Eastbourne Lingerie Model

As a make-up artist starting off 99% of the work you get in the beginning is going to be you putting yourself out there and for free. Now for me, my kit is very expensive seeing as I use only have under ten items that are drug store/ high street products and the rest being high end make-up including brands such as MAC, Bobbi Brown, Anastasia Beverly Hills and Kryolan. For me obviously the expense of my make-up kit was a huge amount and sometimes using that make-up for free is a little disheartening but if you make the most out of that job and pick the jobs you do for free wisely then it's all worth it in the long run.  I personally will not choose to do a shoot for free unless it is filling a hole in my portfolio and something I haven't done before. For me about 2 months it was any professional pictures what so ever that I needed so I went on the hunt. In the beginning make-up work doesn't just come to you, in fact, hardly anything in life just comes to you with out you putting some welly in to it!

I had noticed a young model (Elenna Owen) who doesn't live far from me doing well so I offered to do her make-up for free on her next photoshoot. The photographer it so happened to be was one I had been in contact with before, Marcus Avanti. Marcus is a photographer/ videographer based in East Sussex and London. His work mainly consists of commercial and glamour/ lingerie shots.

Marcus Avanti - Photographer and Videographer

On the day of the shoot it was pushed back an hour and a half so by the time we started shooting is was almost a race against the sun. Even though there was lots of expensive lighting equipment Marcus wanted to capture model Elenna Owen with natural lighting.

This was actually my first experience working with a group of strong characters. Everyone had their vision and every had their spoken opinion on things they did and did not like. For a while we were sat riffling through the wardrobe options on which there was some disagreement but we eventually came through with something every one was happy with. The make-up was something that was even in question too... As I was applying the make-up it was brought up that Elenna didn't find dark eye make-up flattering on herself and feel confident with it on. Now as a trained make-up artist we have always been taught to do everything darker for photography as quite often colours are lost on the camera so what might seem stark to the naked eye won't look so harsh on the final photographs. Even so, same with the wardrobe, you do not ever want to make a model feel uncomfortable whilst she's trying to shoot or it will show in the photo's exactly how she's feeling. Make-up is either to enhance beauty and make a woman feel empowered, sexy and confident or it is to make an artistic statement. In the end I am quite happy that we compromised and found a safe middle, where she felt and looked gorgeous, Marcus was happy and I was pleased with my work.

Both of these people within the industry I am still in contact with and have said they would be happy to use me again. With Marcus I already had another shoot booked but unfortunately fell through as the model cancelled and is yet to rearrange, and Elenna even went on to say I could be her personal make-up artist haha. I love getting great feedback!