Induction Week

As I was getting closer to Southampton Solent University I felt excited but also scared, terrified and incredibly nervous. Turns out, everyone was, which made it a lot easyer.
Our lecturers gave us an exercise not to only get to know eachother but the city itself - Orientation exercise.
Also, we had Illamasqua and Charles Fox talks and made masks out of bags.

Orientation Exercise

For the first part of the exercise I interviewed Lilly Parton about her summer project mood board 'If I could, I would...'. Lilly is very passionate about fashion makeup for big designers such as Versaci, Miu Miu, Gucci, Prada, Burberry and many more. She wants to travel the world and represent big makeup brands, too. Vogue and Charles Fox magazine is where she found her inspiration, and by combining different techniques; collage, nail vanish and makeup made quite an interesting mood board. She is very happy with how she made it look 3D.

Lily and her mood board

The second part of the project was to find three different locations; West Quay Shopping Centre, The Mayflower Theatre and Southampton City Art Gallery, and take a 'Selfie' in front of them. Also, we had to find five makeup counters; MAC, Laura Mercier, Smashbox, Bobbi Brown and Benefit.
All the locations were easy to find.

Mayflower Theatre

 West Quay Shopping Centre

City Art Gallery

MAC
The girl that worked at the  MAC makeup counter is actually a Solent student herself as was so lovely. She gave me and Harriet some really good advice about the MAC products, how she got a job in MAC and about the university too. She said that the most selling products are the lipsticks and the Studio Fix Fluid. There are plenty of shades to choose from but the most selling lipstick is in the shade "Ruby Woo". The Studio Fix Fluid is a medium coverage foundation which gives the skin a natural matte finish and has SPF 15.
15 - 25 is the age group that mostly buys MAC makeup. I like the way  their makeup counters are all black with white lights - it gives them a sophisticated and proffesional look.
My favourite products are the amazing eyeshadows and lipsticks; the colours are rich and high pigmented, the lipsticks have a moisturizing formula and don't make your lips look or  feel dry.

Studio Fix Fluid

                                                                 "Ruby Woo" Lipstick

Eyeshadows/ Eyeshadow palettes 

LauraMercier
The best selling product by LauraMercier is the Foundation primer - oil free. The oil free formula helps ensure long wear and flawless application and leaves your skin and makeup looking fresh all day.
Mostly middle aged women buy the products but their range of makeup is aimed for everyone.

 Foundation primers (top right)

Smashbox

Photo finish foundation primer is by far their most selling product. It is the award-winning product at the Beauty Awards 2014! It comes in different verieties; oil-free, hydrating, light photo finish, colour adjusting, pore minimizing, with SPF20 etc. It is not heavy on the skin and your foundation will look flawless.
Everyone who's tryed it, is hooked.

                                   

Primers

Bobbi Brown

Bobbi's goal is to help women look and feel like themselves, only prettier and more confident.
Their no.1 best selling products are the Long Wear Gel Liner and the Ultra Fine Liner Brush. This is the award winner in the best liquid/ gel liner at the InStyle Best Beauty Buys 2014. It is easy to apply and it is water resistant, too. Second best sellers are their creamy semi-matte Lip Colour lipsticks and the third place goes the Corrector and Creamy Concealer. The Corrector is perfect for covering dark under-eye circles, and you use it before the Creamy Concealer which gives you a fresh and well-rested look, blends easily and stays on all day.
25-35 is the age group that buys Bobbi Brown products the most.

Eyeliner, Lipsticks and Concealer

Benefit

"Laughter is the best cosmetic... so grin and wear it!" 

- a sign at the makeup counter

This is an amazing brand with even more amazing products. The best-seller, and my personal favourite, it the long-lasting They're Real! Mascara. It leaves your lashes thick, long, curled and dark and it's easy to apply (no lumps and bumps). There is also the They're Real! Push-up Liner; lash-hugging gel liner pen. It has a matte black gel formula, doesn't smudge and makes your eyes instantly look bigger. Who wouldn't want that? Last, but not least, is the Hoola Bronzer- UK's no.1 selling bronzer. It has no sparkle or shine and leaves your skin looking  healthy, natural and tanned.
I love their makeup counters; they're pink, girly and lovely and remind me of Barbie houses. There is no age group when it comes to Benefit, everyone loves using it.

  They're real Mascara                                                                                            They're Real! Push-up Liner

Hoola Bronzer

Mask Project - "Bag heads / Head bags" 

To make my mask used:
- thin wrapping paper for the lips eyes and hair
- thicker paper for the bow
- polka dot stickers around the eyes
- thin strings of rope for the nose

My "Bag Head"

Since I am a big fan of collage, I think this was a very fun and creative exercise and I hope we will do more in the future. Collages are easy to make, but even though they can get quite messy,  they look very interesting and effective.

Illamasqua 

Illamasqua had it's first launch in November 2008 and is a world- known brand today. They take their inspirations from members of the 'alternative scenes' and provide their customers with products that will help them express themselves and achieve any look they want.

Spob, Illamasqua Head of Professional Development come in and give as a very inspiring and motivational speech. She has 30 years of experience, she travelled the world and her work is incredible (MUA for Harry Potter; how exciting is that?!). Also, she gave us some great tips and advice about the products and the makeup industry, too. 

They chose Beth to be the model, and Charlotte did her makeup.

I love the look she did by using Apocalipse lipstick in the dark green/ terquoise shade. 

Beth

Later that day, they had a little competition planned for us. We got into groups and had 30 minutes come up with a look using only the products they've given us. 

We decided to go with a 'magical pixie turns forest to winter' theme. Unfortunatelly, my group didn't win.

 Contouring

The final look

Charles Fox - Kryolan

"At Kryolan, we make make-up. But not like anybody else. Because unlike everybody else, we actually make our makup. We've done it in our own way for three generations. We think of it. We manufacture it. Formulate it and love it into existence. There is only one real professional make-up maker. There is only one Kroylan." 

Basically, this quote says it all. Kryolan is one of the world's first professional make-up brands. They produce make-up for film, theatre and tv for over 6 decades in their headquaters in Berlin. They've created and perfected 750 color-intense shades in over 16,000 products, which are currently used in more than 80 countries in every continent worldwide.

Gemma was very lovely and talked to us about all of their products, expecially the ones that we have in our kits, and gave us some useful tips. 

Gemma