Hairstylist to the A-Listers, James Brown searches for Britain’s Greatest Hairdresser

E4 have joined forces with one of the world’s most sought-after hairstylists, James Brown, to find the best hairdressing talent the UK has to offer 

Great British Hairdresser is a brand new 10 part series, transmitting early 2011 on E4, that will search the length and breadth the country to find exciting new hairdressing talent.

James Brown said: I always wanted to be a hairdresser.  From a young age I was motivated by the challenge of creating a new hairstyle, and making someone look and feel fabulous. I love the discipline of working in the salon, out on shoots and shows, and also with celebrities and supermodels. 

“There is a lot of skill and technique required with hair cutting and this is something I will be looking out for especially. Here in the UK we have a great history of producing talented fashion designers, photographers and stylists, and I am looking forward to creating that same focus and success with our hairdressing talent.”

The nationwide search for the final ten begins in August with auditions in Manchester on Sunday 8^th August and London on Sunday 15^th August.

The chosen ten contestants who make it through will then live and work together in a spectacular London location as they compete in a series of high-profile hair assignments designed to test their skills under James’ ever watchful eye.

Each week one stylist will leave the programme until James is left with his Great British Hairdresser who wins the opportunity to style an A-list celebrity for the cover of a top monthly glossy magazine as well as an offer of working alongside James.

The series was commissioned by Kate Teckman, Channel4 Features Editor, for E4.

Kate said: “Hair doesn’t get bigger than this! James is a formidable talent in the world of hairdressing and he’s also hugely entertaining to watch so we’re very excited to be working with him on Great British Hairdresser. It’s a show that will be packed with style, drama and celebrity guests which makes it the perfect proposition for the E4 audience.”  

Paul Mortimer, Acting Head of E4, added: “We’re thrilled that in green-lighting Great British Hairdresser, E4 has begun its foray into non-scripted prime time event series. This programme, along with others to be announced, will be a feature of our 2011 schedule as we embark on life without Big Brother.”

James Brown is the celebrity hair stylist with an appointment book that includes Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sarah Jessica Parker but now he faces his biggest challenge as he sets out to find the Great British Hairdresser.

Great British Hairdresser is being produced by Splash Media.

To apply for the programme please go to:

hairdresser@splashmediatv.co.uk

www.facebook.com/GreatBritishHairdresser

www.twitter.com/gbhairdresser

For many newly qualified makeup artists, or those who are studying and building up their portfolios, advertising costs can spiral out of control. 

At a time when they need to be spending on investing in their kits, its very possible that money can be spent in the wrong place.

With that in mind, MAF now has an advertising package, specifically for students and artists who have qualified in the last 12 months, at just £10 for a 12 month advert.

As with all the advertising packages, you are in sole charge of the content of your advert.  You can update your text and images at anytime, you are in charge of the keywords that you use.  Keywords are used by Search Engines, so if you get them right, MAF will help you to get ranked very high up the list, if not at the top!

You can either click here or click on the Directory button.

And don’t forget to join the MAF forum, if you choose to advertise, you will get access rights to the Private Pro Chat area, a safe haven for professional makeup artists, or even if you don’t want to advertise at this time, but do want to talk to other studying artists, we have the PrePro area, also private.  Its sometimes nice to have others to talk to, in private, away from the rest of the world!

I’m a fairly fickle makeup artist as far as gel and cream pot liners go.  I rarely, if ever, use them under eyes, preferring to use them as top liner optical illusions, so when I was shopping at the Pixi Store in London a few months back, and in need of a new black gel liner, I was more than happy to select theirs, simply called Gel Liner.

It’s been in my pro kit ever since, and has been used on every eye and eye shape since!

I particularly like the creaminess of this, its very like Clinique’s gel liner, both of which have such a lovely consistency that one swipe is enough to do one eye.  No-one likes to have to keep going back to a pot for more product, and those of us who are sticklers for hygiene don’t want to have to use 4 or even 6 brushes on one client to avoid double-dipping.

So for the first time, in a long time, I will choose to restock this liner rather than just buying any old gel as and when I need it, based on the shop I’m standing in, I will make the conscious effort to rebuy the Pixi one (I quite fancy the Jade one!)!

but my eyeliner purchasing didn’t stop there.  I also bought one of their Endless Silky Eye Pens in no 2, Blue Black.

This is one of those clever/quirky/strange/wierd (delete as appropriate) products that has changing colours.  Its not a duochrome, its something different.

The pencil looks black at first glance, but when you swipe it, it appears to have deep blue sparkles.  Get it in sunlight and it takes on a purple hue of Cadbury proportions!

