CATHERINE FLEMING MAKE-UP

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of doing make-up for the gorgeous Becka (current Miss Lisburn and one of the 26 finalists in this year’s Miss N.Ireland). After Nigel had put some of the photos on Facebook, I had a quite a few requests for the make-up so as far as I can remember here goes!…..

We started with a bridal look as we are in the middle of a big renovation project in our Linen Green studio to provide even more space for make-up and add more luxury and we want a great bridal make-up shot for poster size print and framing. Becka kindly agreed to be a “bride” for the first set of photos. Such a gorgeous bride she made too! Can not wait to see Becka “hanging” on the wall.

Therefore the make-up needed to be good! For Becka’s foundation I used Clinique Superbalanced foundation (Ivory and Alabaster mixed to get the right colour), Max Factor cream blush in Soft Pink on the cheeks and Mac Paint Pot in Painterly on the lids as a base/primer. I then dusted a very small amount of Clinique loose powder to set the foundation and reduce any hot spots in the photos. On Becka’s eyes I used “Naked Lunch” and “Pink Venus” by MAC (pinks) on the lid and Mac Fig.1.1 (purple) in the socket and under the bottom lash line. I used a black gel pencil eyeliner by Avon (put on with a brush) on the top lash line and finished with a set of Eylure false eyelashes (101s). I filled the brows using “Omega” by MAC and a grey/brown GOSH eyebrow pencil. On the cheeks I dusted powder blush in (MAC “Pink Swoon”), NARS “Laguna to contour and Bobbi Brown “Brick” highlighter on the tops of the cheeks and cupids bow. On Becka’s lips I used MAC “Lustering” pink lipstick toned down slightly with a light pink Bourjois gloss.

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After the bridal shots, I changed Becka’s make-up by darkening and adding a bit more drama to her eye makeup by adding “Carbon” by MAC (black) into the socket and under the bottom lash line and adding black gel liner pencil into the bottom waterline. I also changed Becka’s lips to a nude colour, “Shy Girl” by MAC to give a more fashion look rather than “pretty” and added loads of gloss. Becka has fantastic lips and in the next couple of photos she has a real Bridget Bardot look about her (as also pointed out by my good friend and make-up/lash lover Davina )

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I’m really looking forward to doing Becka’s make-up again and her mum’s (from whom she gets her fantastic good looks!) Watch out for the mother and daughter photos coming soon! In the meantime, I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of some make-up and if you’ve any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch or if you would like to have your make-up done for your own special occasion

This time of the year is peak bridal season which means lots of gorgeous brides and bridal trials as well as guests having their make-up done for going to weddings. In essence, lots of beautiful, pretty, flawless and long lasting waterproof make-up!

This Saturday I did Eimear’s bridal party make-up (see my separate blog below for all of the detail).

In the afternoon I had a few ladies who were going out on Saturday night and a bridal trial (which I never take photos of for obvious reasons).

The first lovely lady here is Catherine. I’ve done Catherine’s make-up before and she has fab skin for make-up. We really were both most excited about her raspberry lipstick which is a mix of a red and a pink lipstick to get the perfect raspberry colour we were after with gloss to add extra glamour, beautiful.

The next make-up is Lora who very reluctantly had her photo taken afterwards! (thanks to everyone who does agree to a photo as I know you only came in to have make-up applied, not be be photographed so a big thank you). People in general, especially us in this country, are quite nosey and like to see photos of people and see what they look like and what products I used to achieve the look. She looks fantastic, I don’t know why she doesn’t like having her photo taken!

The gorgeous Kirsty. Kirsty loves her make-up and  it was great to see how well she really suits make-up. She went for a gold smokey eye to match what she was going to wear on Saturday night.  

On Saturday I had the pleasure of doing Eimear’s make-up for her wedding day.  She was such a beautifully classic bride and genuinely glowed. I also did her two bridesmaids, Una and Anne and her mum Francis.

Eimear, the stunning bride…..

