The brand new directory has been running for over 6 months now, with few requests for 3 year subscriptions, and only a handful for 6 months, with the majority of the advertisers choosing 12 month adverts.

The advertising costs for the directory have now been changed to reflect this, and there are 5 12 month options instead. 

If you would prefer to have a longer subscription, please feel free to contact me.

On the forum, we quite frequently get asked what is in our kit, or what are our desert island must haves.  So, we’ll be running a series of ‘what’s in a pro’s kit?’ features in the coming months.

All professional makeup artists have their favoured products, we are all different, adn love different things for different reasons.

What one loves, another isn’t so keen on, what one can’t stand is another makeup artist’s must have.

How we use our products can vary from artist to artist, but we are all the same in that we have to have a good quality kit, with products that are going to support our work, and never let us down.

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com

Since my student days, when my next door neighbour in my halls of residence had an abundance of Clinique on her dressing table, I’ve been a fan of those lovely pink boxes with their cream and green floral design on them.

I grew up learning the art of makeup at my Mum’s knee with roller ball lip glosses, peel of face masks and eyeshadow designed to show up under black lights… oh the shame at the memory!  So to discover these little boxes of magic was like arriving in Aladdin’s Cave!

Since that day in 1992, I’ve been a fan ever since.  Clinique is famed for their classic suit all colours.  You really can’t go wrong when you go there to buy makeup, there’s something for everyone, and even if you don’t know what you want or need, you can rarely go wrong, it’s almost fool proof!

When I got married in 2002, it didn’t occur to me to use anything other than my old faithful Clinique products, for comfort as much as anything, and it certainly didn’t occur to me to use anyone else to do my makeup, so with a shameless opportunity to walk down my own memory lane, I thought I’d share my own wedding day makeup with you.

Sadly, with ever changing times, some favourite products are no longer available, but they are always replaced with something equally good, if not better, so I’ll let you in on what I used back then, but also on which products you could recreate it with too.

I wanted a silky smooth base, so I prepared my skin first with blotting sheets to take off the excess oil and smoothed over superbalanced foundation.  I didn’t want anything to reflect in the photographers flash, and although all Clinique foundations are excellent, (they are, in my opinion, the best range and the best colours available), some of them do contain light reflective properties which can flash back under a camera flash, so when you’re buying, do check with the counter staff as to which products might do this.

Not desperately keen on concealers under my eyes, an extra layer of the foundation was all that was needed to cover up a slight dark circle showing under my eyes.  Early to bed was my mantra the week before my wedding…

To get my eye-makeup to last all day, I had to call on my touch base for eyes in Canvas.  My personal trick is to set this with powder before applying eyeshadow.  I know it’s not how it’s supposed to be used, but I find I get a good 16 hours of perfectly placed eyeshadow if I do this.

I set everything with blended face powder.  I feel this is one of the softest and silkiest powders on the market.  I still have exactly the same colour in my kit as I have done since I made that first purchase back in ‘92.  Transparency 08.  It buffs down really well for even the palest skins, and whilst not suitable really for women of colour, it will work on a tanned face if you apply a very light dusting.  For a new makeup artist looking to build a kit on a budget, make sure that this is one of your first purchases, you’ll find that you will only need one or two other colours to sit alongside it.

Eyes, my favourite feature!  I don’t do ‘natural’ makeup. I can’t really ever remember a time when I did.  I have always worn very dark eye makeup, and always dark lips.  Yes, I know that breaks all the ‘rules’, but I don’t believe in rules in makeup though.  If you like the look in the mirror, then so what!

At the time, my favourite colour was Spice Twice, a duo of soft buttery cream with a rich spicy brown, but it was just about to be discontinued, so rather than risk running out before my wedding day, I started to wear Two to Tango, a duo of pale baby pink and rusty brown.  Sadly you can’t get this anymore, but Teddy Bear, Choco-latte and Spicy are quads that I would use now to recreate the look.

Back to the wedding… Applied in the classic pale-on-the-brow and dark-on-the-lid, this wasn’t enough for me, I needed more!  Using quick eyes in double coffee, the smudge-shadow end, I created a crease in my socket.   I don’t have a natural socket line, so I created my own.  Over the top of that, and just a bit onto my lash line, I used the smudge-shadow end of quick eyes in Black!  I love these pencils, I’m so pleased that they are such a steady part of Clinique’s makeup line; I think I might just be lost without them.  Forget contouring cheekbones, what about contouring eyes where no natural shadow line exists!  Easy with these!

