The Accident

Watching Katie Piper on Tuesday night made me want to tell you all a story that changed my life.

This is a story of a girl aged 8 was one day arguing with her older brother in the kitchen, the children has been arguing all day, and their mum had had enough, she came down the stairs with the dirty dishes from dinner and in a bid to get the attention of the brawling kids she slammed the bow china down on the table, as she did this one of the plates slid off the top of the pile and hit the floor.

As the plate hit the floor it shattered, and bounced off the lino, as it bounced it shattered further, in to many little pieces.

As bits of plate bounced around the room both the girl and boy attempted to shelter from the shards, using their arms and ducking down as the mum watched on in horror at what had just happened.

And in that instant the little girls life had changed...

When the dust had settled the mum ran towards the children, devastated that such a thing had happened, and saw that her little girl had taken the full force of the shattered plate, her face was bleeding, and she was wailing in agony. the mum realised that the little girl was profusely bleeding from her eye, scooped her up in her arms and ran to the neighbours house, who took them to the A&E. where she was swiftly transferred to a nearby eye hospital.

The doctors and nurses did all they could to save the young girls sight but after weeks of trying a decision had to be made. She could keep the eye and hope and pray it heals, but would never regain sight, and that any debris in that eye could travel to the other causing complete blindness. Or they could remove the now severely damaged eye and give her a prosthetic therefore saving the other eye in the process.

The Girls parents gave her the choice, and it was clear that having sight in one eye was going to be the best option, no one liked the risk of keeping both and going potentially blind.

So the operation to remove the damaged eye went ahead, and it was a success.

The girl was kept in hospital for over a year only being allowed home on Christmas day, her road to recovery took over 2 years, and she couldn't go to school for fear of infection. Isolated from most she grew up fast

When she went back to school it was as a girl who had to grow up fast so whilst everyone ran around like children do she would look on.

Over the years the girl spent a lot of time in and out of hospital having many operations.

You may have guessed by now that this girl is me

My Accident changed me for the better I believe, it made me the person I am today and without it who knows how I may have turned out, I may have been the bully instead of the bullied. I believe it has shaped me made me caring and very protective, made me more understanding of people, I guess that's why when I see people being taken the piss out of for anything I get all mother bear! My mum says I am an old head on young shoulders, without my accident and the people I met along the way I do believe I would have been far more immature and less understanding.

I am me because of my accident - you accept it or you walk away, those that walk away are not worthy of my time.

 A scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived - Chris Cleave (author) 

I do hope that you take something from this story, I also hope I did it justice (I know that my writing may not be the best).

Lisa
xxx

Makeup Course Week 9

Week 9 was very interesting in a lot of ways!

A girl I hadn't worked with before asked to work with me of course I said yes. she asked for my brushes at which pint I enquired as to why...Apparently she makes people use her brushes on her and uses your brushes on you...

"Errrr no" was the start of my response, "I use my brushes on others they are my tools to use"

"But I always get others to use my brushes on me and use yours on you"

Me "No, you use your brushes on me"

"OK but normally I get others..." You get the message!

So she unwraps her brush roll, it was filthy and some of her brushes had pigment on from last week!...at which point I ask if she has cleaned her kit

"Yes I cleaned my kit, I used these brushes this morning though and that one (with pink pigment on it) I washed 3 times and it is stained"

At which point our teacher came over and asked her the same question, I was glad to see it wasn't just me that thought her hygiene leaved alot to be desired, our teacher had a private word with the girl and she came back all guns blazing

"which ones do you think are dirty then? YOU tell me which ones I need to clean"

I pointed out a few and in a rather childlike manner she bolshy cleaned them in IPA in front of me. After doing so she wouldn't let it drop, she kept on about the fact that her brushes were clean, that she didn't have a washing machine to clean the brush roll (I hand was mine!) and no access to IPA to clean the brushes thoroughly (I use fairy liquid, IPA is not necessary!)

I guess my point here is that if your client deems your brushes un-sanitized (If you are a professional this should never happen!) then you clean them no arguments, even if you did clean them the night before, you get the IPA and you, in front of the client clean ALL brushes you are going to use, you don't get arsey over it. Oh and you always use your own tools! you wouldn't ask a model on a shoot to bring their own brushes so don't expect anyone else to!

Anyway! back to the fun bit, we did a modern twist on the 60's in the morning. This was a take on the shoot that Kate Moss did for Vouge Italia in December 2010 (photography by Nick Knight). we were looking at how editorials can take an era and update it with a modern spin.

