Andrew and I spent a lovely day in Bellahouston park and Pollock park. We took photos, ate ice cream and visited the Burrell collection. Was lots of fun, and a nice change to be able to wander around in shorts and tshirt and actually feel warm rather than the usual too cold! 27°c top temp :)

Andrew

On Friday I had a shoot with mcinnes was nice to wrok with him again after such a long time, looking forward to seeing the results.

Got a few things to update you all on soon, so I'll try and keep this up a bit better than I have been recently! Keep your eyes peeled.

Ayr again

2009-05-26T22:41:00.003+01:00

Had another fantastic shoot with Colleen yesterday at her home in Ayr. Our model was Sara Pender who was absolutely wonderful. Sara has only been modelling for just over a year, but was one of the most professional models I have worked with - her ability to slightly change her pose for each and every frame was second to none.

Colleen was fab as ever. Trying a few different techniques to get a great range of shots. We managed 3 looks in the session, examples of each are here:

...and it was all Yellow

2009-05-26T15:04:00.007+01:00

On friday I teamed up with photographer Marty Bell for the second time. I was at home visiting my mum so marty travelled up from Edinburgh with our model for the day, Lisa, and his friend/assistant Rich. We had two locations we wanted to work in, a very yellow Rapeseed field and then a derelict Priory near my home in Cupar.

Here's a behind the scenes video taken from Marty's blog, followed by a few of the finished photographs.

Dreamy and Demure

2009-05-20T20:38:00.007+01:00

On Monday I had another fantastic shoot with talented teen photographer, Colleen McMahon. Our model was the wonderful Lauren Lamarr, aka Lacey Demure.

We wanted to create dreamy fantastical images and decided a wooded area and a meadow, near Colleens home in Ayr, would be perfect. You can see Colleens behind the scenes blog here I'm not going to go through it all again because she has done it so well on her blog!

Here's my favourites from the finished shots:

My first cover

2009-05-16T00:48:00.006+01:00

I mentioned previously here that I had done makeup for a photoshoot for a Scottish property magazine published by The Scotsman.

A couple of days ago we recieved advanced copies :) Front cover plus 7 page spread!

Not exactly VOGUE but I'm chuffed to bits with it all the same!

P O S E D Magazine

2009-05-15T23:40:00.003+01:00

Over the past months ... I'm actually not entirely sure since when, I have been involved in the set up of a brand new Fashion Magazine: P O S E D.

Myself along with 3 photographers, another makeup artist and a model decided to create a scottish based high fashion magazine. The idea began with a plan to set up an online magazine... since then the project has grown arms and legs and upon gaining a lot of momentum will now be released in print form.

We are aiming for the first issue to be released nationally, if not internationally in early Fall '09.

Until then you will be able to follow the progress on the P O S E D Blog and via twitter. In the next 10 days our website will go live, so keep an eye out for that too @ POSED.biz

I will also keep you posted on the progress here, but only with major developments... I am blogging for the POSED Blog too, so thats where the most information will go. You can see my first two entries over there now.

x

Thanks

2009-05-05T13:40:00.004+01:00

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to Colleen for making my new blog header.

"THANK YOU!"

xx

Casual Creative

2009-05-04T22:25:00.005+01:00

On sunday I had a shoot with talented young photographer Colleen McMahon, modelling for us was another very talented young photographer (who incidently is also a fantastic model) Gail Mackenzie.

We had a very chilled out session, managing 3 completely different looks in 3 and a half hours. We all got on really well (although I've spoken to them online I'd never met Colleen or Gail before) which made things much easier. No stress, no ego's just lots of creativity, playing with different looks, new lighting set ups and poses. It was great fun.

On top of that I think we got some brilliant results from it all, which is always a bonus! I've picked my favourites from each look so far... although Colleen says there is still more to come!

Yu Spa

2009-05-04T21:45:00.006+01:00

It was my Mum's Birthday on Friday... and in light of recent events, my sister and I decided she could do with a nice relaxing day out as a birthday treat.

