You’ll be miffed to hear that in the beauty industry, this most evil of machines whirring away to sell us our own insecurities, a lady is classed as “mature” once she’s 27. LOL!
As such, throughout this flog post, the word “mature” will be appearing in sarcastic quotey marks.
“Mature” makeup is one of the looks we cover in basic makeup (along with basic bridal, Asian bridal, basic female and male makeup, and evening makeup). As with any makeup you’re doing on anyone, you start by (gasp) asking your client/model/Chloe what they want, what they usually wear, what kind of look they’re going for etc etc. Then you moisturise their mug and get busy.
Tutor Caroline did the demonstration on the lovely, remarkably good-skinned Mum-of-Rachel, Elaine.
like mother, like daughter – gorgeous!
So what’s different about makeup on the more “mature” skin, then?
Basically, matte powders – rather than shimmery cremes – are more flattering around the eye area as they sink less obviously into fine lines. Also, you apply all the makeup about an inch higher than you would on an “immature” face, so that when the skin is relaxed (ie not being stretched hither and thither for the makeup artist to be grinding their powders and potions in), it’s where you want it. On a less-elastic lid, for example, your lovely liner might disappear under a fold of skin when your model’s eye doesn’t have your finger propping it open.
owww
And that’s basically it.
Angela (27) and I did our “mature” assessments on each other’s dewy skinned faces.
Nubile as.
So that’s that, kittycats. Here are some other “mature” faces for you to admire before tonight’s singalong.
Dame Edna Everage: Australian superhero
My bosom buddy, my wig hero, Dolly Parton I LOVE YOU
And now, a song. Here’s someone’s hillwalking video I weirdly stole from YouTube. Soundtrack is In a Big Country, by our friends… Big Country. Band and scenery are Scottish.
Sometimes, when you go unprepared into something, with a barely thought-through idea that was shit to begin with, the result can be disappointing. That’s another way of saying I had no idea what I was doing today, this first Titty Tuesday, and it went… tits up.
My gracious sister Chloe accompanied me in to college to be my bodypainting model, ever good-natured and generous with her time.
I was going to paint Chloe as a mermaid, or in a military uniform with a cute hat, and pockets glued over her baps and epaulettes stuck on her shoulders. I was also going to make her look like the Venus de Milo (but with arms), or Superman or Xena (but both of those were already taken). We talked about what I was going to paint her as A LOT in the lead up to this, yet none of the ideas actually stuck. It was all just a bit all over the place.
So I had no idea what I was going to do, and going in to class today, I felt incapable, disorganised, out of my depth… and all over the place.
First up we gave the mermaid idea a whirl, which was such a HUGE flop I can’t bring myself to show you photos of it. Ugh. We LOL’d, Chloe wiped it all off (see pic above), and I started again on the back-up plan – TIGER!
That came together alright, but not before the tutor pointed out that my ideas were wishy-washy, disorganised and disconnected, I hadn’t done my homework, and I was obviously taking the easy option and staying well within my comfort zone by doing bodypainting that was essentially an extension of the same ole face-painting I’ve done a billion zillion times.
Green tiger for St Patrick’s day
All of which was true, but still dented my massive yet fragile ego, which was particularly fragile in light of the failed mermaid attempt. AND on Monday afternoon I also didn’t like my work in Basic Makeup, it just… wouldn’t do what I wanted it to do. My confidence was in the shitter. It all got on top of me, friends. For the first time since starting the course, this week I felt like I was just too crap at this to even try any more, and would never have a decent creative idea again as long as I live.
If I can’t even blend two eyeshadows together, how will I ever get by in a world filled with “self taught! This isn’t my job, I just do it for fun!” makeup artists who are so insanely talented it makes me want to vomit? Boo hoo.
So I pouted and felt sorry for myself and whinged to my nearest and dearest about my insecurities, and was reminded that (a) I’m learning, and not supposed to be good at bodypainting the first time I try it, (b) Max Factor himself probably can’t paint tits for shit (thanks Loz) and (c) it’ll pass, everyone has crap days.
If you’re having an un-creative slump yourself, read this and you, too, will get over it. Lesson learned: be organised and focussed, it will make you feel confident and the rest will fall into place.
Moving on, I had a go at the tiger bodypainting which I also wasn’t happy with, but it wasn’t a total fuck-up either. When I do it for realsies, for the assessment in a couple of weeks, I’ll have honed my technique and I think it should come up alright.
It will obviously be, uh, finished on the day of the assessment. Ie her face will be painted, her hair will be done, the photo submitted will be all styled and shit.
close up of brushwork/stippling. LOL. Rhymes with nippling.
After “Advanced Makeup Techniques”, Chloe stuck around for the afternoon class (Basic Makeup) where we were practicing basic bridal makeup.
marry me, darling
I decided to temporarily relocate Chloe’s lip-line half way down her chin, just for fun.
Hope you like our Wayne’s World style product placement there.
*bridesmaid face*
HOW does she, my own sister, have such a nice profile, while I look like a geriatric man who’s had a penis transplanted onto his face after losing his nose in a freak accident that also left him with a pronounced underbite? HUH?
So that’s what’s all happening up in here, flogstars.
What’s today’s video, you ask? A Tits-Oot Tuesday post wouldn’t be complete without a nod to the Queen of Dollywood herself. Wanna see Dolly Parton honking at her own magnificent rack and hollerin’ “hey Miley, I’ve got your wreckin’ balls right here!”? ‘Course you do. So watch this, it’s Dolly ‘rapping’ on Queen Latifah’s talk show. Yes, you read that right. You’re welcome.
That Will Smith song has been in my head for days, and now we must all suffer. Let’s get it out the way at the beginning of the post so we can put it behind us, move on and never speak of it again. So Thursday was a big day – a visit from […]
I strongly dislike airbrushing. It’s frustrating. The guns we use at college aren’t the best, and it’s impossible to clean them properly. That, and our class is 20-odd chicas, so we all have to share. Everything. All the time. There’s one of each thing we need, and 20 people wanting to use it at the […]
Which is why I find myself covered in aspirin and honey, and a head full o’ bleach on a Sunday night. I went to visit Melissa and Che in Edinburgh last night, cos I’m spontaneous like that. We watched Pretty Woman, Che and I got drunk and Melissa didn’t because she’s pregnant, and I made […]
Only my second week at makeup school and I’ve shaved my eyebrows off. Remember kids, if you DO shave your eyebrows off, you’ll need to learn how to quick-draw your emotions. This week, I have also been learning AIRBRUSHING! In the chair is my college, carpool, Facebook, and real life friend Sinead. We spray-painted each […]
If you’re an avid Imogen Maxwell fan, you’ll have noticed an unusual amount of activity on my Instagram recently. That’s because I am unemployed and have no friends. But considering I am unemployed and have no friends, I’ve been keeping quite busy. Let me tell you about my first week at college. The journey there […]
digital imologue 