Recent Work

Hi everyone! Just dropping in to let you know what I've been up to. Last week I got the chance to work on a studio photoshoot with Syan Photography, which was great fun and we got some fantastic shots. I hope you agree, here are a few of my favourites:

I don't have enough space here to tell you everything I used, but the bright eyeshadow colours are Sugarpill.

Anyway, I hope you've all had a happy and safe Christmas! See you in the New Year :)

EOTD: The Cut Crease

I meant to post this look the other day when I actually did it, but then never did. Better late than never eh?

I wanted to practise my cut-crease, and get the technique down so I could do it on a client/model if needed. This isn't perfect by any means, but I think I'm getting there. What do you think?

I don't remember exactly what I used as I was experimenting, but it was something like:

Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk
Claire's hot pink body art crayon
Black pencil liner
88 palette pink
Too Faced Glampire
Helen E hot pink glitter
Kryolan liquid liner
Urban Decay Naked & Buck
Sleek black eyeshadow
MAC Vanilla pigment

Hope you like it, let me know in the comments if there is anything in particular you want to see me write about or do. I get a bit stuck sometimes!

Indian Sunset

Spent my afternoon messing about with make-up, after having a morning in bed feeling ill. I came up with a slightly different version of my Halloween bat look, a sunset with birds.

For this look, I used Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, Sugarpill Buttercupcake, Flamepoint and Afterparty. For the transition between yellow and blue I used Barry M Dazzle Dust in 93 - Block Blue.

For the birds and the eyeliner, I just used a cheap liquid liner with a nail art brush, then pressed matt black eyeshadow onto the waterline.

Hope you like it!

EOTD: Bad Seed

Hi-Fi Cosmetics' Bad Seed is one of my all-time favourite eye shadows. I love golden, olivey greens, because they're so close to my eye colour, I find them really flattering.

I think this type of colour actually suits most people, give it a try! It's an easy way to wear green if you're a bit scared of colour.

I used:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Hi Fi Cosmetics Bad Seed
Geek Chic Cosmetics The Pointy End
Urban Decay Naked (brows)
Smashbox Limitless Liquid Liner Pen
Black Mascara

Playing Around

Just a quick post to show you one of my experiments in make-up. I was inspired by some art I found on tumblr.

I used:

Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk
Sugarpill Buttercupcake & Tako
Sleek black
Cheap liquid liner
Revlon corner lashes
Individual lashes
Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Electrum

It's Fashion Baby!

I recently got the chance to work on a huge fashion show in Leeds as part of the Pamela Clare make-up team. Although I have done shows before, this was the biggest and best. I thought some of you might be interested in seeing some pictures from backstage and the catwalk.

© Anna Louise Crossley

I love working backstage as it's so frantic and high energy! Love how the girls looked on the runway! Hope this was interesting!

This is Halloween!

Hey all. A couple of weeks ago someone posted an awesome eye look on a make-up forum, asking people to recreate it. I thought I'd have a go. The original look was done by an artist named Kiki. Her look is here. Here's my result:

The last picture is a retouched version by a photographer friend of mine, Bryony, here's her website: http://www.purestorm.com/bryonyphotography

Make-up was mostly Sugarpill. I used Buttercupcake, Flamepoint and Love+, with a random Sleek black on the lid and brows. For the bats I used a cheapo liquid liner and a fine nail art brush. Hope you like!

Cover to Cover: Magazine Project

Hi everyone. Thought I'd post about a project I've been working on for absolutely ages. My tutor at college suggested this actually, as a way of practising my skills as a make-up artist. She said a good way to learn would be to go through a magazine, and try to recreate every single look in it yourself. While I haven't quite done all the looks in one magazine, I've done a lot. I went for mostly adverts, where you can see the make-up. It challenged me to try things I wouldn't normally, which I think is awesome.

Here's the looks:

What I've Been Up To!

For those of you who don't know, I don't just blog about my love for makeup, I study it too! Last year I took a course in Fashion & Photographic Make-up, and just received my certificate, so I'm now officially a qualified make-up artist! This year I will be adding to my skillset by learning Hair & Media Make-up, which I just started a couple of weeks ago. I'm enjoying it thoroughly so far and have already learnt so much.

The hair component of my course was particularly scary at first but I am definitely improving! Here's a few pictures of what I did today in class:

Eyeshadow on the Lips?!

