What Makes a Good Makeup Assistant?

One of the many ways to extend your knowledge of makeup artistry, is to assist other makeup artists who preferably, have been in the business for sometime and can offer advice and tips in any given field. Whether that be film, theatre or editorial.

You can make the rounds of all the major agencies (a list of which can be found on www.ftape.com) and ask them if it's possible to assist any of the major artists on their books or you can contact any artist directly.  Keep in mind that most of these people get many, many emails on a monthly basis (if my own inbox is anything to go by and I'm not exactly Pat McGrath!) But the key is to stand out from the crowd.  When you contact these people, talk about your interests and what you are prepared to do. If you are willing to travel, work long hours etc.  If possible, attach any work you have done.

So, once you have been extremely lucky to get your foot in the door, you have to ask yourself if you are prepared to stick it out.  You will, for the majority of the time,  be asked to "work" a full day for no money. To clean brushes and paint models toes (and sometimes they can look a little suspect to say the least!) to make the tea, to run errands, to clean up.  But the things you will learn will be invaluable and allow you to fast track your knowledge.  You will learn things that would have taken you years to find out on your own. More importantly, you will meet people that will benefit you in the long run.

But as I mentioned earlier, it is a very competitive position and it's usually rare to find a "great" assistant.  In fact, there are some, who being inert is an art in itself! The trick to success is to make yourself indispensable.

So based on years of working with assistants, here is my list of do's and don'ts:

Do
Get to location early. If call time is 8:15 get there at least 10 mins earlier, it shows you're keen.

Don't
Get there late and spend most of your time on facebook talking about "the celebrity" your working on.

Do
Make sure if you are asked to bring brushes or a hairdryer, that it is packed.....  and working!

Don't
Spend all your time talking to the model/celebrity instead of actually working, you are primarly there to help.


Do
Remember to practice whatever you have learnt, you never know when you will be asked to recreate it.

Don't
Moan within earshot, no one want's to be around negativity.... save it for when you get home!

Do
Ask before doing anything! It's nice to think ahead, but some artists don't like their brushes cleaned the second it leaves their hands!

Don't
Stay an assistant for more than a year. You will never be taken seriously as an artist in your own write.

Do
Make sure you make an impression for all the right reasons. You are more likely to recommend a great assistant rather than a mediocre one.

So if you're sure that is the route for you, be prepared for some hard grafting and hopefully some fun jobs.

Good luck!

The Makeup Show Berlin - A Must for Makeup Artists?

I have just returned from The Makeup Show in Berlin.  This is a 2 day show that usually takes place in New York, L.A and Chicago but for the first time ever, it has been brought to Europe.  It promised to be bigger and better than IMATS and more relevant than the Professional Beauty Show.  It was a brave boast considering it was going up against the Professional Beauty show taking place in London at the same time, not to mention London Fashion Week!

We arrived on the Friday ready to go to the VIP networking party, which was held at the venue from 6 until 8pm.  Unfortunately, no one told the yanks that Europeans could perform drinking as a national sport and thus the bar ran dry after an hour.  People dispersed fairly shortly after that. To be frank, I was not too optimistic about the next 2 days.

UV Pigments

On the second day, we arrived pretty early soon after they opened, to avoid the rush.  With our VIP wrist bands that we purchased in London, we were able to walk straight through with no problems.  The major stands were Inglot and  Makeup For Ever (which was to be expected as they were sponsoring the show).  Since they closed their stand alone store in London, It's hard to find the full range, so I headed straight to the Makeup For Ever stand.  Dany Sanz co-founder herself,  was due to be at the stand but had to fly home for personal reasons, but there were other Makeup For Ever creatives on the stand to sell and discuss the products.  My personal  best buy/recommendation was Fluo night UV Pigments  in 8 electric shades. They can be mixed with any medium: hair gels, lipgloss, foundation or mascaras.  I also loved their Aqua Liner. A high precision waterproof eyeliner with 15 intense colours. They have them in matt, iridescent and diamond finish. Eyeliner glides on with smooth precision and unlike most glitter type eyeliners,  this uses fine pigments so the intensity lasts all day and no fiddly glitter bits ending up all over the eye.  Has to be removed using waterproof makeup remover (beware, it was still on the back of my hand even after I had washed them!)

Debbie Bondar Founder

Anyone who has read my previous blogs will know I love, love Face-Atelia Ultra Pro foundations and who was on their stand but the incredible Debbie Bondar, a warm, funny  "jewish mama". A  tiny American, who shouted out "Honey your a 10!" as I walked up to her stand. Obviously I thought she was referring to my striking good looks, but apparently it was the shade of foundations that she has just developed for black skin!...oh well.  She has brought out colours such as 0- (brilliant white), 0+ (mid brown), 0++ (Blue black), which you can use as a mixing medium,  to lighten or darken any foundation meaning you only need 3 basic colours and not the whole 16 colour range.  What impressed me was the 0++ did not look ashy like many of the extreme dark colours I have sampled in the past.  Debbie knows her stuff, I was a 10. I must confess, many of my hard earn Euros went on their products, from the extra long moisturizing lip glosses, to their transforming gel (a mixing medium that stays in a circular blob rather than runs all over your hands like many of the other watery mixing mediums) and their brushes.  And of course there was the exhibition discount (you know how we love a bargain) This is a women I intend to keep in touch with!