Its very creamy and whilst it does become smudgeproof, the initial creaminess means its workable and blendable meaning it’s a shadow style too.

What a good job I’m back in London in a few days, I certainly intend to get more shades of both the gel liner and the silky pens, I particularly like the look of Black Tulip and Deep Plum, but Black Cocoa looks equally nice… maybe I should buy them all?!

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com

If I was to create a makeup line, I would need to look no further than my front windows for inspiration.  I live in a beautiful part of North Wales, in a small village called Bodelwyddan (pronounced bod ell with in).  We’re surrounded by green fields and farmland, with views of the Clwydian Mountain range in one direction and the often snow-capped peaks of Snowdon in the other.

At 10pm at night, I watch trails of cars drive down the main road as workers leave the Hotpoint factory that sits on the outskirts of the village, next to the Carlsberg Depot, who’s trucks rumble up and down the road day and night.

From my bedroom window, I can see the ornate church built by Mrs Willoughby De Brook in 1860, in memorium of her late husband.  The bells ring every Tuesday night, prompting me to remember my own wedding day there.  The bell tower steps lead from the back of the church where there is a baptismal font that has life-size sculptures of Mrs De Brook’s nieces who drowned after they fell through ice whilst skating with their nanny.  Their father committed suicide and the lecturn at the front of the church, beautifully sculpted with angels wings, was created in his memory. 

In the grounds of the church are hundreds of military headstones in memory of Canadian soldiers who died here in Wales, in the First World War.

 In the other direction, I can see the De Brook family castle, now a Warner’s Hotel, but had been previously commandeered during the war and used as a recuperation hospital for soldiers, many of whom lost their limbs and often their lives.

During the second world war, an estate of houses, Coronation Close was built at one end of this picturesque village, exclusively for use by Army personnel, many of whom either still live in them now, or their widows do.

In 2006, Bodelwyddan, having already witnessed great personal tragedy, was rocked to its core.

On November 5^th, 2006, 5 year old Caitlin and 3 year old Aidan were smothered to death by their father and their bodies dumped in their bath. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/6162349.stm) 

Their home was in Coronation Close.  3 year old Aidan had been a classmate of my eldest son.

So if I was to use my village as inspiration for a makeup line, do I use the rolling hills and the sound of the church bells, or do I make reference to the heavy industry that blots the landscape?

Or should I use the deaths of the anonymous Canadian soldiers from WWI or the more recent murders of 2 beautiful children?

While I don’t know Sarah, the children’s mother, I do see her and her own mother in the village from time to time, but I cannot imagine a time when it would be acceptable to say “I’ve created a makeup line and decided to name a lipstick ‘Caitlin’ and a nail polish ‘Smother’”  Its too sick to even contemplate.

 Slightly less sickening, and more understandable would be something along the lines of “I’ve created a makeup line, inspired by Bodelwyddan, and rather than allow your children’s memories fade into notoriety, I want to celebrate their lives, and would like the key products to bear their names.  This particular lipstick I’d like to call Caitlin is a colour I like to think she may have chosen to wear”

I really hope that this was the thinking behind MAC’s collaboration with Rodarte, who’s Fall line is inspired by the Mexican town Juarez where the visual imagery of women trudging to either work or death seemed like a good idea.

Thousands of women are raped, murdered and missing, and they are collectively referred to as the Dead Women of Juarez.  Because I am not a political journalist, rather than make errors, or report incorrectly, I suggest the following as places to read in order to understand further why this collection by MAC and Rodarte has caused such controversy and outrage -

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/03-8

http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/07/rodartes_unfortunate_line_of_juarez-inspired_cosmetics.html

http://www.now.org/issues/global/juarez/femicide.html

Or you could rent a copy of BorderTown, the movie starring Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas which is based on the murders and atrocities in Juarez.  There’s a phenomenal amount of information out there, just google one word and your computer will overflow with heartbreaking images and text on the situation there.

Much like Bodelwyddan, my sleepy little village in North Wales, Juarez appears outwardly to be peaceful and beautiful, but there is a history of murder and tragedy, a history that is made and repeated on a near daily basis.

On a slightly more personal note, though I have used my village as an example, I can’t imagine a time where I would ever use a murdered person as a marketing tool, or as a name for a makeup product.  I have inner conflicting issues with Illamasqua’s Sophie pencil.  I think I’d prefer something louder and prouder to honour me, though I understand why they’ve added a signature piece to their campaign, and love what they are doing with it.

Of course one does wonder what was happening in the meetings at MAC when they chose to name a product Ghost Town. 

