Alex Box in i-D

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School of Make-up Art: Course Breakdowns: Building Expertise and Confidence - Perfecting Eye Design

As the title suggests, this intensive short course is all about eyes. The windows to the soul, they're also the focal point of many high impact looks, so the possibilities for self-expression are endless. From considering definition and shape to experimenting with colour, this practical course will equip you with a range of professional skills and enable you to create show-stopping eye make-up looks that no one can ignore.

Throughout the course, guests professional make-up artists will be on hand to help and advise you on taking your creative skills to the next level.


Price:

£375

Course Dates:

14 - 15th October
16 - 17th November
16 - 17th December

To book or for further inquiries, please email school@illamasqua.com or call 0844 984 1700.

Myer Fashion Parade - The Backstage Video

If you would like to watch the video without half of it missing [!] then check it out on our Youtube channel, click here.

Avant Garde: Golden Goddess Look Breakdown

Creative Director Alex Box designed the looks for the show, including the beautiful Golden Goddess look for the 10 models opening the show. With their hair slicked back with gold leaf and 24 carat gold nails the make-up had to look sensational...

Skin

Satin Primer was used all over the face for a dewy, fresh base. As all the girls had had spray tans prior to the show, a Cream Foundation in a shade a couple of shades darker than their natural skin tone was used and blended and buffed to perfection using an Illamasqua Highlighter Brush

After dusting off any shine using Loose Powder and an Illamasqua Powder Brush,

Contour the face using Illamasqua Powder Blusher in 'Rumour', 'Spite' and 'Disobey' depending on the model's skin tone. This was applied using Blusher Brush II, using the tapered edge to smooth colour under the cheekbones, down the sides of the nose and from the eye lids up to the temples to create an architectured face.


Next, Alex used a small amount of Bronzing Duo, using the darker shade to enhance the contour and the lighter shade to add a touch of creamy highlight to the top of the cheekbones, down the centre of the nose and across the hairline.

Alex's now-trademark trick of applying soap to the eyebrows to flatten them against the skin so that they 'disappear' was part of the look to keep the focus on the smokiness of the eyes.

Eyes

To define the eye shape, Powder Eye Shadow in 'Wolf' re-exaggerated the shape initially created using Powder Blusher in 'Disobey'. Alex used an Illamasqua Eye Shadow Brush to press on the colour and blended high up beyond the crease using Blending Brush I.

Medium Pencil in 'Sophie' was used for an inky black smudge along the waterline and under the lashline, and Powder Eye Shadow in 'Gimp' used on top to build colour intensity and to allow for a gentle fade out to deep grey.

Gimp was also used on top of Wolf on the top eye lid, almost up until the brow and blended out again. The lid and outer third of the eye should be the most intense.

Liquid Metal in 'Solstice' should be spattered in to the inner corner of the eye and roughly blended in to the eye colour not further than 1/3 of the way onto the eye lid, with the concentration of the colour being at the inner corner. Alex used her fingers and an Illamasqua Lip Brush for a more defined shape to apply the Solstice.

A sprinkling of Pure Pigment in 'Marvel' adds a shimmering yellow tone to the gold and is also used with Blusher Brush I to dab the colour on to the temples and on the upper third of the cheekbones.

After using a coat of Volume Mascara in 'Harness', False Eye Lashes no 13's were used for a sex kitten look, and fastened to natural lashes using another coat of Volume Mascara.

For a final shot of glimmer, add a touch of Pure Pigment in 'Android' to the outer corners and along the lash line to blend the line of the lashes and the smoky black eye colour.

Lips

For a gentle, dewy highlight, a 50/50 mixture of Liquid Metal in 'Solstice' and Satin Primer was applied to the top of the lip. The lips were blended out [to keep the focus on the super-smoky eyes] using a touch of the Cream Foundation used for the skin and a touch of Sheer Lipgloss in 'Brilliant' to the centre of the lips.


Final Touches

Gold glitter was pressed on to the skin for a bold look, like the models had been rolling about in gold sand. This was picked up by the flash of the photographers bulbs beautifully on the catwalk.

Below is a picture of Alex touching up the models prior to the press call.

School of Make-up Art: Course Breakdowns: Creative Couture Lash Workshop

This fantastic workshop not only encourages you to unleash your alter eego - it also lets you get hands-on creative and release your inner designer by enabling you to create your own lashes!

False Eye Lashes are a key element of night-time make-up, and offer unlimited possibilities for self-expression.

This practical workshop delves into creative lash design, letting you experiment with materials and accessories, to create unique lashes with wow factor!

Guest professional Make-up Artists from the worlds of fashion, theatre and film will be available throughout the day, offering expert support, and even a few off the wall design suggestions.

So as well as taking home some incredible creations, you'll leave with the confidence to design, create and apply your very own lashes.

Course Content

Create and Craft workshop - learn how to design and make couture lashes, working with habadashery, Swarovski crystal, feathers, glitter, paper and fabrics. Beat the fear of applying lashes and create your own unique works of art.

Price

£200

Course Dates

16th October
15th November
18th December

The Myer Fashion Show Spring Summer 2010/11

You may have been waiting for me to post on this, so sorry for the delay! With news about the show all over the internet [click here, here and here for an example] I will bring you the behind-the-scenes look from the Illamasqua camp...

Illamasqua's Creative Director Alex Box and I headed over to Sydney, Australia to work with our retail partners Myer for the biggest show of the year. With over 75 models, 23 make-up artists, 7 nail artists, a horde of hair stylists and a troop of this was one epic show.