Speaking of bargains, there was the Alcone Store which sells everything from Zuca bags to makeup sponges and everything in between.  Now there were a lot of  American stands at the show and as we all know, Americans can be pushy. At times it felt I was back in a Marrakesh bazarre with the shop owner basically following me down the street to get me to come into their store.  But one exhibitor did it with humour and that was the guy at Alcone, he was informative, funny and bitchy with it.  He got the English humour thing and it worked in his favour because his Zuka bags were flying out of his stand like they were stuffed with fivers and this despite the fact they were being sold at double the price sold in the UK and US! 

But my main reason for being at the show was the promise of industry professionals and agents looking at your portfolio. Seasoned makeup artists like James Vincent, Andrea Mayr, Maurice Stein, Loni Baur and many more. Agents like Sternen-faenge and Nude.  Now we all know we get bored of looking at our own books and so we chuck out images we think are not strong enough or we leave in something we absolutely love but no one else shares the same passion for,  or we are weary of showing our book as we doubt it's as good as someone elses you have seen, and if like me, you are not sure what exactly agencies are looking for in your book, this is the place to be.  But let me tell you, this is not for the lilly livered. There were some brave souls out there because some of those queen makeup artists that were critiquing were often brutal but telling you what you needed to hear! Your book is placed on a desk in front of the agent or artist in full view of the crowd who are also trying to peak at your book! As they go through dissecting each image, from the makeup and hair, to the photography and the styling, to the state of the book itself, even the look of your business card!

You could not put a price on this advice, because even though there were some agents that absolutely loved one image that another hated, the basic premise of the advice I received was the same from all.  I came away not only feeling proud of my work, but also felt able to take the advice given and hopefully improve my book 100 fold.

Overall the show for me was a resounding success, but holding it in Germany? No. Most English speakers do not speak German and most of the lectures  and demonstrations, of which there were many, were conducted in German, so I don't think I got the best out of those.  But I look forward to next year and if it's held in Germany again?..... I think I will take myself off to New York City!

Special Thanks to Michael Devellis of The Powder Group (you were my favourite but don't tell the others!)

Debbi Bondar of Face-Atelier for spending time talking to me.
James Vincent who helped put the whole thing together 
Loni Bahr for your great work and my free copy of Tush magazine (my favorite German magazine)
and last but not least Mandy Venter from MAC for filling in the gaps.

Bourjois Review.

This week I have been fortunate to try out Bourjois new Autumn range of products. The last eye shadows I used from Bourjois, I could only realisticaly use them wet (by using MAC water based mixing medium RRP £14.00) otherwise, one would have to continually swipe the eyeshadow pot to get any pigment on the brush.  Well, I am glad to announce they have corrected the issue and brought out their Intense (RRP £6.99) in selection of 10 colours  from deepest black to pink, some with flecks of gold shimmer .  The consistency is slightly powdery so you can still use it with your mixing medium, but because all the colours are so intense you can use it for professional shoots as well. What is more surpising is that Bourjois claim it has 87% mineral pigment, which usually means it's not strong enough for photographic makeup but not the case here.

Using Shades  3,4 and 10

 For a more softer look I used shades 2,8 and 9. I used 10 (black) with mixing medium as eyeliner.

Bourjois have also brought out Healthy Mix serum gel foundation(£RRP£10.99) A new range of light to medium coverage pump application foundations. They contain superfruits like Lychee, Goji and Pomegranate and they smell devine! In 6 shades from ivory to dark olive .  A small amount goes a long way and brings an even tone to the skin without it looking caked on.  It does leave the skin with a sheen, so for photographs  it does need quite a bit of powdering if that's not the look you are going for. I used it on Caucasian and Asian skin tones with minor blemishes and it was perfect to work with.

Last but not least, was a range of Smile Enhancing lip glosses in 6 shades (RRP£6.99). Now I am a big fan of their 3D range so I was looking forward to seeing what new product they had to offer.  This product has a dual application stick. On one end is a tooth brightening Gel (yes, you read correctly!) and on the other end, is the lip gloss.  Well always keen on any red shades, I gave one a go (can't tell you what shade it was as it's only written on the box, which I have since discarded. I have been informed that they will be rectifying this and putting the colour stamp on the actual product in future). Not too gloopy, little bits of shimmer dust for a bit of pizazz and quite moisturizing with a minty taste to it.  As for the teeth gel, well apart from the fact that I thought that was totally gross (I didn't like the fact that you put it from pot to your teeth, build up of plaque etc...I know it's my OCD rearing it's head but nooo!) It also tastes quite bitter, reminded me of topcoat lip fix.   Did I notice any difference in my tooth appearance? Frankly no, but don't let that put you off the lip gloss.