I live in hope that it was a group of creatives who didn’t know the back story and were handed a set of images and told to ‘say the first thing that comes into your heads’. 

If that is the case, there may yet be a Phoenix that rises from these ashes, if it’s not, then it will be a controversy too far. 

Many will remember the Anti MAC campaigns of 2005/06, when a handful of freelance makeup artists were booked for a fashion show, only to be bumped off when MAC offered to sponsor it, providing their own artists.  Within days, the stories (and Chinese whispers) had whizzed around the globe, with freelance artists actually putting Anti MAC logos on their websites.

In fact, it was a hotly discussed and debated topic on MAF right in the middle of it, however, it was in our private area on the original forum, so I can’t reference it, it’s gone into the cyber ether.

However, there were many artists, worldwide, who were very vocal about their Boycott of MAC, but after the storm passed, they quietly removed the logos, and drifted back to the MAC counters.

 Will this be the same?  What’s different now though is that bloggers and youtubers are much more part of the makeup inner world than it was 5 or 6 years ago, and within minutes of the rumblings of this ‘story’, blog posts and videos were being posted up with the authors telling of their feelings.

 Many bloggers and youtubers are saying that the collection should be removed, or all of the proceeds to go to these women, whereas others are saying that the awareness that this has created is the silver lining.

 I can’t see that MAC will remove the collection, as the saying goes, no publicity is bad publicity, and even if they did, all they would do is rename and re label the products, so it would be a pointless exercise, the original intent would remain.  But equally, should they be forced to remove a collection, or even to explain themselves?  We’ve all at some point in time had issue with someone and said ‘I shouldn’t have to explain myself to you’ and perhaps MAC will say the same.  

Whatever the right or wrong of this is, is really down to each individual, and should that individual choose to boycott this collection, will they do an out and out boycott of MAC altogether?  In the online beauty world, the likes of Temptalia and Specktra’s successes have been born out of a devotion to MAC, and in fact Lauren Luke, the UK’s most famous online makeup export also started on the road to fame using almost exclusively MAC products.  I wonder what their opinions may be. *At the time of writing, I have asked all 3 for a quote, and at this time, none has been forthcoming.

MAF though, has joined forces with a group of British Bloggers to get this as widely distributed as possible.  MAF has a readership of 1 million a month, most of whom are neither bloggers or readers of bloggers, so I urge you readers in particular to please put forward your thoughts in the section below, but to also read the following blogs.

http://www.ladyofthelane.com/ who hopes that this will raise awareness of the plight

http://www.mizzworthy.com/ who doesn’t intend to buy from the collection, and feels that the apologies made so far, are only papering over the cracks

www.BritishBeautyBlogger.comwho is of the opinion that MAC and Estee Lauder didn’t do even basic research into the women of Juarez

http://www.beautymouth.com/ Caroline explains the process and length of time that goes into creating a makeup line, and questions how many might have been privvy to the pending collection before it got to the stage its at now.

www.getlippie.com who asks not specifically for a boycott, but for MAC to redress the situation and to clarify their new statement where they say they will donate a portion of the proceeds to the causes out in Mexico

http://www.londonmakeupgirl.com/ says “‘MAC may claim that this collection is highlighting the situation in Juarez, but a collection based around ghostly pale faces and darkened eyes does not seem to me to be a particularly sensitive way of bringing attention to the troubles there”

And for any bloggers out there who wish to have their voices heard beyond the usual blog circles, you are most welcome to add your links and comments below also, in fact, they would be welcomed.

At the time of writing, I and other industry personnel are collating our resources and industry contacts, and are preparing them for the mass publishing of this and similar articles.

Further suggested reading:

http://www.bangsandabun.com/   

http://big-fashionista.blogspot.com/

http://www.vexinthecity.com/

http://www.sofarsochic.co.uk/

http://www.lesalondebeaute.com/

http://www.londonbeautyqueen.blogspot.com/

http://www.kraseybeauty.com/

http://www.makeuploveer.blogspot.com/

http://www.the6inchstilettos.blogspot.com/

http://www.sparklesandbows.blogspot.com/

http://www.healingbeauty.co.uk/

http://www.reallyree.blogspot.com/

http://www.just-nice-things.co.uk/

I’ve been testing this for MAF for about 7 weeks now and feel happier about my eyes than I have in years.

The Crystal Clear Rollaway Serum is designed to reduce dark circles and firm skin, thus reducing the lines and wrinkles.

It’s not an overnight product, you do have to keep at it, but even in the early days, when there was nothing to see, just the feel of this under my eyes made me feel more confident about how I look.