We wanted to enjoy the day together so decided on the Spa Lunch package at the Yu Spa in the Apex Hotel, Dundee. Basically the day consists of a morning with unlimited use of the Spa facilities: Technogym Wellness Studio, ozone swimming pool, Japanese inspired hot tubs, herbal infused steam room and sauna, followed by a three course lunch in the hotel's Metro Brasserie. At £20 per person, this option was fantastic value for money.

We gave the gym a miss since this was meant to be relaxing, and spent a couple of hours enjoying the pool, hot tubs, steam room and sauna... it was very nice. Friday morning must be a popular day, it was quite busy, but this didnt spoil the chilled out atmosphere one bit.
When we left to get dressed for lunch I noticed my skin felt very soft and hydrated... I can only put this down to the Yu Spa, since I am pretty bad at moisturising anywhere other than my face on a regular basis!

Lunch in the Brasserie was fantastic, we chose three courses from a set menu - I went for the mozzarella, vine tomato and basil cress salad to start, followed by pasta with sun blush tomato and mascarpone sauce then white chocolate and dark chocolate mousse with cherry compote for dessert. The starter and main course were delicious but I have to say that my dessert was to die for! I'd have happily had 3 helpings of that for my lunch alone! :-)

I would have loved to experience one of the many treatments that Yu Spa has to offer, however starting a new job with a little gap in wage payments dictated otherwise this time I'm afraid! There is a fantastic range on offer, including Elemis Face and Body treatments, Hand and Nail treatments, a number of Holistic Therapies and Massages as well as a range of treatments for Men. You can view the entire Yu Spa brochure here.

Next time I visit I would like to go for one of the half day treatment packages it's nice to feel pampered every now and again! I thoroughly enjoyed the morning at Yu Spa and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a way to relax and unwind.

pyjama day

2009-04-29T22:15:00.004+01:00

I've had SUCH a lazy day today it's unbelievable, but I think I needed it. I just spent the day helping Andrew with some of his honours project for uni, catching up on emails and chilling watching tv, 'twas nice.

Finally had to get dressed and head out to get a card for my mum as well as some milk and breakfast cereal, so I did get a brief breath of fresh air today!

I am working a half day tomorrow then heading home to my Mum's because it's her birthday on Friday. Mum, my sister and I are going to the Yu Spa at Dundee Apex hotel on Friday morning so I will tell you all about that when I get back. Really looking forward to it.

Marcos also sent me a link to proofs from our shoot earlier in the month today, so I will be sure to post some more shots when I get them for you to see.

I am shooting on Sunday with Colleen down in Ayr, I am looking forward to working with someone new on some creative ideas. As always i shall post the results for you to see :)

Illamasqua ships internationally!

2009-04-28T22:19:00.004+01:00

I just wanted to let you all know... Illamasqua will now ship internationally from the website! So go check out Illamasqua.com and get ordering!

I would say however that I have found the online colour swatches aren't always completely accurate. Obviously when you're buying online, colour picking is always pretty difficult, but if any one would like me to give them a description of any specific colours just drop me a line and I'll get back to you asap.

You'll find my email address on my website, Siananigans.com

Holiday photos

2009-04-27T14:54:00.003+01:00

I posted a couple of facebook galleries yesterday and today if anyone is interested. Feel free to add me on facebook too if you like.

1. Photos from my Snowboarding trip with Andrew last month.

2. Photos from my Summer holiday in Turkey last year.

Click the pictures to view the gallery.

Neals Yard treats

2009-04-26T16:51:00.006+01:00

My skin has been going a bit mental recently - probably a number of contributing causes like new job nerves, family life stress, spring time, lol. It's been mega mega dry, but I've also been getting some pretty bad breakouts. So on Wednesday I decided that I would use the money my mum gave me for easter to treat myself to some Neals Yard goodies as recommended by my friend Pauline.

I went to the Neals Yard store in Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow. I believe you can get some Neals Yard products in larger Boots stores, but for my first time I wanted to get the proper experience - If I stick with the products then I may move to boots so I can at least collect my advantage points!

