SRA Graduation Show Inspiration

Our 12FM2F Grad show is in less than two months and we have decided on an 'Eras Reinvented' theme. Starting with Tribal and moving through Ancient Greek and Egypt, Revolutionary France, all the major eras from the 20th Century, Harijuku Tokyo and into two different future possibilities, it will be a fast paced and exciting journey though the history of makeup.

I chose the 1920s as my era to reinterpret. I'm completely obsessed with the Twenties and the iconic flapper image of massive owly eyes and tiny bow lips. I just wanted to share with you some of the shows/artists/designers I'm taking my inspiration from, as this is the type of fashion makeup that makes me so inspired and passionate about the field of makeup!

These amazing looks are mostly taken from Illamasqua and the Christian Dior and John Galliano runway shows during the A/W 09-10 season. As you can probably tell the main features I'm taking from these looks are the thin, low and arched eyebrows, metallic blown out eyes, spiky, dramatic lashes, high blush which ties into the eye shadow and pouty, overdrawn bow shaped lips.

I gave the look  a go today, a prototype so to speak, and this is the result! I'm also slightly obsessed with the bobby pin finger wave, I love the helmet like effect it gives the hair and the way you can see the process behind the original finger wave. Just beautiful!

Work Experience; Runway Shows and a Photoshoot

Some of the work experience me and Zoe have done over the past 6 months. Since we decided we wanted to pursue makeup as a career, my friend Zoe Scheltema and I have been trying to gain as much experience working with different designers, photographers and Senior Makeup artists as possible. We have worked with some stunning models and really intriguing concepts and up and coming fashion designers.


Last November we very excitedly accepted an opportunity to do the makeup for a runway show for Kama Scretching, a first year student Whitecliffe School of Design. We went to school with Kama and she is a really cool chick with an amazing talent! Her collection centered around exploring her Native American ancestry, with her garments featuring a lot of leather, deep red and bold orange hues. What was so exciting about working with her was that she chose a really strong, contrasting makeup look that you don't often see on New Zealand runways. The Photographer was Nikau Hindin.

Our Next runway show was in March, with small boutique label Lopsey, founded by Lana Lopesi, another incredibly talented young designer from the Auckland Girls Grammar School class of '09. Lana was debuting her A/W12 collection "Revolt of the Cool Cat" at the Basement as part of the New Zealand Fashion Festival. This was a really exciting experience for us to be part of the New Zealand fashion scene with an established label. The photographer was a familiar face in Nikau Hindin!

After that came an opportunity through SRA to work with one of the contestants from this years Miss World  New Zealand Pageant. This was a completely new experience and as you will see a very different style of makeup compared to the runway looks we had been doing. We worked with a beautiful young woman named Monique Martin-Nathan and spent the day on location at the Wrights Water Gardens in Patumahoe. It was totally like a mini road trip! Monique has a lot of different makeup changes throughout the day to correspond with the different sections of the pageant.

Casual wear first up

Then swimwear...

Cocktail and Black Cocktail wear. Her Black Cocktail wear dress was an awesome wrap dress from Pearl!

Next was the Evening wear section featuring a very vampy lip created using Media lipstick from M.A.C

Lastly, my most recent work experience has been assisting my tutor Sam on a photo shoot with photographer Damien Nikora at White Studios in Mt Eden. This was the first photoshoot I had even even been on let alone assisted on so I was really nervous and excited, which made it difficult to keep a steady hand! We created two looks each on two very beautiful models and it was amazing to see how the girls just transformed when we changed their makeup from a natural to a more editorial look. Damien was a very relaxed and supportive photographer to work with, and his passion for his craft was absolutely evident in his work. Unfortunately I haven't seen the photos yet, so all I can leave you with is this quick behind the scenes shot from on set.

Fashion Fridays at SRA

Hi Guys!
I would just like to share with you a few of the faces I've been working on since starting at the Samala Robinson Academy for Makeup in late February. I've had the most amazing time so far exploring the more fashion and editorial side of makeup, as well as some interesting period looks!
We spent our first two weeks doing special effects. Here is a burn made from gelatin which gave an incredible texture to the skin

 This is a medieval look done by Chantelle

 And a medieval 'fashion' look done by Zoe. Inspired by the promo images from the M.A.C Shop Cook collection

 These two are from our 'Elegant' (red lip) Fashion Friday. My tutor Sam Gove recreated the Illamasqua Valentines collection promo image from 2011 on me and I attempted to recreate a visual out of the book "Makeup Is Art" by Jana Waru Ririnui, founder of AOFM. It was very difficult!

 This was our Egyptian/Greco-Roman Fashion Friday. Followers of the brand Illamasqua may recognize the first two images as recreations of visuals from their latest Human Fundamentalism Collection. The top was a demo done by our incredibly talented tutor and the second by a not quite as talented me! The third look was created by Zoe, inspired by a M.A.C for Alexander McQueen visual.

 We are currently about halfway through the course, so hopefully there will be some more fun faces coming soon!