Lisa requested my help with her hair and make-up for a masked ball in aid of two charities – The Forget Me Not Trust and the Anchor Trust. We didn’t have time to arrange a trial but Lisa kindly agreed to having her photograph taken showing the process from start to finish, thank you Lisa.
When Paul and I arrived at Lisa’s house in Longwood just outside of Huddersfield, we were greeted at the door with Lisa in her funky monkey pj’s and sporting clean wet hair and a huge grin and off to the kitchen we went. As I take so much equipment with me I virtually take over a room and poor Paul often has to lodge himself into an uncomfortable corner to take the pictures I want, but he always comes up trumps. In Lisa’s kitchen he worked with the downlights only as his flash guns were being serviced but we really love the warm tones this gave Lisa’s tanned skin and auburn tresses.
When we spoke initially, Lisa told me her hair was unruly, thick and shoulder length and she had no specific idea in mind for the style she wanted just ‘up and posh’! Always up for a challenge I was delighted to work on Lisa’s thick, auburn wavy hair that absolutely did everything I wanted it to. I started by applying a smoothing serum and blow dryed it with a large, round ceramic brush giving it volume and incredible shine – yum.
Click continue to reveal the entire process and finished look.
I put large heated rollers in to give the hair shape and definition and while they cooled set about applying make up.
It’s important that the skin be prepared for make-up and usually my ladies apply moisturiser before I arrive but Lisa had leapt out of the shower just before we arrived and hadn’t had time so I applied and massaged her moisturiser for her, mmm, she looks ready to nod off not go out.
Lisa was sporting a gorgeous tan and freckles (which I adore) and whilst she loved the tan she was less than happy with her freckles – mad woman – so we chose the appropriate L’oreal True Match foundation and applied two thin layers and blended thoroughly.
Having applied a very small amount of concealer to Lisa’s near perfect complexion I used a little Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat just under her eyes for the light reflective qualities. Because Lisa would be wearing a mask it would create shadows and I didn’t want her to appear to look tired.
It’s important to apply powder to set the foundation and then the blusher. I used a darker colour in the hollows under Lisa’s cheekbones then highlighted the cheeks with a paler, pink blusher to give her a beautiful healthy glow.
Lisa has amazing green eyes and I was tempted to go with golds, browns and greens to highlight them but when she showed me her divine, slinky dress in purple shades I changed my mind and worked on a sultry evening look to tie in with the dress and mask instead. Using I highlighted the brow and lid area with a pale colour and defined the socket area with a deep midnight purple shade, both these colours are in a limited edition palette but Mac sell so many stunning shades this look is easy to achieve. eyeshadows
It’s really important to blend the colours you use well so no harsh lines are apparent, and I use a variety of colours either to add contrast or blend into a smooth finished look over the eyes. Although I wanted a sultry look I definitely never advocate the use of too much eyeliner, I feel eyeliner can make the eyes look smaller and too close together if you’re not careful, so I applied Lisa’s eyeliner predominantly to the outer upper and lower lids, blending into the eye shadow giving a sexy, evening image.
As you can see Lisa’s eyebrows are near perfect anyway so I had nothing much to do but give them a quick shaping brush and then we applied the mascara. Lisa’s eyelashes are enough to turn anyone green with envy so stayed away from the false ones and after curling, applied two coats of black/brown L’oreal volumizing mascara. Wow!
I always use disposable mascara wands and lipstick brushes for health and hygiene purposes.
For the lips, Lisa prefers a dark look and whilst I love the dramatic look I didn’t want to go over the top with Lisa because she has a thinner top lip (albeit with a perfect cupids bow) and again, too dark colour can accentuate that, so we settled for a mid-depth Max Factor Lipfinity and glossed over with a sparkly shine.
Having removed the now cool heated rollers, I liberally sprayed the hair with a Wella firm hold hairspray and then ran my fingers through the curls to break them up rather than using a brush. I sectioned the back of Lisa’s hair away from the front sides and top and twised it into a smooth, sleek chignon securing it with hairgrips and more hairspray. Sweeping the sides back and up I left the top to fall into tousled curls and simply used my fingers to place them into a loose order and again used some grips and plenty of hairspray to secure. Lisa definitely wanted a fringe, so I straightened this with curling tongs (odd isn’t it, we use straighteners to curl and tongs to smooth?!?) to give it some volume and bounce and tweaked it into position with a final spray. I felt this style had a 1940’s feel to it and fortunately Lisa loved it.
I really wanted to see the effect with the mask in place, so Lisa kindly indulged me and Paul took a quick shot before we said our goodbyes and left her to finish getting ready.
Lisa, we hope you had a wonderful evening and would like to thank you for your co-operation and sense of humour during your preparations. I sincerely hope we meet again.
Here’s a before and after shot, hope you all enjoyed Lisa’s story and thanks for reading.
OK so I’m adding a referral from Lisa whose make-up and hair I did recently. Lisa is allowing me to type in the words she sent over via a text as her referral note…here goes…
‘I love the photos and my Mum loves not only this website but is now trying to copy the process of applying the make-up to herself! I would love to have a copy of one of the photos but I’ll let you know which one via text.
I was very happy with the service and I will definitely be using you again.
Lisa’