You can see that the modern twists on this look are that the inner corners come in toward the nose, the crease is still high but using browns instead of blacks and the lower lashes are not painted on and it is more heavily contoured.

I was a lot better at modern 60's then I was the actual 60's I also found another look that really suited me!

In the afternoon we did a catwalk look using colour blocking and lush fake lashes! we had 25 minutes to complete the look and at the end we all had to line up to see if we all matched. With catwalk to maintain continuity normally you are given a certain job, so one person does brows another does contouring and so on. obviously in this case one person did the whole look, and for the most part we all looked very similar!

I decided to wear mine home to show my mum, give her a bit of a giggle seeing as she has been poorly! So I took 2 tubes and a train looking like this

I bladdy love the lashes, I felt a bit like a Manga character!

So after a very rocky start where a few lessons were learned about how to deal with awkward situations (you should always speak up if something isn't quite right be you the MUA or the model) it was a very productive and fun day and the pressure to fulfil a brief in 25 minutes was exhilarating! 

Lisa
xxx

Makeup Course Week 8

OK so as you may know I have been AWOL looking after my mum as she has been in hospital for an operation and is still not fully recovered.

However she is a lot better and so I am happy to resume writing again, YAY! I have missed posting on here, I felt like someone took away my toys and put me in the naughty corner to be exact!

So college wise I have 2 weeks to catch you up on, starting of course with week 8

so week 8 we looked at editorial story boards (read fashion features) and how the makeup needs to reflect the style of the shoot, we talked about how important it is to work in a team with stylists, editors and photographers to get a feel for what the shoot may involve. We were paired up and given a feature to work with, we had to asses the mood, location, style, focus, and give an opinion of what we though of it, if we liked it why? what do you like? What don't you like etc. All of this is so that we can form valid opinions, like art fashion and makeup are very subjective.

In the afternoon we were given a brief and several tear sheets (images) for ideas, the theme was colour blocking and we got to do 3 lip looks one fuchsia one orange and another that was top lip bright pink and bottom lip orange! I also got to do some bright yellow colour blocked eyes as I have an extra 15 minutes to spare colour blocking this season is massive and is all over the pages of magazines and catwalks, in both clothes and makeup

What do you think? I personally enjoy this funky twist and guess what...Its dead easy to do!

Lisa
xxx

Princess and the Play List - 30 Day Challenge

...Well I didn't do this in 30 days, I did this in about 1 hour! What can I say the idea's flooded my mind and I couldn't stop!

I got this idea from a friend who was doing it on facebook and had to do one myself, I recommend doing it for a rather eclectic playlist, I haven't explained my reasons behind the songs because that would take a ruddy long time but if you want to know I will of course divulge!

Click here to get the playlist, and don't forget to subscribe!

The 30 Day Song Challenge

Day 01 – Your favourite song – Breakfast At Tiffany’s – Deep Blue Something

Day 02 – Your least favourite song – Die Another Day – Madonna

Day 03 – A song that makes you happy – You & Me Song – The Wannadies

Day 04 – A song that makes you sad – Delicate – Damien Rice

Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone – 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong - Mogwai

Day 06 – A song that reminds of you of somewhere – Livin On A Prayer – Bon Jovi

Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event – Feeling A Moment – Feeder

Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to – The Spell - Alphabeat

Day 09 – A song that you can dance to – So Tomorrow – Official Secrets Act

Day 10 – A song that makes you fall asleep – Halo – Beyonce

Day 11 – A song from your favourite band – Justboy – Biffy Clyro

Day 12 – A song from a band you hate - A Trip Out – British Sea Power

Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure – Haven’t Met You Yet – Michael Buble

Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love – Tears Don’t Fall – Bullet For My Valentine 

Day 15 – A song that describes you – Butterfly – Jason Mraz

Day 16 – A song that you used to love but now hate – Stuck On Repeat – Little Boots

Day 17 – A song that you hear often on the radio – Wonderman – Tinie Tempah feat Elle Goulding

Day 18 – A song that you wish you heard on the radio – Girlfriend In A Coma – The Smiths

Day 19 – A song from your favourite album – If you Don’t, Don’t – Jimmy Eat World

Day 20 – A song that you listen to when you’re angry – Let The Sunshine – Labrinth

Day 21 – A song that you listen to when you’re happy – I’d Rather Dance With You – Kings Of Convenience 

Day 22 – A song that you listen to when you’re sad – Torn – Natalie Imbruglia 

Day 23 – A song that you want to play at your wedding – The Reason – Hoobastank 

Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral – Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley

Day 25 – A song that makes you laugh – The Call – Backstreet Boys

Day 26 – A song that you can play on an instrument – We Will Rock You - Queen

Day 27 – A song that you wish you could play – Embers – Just Jack

Day 28 – A song that makes you feel guilty – Starlight - Muse

Day 29 – A song from your childhood – Get It On – T. Rex

Day 30 – Your favourite song at this time last year – Fireflies – Owl City

Click here to get the playlist, and don't forget to subscribe! 