Hi everyone. Just a quick post because I'm not putting enough content on here lately. I have been playing with makeup a lot though, so I thought I'd show you one of my experiments. Hope you enjoy.

A lot of people think you can only use a product for a specific use, or just stick to what the name suggests you should do with something. It's often fun to play around though, using lip products on the eyes or cheeks, and eye colours elsewhere on the face. One of the easiest ways to experiment is to mix a loose pigment or eyeshadow with a clear lipgloss (or Vaseline) to create your own custom lipstick. For these I used Fyrinnae eye shadows mixed with just a clear gloss. All you need to do is check on the label or company website to see if your product is safe to use in the area. Here are the looks I created:

 Arcane Magic: Faerie Glamour. This one says it's not safe for lips, but I took it off straight after :p Just don't try this at home haha!

 Arcane Magic: Velvet Vampire. Looks patchy in the photos, but in real life it looked great. I actually love this on the lips and would definitely wear it out.

Biker Chic. This was hard to get on neatly, as are all really dark or pigmented lipglosses. It also came out a lot blacker than I expected, and the turquoise sparkles don't show up much.

Playing around with make-up is a lot of fun, trial and error is required but just go for it! It's only make-up remember, it washes off :) Hope you liked this post!

Natural Contoured Face

Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of posts again lately! I just did a really great photoshoot a couple of weeks ago, so hopefully I'll be able to show you the photos soon. I've also just started college this week, so when I start doing some looks, I can show you those too. Hopefully this new routine will enable me to get more content up for you. Please let me know if there's anything specific you want to see on here.

Onto today's look. At the weekend, I'm doing a make-up for a photoshoot outdoors, with a natural feel. I tested out the look on myself, using cream foundation to contour, focusing on the cheekbones, with a healthy, glowy feel overall.

To begin, I started with moisturised skin, and applied a medium coverage foundation, using a sponge to blend. I used Boots No7 Stay Perfect Foundation, in the shade Calico. I used a cream concealer to cover any blemishes, and to conceal darkness under the eyes. I used Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer, buffing it in with a fluffy brush.

For my contour, I used cream foundation. I find this the most natural looking and easy to blend product for contouring. I use my foundation palette that came in my college kit. This is a professional product, and not really suitable for everyday use. You could use a light bronzer, particularly if you can find a cream texture product, which will be easier to use. Apply in a line from the hairline, along the cheekbone, going no further in than the centre of your eye. I also blended the darker colour into the socket of the eye to give depth. Make sure to blend well: you don't want a brown line on your face!

On the cheeks, I used a stippling brush to apply a cream blusher high on the cheeks to give a natural flush.

I then powdered lightly, patting the powder on gently, so as not to disturb the foundation. I then highlighted the face using Barbara Daly Light Illusion Powder Highlighter from Tesco. I brushed this onto the top of the cheekbones, browbone, and onto the inner corner of the eye.

I lightly filled in my brows with a light, cool toned brown, and using a flat eyeliner brush, pushed a dark brown shadow against the lashline. I applied a light coat of mascara, and finished with a clear lipgloss.

This is a perfect look for daytime, or as a natural bridal look. In real life, the contour is more dramatic, but it works well for photography. Hope you like it, and found some of it useful!

Skin & Base Products - Some Favourites

Hello! I thought today I'd show you some of my favourite products for the face. Over the past year, whilst training as a makeup artist, and working on lots of different people, I've found some things that work really well on almost everyone. I haven't got a product in every category, for example powder and primer, because I haven't found any I like enough to consider it a favourite yet. Onto the products:

Foundations. I love Bourjois foundations. I've tried the 123 Perfect and the Healthy Mix foundations. Both are really great, but the Healthy Mix is particularly fantastic. It has a lovely natural finish, is really easy to blend in, doesn't highlight dry patches, and smells really nice too. 123 Perfect is for those who prefer a more matte complexion, which will be longer lasting on oilier skins. It doesn't need any powder to set it, as it dries to a powdery finish. Bear in mind that this one oxidises slightly after a while, so you might want to go lighter when choosing your shade.

 Concealer. I love both of these concealers. They both work really well for the under eye area as they don't crease over time or look cakey. They can also work to cover blemishes as they are really nicely pigmented. The Collection 2000/Collection (as it's now known as) one is particularly great as it's such a bargain (under £5 when I bought it). However their shades are a little on the pink side. The Bourjois ones are more yellow-toned, which works slightly better under the eyes for most people. It also has a squeezy tube to dispense the product which I really like, as I can squeeze a bit of the product onto a palette, preventing any bacteria transferring. It also means I'll probably waste less when the tube becomes empty.

