My first Glossybox (review)

Hello all,

Sorry its been a while, had a bit of writers block, and that paired with an uneventful life leaves you feeling a bit stuck on what to write about.
However, my boyfriend surprised me with a 3 month subscription to Glossybox, a box you receive every month full of lovely beauty treats, I got my first box through the post today and I love it! I'm looking forward to the next two! 

Before I talk about the contents, I just wanted to talk about the packaging as it was just so nice! A pale pink, glossy box (obviously) and then inside was black tissue paper with a ribbon tied around. I really do like nice packaging so I had a bit of a nerd-out about it haha. They don't have to make such an effort as it'll probably end up getting thrown away but it gives a more glamorous feel and for someone with no glamour in their life its quite a nice experience! I'm definitely keeping the box though, its big enough to put bits and bobs in, even somewhere to keep make-up or nail varnish! 

You receive 5 items, and they said 3 of which would be actual size but in fact all but one were actual size so you get really good value for money. 

Item 1
'Rituals...' Qi Gong deodorant spray
This smells really great, a perfect summer scent. I'd love to get a body spray or perfume version to use throughout the day!

Item 2
'L'Oreal Paris' Volume million lashes in Black
This is a really great mascara, it has a plastic brush with loads and loads (you could say millions) of bristles and it fans out your lashes and lengthens them, it also has a 'de-clump' wiper in the bottle which is handy and actually works.

Item 3
'So Susan Cosmetics' Concealer Quad
This concealer is really creamy and really blendable. I like that it has a white so you can use it to highlight as well. However I like my concealers to have quite a lot of pigment and this one is very light in its coverage, but it is so lightweight that it makes it perfect for summer when you don't want to wear too much make-up.

Item 4
'Nailgirls' 3-in-1 base coat, top coat and nail strengthener 
Very handy! Now you can be confident that your nails will be protected and strengthened and also have a great shine!

Item 5
'Teeez Trend Cosmetics' Beautiful Flat Stiff Brush
I've never heard of this brand but this is a really good little eye shadow brush, its really soft and you could easily use it to blend your eye shadow too.

So that's it! These are some really nice products which will also last a long time, I'm looking forward to getting even more great products and trying some that I wouldn't have normally tried. It also came with a little magazine which I shall look forward to reading later :)





Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!
See you soon
Beth x

An Announcement!

Hi all,

Haven't posted in a long time and I can only apologise for that, but, I have an announcement to make!

I have started making YouTube videos! I know I'm a make-up artist but I just find make-up tutorials so boring, so my videos are just of me creating various looks sped up, so you can see the process of how I create various make-up (plus, if you asked me to talk to camera, it would be the most awkward thing you would ever see). I have done two so far and I plan to carry on. 

I've put the link to my latest one below, I really hope you like them and please do subscribe! 

See you soon,
Beth x


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzbujub0llQ 

How to: smokey eye using eyeliner

Just a quick tutorial for you today on how to create a smokey eye using a pencil eyeliner, handy for when you're in a rush or just need a more subtle look. 

I used a cheap eyeliner because they are easier to smudge due to the fact the pigment is not that good but it gives a nice slate colour which I like. I also used a 'smudger' but a cotton bud would work just as well. 

Step 1: Apply a line of liner on your upper lash line, it doesn't have to be neat.

Step 2: Start smudging along the line.

Step 3: Begin smudging upwards, as far as you like and into your preferred shape, you can keep to your eyelid or you can wing it out. Make sure it doesn't look patchy. 

Step 4: Then use your finger to get rid of any defining lines so it blends out nicely.

Step 5 (optional): Apply your liner in the waterline and on your lower lash line then smudge it to create a smokier look.

Step 6: Apply some mascara then you're done!

Hope this helps some of you! Thanks for reading.

Beth x

How to: Polka Dot Nails

I just want to say that I am no expert on nail art, there are probably people out there that can create the Mona Lisa on their thumbnail, very impressive, but who wants that on their nails? Anyway, I came up with an easy way to put dots on your nails. It really makes your nails stand out and its just something different and fun, so please read on...

You can use whatever colours you like, I used a navy blue and white (navy for the base and white dots) and I alternated it on my thumb and ring finger. 

So, first off, paint your base colour. Wait for them to dry thoroughly and then use either a pencil or a cocktail stick and then use some blue tack to make a small ball and stick it firmly on the end, making sure it won't fall off! 

Then you can dip it into the nail varnish or use the brush and paint the blue tack, you don't want it to be dripping off, you just want to enough to just cover the blue tack.

Then carefully press it onto your nail, push down harder if you want large dots and only lightly if you want small ones. Repeat until all your nails are complete! You can be completely random with your dots or you could do them in patterns, like dominoes or dice etc. (I went with random, as you can see). 

This is a very simple trick that everyone can use!

