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 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.  

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……..

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

This week, and last, I have been really busy with make-up lessons I’m not sure why, but I’ve had a real run of lovely ladies wanting to learn how to perfect their own make-up and use all of the copious amounts of products they’ve amassed over time and don’t use or don’t know how to use. We’re probably all the same, we get sucked in by the latest wonder make-up product on the market or a Christmas special offer and end up with so much make-up but seem to continually use the same products over and over in our own wee comfort zone. So a make-up lesson really is a great way to unveil the mystery, as they say, and learn what to do with what we have and how to look and feel more confident, whether it’s everyday make-up or something more dramatic at night. Contact me for more information if you’re interested.

The result of doing all of these make-up lessons (and a fair few bridal trials too!) is that I don’t have very many Saturday Slap Shots but here are the gorgeous girls that I did do occasional make-up for for all of their different events and occasions…

Adele 

Clare

Sheena

Diane (who’s wedding I did last year, she was going to a wedding as a guest this day )

This first picture reminds me of “Take Me Out” (sadly over now) with Paddy McGuiness saying “lets bring on the girls”! Cue… Ria, Keely and Sheena with Donovan doing cameraman in the background

and Nigel (Paddy!) looking for his models…

And all the behind the scenes very important people who make these sort of days possible and great fun….

Finally, this month’s edition of In Magazine is out and I can do a blog about the day and the make-up I did for The Boudoir’s photo shoot at Down Royal Racecourse a few Sunday’s ago (the Sunday it was around 20 degrees ) Here is the finished product in print, with credit to me for make-up (I know nobody looks at the credits, but hey, it’s still nice to see your name in a magazine!)

It’s going to be a big blog as there were just so many photos and I really didn’t know how to cut them down. I love the behind the scenes photos and wish there were more  to give a taste of what a great day we had. We spent the first part of the day focusing on doing the photos for In Magazine with the location at Down Royal Racecourse and then in the evening at Strangford Lough doing some more photos for The Boudoir’s portfolio so I’ve split my blogs in two. This is Part 1.

It was an early start, with two of the models meeting me in my make-up studio at 9am for make-up before we drove down to Down Royal Racecourse just outside Lisburn. We had the whole place to ourselves and had one of the bars available for getting ready etc. There were two hairdressers, Denise (sister of Anita and Donna) and her colleague from Hedonist Hair, Michelle. There were three models to do make-up for – Keely, Ria and Sheena.  Nigel was photographer for the day with Donovan (Daddy of The Boudoir) videoing  with his colleague Paul and Teresa (Mummy, The Boudoir) doing “catering” with endless coffee, tea, sandwiches and chocolate and generally doing what mummy’s do and looking after us all brilliantly. Anita and Donna (The Boudoir) obviously had the huge task of organising and styling all of the clothes and looks and the three girls all  looked fabulous. Every outfit they put on we all oohed and ahhed and felt extremely envious. Such chic style and perfect for a day at the races (or a wedding)

The make-up needed to match the theme of the day so I did the three girls’ make-up as I would if I was doing a client’s make-up who was going to the races or a wedding – “flawlessly fabulous’ which is my terminology for these special occasion make-ups  

 Ria in early morning make-up at my studio

Some of The Boudoir’s hats

Anita organising the clothes 

Teresa with Denise and Michelle doing hair. Keely and Ria looking a bit bored at this stage! 

Sheena having her make-up done at Down Royal (with Donovan videoing)

Haven’t a clue what Anita’s talking to Ria and Keely about….

Keely taking a call from her agent whilst having Michelle make final adjustments to that fab bun

The two most important parts to any photo shoot, the photographer (obviously he’s very important as he’s my husband!) and champagne!! We LOVE Donna, she’s good at opening champagne!

 One of the first shots of the day

Michelle adjusting hats and hair while Donna arrives with the champagne!

A perfect end to a perfect afternoon at the races!! 

