Happy New Year!!!!

Well, that's another year over! And what a year it was! I made 2 life changes in 2011 and so far, I'm not regretting either, which is great news, considering one of them was getting married!

Here are some of the highlights of my year, both professionally and personally.
At the beginning of the year, I was still working for the incredible Laura Mercier as the National Makeup Artist, but I began to get itchy feet. I was finding it increasingly hard to fit in my freelance work, as I was spending most of my time travelling between UK, Ireland, Europe and sometimes the States. I had been with this fabulous brand for 5 years and have so much to thank them for. The experiences they gave me, the faces I was honoured enough to make up, the places I visited and the artists I worked with, including the Great Miss Mercier herself, made it the hardest decision I've had to make so far in my career.


Here are some memories from some of my time spent with Laura Mercier.

 Switzerland

 

Miami 

 Aberdeen

Artist Photo Shoot, Houston

Two of Laura's Great Artists, Tayaba and Matin

And my final international event was in the greatest city in the world........New York.

 Henri Bendels, 5th Avenue

One of the New York artists

So in May, I finally left the company and began my journey as my own boss! And I love it! It's tough, don't get me wrong but it's worth all the hard work.

Now over the next few months my freelance work started to build, it's funny how things turn up, just when you're getting a little concerned. The summer was filled with shoots, meetings and brides, including me! I married my husband on 23rd July in Faringdon, Oxon (my childhood church) and danced the night away at The Frogmill, Andoversford.
My husband is Scottish so they wore the traditional kilt etc and I wore a Pronovias dress which is still hanging on the back of my bedroom door........ not because I want to keep looking at it but because I have nowhere in our tiny flat to store it!
I love that now, when I makeup a bride on her special day, I can truly empathise with her emotions. 

Photography by Mark Sherratt and jewellery by www.glitzysecrets.com 

This took me to July. And already I'd given up work and got married. These are both stressful enough on their own but muggins here decided to do them both together! No wonder I have Psoriasis. Was I mad?

Check out my next blog to find out if I made the right choice? Work wise people.....I'm not talking about marrying Pete!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year.

MeMeME Shimmer Stack

Hi everyone,

Well, recently I was given a MeMeMe Shimmer Stack to try out and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.

For those of you who have never tried these products or even heard of them, they are an affordable yet, great quality cosmetic brand stocked at Superdrug. They have recently been repackaged and some of the products have been slightly reformulated to improve the longevity etc.

The Shimmer Stack on first sight looks a lot like a Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick which, as we all know has a huge following. However, on closer inspection, you'll find that it doesn't have as much of glittery finish! I actually love that.

I use Bobbi Brown's Shimmer Bricks alot on myself, my clients and on shoots however, there are times when less is more and the MeMeMe Shimmer Stack gives a more natural veil across the skin.

They come in 3 colour combinations, Gold, Bronze and Pink and can be used as an all over bronzer/veil,  individually as eye shadows or use the lighter shades as a highlighter. They are priced at £9.99, which for the size of the palette is amazing value. The other great point about this product is that is has a huge mirror which makes it more user friendly. See below.

I've been using the Gold stack with the Laura Mercier Finishing brush for a soft application but using a bronzer brush will definitely give more intensity.

If you haven't tried the products yet, pop into Superdrug to have a play. From what I understand they are replacing all the stands in store to make them more inviting so have fun.

The Rachael Ray Show

So, have any of you seen The Rachael Ray Show?

Rachael is a TV chef but also has an extremely popular chat show in the U.S. It's a huge show and they recently sent their makeover guru, Gretta Monahan over to the UK to give the residents of London "Royal wedding" makeovers.

Gretta put together a team of stylists, hairdressers and makeup artists and we set up near the London eye and pounced on the unsuspecting British public. The makeovers took place on a double decker bus so it was a little snug, so the team got to know eachother pretty quickly.

Very small makeup station!!!!

We had an early start with us being on the bus for 5.30am so they was a steady flow of coffee all day or in my case redbull. The makeup team were from Laura Mercier so amazing products were used.

We had 4 transformations and they were all over the moon with their new looks and really got into the spirit of things.

Please check out the link below to watch the actual segment from the show. 

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/grettas-london-makeover-takeover/#disqus_thread

Let me know what you think. Have a great week.

Katie x

Amanda Wakeley Charity fashion show.

Hi Everyone,

I hope this finds you full of the joys of spring! Thanks goodness for the lighter evenings, doesn't it make a huge difference!

A few months ago, I was asked to lead the makeup team for a charity fashion event hosted by the amazing Amanda Wakeley to raise money for The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Amanda's collection came from Harvey Nichols, Manchester, as did the talented Laura Mercier team who executed the makeup so beautifully and hair designed by the great Andrew Collinge.