My polka dot nails using Rimmel nail varnish in 'rhythm and blues' (part of the 'Kate' collection) and 'Porcelain' (part of the 'Brit Manicure' collection)

Thanks for reading, 
Beth x

How to: Katniss Everdeen Make-up from Catching Fire

The Hunger Games is one of my favourite film series, and when Catching Fire came out I was really looking forward to seeing what make-up I would see as the make-up in the first film was so colourful and very random! And I was not let down. The make-up looks they created for Katniss were really beautiful and played a big part of her costume. I think Katniss would be a great character to cosplay as so if you are looking for inspiration then I hope this helps! 



The Tribute Parade

In this part of the film, Katniss has very dramatic make-up. She has jet black eyes with an intricate gold pattern underneath and around it, very long eyelashes and defined brows. Her lips are a natural coral colour while her foundation is her natural skin tone with some shading and blush. 



Eyes:

Use a normal eye shadow brush, and a highly pigmented black eye shadow and create the shape. Start from the inner corner of your eye and curve it up towards the arch of your eyebrow and out towards the end of your eyebrow. Then curve it down to the outer corner of your eye. Next, fill it in, making sure it isn't patchy, use a fluffy blending brush to achieve this. I also blended the line so it looked more 'smoky'. Then, use the edge of your eye shadow brush to create two flicks on the outer corner. Next, bring the black down underneath your eye, right to the inner corner and then extend it out onto your nose. 

Then use a black kohl pencil in the water line. 

Next, dot a gel or liquid liner on the top line of the eye shadow to create a dappled effect. 

Now for the gold. I used a gold liquid liner but I think a gel liner would have been better. I used the liner's own brush but you can use your own if you prefer or if you're using a gel, start from the inner corner of your eye and follow the eye shadow all the way up to the flick, then branch off with one flicking up, and then two flicking down. Then use a small liner brush and shade in between the gold and underneath so it makes it stand out. 

Next, apply some false lashes. Apply an eyelash glue along the lashes, wait for it to dry a little bit and using your fingers or tweezers carefully place them as close to your lash line as you can, holding them in place until they are dry. Then apply a little mascara to join your lashes with the false ones, and apply some mascara on your bottom lashes. 

To finish off the eyes, fill in your eye brows, keeping a natural shape.

Face:


Use your normal foundation and apply it as you usually would, being careful around the eyes. I do eye make-up first before foundation as I can rid of any fall out without having to remove the foundation. 

Then apply a powder to get rid of any shine.

Then use an angled blusher brush and a dark blusher and shade underneath your cheekbones and jaw line.

Then apply an orange/pink blush on your cheeks.

Lips:

Use a lip brush to apply a neutral colour such as a natural pink or coral with some clear gloss over the top. 

Capitol Party at the president's mansion 

In this part of the film Katniss has dramatic eyes again. She wears bold orange eye shadow with an elegant flick of eyeliner top and bottom with white separating them and long eye lashes. Again, she has a natural skin tone with shading and blusher. Her lips are a pale pink.

Eyes:

Using an eye shadow brush, apply a pale yellow eye shadow all over your eyelid up to your eye brow. Then use an orange eye shadow and apply this over your eye lid 3 quarters of the way in and not past the crease. Then take a fluffy blending brush and blend this upwards and out towards the outer corner, curving it down from the end of your eye brow to the outer corner of your eye. Then with the blending blush take a small amount of a red eye shadow and blend it into the outer corner and in the crease.

Then use a liquid or gel liner and very thin brush and line along the lash line and flick upwards and out, in line with the eye shadow. Do this for the lower lash line as well. Apply a bright white pencil or eye shadow between the flicks. Then line the water line with a black kohl pencil. 

You could use false lashes again, however I just curled mine and applied mascara.

Then fill in your eye brows, keeping a natural shape.

Face:


Use your normal foundation and apply it how you would normally. Then apply a powder to get rid of any shine.

Then using an angled blush brush and a dark blush, shade under your cheekbones and jaw line. Then apply a pink blush on the cheeks and dust lightly over your forehead, nose and chin.

Lips:


Use a lip brush and a apply a natural pink or light pink colour on your lips.

Wedding make-up 


Katniss is forced to wear her wedding dress on TV and this is make-up she wears with it. It is very pretty
and elegant but also carries powerful imagery as have the others. She has a silver smoky eye with winged eye liner and long, feathery lashes, her foundation is natural with shading and blusher and pale pink lips. In the scene, she spins and her wedding dress is transformed into a 'Mockingjay' outfit which sends a very controversial message. Her make-up is also made to reflect that of a mockingjay with the feathery lashes.





Eyes:

This a design that you can very much make your own. If you don't have the right accessories (like me) such as the lashes and/or the gems then you can find other ways to achieve this look. 

First, take an eye shadow brush and apply a black shadow along the lid, not all the way up to the crease.

 
Then apply a shimmery silver above the black, and then a very light silver above that. Then take a blending brush and blend these together taking it out towards the outer corner of the eye making a curve. Then apply a white, pearly shimmer underneath the eyebrow and blend this down to the inner corner of the eye. 