Finished with the brown quick eyes liner under my eyes, smudged a little more, and set with naturally glossy black mascara, it was onto the cheeks.

My favourite had always been Sugar Plum and I used to use it on the apples of my cheeks and a little around my jaw line, it’s gone, but the Blushing Blush in Smouldering Plum is a really good replacement, with even better longevity.  It lasts really well, if you apply a heavy cheek, buff it well into your skin, let it settle and then dust over again, leaving you with a really natural rosy glow.  That healthy look as though you’ve just gone for a brisk walk or light jog.  Healthy, not Aunt Sally!

In those days, I’d have lined my lips with posy apple, but that lip liner range has gone now, but it’s been replaced by the particularly brilliant defining liner range.  Personally, I never match liner to lipstick, I always match to my lips or a to a clients lips.  There’s nothing worse than faded lipstick with a hard, obvious, line left.  Matching a liner to your natural lip colour is a far better option, particularly if you then fill your lips in with the pencil too.  Makes a much better base for the lipstick to sit on, therefore making it last even longer.  And these definer liners are very long lasting aswell, giving around 6 hours of life before they start wearing away, albeit quite gently actually.

My signature lip colour has been Black Lily since about 1995 when I received one in a goody bag.  I fell in love with it on sight.  Unfortunately, it’s never been released in the UK and at the time I had to rely on friends visiting America to stockpile it for me.  Because it was a colour so very precious to me, I didn’t dare use it professionally.  What if a client fell in love with it too, but was unable to get it?  Not a great idea.  The day that Clinique released their Almost lipstick in Black Honey was a great day!

Although I used Black Lily on my wedding day, a sheer, but rich blackcurrant shade, I’ve always made sure to have a Black honey to hand aswell.  I’m currently down to my last half of a Black Lily left, with no way of getting more, but Black Honey is just as brilliant a colour.  Less blackcurrant and more black cherry, it has a redder undertone, but because it’s an ‘almost’ lipstick, it straddles the line of gloss and lipstick particularly neatly.  The glossy element means that it can be applied thinly, even pressed in with a finger tip, like a balm for a real bee-stung lip, or if you look to the lipstick side of it, it can be layered for a most sophisticated rich red look.

I had to finish off with a slick of gloss though.  No wedding makeup could be completed without kissable glossy lips, so I reached for my long last gloss in Juicy Apple.  I call this your-lips-but-better.  It looks very vibrantly red in the tube, but it actually just adds oomph to your own natural lip colour if you wear it alone, or over the top of a lipstick, it really adds an edge.

There are some that say you shouldn’t wear gloss on your wedding day, it apparently is meant to stick to your veil if you wear it over your face.  From experience, I haven’t got a clue about other brands, I don’t wear a veil on a regular basis, but what I can say is that on my wedding day, in the wind and rain, my veil did flap in my face quite a lot, but it certainly didn’t stick to my gloss.  Why?  Well Clinique glosses just aren’t sticky!  Some aren’t keen on the smell.  Probably because there isn’t any smell, and most glosses on the market are sold on colour name and scent and that’s what we’re used to.  Why bother?  Doesn’t make it any better, just makes you want to eat your own lips.

So that was me, in 2002, pre children, pre wrinkles, pre digital photography(!), pre photoshop, pre many things!  And as a professional makeup artist, I use a great number of different products and different ranges, but sometimes you just need a comfort blanket to hand, and for me, on my wedding day, Clinique was that.

With that in mind, when my brother got married in 2008 and his wife-to-be asked me to do her makeup, I could see a Clinique-girl in her too.  So with a mini breakdown, this is my sister in law Angela on her wedding day, 12 months ago next week!

Blotting sheets and pore minimiser for a primed base.

Superbalanced foundation in 01 petal

All about eyes concealer in 03 light petal, mixed with the foundation to get a perfect match.

Touch base for eyes in Canvas 10

Blended face powder in transparency 08

Eyes are made up using the vanilla shade and soft sand from the Teddy Bear quad on her brow, with colour surge single in slate buffed well into her lid to create a very soft soft grey wash.  The shadow end of quick eyes in black along her lash line, with brush on cream liner in true black applied in a really fine thin line along her top lashes.  Finished underneath with a wet line of the slate eyeshadow and slicked over with high impact mascara.