And if you don't have Spotify, why not, its legal and free! get it HERE!

I hope you enjoy this playlist, I would love to hear what songs you would pick, maybe think of this as a little blog challenge for you all! 

Lisa

xxx 

Mum is Going in to Hospital

Hi All Just a quick note to say that I may not be around the next few days as my Mum is going in to hospital.

I am really worried about her, we nearly lost her 5-6 years ago, she had a heart attack followed by 2 strokes, months in ICU a tracheotomy, being fed through a tube, the lot

At 22 no one should have to go through what I went through doctors telling you that it will be a miracle if your Mother survives, I admit I went off the rails, refused to go and see her, in my mind to keep some sort of sanity she was already gone. it was a dark time for me, my family turned against me and would try to force me to go to see here but I couldn't handle the ICU, the smell the sound of the machines mostly the silence. The fact that I would sit there holding my Mums hand talking to her and her not answering me, all I wanted was a squeeze of my hand or her to tell me that I shouldn't be so careless to go to a party of a guy I barely know.

With her history even this routine hernia and gallstones operation is dangerous. She has been weened off the warfarin and been having daily injections and tomorrow is the day of the op and as it draws ever closer I am more and more anxious.

I was supposed to go to London for the weekend but my absolute fear is that something bad will happen so I cancelled even though my mum told me not to, right now she is my priority and with that said the blog will probably sit on the back burner for about a week but do not fear I will be back soon and I am sure everything will be fine...I'm just a worry wort!

Lisa
xxx

Makeup Course Week 7

Nearly half way…Please don’t let this end!

So straight in to week 7 we had our teacher from our first lesson back, It was nice to reacquaint ourselves with her, she quizzed us a bit on what we had been doing in the past 6 weeks.

We studied the glamour model look, and our muse? The one and only queen of fakery Jordan.

 

Can you guess what the glamour model look involves?

That’s right fake tan and lots of it, the more orange the better, do you know that this is such a desired look not tan but orange! Haha! Smokey eyes are a glamour must, using blacks browns and greens, not all at the same time of course its easy to create a smokey look using just one colour and build it up in the appropriate areas. Liner both on the inner and outer of the lid smoked in to the shadows, the idea is to give the illusion of heavy, sultry come to bed eyes (with the use of falsies obviously). No blush just heavy contours and lots of bronzer, arched brows and a visible lip line are all glamour esq

 This is similar to the 90’s, slightly updated with the heavy use of dark eye makeup and even more tan. Personally I wasn’t a fan of it on myself, the heaviness on the eyes just makes them look small and I love it when my eyes look big like saucers!

I also finally got to do my presentation on Alex Box, I did think about putting the slides up but I didn’t want them to be ripped off and sold as another person’s so I won’t be doing that however I will be posting a little on what I found out about her. She is an inspiration!

Lisa
xxx 

Beware The Critics!

I am ever more noticing that we live in a super critical world, it would seem that some people make it their job to criticise anything they feel.

Don't get me wrong if your opinion is valid I will take note but I have seen too many moo points (friends fans you get this!) of late, I mean so what if you don't like Uggs? is there really any reason to dedicate a whole blog post to your hatred, therefore alienating your readers (ooo you have so many a few don't count right?) and potentially making them lack confidence?

Some of you reading this might have a bigger audience than me, some of you might not, but I will let you in to a little secret...

People do not want you to judge them just by what they wear, no matter how much you hate it

Some people need to realise that just because they think they are "IT" and of course super stylish doesn't make them god almighty, and we need to realise this too.

Just because someone doesn't like your style don't let the bitches of the blogging world get you down, hell I have half a mind to slap on some fake tan go out in my denim mini, wearing my uggs just to prove that I can pull off the look some seem to so despise (FYI if it was summer I would be wearing flip flops not uggs).

Sinner! I am enjoying myself in a denim skirt!

Now how about we voice some decent opinions rather than wasting web space on bringing people down!

Lisa
xxx