I described my skin to the lovely lady in the shop (I'm sorry I can't remember her name, if I find out I will update this) and she recommended a few different products to me. I had a feel and a smell and eventually settled upon the Calendula Cleanser and Jasmine Enriching Cream.
Calendula cleanser is designed for Dry and Sensitive skin and I knew from when I worked for Korres that Calendula has soothing and anti-inflammatory properties and is often used topically to treat acne so this sounded perfect for me. It has a very mild scent, which I love - I hate anything too over powering scent wise. I've been using this twice a day since I bought it and am very pleased with it so far. I remove my eye makeup first with Bobbi Brown long wear eyemakup remover then massage this into my skin and remove with a wet face cloth. Lovely :-)

The Jasmine Enriching Cream is just beautiful! Designed to help skin retain moistureand to protect and restore dry or sun damaged skin. When I apply this is feels very hydrating, but it doesn't appear greasy on the surface of my skin. I like a rich moisturiser, but I hate that oil-slick look, so this is just perfect. Again it has a very mild scent. Also from my time at Korres I know that jasmine oil is one of the most expensive to produce and source due to the massive number of flowers needed to produce even a small amount of Oil, so this feels like such a treat!

I was also given samples of the new Nourishing Orange Flower Night Cream and Polish, and am really enjoying trying them out too. I think I will pop along to the launch event in the store on Thursday 30th if I have time.

Marcos Rivera... again!

2009-04-26T16:46:00.006+01:00

I got another shot through from the NYC photographer that I worked with earlier this month, Marcos Rivera - I love it, just had to show you guys!

I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to work with Marcos while he was visiting Scotland.

Work today

2009-04-25T00:33:00.004+01:00

I had my first proper day with Illamasqua today... I actually started on Wednesday after training on Monday and Tuesday, but it was pretty quiet on Wednesday as we didn't launch properly until Thursday.

First off... Thursday was a day off for me, but I went into work anyway for a little while as i was desperate to meet our creative director Alex Box.

I've said to a few people about meeting her, I really didn't know what to expect... but Alex was one of the most down to earth, friendly people I've met - Such and inspiration. Also, much more petite than I had imagined!

Anyway on to today, it was such a good day, lots of atmosphere on counter and a pretty steady flow of customers and browsers all day really. Fellow blogger saskia came in, so it was great to have a chat with her and swap blog chat!

I was doing a makeup towards the end of the day and we had the music on in the background... bit of Marilyn Manson, bit of NIN and lots of other great bands ... and I'm just thinking "This is fantastic, I'm here, I'm doing makeup, we've got great music AND I'm getting paid!" Loving it! :)

location location location

2009-04-19T22:28:00.003+01:00

I forgot to post about this the other day when I said I would...

Back at the end of March I had a full day shoot across on the east coast of Scotland, just south of Edinburgh. Myself, David Sams and stylist Grace Maran were doing a test shoot for a property magazine which is part of the Scotsman Publishing group.

Basically they wanted us to do a fashion shoot that would also show off this new housing development to potential buyers. Models and fashion to make it a bit more interesting.

It was a pretty difficult brief as the 2 properties we were given to shoot in were pretty uninspiring... and undressed... no furniture or finishings to work with. But we got on with and got some pretty good shots, although maybe not the standard we're all used to working on as a team.

So we were a bit nervous about whether the mag would be happy or not, whether we had shown off the properties enough etc... anyway, long story short, they Loved them! Extended the feature from 5 pages to 7 pages :-)

Not sure when it's out yet, but I will be sure to let you know and will post my new tear sheets in due course.

x

Marcos Rivera

2009-04-16T21:14:00.005+01:00

Yesterday - actually, the day before yesterday, Wednesday - I had the pleasure of working with a fantastic photographer from new York City, Marcos Rivera, during his visit to Scotland.

Working with new people is always a little nerve wracking for me, as well as exciting, but I was particularly nervous about working with Marcos after I looked at his MM profile and realised how I have admired alot of his work on various other model and MUA profiles many a time!

The shoot went really really well, we concentrated on beauty shots, which is of course fantastic for me. I had the chance to experiment a bit with different makeup looks too - its always nice to have freedom to play! I can't remember the last time laughed so much at a shoot either - lots of fun.