Cheeks are dusted with Fresh bloom all over colour in Posy.

Lips are lined and filled with Berry Nude defining liner and glossed over with a custom blend of mystic and tenderheart to create the perfect gloss for her.

So there you are.  2 Clinique bridal faces.  One from back ‘then’ a little over 7 years ago, and 1 from 12 months ago.  One dark and chocolatey, one light and smoky.

Timeless makeup, long lasting makeup, soft and gentle makeup.

www.Clinique.co.uk

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com

As we all know, you have to have great products to achieve a great look, but you also need good tools behind you to get soft yet clean lines, without fallout and wasteage.

I’m a brush junkie.  I find it irresistible to walk past a cosmetics counter without having a good look at their brush range and buying at least one.

I have a brush kit with around 100 brushes in it (yes, I can get through the whole lot on one wedding alone!) and every brush is loved, cherished and needed!

Anyone with a sense of the mathematics will know that those brushes add up to quite a lot, given that I have 9 foundation brushes worth between £25 and £35 each and around 60 eye brushes ranging in price from £10-£25 each.

Okay, so that’s a lot of money, and in no way did I buy them all in one go, who’s got that sort of money?

Consider the new makeup artist straight out of training with 6 brushes that the college supplied, not enough to do even one face, let alone 8, and no time to clean brushes between because you have a deadline to meet.

So do you spend your first ‘wages’ on building up your brush kit, or do you spend it on products for your kit?  Which came first, the great product with the ropey brush to apply or the good brush but the dodgy cheap makeup that won’t last more than an hour or two before it’s vanished?

Well both actually!

You put 50% aside for makeup purchases, 25% for brushes and the other 25% for advertising, insurance, tax and the ever faithful sundries list of disposables.

Until recently it was almost impossible to get decent disposable makeup brushes, yes, you could get mascara wands and lip brushes and those horrendous little sponge applicators (you know, the ones that look like they’ve come out of a play kit for a 5 year old), but nothing worth talking about.

Nowadays it’s a different story, and ThePromMakeupShop.com are leading the way with a great set of makeup brushes, from powder to eyes, lips to brows,  including not Sponge applicators, but Foam, far far better for product application and then a lovely soft brush for blending.

And if you’re very new to the industry, and want to start the right way, with good hygiene practices, but not sure which brushes you might like, you could try the Pro Kit with 2 each of the various different eye and lip brushes, plus 2 each of the blush and contour brushes.  It’s only £9.99, and a couple of those with you will keep you going for at least 4 faces, earning you some more money to invest in your kit and brush kit, and also earning you a great reputation for maintaining high standards of hygiene.

I’ve used all these brushes, and you know what?  They’re really rather good!  I was pleasantly surprised, nothing synthetic or spongey about these brushes, just a good quality disposable brush that you know will deliver on application whilst keeping the diseases and germs at bay!

As a professional makeup artist, it’s imperative to have good hygiene practices.  You simply cannot use a mascara wand straight out of the tube onto someone’s eye, then use it again on someone else’s face.  Shared conjunctivitis anyone?

Similarly you can’t use lipstick straight off the bullet onto someone’s mouth, nor liquid eyeliner straight out of the bottle or lipglossdirectly off the wand.

So what’s the solution?  Begging for disposables off the makeup counters when you buy your supplies?  Well you can ask, but you might get 3 or 4 if you’re lucky, and I use 4 mascara wands per person (no double dipping…!), and they just wash one lipbrush between each application.

The next solution?  well you could hunt around for those short little white wands with 1cm’s worth of not-very-good bristles at the end, or some of those short, stubby, flat-tipped lipstick brushes that just scrape the lipstick on, and leave it impossible to get a clean crisp finish.

For years, I’ve been going on about the need for hygiene, washing your hands between faces, or using high strength anti bacterial agents.  Using disposables at every step of the way, having a single shadow brush, blusher brush, powder brush for each person and each application, and keeping your kit hygienically clean.

My disposables?  I ended up having to ship them in from America, but they were of an ‘okay’ quality, unfortunately the mascara tips were screwed onto the wand and kept dropping off into my mascara bottles.  Not good when you pay £19 for a Lancome mascara, to then have to ditch it after 3 uses because you’ve got a mascara brush stuck in there.

Imagine my delight when I stumbled across TheProMakeupShop.com.  My disposable heaven and haven!