A call time of 7:30am gave us enough time to prep the three rooms dedicated to make-up. The main room - headed up by Alex Box - was the Avant Garde room, full of pigments, glitter and a whole lotta golden girls by the end of the day, I will be posting a look break down later on in the week.

The second room consisted of a team headed up the wonderful Christabel Draffin [makeupmole] who were creating beautifully sculpted, contoured Ready To Wear looks - breakdown to follow.
We were very lucky to work with some of Australia's top make-up artists and we were thrilled with the final results of all the looks.

We had a few models to get ready for the 2pm press call, as the main show wasn't until 8pm in the evening and to make the morning papers, there needed to be an earlier photo opportunity.

We also had visits from the beautiful Jess Hart, who kindly agreed to meet-n-greet with some press alongside Alex Box. She was really great, and her make-up artist Sue Marshall [www.suemarshall.com] raved about the Illamasqua products that we gifted her. I will be posting another link this week that will give you a break down on how Sue created Jess' gorgeous, glossy look for the show.

The models were all very patient as it was pretty cold backstage, but the atmospheric location of the CarriageWorks on the out skirts of Sydney city centre was very imposing and impressive.


The guests started to arrive around 7pm, including the supermodel Jerry Hall, the MTV VJ and model Ruby Rose [who was also showcasing her new collection] Charlotte Dawson, model Rachel Finch and Myer Spokesmodels Jennifer Hawkins, Jess Hart and Kris Smith.


With a 3D architectural sculpture of a giant shell, and the runway spilling forth like a wave of golden sand, the scene was set for one of the most epic catwalk show I have ever seen. The renowned architect Chris Bosse was the creative mind behind the show - he was the creator of the iconic Beijing Water Cube at the Olympics - and even the lighting evoked a sunrise and sunset. Beautiful.


Me and Jess!

After the show, the guests enjoyed the after party, with delicious fire and ice oysters, salmon, scallops and lots of champagne and cocktails. And chocolate brownies, of course...
Thanks to Chrissie Hall [www.chrissiehall.com] for her photography.

Cosmopolitan Award for Best Nail Varnish

I was not in the best mood when I walked in to the office today - soaked to the bone thanks to the typically unpredictable british weather - but my mood quickly changed when I saw a big shiny trophy on Rosa's desk; an award for Best Nail Varnish from Cosmopolitan magazine.

I went all Gwyneth Paltrow-at-the-Oscars ...

Thanks to the readers of Cosmopolitan and to the judging panel for picking Illamasqua Nail Varnish as your Nail Varnish of 2010!

School of Make-up Art: Course Breakdowns: The Night-Time Diva

Our highly anticipated SOMUA - The School of Make-up Art - will be launching at 20 Beak Street in mid-September, and the interest in our courses has been coming in thick and fast. Our School will be a creative hub of ideas and inspiration to give you the best possible start to your professional career or encourage the artist in you, hone your skills and give you insight in to the world of professional make-up.

Each day this week we are going to feature one of the courses exclusively to readers of the Illamasqua blog.

The Night-Time Diva

Especially designed to help you master the basic skills of night-time make-up, this intensive 2-hour course is the ideal opportunity for you to learn from the professionals, experiment with peoducts and create your own statement look before hitting the town!

The ideal start to any Big Night Out, it'll equip you with the skills to give any look an Illamasqua edge.

Course content:

Mastering pigments, becoming confident with colour, experimenting with lashes and learning how to create the ultimate make-up statement to make you feel sassy, sexy and confident.

Price:

£50

Course Dates:

8th October 2010
22nd October 2010

5th November 2010
19th November 2010

3rd December 2010
17th December 2010

To book call 0844 984 1700 or email school@illamasqua.com

Sydney Update and Amnesty Update!

It's a day of updates! Alex Box and I are still tearing up Sydney. Today, we had a few meetings with beauty editors in the morning and went out for a nice healthy lunch followed by a stroll in the park to see the bats[!]. They are something of a phenomenon here; huge big fruit bats that dangle from the botanic gardens during the day and screech overhead at dusk flying off to the East.



Tomorrow, we have the final rehearsal for Thursdays Myer Fashion Show. The aussie supermodels Jess Hart and Jennifer Hawkins will be walking amongst others, and I am really looking forward to meeting the teams in hair and nails as well the wealth of Australian make-up artist talent that will be supporting Alex Box and Christabel Draffin [of makeupmole.com fame]. I will be giving a back-stage tour to a group of select bloggers and press as Alex does Jess Hart's make-up, so that will be fantastic for them.

Also, in UK news - the Amnesty has been extended for a final week! We have been so thrilled with the reception and the feedback from our customers that they have been waiting for the chance to get to counter and we wanted to show our commitment to our customers.

Alex Box Masterclass MYER Sydney, Australia

Saturday 31st July saw the Alex Box Masterclass at MYER Sydney. We were extremely lucky to have Alex as she has been extremely busy in the past few months so for her to fly to the other side of the world is testament to the commitment that she gives Illamasqua and her desire to meet all of the artist teams and make-up obsessives around the world.



We had two classes in the day that included customers both new and established, make-up artists, bloggers, trannies and students all eager to meet Alex Box and see her in action...







Thanks to all who came along, and we look forward to seeing you again soon!

Also coming up this week, the Myer Fashion Parade. We have our final meetings tomorrow to lock it all down, followed by final look discussions on Tuesday, a grand rehearsal on Wednesday and the show on Thursday. Phew!