Here's a couple of examples, enjoy :)

I have some more news, but will post about that in the morning :) nightnight x

Topsy Turvy

2009-04-06T21:46:00.004+01:00

This was never really meant to be an overly personal blog, I wanted it more to be about my work: a place where I could show you behind the scenes photos from shoots and chat about makeup... but we don't always get what we want, do we?

I've just had the worst two days of my life... and I don't think its going to get much better anytime soon unfortunately. I got some news yesterday that turned my world upside down and I am a mess of emotions right now. I didn't realise that someone I love so unconditionally could cause this much hurt.

I wanted to write about this here because I feel like you are my friends, in a weird sort of never-met-in-real-life kind of way! I can't say much more, I just wanted you to know that if I don't seem like myself right now thats because I'm not really myself right now.

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I will be down in Newcastle/Gateshead for a few days as of tomorrow with my mum and my sister. Need to get away for a bit. Will check out Illamasqua in Fenwick whilst I'm there I think.

What to wear

2009-04-05T00:04:00.004+01:00

I just had to get that photo of my big face off the first post of my blog! lol, not what I like to see every time I log in!

Only 2 days left at Bobbi guys (tues and sat)! I can't actually believe I'm leaving, but I am sooo looking forward to Illamasqua. I've been thinking though - I don't know what to wear! I keep hearing stories about girls in london wearing thingh high boots and other very "out there" outfits... I don't think that'll go down too well in Debenhams here! I've been told "glamourous" whatever that could mean... I'm thinking maybe black trousers with black corset... I don't know if there is a uniform, but I'm assuming black.

Maybe someone whos been to the counters that are elsewhere can let me know!

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I spent a little while this evening curling my hair - I've burnt my thumb in the process though - but I really like it. Unfortunately I wont have time to do this before work every day. Maybe I should get a perm!?

Scratch

2009-04-03T00:17:00.006+01:00

I have always bitten my nails... for as long as I can remember :(

I went through phases of having acrylic nails and stuff but my own nails always ended up worse off when they came off because they were brittle and even more tempting for the nibbler in me.

When I learned that I had got the job with Illamasqua I thought "I have to put an end to this nail biting, the nail varnishes look so amazing I can't have horrible stubby nails on counter!"

So the challenge began. Since I have none of my own (I have attempted this before) I enlisted the help of "Willpower in a bottle" STOP'nGROW! It didn't work for me when I tried it at 15, but thought it was worth another shot.

That was a week and a half ago and I haven't bitten since!

If I can manage another week and a bit I'm treating myself to a manicure once I finish at Bobbi on the 11th. x

So I went to get shoes for work...

2009-04-03T00:11:00.006+01:00

... and failed miserably!

Ended up in Office, looking at the sale shoes - nothing was really catching my eye, until I spotted these with £20 off;

So I am afraid I had to buy them. They're so pretty! I love the chunkier heel, they're kinda vintage looking but with a modern feel to them as well. But soooo not work shoes, although I am sure I will try!

tweet tweet

2009-04-02T16:17:00.004+01:00

I have joined the world of twitter... would love some more followers, at the moment it's only people that I know in "real life" that I am following! So if any of you are on twitter, add me and I'll return the favour.

Siananigans on Twitter

The rumours are true...

2009-04-01T13:24:00.001+01:00

After 15 months I am leaving Bobbi Brown for a position with exciting new brand Illamasqua. A bit of a 180° as far as style, but I am looking forward to the challenge of something completely different to what I've been doing for the past while.

Illamasqua’s mission is to provide high-performance, professional make-up to anyone who wants to self-express and accentuate their look beyond the norm. Developed by leading chemists, manufacturers of stage and screen make-up and make-up artists, Illamasqua brings truly professional make-up to the high street for the first time.

Designed to be colour-intense, colour-true and long lasting, Illamasqua offers an unprecedented range – giving you a huge palette with which to express yourself, whoever you are and whatever look you want to achieve. This is self-expression at its most creative, allowing women and men who dare to be different to create a look that can be achieved confidently at home and flaunted at night.

I will keep you posted in the next couple of weeks with regards to the progress, we are due to open in Debenhams, Glasgow on the 22nd April, although that date is not set in stone as yet.

xx

Miss Ladyhawke

2009-03-26T21:35:00.003Z

I'm not usually one to listen to T4 music and the like to tell me who I should and shouldn't like music wise, but the other day I caught a glimpse of Ladyhawke on the tv, and instantly fell in love.