Sometimes, just feeling good about yourself is enough, but the added bonus of this product actually working, and geuninely softening the lines around my eyes makes it a great buy from the first moment you put it on.

Having been blessed with baggy eyes, those didn’t shrink as such, but the crinkles and wrinkles (as Sam calls them!) have definitely shrunk, and my skin feels less saggy and a little tighter.  Concealer goes on much better now, and it doesn’t seem to sit in the lines anymore.  Probably because the lines are smaller.

Okay, so its not one of these instant shrinker spanx-for-your-face products like Genie or Eyesential, but the critical me can see the difference, and that’s okay.  I don’t need the world sticking their faces right upto my nose to see how different I look, feeling better and knowing that I look better is enough for me, and I shall definitely be buying this again, and I want to thank Sam for letting me be her guinea pig at trying this, even if she did have to keep nagging at me to write this review…

Helen Lawson

xjenniex2008 aka http://all-that-glitters-and-sparkles.blogspot.com/ and @jennifer1986!  a long standing MAF forum regular, and product tester, Jen’s been doing quite a bit of testing for MAF over the last few weeks, and this is just one of them!

I tested this in the shade Blancmange. On first impressions the packaging is quite cute, it doesn’t look cheap. It smells very sweet, you know how in America you get a lot of Grape flavoured things? It smells like that which is actually quite nice. I would say this is more of a balm it doesn’t make my lips glossy at all and my lips seem to soak it up quickly, but it does have vitamin E in. 

The only place I know where you can buy Miners is their own website and these sell for £2.99.

Kylie Toft tries out The Balm’s tinted gloss.

This is a really lovely product and I’ve loved testing it. The flavour is awesome, reminded me of banana shrimps! Yum yum. 

My lips are very dry but this product has really helped them and they feel in much better condition. It stays on for quite a while and I loved the slight tint to it- I used ‘Girly Girl’. 

On the downside it costs about £14 so is out of my price range.  However if money was no object I would definitely buy it again.

StruckbyaStar is one of MAF’s regulars, and has kindly shared her product review, with brave pictures, on the Forum.

“Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs

I got this on Amanda’s recommendation and I love it! I’m nearly through the can I bought in September. I got it in Light Glow, which is perfect for my skin tone and makes my legs look like they have a “soft” tan. 

This is part of the reason I wanted something to cover my legs with: 

And this is how that same spot looks with the spray: 

When I have it on, people do comment on my legs; I’ve been asked if I’m wearing tights and where I go to get my legs waxed! 

The leg at the top of the photo is the leg without spray- you can see the difference in the skin tone… 

Sorry for all the images, but I wanted to show how well it does cover imperfections! It costs about £6 in Superdrug, but I would definitely recommend it and buy it again because it works out lots cheaper than “pro” products like dermacolour. 
x”

Kylie Toft is one of the Moderators of the MAF forum, and is a regular contributor to the testing panel!  Here she tests a couple of Pat & Rub’s body products.

I’ve been testing two products from the Pat and Rub range which is one I’d never heard of before. 

Cool down and Glitter Body Balm 
I’m the kind of girl who loves a bit of sparkle so I really like the little gold flecks in this. It’s great to put on your legs now it’s summer and you don’t want to wear tights, your legs have a lovely sheen to them and it looks really nice when the light hits the gold particles. I didn’t really get the ‘cool down’ bit as it didn’t feel massively different from other body creams I’ve used and my appreciation is much more from an aesthetic point of view. 

Revitalising Body Oil 
Again, I used this product on my legs to help get them looking fab for summer. It made them very shiny- if a little greasy and helped them to feel silky smooth. However, I didn’t like the smell, the cranberry and lemon combination didn’t work for me and reminded me a bit of body odour! I also learnt very quickly not to use this straight after shaving my legs as it stung like mad. 

As much as I liked the look of the body butter and the smoothness of the oil I don’t think I’d rush out to buy either of these products again. The body butter is £25.70 and the body oil is £20.10 which in my opinion is way to much to pay for something that didn’t blow me away. I wish the body butter was cheaper because I did like the sparkle it gave me and how long it stayed on but it really isn’t worth that amount of money. 

All this said, Pat and Rub has got my attention and I would be keen to try some more of their products.

With the ever increasing rise in numbers of Beauty Blogs, and the continually increasing awareness of Beauty PRs to this new type of media and ‘advertising’ by offering free products for Bloggers to review, it was bound to happen at some time, that some bad apples were going to start rotting the whole bowl.

I’m talking freebies.