Not only do they supply every conceivable type of disposable product going, but they are actually really good quality.  And the range of mascara brush tips is immense.  As all mascara fans will know, an awful lot of the result is based on the brush working well with the product.  So to lay my hands on a ‘Voluptuous Veronica’ and a few ‘Big Berthas’ was like Christmas coming early in my house.  I plan to get ‘Show Stopping Sam’ to see if I, another Sam can be truly Show Stopping aswell.

Antonia Hawke, Chief Executive for TheProMakeupShop.com has kindly shared her facts and findings behind her campaign for Safe Beauty and that brilliant strap line ‘Love Me, then Dump Me’

MAKEUP APPLICATION AND THE RISKS

Hygiene is an important part of any daily professional practice and the makeup and beauty industry practitioner should adhere to a high level of hygiene, bother personal and client-side.  Dangers of cross-contamination through unhygienic application of makeup can cause a host of health problems through the transference of bacteria and viruses across products, brushes and skin.

BACTERIA & MASCARA – The facts you need to know.

Bacteria live in all our lashes and using mascara, whether on yourself or as a professional makeup artist on clients, means that it’s very easy to contaminate not only your mascara tube, but your customer.

the moment the mascara wand touches the lashes, bacteria is transferred to either the product tube or directly to the other eye.  Bacteria thrive in dark warm environments, and within six months a mascara tube will be overrun with bacteria.

“Double Dipping” is a term that all professional makeup artists and beauty professionals should be aware of.  It means reloading the same mascara wand with mascara by dipping it into the tube more than once.  Double dipping also applies to other makeup applicators or tools, and results in cross-contamination of both products and customers.

The dangers of double dipping mascara are real and can include any of the folloiwng health problems:

Conjunctivitis (‘pink eye’) – an inflammation of the conjunctiva causing redness, itchiness and watering.

Blepharitis – bacterial inflammation of the eyelid.

Corneal ulcers – affects vision and can cause blindness.

And many more through the transference of bacteria, viruses and fungal spores.

Single use mascara wands are an essential part of a safe beauty regime that should be practiced by all makeup artists.  It’s the responsible, safe and professional standard for the makeup and beauty industry.

DON’T STOP AT MASCARA…

It’s not only mascara that can harbour and transfer bacteria between products, brushes and clients.

SAFE BEAUTY THROUGH SINGLE USE TOOLS

Hygienic beauty practice applies to all makeup and makeup tools, not just mascara.  Theink about where it goes – into moist corners of the mouth, around sensitive eyes, and onto facial skin, which as you know is semi-permeable and thinner than body skin.

Contaminated brushes and products breed micro-organisms that can cause a whole host of other health problems:

Herpes simplex- the highly contagious cold sore virus, easily transferred by contaminated lipbrushes.

Ringworm- not a worm, but a fungal infection of the skin that can multiply rapidly in product such as blusher.

Impetigo- a highly infection skin disease caused by stapphylococcus bacteria, easily transferred through brushes and applicators.

Single use brushes and applicators are the responsible and professional standard that should be adopted by all practitioners as part of a healthy and hygienic practice.

From lip brushes to eyeliner and blusher, all brushes and applicators can cause cross contamination.

Reduce the risks to yourself and your clients, by practicing safe beauty – the professional standard for the makeup and beauty industry.

Questions to ask when getting a quote.

What products do they use? If they are quoting a high price, but are only use low end brands then they can’t really justify a high price. Those brands are great for colour and fun nights out, but just don’t have the longevity needed for a wedding day.

What applicators do they use? The answer should be a range of top quality BRUSHES and disposable applicators for anything with its own wand in the bottle (i.e., mascara, lipgloss, liquid eyeliner). Brushes are easily washable, but foam eye applicators aren’t. Disposable applicators are now a requirement within the makeup artistry industry because the applicators that come with the bottles are impossible to keep hygienically clean.

Do they do a variety of ‘looks’? You don’t want yourself and your bridesmaids and your mum to have ‘identikit’ makeup…!

What colours do they recommend for a bride? If they give you an answer, then don’t go any further!!!! How can they possibly know without seeing you and meeting you and getting to know you!!! You want to have makeup that suits YOU not what they think is right for all and every bride…!

If you choose to book a trial, book it for as close to the same time of day as you would be wanting it on your wedding day. There is no point having it done in the evening if you’re having a daytime wedding. You won’t know if it has lasting ability. Also, even in the height of summer, the light won’t be right.