Next, using a black gel or liquid liner, apply along the lash line, quite thinly, and wing it out and up towards the end of your eye brow. As I didn't have gems, I then dotted four dots of liner on my lower lash line. You could also use a silver for this.

Then, apply some false lashes or lots of mascara and fill in your eye brows, keeping a natural shape.


Face:

Use your normal foundation and apply as you would normally. Apply a powder to get rid of any shine. Then use an angled blush brush and a dark blusher and shade under your cheekbones and jawline. Then apply a pink blush to your cheeks and lightly over your forehead, nose and chin. 


Lips:

Using a lip brush, apply a baby/pale pink and then apply a pearly white shimmer to the middle of your lips and blend this out.

How to: The basics of highlighting and shading

It is very useful to know how to highlight and shade a face correctly. You can enhance certain facial features and hide others, you can also change the look of a person's entire facial structure. 
Now, I have a round shaped face so I like to shade under my cheekbones to give the appearance that I do actually have them and under my jaw. 

• The key is to shade where shadows naturally fall and highlight where light naturally hits the face.

Here is a picture of where to highlight and shade on the face:

These are the areas that I like to shade and highlight on my face, I hollow out my cheekbones using a dark blush and then use a light pink on the apples of my cheeks. Or if you prefer, you can use a foundation that is two tones darker than your natural shade and use that to shade. Apply it with a foundation brush or your fingers and then blend. To highlight I use a foundation that is two tones lighter. 

Depending on your face shape you may not want to highlight certain areas, for example if you have a prominent chin you may want to shade it instead to make it look less prominent. If you want to make your nose look narrower then you can highlight down the middle and then shade on the sides and vice versa if you want to make your nose look wider. 

I also like to highlight under my eyebrows because I think it really helps to make your eyes stand out and it also helps to define your brow shape. Highlighting your cupid's bow also really helps to define your lip shape. Shading your temples and jaw line can also help to make a round face more structured by making it look more square, however if you have a square face and want to soften it then highlighting your temples and jawline can achieve this.

So you can achieve just about anything with this technique!

Hope this helps you and hoped you enjoyed reading.

Bye for now,

Beth x

facebook.com/bethhaggarmakeup

A Triumph Stag, a fake arm and lots of blood!

I recently did the make-up for a trailer for a book with a small start up production company called Donroy Films. They make short films and other things and I really love working with them. I've worked with them once before on a project that is still ongoing.

This trailer was for a book called 'Dangerous' and the author wanted a short film-like trailer to go with it. We filmed in various local locations, the production company is self funded so they couldn't travel far to more extravagant locations but the places we did film were just as good. I was the only make-up artist so I was emailed the storyboard and had to work out what make-up people needed for each scene. It involved quite a lot of blood and injuries which is always fun!

Whatever you do as a make-up artist whether it be film, stage etc, you will wait around for long periods of time. There is the initial rush before the scene where you are doing your work and then as soon as its done you'll have to wait for the rest of the team to film the scene which could take hours so I always make sure I bring a book with me (and lots of food!).

In one scene there needed to be a fake hand hanging out of a car boot, the car was a beautiful Triumph Stag, the hand itself looked pretty rubbish, the skin colour was a bit odd and this made it look really fake. So I used supracolour to darken the skin a bit and shade in the creases on the fingers so the camera would pick it up, I also made the sleeves dirty and added lots of blood. This gave it a more realistic look, we couldn't use a real person's arm as the car's boot was far too small for a person to fit in.

In another scene I had to make someone look dead as they were to be in a morgue and give them a bullet wound on the side of the head. Its hard to make a bullet wound look old as 'fresh' running blood is what makes a bullet wound look good so to a achieve an older look I put the blood on and dabbed it so it looked more like a stain. I think this worked quite well. To make the actor look dead I made his skin pale and shaded under his cheekbones and jaw line, I also gave him dark circles under his eyes and a blue tinge to his lips.

On the last day was the most difficult scene. They wanted to 'shoot' someone and have blood splatter on a wall behind them in one take. I had no idea how to achieve this, but the only way it would've been possible would be to have someone off camera sitting behind the person holding something that could splatter the blood. We came up with different contraptions that could splatter the blood- drain pumps, hoses, hand pumps but none were working the way we wanted. So in the end all we did was use a water bottle! Someone sat behind the actor and as his neck was in shadow I did a quick bullet wound and some running blood so when he was shot and flung his head back into the light you could see it, and the person 'shooting' counted down so they could time it right with the blood splatter. In the end it looked really good and I can't wait to see the final thing! Normal artificial blood is usually thick and gloopy and not very good for squirting as such, so I made my own using corn syrup, water and red food colouring and made it runnier than blood should be so we could squirt it easily. 

These people don't have the highest quality equipment or the easiest locations but they still manage to make amazing, quality stuff and I cannot wait to see the finished trailer. I took a few photos but I'll be sure to get some more stills when the trailer is released. 

Setting up the camera and positioning the fake arm

Testing the camera angle

Old looking bullet wound make-up

Anyway, thank you for reading!

Beth x