Bloggers, like printed press journalists, are now being invited to their own special launch events, taking home goodie bags stuffed full of products, and many are receiving free products through the post in exchange for reviews.  Nothing wrong with that at all.  Its the way things are changing and moving.  Everyone has to move with the times.

But while this is fast approaching the norm, there are some who are seeing their freebies as a way to make a quick quid or three by selling on those products on internet auction sites, sales on their own blogs, putting them onto swap sites, basically anywhere they can sell them.

But I’m not the only person to have spotted this, British Beauty Blogger a respected blogger and beauty writer, wrote a blog post yesterday on this very topic.

It’s definitely worth a read, not just for her insight and heartache at how just a few are spoiling the fun for everyone else, but also for the comments responding to it.  Many are disgusted by the practice, though there are one or two who have got defensive.  Questionable perhaps?

British Beauty Blogger, and other insider bloggers, are working exceptionally hard to get blogging recognised, and contrary to popular belief that I’m anti blogs, I’m not.  I think there is a perfect place for them.  Or rather those that are well written, show a clear passion for their blog and its content, and keep their integrity intact.  It must be incredibly frustrating for those who are swimming against the tide to get blogs recognised to constantly hear of things such as this.  It makes their job doubly hard.

In the last 10 days or so, I’ve heard of at least 6 ocassions of bloggers being ‘caught’ selling sample goods that were given in good faith, and I’ve been working away for 5 of those days!  One forward thinking PR manager makes it her business to investigate every blogger who requests samples from her firm, to the point of becoming a Facebook or Twitter fan, and as a result has caught quite a few in the act of selling free goods.  On one ocassion, she trusted and respected a particular blogger, sent out some products, having been promised a review, and only days later saw this same blogger mentioning her For Sale items on her Twitter account, which included those free samples that had arrived in the post probably only a day or two before!

Another PR told me of many ocassions where bloggers sell many many items then bemoan the fact that they don’t have any cash to send the items through the post!

Where does it end?

But what about the new companies out there who have a tiny advertising budget and are watching their hard work get sold off on eBay, or for that matter, what about the large international firms, who’s beauty PR takes the time to get to know a blogger and trusts her with a prelaunched product, only for it to end up on eBay 2 months before it’s launched on the market?  I don’t suppose it matters how large or small the company is, its still a bit of a kick in the teeth to see a product sold off on eBay when it could have been given to someone else who’d genuinely love to try it, use it, and declare it their new best friend!

Yet another company won’t give anything to bloggers anymore because they’re sick of seeing their newly launched goods on ebay, and another has said that this is almost ‘of epidemic proportions’.

I recently read on a website of a US mineral makeup company, the following statement;

“Requests for free products will be ignored and deleted. ***** never sends free products in exchange for advertising or reviews. Sometimes actual customers receive free products, but they are gifts, we never expect any promotion. Despite that message being here, we still get numerous freebie requests each week through this form. Odd. ”

I’m not certain that’s the right way to go about public relations, but clearly they’re also sick of the blagging/blogging outbreak!

Of course, these really are only a handful of bloggers, for now.  I’m sure there are many more to come who think this ‘blogging lark’ (to use one of BBB’s quotes) is an easy way to make some extra cash.  There are many bloggers who clearly don’t sell their stuff, you can see it when they post up pictures of themselves with a face of makeup on!  Got to try it somehow!  There are those who’ve worked so so hard to get their good reputations and high follower count, that why on earth would they want to ruin it all for a £2 sale price on a limited edition lipstick?

And again, reading BBB’s comments section, there are some highly respected bloggers who are so outraged by it, that it probably hadn’t even ocurred to them to sell products!  Now that’s a true beauty junkie.  I’m also sure, that if every Beauty PR was to stop sending products out to bloggers, then the cream would rise to the top, because for those bloggers, getting the free products is a bonus, they’d be writing it anyway, and would continue to, as they all say “they’re passionate about it”.

But of course, it doesn’t sit exclusively at the door of the Blogger, there are printed journalists who have been caught doing the same, and it would appear that many of them are selling their wares at Carboot sales.  I know, I’ve seen many of them.

So is it just a few bad apples that will die off soon, or will the quick-buck-crowd drown out the rest, and spoil it for everyone?

Oh, and for the record, I don’t test everything that gets sent to MAF myself, I have a wonderful group of girls (and the ocassional chap!) on the forum who very willingly test products for me, and they give honest and impartial reviews!  They have 2 sections, one for when I’m requesting Product Testers, and one for when they want to put in their Product Reviews… 

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com