I watched a few videos on youtube before deciding to go ahead and get her album... I must say it rocks! I love the synths

I love this song, but my favourite from the album is ~~"Love Don't Live Here"~~... scratch that, I can't actually decide what my favourite song is, they're all brilliant! If you haven't heard her music yet, check it out.

Her style is awesome too... it seems quite like my own, boys jeans, tshirts and biker boots... dark eyemakeup and pale lips :)

xx

website revamp

2009-03-22T17:55:00.002Z

Had a bit of a clean up of my website today - a nice productive way to spend your day off I think! Click the image to see it and let me know if you like it.

I still need to add all my new shots to the gallery... i will be doing that this afternoon too.

xx

Where the hell have you been!?

2009-03-21T21:44:00.005Z

Ok... so here's what happened - a brief summary:

Tiscali are rubbish - they messed up everything when Andrew and I moved house back in December, it took us until the end of February to get everything sorted (ie for us to leave them without getting charged for terminating the contract). Then we had to wait about 6 weeks from them turning off our internet until our account had completely cleared from their system before we could sign up to another internet provider!

So two months on I am back online!

I have missed you all and missed writing my blog, although you will notice I have made a couple of updates when possible.

My favourite shot of the moment from recent times is this one:

Photographer: David Sams - seducedbyguadiness

Model: Claire Louise @ Model Team

Normal service should resume from now!

The past month or so

2009-03-05T15:18:00.009Z

As some of you already know, I have no internet connection at home at the moment so I haven't been able to update this as often as I would like. So since this is all stuff that has passed now I am just going to post a pile of photographs from my recent shoots with David in one big post.

Feel free to post comments, I like to hear what you all think, here we go:

Model: Zoe James @ Model Team

Photographer: David Sams - seducedbyguadin ess

Model: Claire Louise @ Model Team

Photographer: David Sams - seducedbyguadiness

Model: Ann @ The Look

Photographer: David Sams - seducedbyguadiness

Model: Ann @ Model Team

Photographer: David - seducedbyguadiness

My latest news is that I am currently in France on a Snowboarding holiday with Andrew. We've started a blog for our trip, so go have a look! Chillax09

No Internet

2009-02-27T01:06:00.000Z

I am soooo stressed out... I knew I was online A LOT, but I don't think you really realise quite how much until you don't have it. My internet has been offline for 2 weeks atleast now!

I have done loads of shoots in that time and have behind the scenes and finished shots to post from them all... but since I am currently only just managing to use my phone as a modem I can't upload :(

Keep watching, as soon as I'm back online there will be lots to see!

Andrew and I are off to France on Tuesday snowboarding, wish me luck, and hopefully I'll be back a week later still in one piece!

xx

How cute...

2009-02-12T21:12:00.003Z

... look what I just bought, isn't it cute!

Its a camera... but it takes 3 shots within a second all on the same negative (yes, negative - it uses some crazy thing called film - must investigate further!) They look like this...

I thought it'd be fun to have a play with when we're in France snowboarding next month, and at £12 inc. postage off ebay it was a bit of a bargain :) I'm very excited - such a child!

ArtPunk and snow

2009-02-09T23:34:00.003Z

Yesterday I had a shoot with Paul Muir, aka ArtPunk at the Buff Club in Glasgow. It was a paid shoot for private clients, so wouldn't usually mention it or post photos. But one of the girls that was there, Christina, gave me permission to use this one as I liked it best from the whole day.

Christina is such a lovely person, I really enjoyed working with her Yesterday. She designs and makes jewellery ... see her blog here.

It started snowing again on the way home from this shoot, and by 9pm there was a good few inches lying around where Andrew and I live... so we went for a walk! I put on my snowboarding gear and wrapped up warm... 'twas so much fun! I can't wait to go to France in march - even if I still can't master the snowboarding part I'll just stomp around in the snow - I love the sound it makes underfoot!

Shooting with David again tomorrow, hopefully, I haven't heard from the model... but hopefully she'll be in touch by the morning. So keep your eyes peeled for shots from that coming soon.