Ask how long the trial should take. The answer should be around 2 hours.

Ask what happens at the trial. The answer should be that the artist will spend time getting to know you and your personality; she will want to know all about your wedding style and theme. If you’re having a lunchtime summery wedding with a floaty bridal gown, you won’t want full on glam makeup as though you were going to hit the town clubbing (unless of course that is your usual look and what you want!), and in the same token, if you are having a sophisticated elegant wedding, you don’t necessarily want to be sparkling all over your face (again, unless that is your chosen preference!)

When you book in a trial, try and get it as soon as possible. some of the concerns that I”ve heard recently are the following -

“I want to have a trial near to my wedding day in case I have a tan…”
Any decent makeup artist will have an array of foundation colours in her kit, so colour matching on your wedding day shouldn”t be a problem. if she got it right at your trial, she”ll get it right on your wedding day!

“What if the artist tells me to have a trial about 3-5 weeks before the wedding, and I end up not liking what she’’s done….?”

This is one of the MAIN reasons for booking in a trial as soon as you decide to have your makeup done.

what if you don”t like her?

how is she keeping your booking guaranteed for the wedding day?

Why is she not keen to get you trialled straight away???

Hopefully now you”re happy to book in a trial with a makeup artist… read on for what to expect!

At the Trial

All conversation about what look you are after should happen BEFORE any makeup comes near your face! I can’t count anymore the number of brides who’ve had ‘free’ trials at makeup counters, beauty salons or with other artists and have come away feeling and looking like Aunt Sally! Or have felt unhappy with the look because it was the artist’s idea of what should be wedding makeup, but hadn’t taken the time to find out first!

Any decent makeup artist should get the look right or as near as perfect first time out that they apply the makeup too you. This will be because they have spent time talking with you. They should also start off with light makeup and build it up to achieve the right look you want. You don’t want to have to scrub off heavy makeup at your trial and have to start over again, you’re time is precious too!

Unless you choose to, please run scared from any makeup artist who suggests that you and your bridesmaids should having lilac eyeshadow to match their lilac dresses (for example!!!), this is a very 70s/80s concept and really not a good modern look.

Also please consider the makeup artist who suggests that ALL brides should wear pink eyeshadow and pink lipstick. This is not a scare story, but a trainer I once had believed all brides should wear these colours (we’re not talking that many years ago either…!).

the same goes for an artist who suggests that you should match your lipstick to your/your bms’ bouquets as a standard rule of thumb. Sometimes it works and looks fab, sometimes it clashes horrendously with your own colouring… just think how often you’re chief bridesmaid is going to have her bouquet stuck up by your lips – not that often…!

Other things to consider are that it IS okay to wear red lipstick on your wedding day, you don’t have to wear pink or natural shades – what suits you and what you like is what you should decide on.

(If I followed all the above supposed ‘rules’ on my wedding day, I’d have had blood red eyeshadow and ivory lipstick, I actually didn’t I had smokey brown and chocolate eyeshadow and deep brick red lips – anyone who’s seen my website will have seen a pic of me!)

Your makeup artist should be selecting the colours that suit YOU and your colouring – not the general concensus…! It should be a joint decision – if you have favourite colours, go for them, take advice from an artist – she should never be too much a know it all, but be working WITH you to achieve the best for you for the day.

Confirm the time that they will need to do your makeup and everyone in the bridal party on the wedding day itself. Unless you are having just mascara and lipgloss (in which case, don’t pay someone to do it!), they should allow half an hour for each person having their makeup done. This allows time for unexpected delays – i.e., late return from the hairdressers, florists arriving and wanting you to check the flowers, photographer/videographers wanting to take posed shots etc etc.

Finally, remember that YOU have the final say. You need to get on with your artist, she’s performing a service on you and you don’t want to feel like just another bride, you want to feel special and she should make you feel like the most important bride in the world, no matter how many weddings she does. If you get on well with her, then you’ll be confident in expressing your feelings with the makeup. If it’s a little to pale or dark, or not quite the right shade of lipstick, you’ll have no problem saying so.

I hope that is a help to those of you in the process of considering booking a makeup artist or who have done and are about to ‘trial run’ it!

Oh, and I’ve been a bride, so I know exactly what its like to plan and organize a wedding, and if I could do it all over again, then I would! I’m the biggest ‘girly’ around and adore weddings!!!!

Sam Donald