Eimear doesn’t generally wear a lot of make-up so we decided to keep her make-up as naturally beautiful as possible. Eimear’s foundation was Clinique Superbalanced foundation set with a loose powder. On the cheeks, prior to the loose powder I used one of my favourite liquid blushes “Rose de Rose” which is By Terry, pure luxury For Eimear’s eyes I used a pink Urban Decay shadow “Sin” on the lid mixed with a dusty pink and matte brown into the socket and under the bottom lash line. To add definition to the lash line but still keep it relatively soft,  I smudged waterproof black pencil liner onto a brush and kept this as close to the lashes as possible. In the lower water line I used a Laura Mercier cream pencil to keep the eyes bright. On the lips I used “Vintage Rose” by Rimmel with a pink Bourjois lipgloss to finish.  Such a gorgeous bride

Eimear’s lovely mummy Francis …….

Anne and Una, the beautiful bridesmaids……..

This week I have a lot of Saturday Slap Shots to blog as I’ve had a really busy week  so I might not be able to remember all of the make-up details but I’ll try my best and put down most of what I can remember! Here goes…..

I’ve included a couple of ladies from a couple of weeks ago that I hadn’t got the photos edited for and I also had a few bridal trials which I can’t blog, for obvious reasons

First up – Pippa Middleton!!!.. aka the gorgeous Aimee who was going to a wedding. Her eyeshadow, which isn’t clear  in the photo, was MAC “Red Brick” which is a great orange colour which I toned down to a more coral/pink colour to match Aimee’s bag and shoes for the wedding.

The lovely Caroline,who is my friend, Susan’s mum, who had her make-up done week or two ago. Caroline’s son Graeme got married last Friday and the wedding photos look amazing, such a beautiful wedding in an amazing setting with a really great family.

Cathy, who has been travelling for the last year, came back from Australia to surprise her friend who was getting married.  What a lovely thing to do Her eyeshadow was also MAC “Red Brick” and I used Rimmel “Latino” on Cathy’s lips. In the water line I used a Laura Mercier cream pencil which is great for opening the eye and just taking away that touch of pink that most of us have in our skin around the eye. Flawless.

Stephanie was going to the evening do in Parkanaur of the wedding Cathy was going to (the small world that we live in!). Her lips are MAC “Lady Danger” with a green eyeshadow by Revlon. Stephanie’s own lipstick was gorgeous when she came in which I’ve since ordered, can’t wait to get it – MAC “Vegas Volt” (a bright coral colour, great for summer). Beautiful features for make-up.

Dolores was in really early on the Saturday morning as she was going to a wedding in Donegal. I used MAC “Woodwinked” eyeshadow with MAC “Espresso” (matte brown) in the socket and a little bit under the bottom lash line. The “bling” along the top lash line is an Urban Decay glitter and Dolores just wouldn’t be complete without some bling somewhere! It just suits her bubbly personality On a side note, Dolores was in with me almost a year to the day ago, as we watched the royal wedding online during her make-up application last year. 

Rosemary was going to a wedding on Saturday and her dress was green and she was wearing an orange fascinator. Again I used MAC “Red Brick” eyeshadow, smoked with MAC “Espresso” (chocolate brown matte) into the socket and under the bottom lash line. I added a set of Eylure “Demi Wispies” lashes to finish the look – beautiful.

Louise was going t0 a wedding and her dress was a mix of peacock blue and green strong colours. I saw the photo of Louise in her dress at the wedding after and she just looked amazing. On Louise’s lips I used MAC “Up the Amp” and MAC “Dollymix” powder blush on her cheeks.