 Highlighter. I really like this highlighter from Barbara Daly at Tesco. It goes in my makeup artist kit because it works well on so many people. It's not too shiny, not glittery or chunky at all. Just a subtle, glowing, pale pinky peachy shade. You can use something like this to liven up a matte blusher without having a lot of shimmer on your face. Only downside is it's only available from larger Tescos, so it can be hard to find.

Colour Corrector. This is called an Under Eye Concealer, but it's really a yellow-toned colour corrector. How I use it: first apply a liquid or cream concealer 1-2 shades lighter than your skin under the eye & blend out. I then use a small amount of this over the top to set the concealer. It has the effect of reducing blueness under the eyes that a lot of us experience. It's really sheer so easy to use, but can be built up to neutralise stronger blue tones. Before this I'd never seen colour correctors in powder form before. I really love it! Available from Silk Naturals.

Hope this was helpful!

Tips for Dealing with Acne

Hi everyone. I was going to share some Fyrinnae swatches with you today but I'm having trouble getting good enough light to photograph the shadows. So I thought I would do a post with a few tips for you. I've been suffering with moderate acne on and off for several years now, and so I feel I have learnt some tricks which might help some people.

• Don't be afraid of moisturiser. If you want to cover spots, you'll need a smooth base to put makeup onto, and flaky, dry or scabby skin is going to be hard to do that with. Look for an oil-free moisturiser. It won't make your skin worse, but it will help your skin heal itself faster, and will help you avoid skin damage from acne treatments. I really like Neutrogena ones.
• Try a sheer base. You might be drawn to full-coverage foundations when you have blemishes you want hidden. But these are pretty hard to get looking even, will add time to your routine, and might clog your skin. Instead, try a tinted moisturiser, BB Cream, or a sheerer foundation. Then, use a concealer the same shade as your skin, and focus on areas that need extra coverage. Try Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation (for drier skins), Bourjois 123 Perfect (for oilier skins) or Garnier Oil Free BB Cream.
• Concealer. Use a shade which matches your skin tone. NOT something lighter. That can work under the eyes, but will draw attention to spots. Pat it onto the spot, then blend the edges. Lightly pat powder over to set. Try Soap & Glory Kick Ass Concealer.
• Keep it neutral. Anything with red or pink tones will bring those colours out in your skin. Particularly be careful using strong reddish or pink tones in your blusher. Try using peaches or taupes instead. Try Sleek Blush in Suede, or using a bronzer to lightly contour.
• Grooming. Keep eyebrows neat and defined to draw attention to your eyes rather than your skin. Trim them with nail scissors, and lightly fill in with a light grey-brown.
• Confidence. I know everyone will say this to you, but it's true. No-one else cares about your spots as much as you do. Play up whatever features you like best about yourself, be it your eyes, lips, your hair or a nice outfit. If it makes you feel better, spend time covering your blemishes, then forget about it, go out and have fun.

Photo: Shutterstock

I hope some of these tips help a little bit. I know how much bad skin can affect your self-esteem. Being able to cover it when you want to really helps. For teens, I really recommend reading Bobbi Brown's book Teenage Beauty. It really helped me when I was younger.

Let me know if you like these kind of posts!

MeMeMe Shimmer Stacks: Review and Swatches

Hi everyone. I've got a review for you today, of the MeMeMe Shimmer Stack. I have the Gold and Bronze shades, which I bought a while back through a Groupon deal.

These are packaged and presented really similarly to the ever popular Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks. I haven't tried those however, so while I can't compare the two products I will try to give you a good idea of the MeMeMe ones.

 Gold

Bronze

Party in the Park Makeup!

Hi guys! I'm back from my holiday, well rested and ready to go again. After I got back I went to Party in the Park, which is a one-day festival near where I live. The music was not my usual kind of thing, but I still had a good time with some of the girls from my college.

Here's the look I went with:

I used Sleek eyeshadows from the Acid and Curacao palettes, over Too Faced Shadow Insurance and Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk. For the blue-ish sparkle I used a little of Fyrinnae City Glam: Lights of Kyoto.

Hope you are all enjoying your Summer!