This Saturday Slap Shots is a mixture of a couple of weeks as I missed doing a Saturday Slap Shots blog last week due to “Sunny Slaps’ and then my photo editor was a bit busy to edit all the photos I was nagging him to edit

So finally I have culminated all the lovely ladies I had the opportunity to get photos of.  Last Saturday was manic so I don’t have photos unfortunately of everyone Some of the make-ups I might not fully remember all the products but will have a good go at trying to where possible.

Tanya is my first make-up that I definitely do remember. As some of you may know I have started getting my eyebrows threaded and can highly recommend threading for shaping of the eyebrow. Eyebrows are so important to adding shape to the face and one of my favourite parts of make-up is filling and shaping eyebrows. Well, I am always asked do I not find it sore and I didnt really know what to compare the “pain” to. I don’t really find eyebrow threading sore and a couple of weeks ago I was at the dentist having a check up and the dentist said he’d do a clean and polish – three of my most unfavourite words to hear the dentist saying. I find cleaning and polishing one of the sorest, most uncomfortable 5/10 mins experience and so now I always say if you can stick getting a clean and polish, threading is easy!! Well, back to Tanya…. Tanya is a dentist I said to her while I was doing her make-up that I wouldn’t talk work (her work) to her but it’s like being friendly with a doctor, you just can’t help yourself! I think she may be one of the best looking and nicest dentists and it really was a pleasure doing her make-up as she likes make-up. On Tanya’s eyes I used a mixture of NARS “Eurydice” and an Urban Decay one called “Ransom” and really smoked them up with “Fig.1″ by MAC (a deep purple)

The next make-up is Kathryn, who coincidentally, talking about doctors, is doing medicine at Queens and was having her make-up done for going to a medical formal in Le Mon House Hotel. Kathryn really isn’t a big make-up person so we discussed how much make-up before and her comfort level and I think she was pretty pleased with the finished result. On Kathryn’s eyes I added a touch of royal blue ” “to compliment her dress and added black gel liner on the top lash line to really contrast between the blue of her eyes. For the lips I used “Latino” by Rimmel.

The next couple of photos are of Lisa, who you’ve probably seen on my blog previously. Lisa was going to a wedding on Saturday and was in really early to have her make-up done before going over to Bridget in David Graham Hairdressing to have her hair done. Her look was really classic – red lips “Russian Red” by MAC and a gold/bronze eye with black gel liner and finished with Ardell Demi Wispies false lashes – beautiful.  Bridget kindly took these two photos and gave them to me today for my blog. Hair by Bridget.

Louise was in with me on Saturday afternoon last thing as she was going out on a girls night out in Newry. Louise loves make-up and so it was great when she said she was probably wearing black – cue lots of eye colour On Louise’s eyes I used a “retro-speck” by MAC, randomly chosen by Louise from my make-up box which I used on the lid and then changed into something different altogether by adding a deep red by Urban Decay and smoked with a navy “Contrast” from MAC finished with lots of MAC Black Track gel liner and Ardell “Demi Wispies” lashes. Louise’s lipstick is “Coral Queen” by Rimmel.  Photo taken on my phone so not the best.

Michelle was going to a wedding on Saturday morning and had her make-up done for the first time with me. She has a great eye for eyeshadow and we kept her eyeshadow goldy bronze colours to tie in with her head piece. I also finished her eyes with MAC Black Track gel liner on the top lash line and again some Ardell Demi Wisipie lashes. Michelle’s lipstick is MAC Viva Glam V. Photo again taken on my phone.

Donna was having her make-up done a couple of weeks ago for going to do some Rose of Tralee duties and I took this photo at the door on her way out with my phone so again not the best quality!

We have also done a few “Lashes and Flashes” makeover photo shoots the last couple of weeks. The first is Denise who had her hair done first of all by David Graham Hairdressing and then over to me for make-up and her  beauty photo in the studio with Nigel.

Edel was going to a wedding on the Friday so tied a “Lashes and Flashes” makeover experience in with going to the wedding, so after hair, make-up and photo she was ready to go! A great idea.

Anne bought her mum one of our “Lashes and Flashes” Mother’s Day packages and her and her mum (Sheila) came last Friday for their make-up and photo. They both had an individual photo as well as this gorgeous one of the two of them together.