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

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 

Makeup Course Week 6

Where does the time go? Seems like only yesterday I was spazzing out (technical term) about my first day and what a disaster it could be!

Slightly off page, I went to see my Osteopath today who I love, she is such a lovely lady, and she has seen me through a lot, anyway she was asking me about makeup and fake lashes and everything, I mentioned that I was thinking of getting in to the market of doing makeup lessons as a starting point along with prom/bridal, she was so positive, told me its an amazing starting point and, and AND that she wants to book me! I officially have my first PAYING client, all be it a few months away, she wants to do a Kate Middleton look so we have booked in for after the royal wedding! HOW JEFFING EXCITING IS THAT!

So I'm guessing if you read my last post you are expecting me to talk about my presentation and my year 2000 look...Well the presentation got delayed and in a turn of events we went all 90's, that was it we got to focus on one look...it was great!

The 90's was all barbie doll looking Baywatch babes Pamela Anderson being the most prominent, also we saw the launch of one of the biggest TV shows, a TV show that shaped a generation (mine) and the gorgeous Jennifer Aniston (Brad you idiot!)

Couldn't resist a photo of Pammy in THAT swimsuit

Pamela Anderson

Jennifer Aniston

The 90's was all about having a tan, you know that saying "perma tan Pam" I'm sure that was a description if you wanted to look as tanned as Pamela Anderson, Sunbeds became the norm (my mum even had one...she kept it in my room!), muted tones were the basis for most looks, high contour and highlight, no blush, pink lips, and purple smokey eyes (apparently everyone was using blackberry by MAC). normally with a frosty pink in the centers and inner corners and of course the use of fake lashes was on the rise again, lastly the brows thin high and arched.

Pammy still sports this look today I think it is a timeless glamor look, I thought I would hate this look on me, I loved it I took lots of pics of me wearing it (some you can see in my post below this). this was one of the most fun looks so far because it was colourful rather than the constant use of shroom and cork!

I actually can see me wearing the 90's on a night out, it is a classic (and reminds me of being a teenager!) that I'm not sure will ever fade

That's it for the decades, I really want to focus some time and energy in to looking in to the decades further as I'm certain that there is more than one look for each (of course!)

Lisa
xxx

Makeup Course Week 5

5 weeks have gone so quick! I honestly don’t know what I will do with myself when its finished, I am already dreading the fact that something I love doing so much is going to end!

I am constantly busy with it too, I don’t know where time goes, constantly writing or researching or doing someone’s makeup, I eat, sleep and breath makeup, I never realised how much would be involved, but like I say I love it! I have just put the final touches to my presentation on Alex Box for week 6...more on that after the presentation though!

I had a jam packed weekend so I stayed at my friends, my journey to college took under an hour! and I was home by 6:10 too...needless to say I was uber happy with that, I have been told that I can stay there whenever (as per normal then, I’m always staying there!) and I would be there this weekend if it wasn’t for other commitments!

Again this week we did 3 decades in one day, I would prefer to stretch the decades out, I adore them, I think I might look out for some sort of specalist decades course, take a trip to a few galleries with 40's and 50's art (any good places to go?)

We started with 60's inspired make up of course this is the era of Twiggy and one of my favourites Edie Sedgwick (Andy Warhol's muse, and my previous laptop background)

Twiggy

Edie Sedgwick

Makeup base was more natural letting freckles (which I am blessed with) show through, the focus were big doe eyes, with a exaggerated higher crease, painted on lashes heavy liner, with people wearing up to 3 sets of false lashes at a time! Brows tended to follow the natural brow, sometimes just groomed with a bit of powder and gel, and lips were nude a very popular lipstick was freckle which was a caramel nude.

I thought this look would be easy but getting the black crease smooth and in the right place was...well to put it bluntly a right barstard! I spent all my time taking off and reapplying getting more and more frustrated...I really need to practice this one, A LOT!