Roisin was going to a wedding in one of my favourite places, Manor House, Enniskillen. Her dress was a deep purple so I used MAC “Fig.1″ a gorgeous purple eyeshadow (such an uninteresting name for an eyeshadow!) on her lids with MAC “Carbon” (matte black) smoked into the socket and under the bottom lash line. I also added a black gel liner (Avon Supershock) in the waterline. Purple really compliments green eyes and Roisin looked fantastic with her hair all done ready just to put her dress on

Orla was going on a hen party on the Saturday night and was going to be wearing pink/purple hence the purple eyes which clash totally with her coat in this photo. Orla has amazing big blue eyes and I lined them with MAC “Blacktrack” gel eyeliner with Avon Supershock gel liner in black in the bottom waterline.  

Niamh was going to a wedding on Saturday with her twin sisters pictured below (Meghan and Eimear). I did Niamh’s eyes a purple smoke which is brilliant with green eyes as the contrast really brings out the eyes. I lined Niamh’s eyes with black gel liner and finished with false lashes to really add drama and definition. Gorgeous! And such a great photo of Niamh (you can tell Nigel took this one!).

Meghan, I think, almost knows more about make-up than I do so it’s always a pleasure doing her make-up, if not a little scary if you know what I mean! She usually has a fair idea of what she’d like and as soon as she saw my MAC “Red Brick” bright orange eyeshadow she knew that’s what she wanted The colour matched the colour in her hugely fantastic fascinator perfectly. Meghan also brought eyelashes which I’d never seen before and absolutely now adore  - Eylure 202s. They are almost double eyelashes but really natural. I used MAC “Up the Amp” lipstick also to tie in with Meghan’s outfit for the wedding. Gorgeous.

A close up of MAC “Red Brick” eyeshadow which I love and use quite a lot.

Eimear was wearing a black dress so we decided to go for a dark grey smokey eye and pink lips this time. I’ve done Eimear’s make-up quite a few times recently and we’ve done a red lip so we thought pink would be a nice change. I also used MAC “Dollymix” powder blush which is not visible in this photo the way the light’s hitting Eimear’s cheeks but it’s a good strong pink and really pretty. Eimear loves her make-up and make-up loves her (excuse the cliche) but she really does suit having make-up and looks gorgeous.

On Saturday afternoon, I also did make-up for a model portfolio photo shoot. I kept did a natural look and then added a red lip to change the look. The false lashes are individual ones which and the red lipstick was MAC “Russian Red”

One of my  favourite products now is NARS “Laguna” bronzer which I use to contour, really love this product and use it on most of my make-ups. It’s a bit like my iPhone though at the minute (which cost me £100 recently to get the screen fixed!), I’m so afraid to drop and smash it so it gets treated extremely lovingly. 

Hope you enjoyed my bit of make-up sharing. We all look a lot better even with just a a little bit

I was in Paris for a few days this week on a mini break for Nigel’s birthday. We had a great time just being typical tourists, seeing the sights such as the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame,  cruising on the Seine, drinking coffee, wine (the french like their Rose), eating  pastries and crepes smothered in Nutella my absolute favourite, really trying to cram in as much french culture in one of the most romantic, amazing cities in the world. I loved every minute of it, even the mad busy metro! There was a Sephora too – so I was like a kid in a sweet shop

Whilst I was there, and being an avid follower of make-up artist to the stars, Lisa Eldridge, I wanted to have a look at a few french products that she had recommended in a youtube video. Lisa lived in Paris for three years and as well as being a fantastic make-up artist, she is very conscious and well informed of good skincare – the basic canvas to how our make-up sits. So on the last morning I got to rush like a mad woman (having of course left it to the last minute and being conscious that Nigel is not just as into make-up shopping as me!) into a french pharmacy just off the Champs Elysees. I got two of the products I really wanted to get so was really chuffed. The first is one of the best make-up cleansers for taking off make-up quickly as well as being really gently. You can get it here online but it’s a lot more expensive than in France . So a great buy, especially as there was a special offer on two.

The other is a fantastic moisturiser Embryolisse – lait-creme concentre. I feel my skin is already better, it feels so soft after applying.

Some french pastries and cheese. Gorgeous boutique shops like this everywhere ….

A little taste of my trip to Paris