12 hours in London!

This Thursday I was in London for one day only to complete a course in Black Makeup. Read on to find out why, when, where and how!

Why?

Unfortunately I feel that there is a lack of knowledge, experience and confidence in the Irish beauty industry when looking after dark skin tones. With 85% of our population being white, this is understandable as it is the huge majority of faces that sit in our chair and the models we train on.

I have certainly served customers of many skin tones while working in cosmetics retail (but, as is the case with most brands, the poor range of deep foundation shades could make this difficult). However I have never had a black/deep-dark client for a makeover.  Now, I have been doing makeup for 6 years, and I am always open to working on any colouring and would never say I only cater for certain people. So for many Irish artists, the experience simply isn't there, through nobody's fault.

That being said I think this creates a bit of a vicious cycle. From what I have learned from women with deeper skin tones, they know when artists don't know how to properly work with their colouring, and unfortunately come up against this often.

I am an avid youtube viewer/blog reader - and have been since before it was popular. So I have a wide range of people that I watch, and naturally this includes various races, ages etc. I am always particularly interested to understand the beauty concerns that others face, and how they work with these concerns (through techniques, products etc.). I intake as much theory as possible, when the experience isn't there. But theory can only go so far.

So, because I felt that this is an area in my artistry that I could do with gaining experience and confidence in, I wanted to go out of my way to do so. I began searching for courses or masterclasses that specifically deal with dark/black skin tones, and came across the London Makeup School. It was a one day course which suited me perfectly as I would have to travel from Cork.

When and Where?

On Thursday (23rd Nov) I got the earliest flight to London. I love me some breakfast - especially French toast, maple syrup and bacon! So that's what I grabbed at the airport before boarding. As much as my boyfriend can't understand how I could do this at 5.30am, I don't think I'll every understand seeing people drink pints at that time! 😂

I got on the 6.40am flight to Stansted. I always book an aisle seat so I don't get claustrophobic but I managed to land an entire empty row - score! 👌🏽 I can't sleep on planes so I just listened to music and got a lovely view over the clouds and of the sun rising.

We landed early, but my train into Central London was delayed (typical!). After finally arriving at Liverpool Street, I took out my phone and used Google Maps to find the school, which I knew was a 10min walk away, up Curtain Road (Shoreditch). Of course it was directing me down a road that was blocked off with some sort of road works. No matter which exit I came out from the station, it was telling me I was going the wrong way, and time was running out. I eventually found myself back at the original exit and spotted a taxi rank 🙄 I hopped in one and thankfully arrived at the school before the start time of 10am! 

How it went...

The instructor I had was Bebe O'Shea. She is an international makeup artist of 16years who works in media, and she was so lovely. All of the teachers at the school are industry based, which is great to know that they are keeping up with and working in the current times. There was just 2 of us in the course so it was nice and intimate.

After a quick introduction, were were given a nice tote bag with pen, paper, and blank face charts. Bebe then gave a demo of a natural look on the lovely model Charlie, explaining everything she was doing and why.

We then each worked on a model to create a natural look, using what we had learned. Bebe was very open to us using our creativity and intuition, and to us trying whichever products we would like. This was great as it was our time to experiment and find our own preferences as artists.

I worked on Charlie and did a soft warm toned look with an orange-toned lip and golden highlight.

These pictures were taken in two different locations, so the lighting is different

We then had an hour for lunch. I had packed one, so I went for a little walk and found a spot to munch. The area has plenty of cafe's and restaurants so this isn't necessary. I had plenty of time so I grabbed a hot chocolate at the coffee shop next door to the school.

Sidenote: During my wander around I also passed a window with mannequins wearing Adidas, so thought I'd have a look. I walked down the stairs and saw it seemed to be all men's clothes, but there was a section of runners, so thought I'd have a look for the boyfriend. I continued to walk into the shop and soon realised that while it was a sportswear shop, it was also a gay fetish shop, when I came across a wall of some sort of S&M masks 😳😂 A quick glance at the deeper end of the shop confirmed it. I suddenly became very interested in some Adidas t-shirts before wandering out, trying to look natural. The two fellas working there seemed to be super nice and welcoming, so the last thing I wanted to do was be rude! I noticed upon leaving that the large selection of gay magazines near the runners should have been a hint! 🙈 Sure it was something new - I can't say I have every been in a gay S&M shop before! It also made a funny story for my boyfriend when I rang him during lunch! 😂

After returning from lunch, we continued to work on the model we had done, creating a smokey eye from the natural one.

After this we swapped models so we could experience a different skin tone and type. I then worked on the lovely Gracelle. Bebe asked us to create a stronger eye look incorporating glitter, but still applying the same methods to the skin. I went for a silver spotlight eye with a brown glossy lip.

I think we took our lunch a little later than expected so we finished up at about 4.30pm instead of 4pm. So we weren't cut off from our work due to the timing. We then got our certs!

I had a lovely festive stroll back to the train station - which I found easily this time! 🙈

After travelling back to Stansted airport, I got on the 8.20pm flight home. We were slightly delayed but still landed in Cork on time at 9.45pm. 

After that long day, I got home and had a lovely hot shower. It was a great day but I slept like an absolute log that night!

This was something I was very proud of myself for doing. I get anxiety around things like this and going outside of my comfort zone is always quite difficult. I'm also pleased that I did it for the right reasons - to grow as an artist and confidently cater to those who find it difficult to find artists who can.

I hope you enjoyed taking a peek into my day!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See you soon 😊

Christine

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