First shot from Lara

2009-02-06T14:52:00.002Z

I'm so pleased LaraJade managed to fit in starting editing some of the shots from our shoot at the beginning of January... She's mega busy at the moment so I'm really grateful :)

Here's the first one, I'm going to save the rest until I have them all to choose from!

Obviously this is a wide shot, so you can't see the makeup all that well... but thats why its just a teaser!

x

Here comes the bride...

2009-02-05T13:05:00.004Z

On Sunday I had a brilliant shoot with David and model Michelle MacDonald. Glitterati kindly loaned us 3 bridal gowns, and we shot in TigerTiger which turned out to be a great location.

I think the location provided lots of new challenges for all of us, not least of all myself - doing hair and makeup in the dark is not the best working environment! I managed to seat Michelle in an area where there was a little more light than in the rest of the place and it all went ok, but not ideal!

I am really pleased with the results, and I know Moira from Glitterati will be delighted to see them.

It's Snowing!!

2009-02-02T13:26:00.009Z

Andrew went out to Uni early this morning and as he left he told me it was snowing... when I eventually got out of bed I expected a light dusting, or infact for it all to have now melted... but instead I was greeted by this!

I LOVE snow... I'm so excited about going snowboarding next month it's going to be brilliant, I know the snow here won't last, but atleast in the Alps it's pretty much guaranteed!

Also this morning I unearthed a rare behind the scenes shot of me actually doing some makeup! I am usually the one taking behind the scenes shots, so I was dead happy to find this one on Lara's facebook page from our shoot back at the beginning of January!

As you may or may not be able to tell... it was veeery cold, and also very windy - hence the state of my hair!!

What a rubbish start to the day

2009-01-30T18:50:00.002Z

Argh... you know how they say that moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do in life? Well I have a new theory - moving house isn't nearly as stressful as all the stuff you have to deal with such as moving your telephone, re-directing your mail etc.

The past few weeks have been a bit of a nightmare for me - between BT and Tiscali a big mess up has happened which basically has led to them fighting over who I rent my line from! When I moved house I had to get a new contract with BT, all was fine, then tiscali requested the transfer of that line to them without my consent, so I get a cancellation bill of £150 from BT! wtf? I didn't even want my line rental from Tiscali, so I tell BT not to transfer it and I ask Tiscali to cancel the line rental because I neve requested it in the first place - in order to cancel that they also have to cancel my internet and tv package................ argh, that is so retarded!

So 2.5 hrs to them both today and hopefully it is sorted - and the lovely man (the only helpful person I've spoken to through this whole thing) at Tiscali assures me I will be compensated for all this faff... Here's hoping, but I'm not holding my breath!

Cancelled

2009-01-26T23:19:00.003Z

Was meant to have another shoot with Clare Martin tomorrow but we've had to cancel... Clare couldn't get hold of the model for the past week and a bit to confirm.
I hate hearing that this type of thing happens to people, I would never dream of even cancelling a shoot without a very very good reason, nevermind just not responding before hand or even worse just not turning up.

I don't get it.

So that means I am also off tomorrow - which is good - since today I didn't do any of the things I was planning on doing! Business plan and letters tomorrow, I promise!

Got a bit of an exciting project going on at the moment with David, Ian and a few others... can't wait for it to get going properly - but for now its a secret... Shhh!

15 followers!

2009-01-25T23:25:00.008Z

Thats crazy! I can't believe 15 people have signed up to read my blog - and the even crazier thing is that only 2 are people I know in "real life" - my boyfriend Andrew and a photographer I've worked with a few times - Tom Thompson. So thats 13 relative strangers interested in what little-ol'-me has to say! Mental...

Got a few shots back so far from the shoot I had with McInnes on Friday, here's my favourite one so far:

Chelle is half Scottish/half Filipina - really beautiful - Still quite new to modelling, but I think she did really well considering it was only her 2nd shoot.

We did 4 different looks, mainly for portfolio headshots - and as per usual McInnes has produced beautiful images. I will be sure to post from the other 3 looks when I get them through.

*Edit at 00.23 26th Jan: Make that 16 followers, thanks McInnes!*