We wanted to create a look that complemented the hair and of course the designs and so we concentrated on enhancing the eyes but keeping the skin very "flawless" and clean. Laura Mercier is a perfect fit for such a show.  We had 18 models and only 4 artists so it really was all hands on deck to get these girls ready for the show in time but also absolutely perfect.

Here are some of the backstage shots from yours truly.

And here are some of the shots from the show.

Please find a list of the products and tools we used below (all Laura Mercier)

Primer ......of course!

Silk Creme foundation......sponges

Secret Camouflage........Secret Camouflage brush

Secret Concealer........as above

Translucent powder......velour puff

Eye basic........ Cream eye colour brush

Cake Eyeliner in Black Ebony........Flatliner brush

Gold Metallic cream shadow........cream eye detail brush

Coffee ground eye colour ........ smudge brush

Brow pencils

Rose petal or wild bouquet cheek colour........ cheek colour brush

Bonbon lip glace

Hope you've enjoyed this little blog, any questions, just ask. I'm back up to Manchester this weekend to work with a talented hairdresser who wants a very exciting and creative look......can't wait to show you all next week.

Enjoy, have fun, remember it's only makeup.

Katie xx

Happy New Year!!!!

Ok, so I'm a little late but Happy New Year everyone! I trust everyone had a great new year and that your skin is finally finding it's way back to normality after the abuse of alcohol, chocolate, excessive rich foods and late night partying!

Well, this year started a little slow with January always being a touch quiet! However, I got plunged into an event last week in Selfridges which certainly woke me back up from the January blues!

However, I would point out that when advertising my visit to the store the website showed the following photo! This would be great if I were the one on the right! But I'm the "non" model on the left with the mushroom shaped hair! Hahaha! Don't attach me to such a beauty! It's like a before and after surgery shoot!

I spent 3 busy and exciting days on the Laura Mercier counter and boy did they work me hard.With over 5 clients to see per hour I needed Redbull by intravenous drip by the end of the day. I love this store, lovingly known as the big yellow cube - not to be confused with the Big Yellow Storage! You get such a diverse spectrum of cliental that really keeps you on your toes.

We had the new Silk Road Collection launch which I absolutely love and it flew out. The colours are incredibly versatile with a great eyes and cheek palette and some gorgeous limited edition lip plumpers.

These colours in palettes can sometimes scare us as they aren't "safe" colours but I urge you to try them as they can be very feminine but easy to vamp up for the evening.

Well, I'll leave you all for now and check in for a catch up in a couple of days.
And remember.....It's only makeup, you can wash it off! Go, play and have fun!

Fashion Show

Sorry, I've been away too long and now I'm back with a little update as to what has been happening in my mishmash of a world.

A couple of weeks ago, I had an very early start when I was asked to be part of the creative team for the John Lewis Seasonal launch show. These shows are put in place to promote the seasonal looks and to reach out to the Press, retailers and general fashion types to create a buzz around the brand.

We arrived at 5.45am and once my Redbull kicked in we got stuck in straight away with the 11 females models. The look was very "Parisian chic" and subsequently we used Laura Mercier products! Let's be honest, if you're looking for parisian chic, Laura Mercier, herself is where you look for inspiration.

Me and the lovely Flavia.

We kept the skin very clean, with a glow, using Laura Mercier's Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser and just the odd bit of concealer if needed. The eyes had no real defination with just a wash of colour swept across the lid and up into the socket. Brows were kept reasonably natural with a little brow pencil or powder as appropriate. 

The Lips are where we threw in some colour and drama, with a gorgeous strong red/brown pencil and blue/red lip stain to lift the brown up a little, creating the perfect shade.

                                                   

We had 4 shows and after a long but successful day, working with some great artists and catching up with models that I'd not worked with for a while, we finally packed up our kits at 4.30pm and headed home. Below are some of the shots from the show and the products used to create this gorgeous, sophisticated look.

Hope you enjoyed the photos! List of products used, below.

Laura Mercier Products


Primer
Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser
Secret Camouflage
Secret Concealer
Eye basic
Ginger Eyeshadow
Black Ebony cakeliner
Brow pencil
Wild Bouquet Cheek Colour
Thickening and Building Mascara
Redwood Lipliner
Scarlett Lipstain

Weekend with Laura Mercier in Miami!

Well, where do I start? Firstly, I apologise for the insane length of time between posts but I've finally had broadband installed at home so there is no stopping me! You're actually more likely to want to slow me down! haha!