The PM session was kind of like last week in that we did 2 looks in one, starting with 80s and working back to 70's, this was a very fun and creative session but I still don’t think 2 looks in one session gives us enough time to get everything just how it should be.

70's icons included Jerry Hall and Faye Dunaway

Jerry Hall

Faye Dunaway

 The ultimate 80's icon was David Bowie aka Ziggy Stardust! and of course 80's wouldnt be complete without Debbie Harry

David Bowie

Debbie Harry

the 70's/80s was the birth of the hippy and towards the end the punks, it was all about heavy makeup, extremely contoured cheeks, healthy glowing skin high shine, think addicted to love and Dallas, everything was big, over the top and extreme. Colour was alive and the rules didn’t really apply!

I totally adored letting loose and doing this, I unfortunately didn’t get to do the Bowie bolt due to time restrictions but playing with pigments, lines and getting experimental was an absolute blast! I recommended these decades to anyone who wants to have fun and break the barriers we sometimes face when it comes to conforming to makeup looks!

Wacky looks are definitely a favourite of mine to do, this Saturday we are doing year 2000...I hope I don’t get done over like a kipper and come home looking like Jordan!

Lisa
xxx

Makeup Course Week 4

Week 4 was a bit mental in all senses of the word

Firstly, I started my day with only a few hours sleep and a hangover, I had been so good for all the previous weeks but decided I could handle a few drinks during a meal..cut to 12:30 only just leaving the restaurant and having drunk a bottle of wine…Its obviously been a while as that bottle destroyed me and kept me awake tossing and turning most of the night.

We started the day with 30’s inspired makeup. A few movies stars of this era were Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, by this point the movies were no longer silent.

Marlene Dietrich

Greta Garbo

30’s make up was a lot softer than the 20’s with fuller, higher brows that extended to the temples and fuller lips, the blush had moved from under the tops of the cheek bones to the apples, the idea was to make it look like they had been pinched, so a nice natural flush, adding a drop of colour. The use of blacks had faded and browns had become ever more popular giving a more natural look to the end result, all in all the 30’s was a lot softer, muted and fresh. A strong red lip was ever present. Also a tan became fashionable thanks to Coco Chanel!

I really enjoyed doing this look in fact I would say that my everyday makeup is probably 30’s inspired so I found this to be a strong plus for me when it came to applying the information we had received.

So that was the AM, on to the PM session which in my opinion was not the greatest of sessions and I think that most of my class would agree…on to that in a bit.

We moved on to 40’s and 50’s inspired makeup. A few movie stars of the 40’s were Hedy Lemarr and Rita Hayworth

Hedy Lemarr

Rita Hayworth

And of the 50’s who can forget two of the most beautiful women of all time Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn

Marilyn Monroe

Audrey Hepburn

40’s and 50’s were very similar with only slight tweaks in between, the fashion was to follow your natural brow, again eyes were using browns and topes. In the 40’s, the idea was that you had to look your best for your man who would be coming home from war. Always immaculately dressed and well presented to be perfectly turned out for when he would arrive home. contorting and highlighting became more popular with the introduction of Technicolor in the 50s, the foundation was thick and heavy, greasepaint esq (Max factor Pancake makeup) to give the illusion of the perfect skin, this was matted out with tons of powder.

So our teacher, who is a professional, took an hour and 15 minutes to complete the look of 40’s transitioning to 50’s

We were given 45 minutes each – not long enough for mere beginners! Suffice to say we didn’t finish and therefore I don’t feel like I really can say I can do 40’s/50’s makeup however I love the 50’s so will be practicing this on a few friends and family to see how I go!

My journey home took soooo long, over 2 and a half hours! This was due to me missing a train and delayed trains pair this with drunken rugby louts who asked me “shake ‘em in my face” it wasn’t fun at all, I did however meet this absolutely gorgeous gal 
 

Awwwww

Lisa

xxx