Behind the scenes at my latest shoot...

 Apologies for the poopy photo quality, I only had my Iphone camera with me!

Hey there kids!
I thought I'd share a few 'behind the scenes' type photos with you from the music video shoot I worked on this Tuesday. I'm not sure how much I can really tell you, it's usually fairly 'hush hush' with these types of things until they are released.

It was a pretty early start, as the MUA you are usually one of the first on set and then one of the last to leave (thank god for the copious amounts of Jelly Babies, chocolates and Haribo we were supplied with!).
The morning was fairly hectic; I did 3 dancers make-up looks, a girl and two guys.
I have to admit, I LOVE doing men’s make-up, I'd love to have a job just doing male models!

We slightly altered the make up for the afternoon shots, and then the rest of the afternoon was spent 'standing by'. This means you literally stand on set and run in to do touch ups in between takes. This can be kind of scary when you first start out, but I actually really like this part of the job now!
The dancers routine was fairly fast pace (hence blurry photos), so as you can imagine there was a lot of sweat to mop up, shine to cover up, and lipstick re-appling going on. Glamorous hey?!

There was such a great vibe at this shoot, I got to work with MUA Zoe Tatum-Rooney, a dance team from Pineapple Dance Studios, and choreographer Mark Battershall (he's worked with Kate Moss and Florence Welch to name drop a couple. You might know him from the Pineapple Dance Studio TV series).
I even worked with a couple of the girls I trained in make-up with, which was really nice.
I definitely want to be doing more music video shoots!

I've got a couple of other shoots to tell you about too, I've been so unorganized and not blogged about them yet!

Real Techniques Core Collection and my brushes of choice

Core Collection | My Brushes of choice | Handy Brushroll

Real Techniques brushes are one of the products I bought last month purely due to the amount of hype constantly surrounding them in the bloggersphere.
So many people love them, so I assumed they must be good and didn't think I could really go wrong.
Having qualified as a make-up artist, I can always justify a new set of brushes, so I went ahead and ordered the Core Collection.

I'll be totally honest; I really wasn't impressed with these at all.
I can see why so many of you do like them, 4 brushes and a roll for £20 is a massive beauty bargain, but I just couldn't get on with them.
My main problem with them wasn't even the quality of the brush hair. That was actually pretty good considering they're so cheap, and I didn't even have any stray hairs come out of them.

The problem for me, was the size of the brushes. They’re absolutely TINY!
I hated the foundation brush size and shape,  I found it far to small to use for a foundation brush, yet too big to use as a concealer brush. I also like my foundation brushes to have a square shape to them, it covers more of my face this way (if that even makes sense). So this was a massive no for me.

The concealer brush I found even worse, pointless for concealing as it is just far too small. Although, I have started using it for accurate application of highlighter underneath my eyebrows.

The other brushes are okay I suppose, the contour brush isnt quite the size or shape I'd like it to be.
The buffing brush is definitely the best of the bunch, but I don't really tend to use buffing brushes very often, so it's a little pointless for me.

So all around disappointment here I'm afraid :( Without meaning to sound like a massive make-up snob, I really do believe that you get what you pay for. I'd rather spend £20 on one good quality brush that I love using.

The only thing I love about this set, as weird as this might sound, is actually the brush roll.
I've been looking for a plain black one that didn't cost a billion pounds for ages now. I looked at the ones in MAC but just couldn't justify it.
This may not be the prettiest of rolls but it's discrete and does the job for protecting the brushes that I do want to carry around in my handbag with me.
So I've just been popping my brushes of choice (a mixture of brushes I got on my course, and a few MAC brushes) in there instead. I even think I would pay the £20 just for the empty brush roll!

Have you tried these real techniques brushes before? What did you think of them?
If you've reviewed them too, feel free to leave your link in the comments!

It's time to let go, of everything we used to know

I'll admit it, I'm normally a huge snob when it comes to make-up brands. These eyeliners are probably the cheapest make-up items I have EVER purchased.
I've only recently been attempting to learn how to do liquid eyeliner (I know, I know, it's only taken me a whole 23 years). It always just seemed like more effort and trickier than pencil. 
It definitely gives a more clean, precise line than pencils, and doesn't tend to go smudgy either, so I suppose it depends what kind of look you are going for. I decided as my make-up course is creeping closer and closer (woop), I should probably try it out.

I bought the MUA liquid liner in shade 5 for £1. It's brilliant if like me, you are practicing how to use a liquid eyeliner, it means you won't be wasting a good quality liner.
The tip of the liner is really fine, which means you can get a really precise line, this is very tricky when you are used to using pencil though!
The first time I used this liner, the quality was great, I got a clean line and it was really jet black, very dramatic. It bloomin' well hurts if you get it in your eye though, so try not to overload the brush. 
After the first use, I found it went a little watery, and needs 2 or 3 layers to get a good line. Don't use any more than this though, otherwise it can get a little clumpy looking. The staying power isn't great, so I wouldn't recommend if you need to wear it for a long period of time as it can start wearing off and looking a little patchy , and if you try and fill it in, it begins to look clumpy. I really like the post though, it looks like a little ink well, how cute! For £1, to experiment with, I would say you can't really go wrong.

I've also only just started bothering to use white liner on my waterline too, I'm such a bad beauty blogger! I don't use this everyday, just if I'm having one of those days where I'm a little tried or hungover, and I want to look more awake. It really opens up your eye and makes you look brighter.
Although it's a really soft pencil and doesn't drag, I find I have to do a couple of lines before it shows up properly, the pigmentation isn't te best. Same again with the staying power too, you will need to top up every 3-4 hours really. I really like the fact that it comes with a little sharpener on the end. I don't know about you, but I can never seem to find my sharpener when I need it. So to have one on the lid is just pure genius in my opinion, and for £1!

I don't think I would purchase these eyeliners again, purely because of the poor staying power, I don't like wearing products that I have to keep touching up. As I said though, they are good to use if you are learning how to do eyeliner, as you wont be using up a more expensive one. Or if your in you teens and are just wearing them to school. They'd be great too if you'd forgotten your eyeliner that day and just wanted a cheap one temporarily!

Have you tried the Mua eyeliners before? Which eyeliners would you reccomend to me?
Oh, sorry for the lack of face with eyeliner on... every photo I took I looked like a greasy, tired mess. Currently cracking open the wine.