Last week I was lucky enough to spend 5 days in Miami with the amazing Laura Mercier company, learning about the new and exciting launches that they have coming up this season, insights into the company and spending time with some of the most inspiring artists in the business.

We started the first day with an amazing Q&A section with Miss Laura Mercier herself and the esteemed plastic surgeon and creator of Revive skincare, Dr Gregory Brown. This was amazing to hear the inspiration straight from the horses mouths (in want of a better word) What a way to start the 3 day conference!

I'm obviously not going to give you an hour by hour account as you'll drift off to sleep, fall off your chair and damage some part of your anatomy......and I certainly don't want to be responsible for any injury so I'll continue with my highlights!

Another amazing part of the weekend was sharing 2 hours with Laura's new ambassador Matin Maulawizada, who is not only a hugely sought after celebrity makeup artist but a truly warm, funny and kind man who does amazing work with Afghan Hands charity. He had recently returned from the Sex and the City press tour as Cynthia Nixon's artist so was a little tired but a trouper!

He, along with Laura took a 2 hour artistry class with only 15 of us in the room which meant we had a very intimate and honest session! I can not explain how valuable this was.

Laura spent time amusing us with stories of her time spent travelling the world meeting Mercier fans, working on some of the beautiful faces in the business and her time with the wonderful Sarah Jessica Parker, who has inspired one you the new fall collection products to hit Sephora this year......my lips are sealed until it has been launched and then I 'll tell you which one!

She shared some of her favourite looks and products, and was raving about using the Laura Mercier Bronzing Gel on top of your foundation but rubbing it between your hands and pressing into the skin for this summer glow.

On one of the balmy tropical evenings we were whisked off to the beautiful Vizcaya Museum and gardens for the award ceremony and wow, it was amazing! Some people were saying that it had been used as a location for the iconic film Scarface but I've yet to confirm that bit of trivia! After the awards were over, we went through to the casino and enjoyed the evening!

Above is a pic of me and the lovely Laura Mercier herself.

As you can imagine, we packed all sorts of other bits and pieces into the conference but most of it isn't interesting to write about. Although I'd been to the States before, I'd never ventured to Miami and it really was an "awesome" experience and one that has made me look to plan a return trip (for pleasure) to this beautiful and gorgeously hot state!

Please feel free to ask any questions relating to Laura or Matin and I will try and answer as best I can.

Thanks for reading and remember "makeup should be fun"!

Kisses,
Katie

BE GENTLE

So, here goes......... this is my first blog so please be gentle as I am a little nervous!

I'm spending today, my day off , getting over a very long Sunday! Having spent 10 hours at the Albert and Arthur Studios in Shoreditch beautifying 3 professional models and 2 (equally as gorgeous) non-models, and having drank copious amounts of Redbull,  I find myself needing some much needed fresh air!

What a great day, the three models we used had very different looks and we wanted a very rock chick, edgy finish! (Please find a list of products used below) We achieved this by keeping the skin really clean, with minimal contouring and concentrating on a strong, dark and slightly smudged eye.

First, the charming and very down to earth, glasgow girl, Abigail Rose who, with short platinum hair and a tiny face resembles the early Twiggy. Then fabulous long locked, Danielle who just could never look bad, no matter what you do! Finally, the young and quiet Emily who, when the camera starts clicking turns into a full on goddess (who'd have thought).

After this, we turned to the very nervous girls that we were using as hair models! As they had been getting more and more intimated by the watching the models work the camera, I was convinced the photographer was going have to work really hard to get the girls to open up and "strike a pose"! Wow, was I wrong, Charlotte, an A level student had clearly been practising in her bedroom, and I thank god for "Britains Next Top model " and what she had clearly learnt from it! Go girl!

And as for, Sophie, who with her pale skin, bright dyed red hair and strong bone structure, photographed like a punky Nicola from Girls Aloud!  I loved the end result! I can't wait to share the photos with you, which I'll do as soon as I have them from the photographer!

All in all, a great shoot with some really fun people! The hair stylist, Vicky Turner from Goldworthys, Cirencester was amazing and is hugely talened, and already booked for my wedding! Hahaha!
http://www.goldsworthys.co.uk/


Products used!

Laura Merciers        Silk Creme Foundation
                                Secret Camouflage
                                Kohl pencil in Black Violet
                                Eyeshadow in Black Plum
                                Cake liner in Black Ebony
Bobbi Browns         Gel Eyeliner in Ebony
                                Shimmer bric
MAC                       Blue/Brown pigment
Dior's                       Diorshow mascara
Girls with Attitude     Lashes
...................and Vaseline!

Any questions, don't be shy!!!!!!!