Research: Skin Diseases and Infections

During our first meet and greet lesson with Lottie Webb, we were taught al about hygiene and making sure ourselves and our makeup and hair kits are always clean and presentable.

For a homework task, she asked us to go and research different types of skin diseases and infections and also some contra-actions and indications.

Impetigo

Impetigo is quite a common and highly contagious skin infection that caused sores and blisters on the skin. It's not usually serious and quite often it improves with a week of treatment.

There are two types of Impetigo:

1. Non-bullous: this type usually affects the skin around the nose and mouth and can cause sores to develop on the skin that when burst, leave a yellow/brown coloured crust.

2. Bullous: this type usually affects the parts of your body between your neck and waist, this can cause blisters quite often filled with fluid that burst within a few days and leave a yellow coloured crust.

If a client or someone whose makeup you are doing has this infection, you should not do their makeup as it is highly infectious.

Ecthyma

Ecthyma is a skin infection which look like sores on the skin and ulcers form around/underneath them. It is a form of Impetigo as it involves the same bacteria but Ecthyma causes deeper scars in the skin.

If someone you are working on has Ecthyma, it is okay for you to do their makeup as it is not an infectious disease.

Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a skin condition which produces amounts of thick, flaky skin. The dry flakes of skin come from the large amount of skin cells triggered by inflammatory chemicals produced by white blood cells called Lymphocytes. This condition affects the elbows, knees and scalp. This condition is incurable and is a long term skin condition.

If someone you are working on has this skin condition, it is okay for you to do their makeup if their skin is flaky although if the area is red then you should not apply makeup to their skin.

Conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis or 'red eye' is a condition which causes redness and inflammation in the thin layer of tissue which covers the front of your eye. This condition causes the blood vessels in your eyes membrane to enlarge, this is what causes the eye to appear red all over.

If someone you are doing makeup for has this condition, you should not apply makeup on them as it is highly contagious and would mean you would have to throw your makeup brushes away. To avoid this, make sure not to double dip any products and make sure your brushes are always clean.

Sty

A sty is a red, swollen lump that appears on the eyelid which is caused by a blocked gland.

There are two different types of Sty:

1. Hordeolum: this type is when a sweat or oil gland is blocked in the skin of the eyelid

2. Chalazion: this type is when the meibomian gland (a unique type of oil gland in the eyelid) is blocked

Meibomian glands create an oily liquid onto the eye surface which stops tear's water layers leaving the eye's surfacr too quickly. Because of this, when a meibomian gland is functioning correctly, this can cause the same symptoms of a dry eye, leading to the swollen lump on the eyelid.

If you are working on a client with a Sty, you can still apply makeup to their face but don't apply any makeup to their eye.

Cold Sore

A cold sore is a small blister that forms on the lip and mouth area. This type of infection is caused by the herpes virus and usually lasts around 7-10 days. Somtimes cold sores can be filled with a fluid like pus.

If you are working on a client with a cold sore, you can still apply makeup to their face but avoid the mouth area.

Contra Actions and Indications

Contra Action

A contra action is something that happens to the client during or after the treatment. Some examples of this include; watery eye, swelling, itchiness, hot skin (allergic reaction) and blotchy/irritated skin. If any of these happen while you are doing someone's makeup, take the makeup off straight away and apply a cool flannel to their face.

Contra Indication

A contra indication is something that has happened to the client before you started doing their makeup. It is very important to ask them of any diseases, allergies or reactions before start applying any products to their skin. Some examples of contra indications may include; fever, vomiting, eczema, conjunctivitis, any cuts/bruises or open wounds (mostly just on the face area) and any styes or watery eyes. By you asking the client and them telling you, you can assess whether or not it will be possible to put any products on their skin.

Overview of my first week of study

In my previous three blog posts, I wrote about three events that happened during my induction week at Southampton Solent University. These three, I feel were my favourite parts of the week. I described about them in detail and I found each one of them useful and interesting.

New Learning

I learnt a lot of new things during these three events, mostly from the makeup demos. The one I probably learnt the most from was the Kyrolan makeup demo as I had never used this brand before so I found it useful when the makeup artist came in and spoke about all of the products and how to use them. I learnt some different ways to apply makeup as well as which brushes to use to apply the products to the face. One technique I learnt from the Kryolan demo was how to create a nice eyeshadow base. To do this, the makeup artist used a light coloured concealer and placed it in the inner corner of the model's eyes and then used a small blending brush to blend it out over the eyelid and up to the eyebrow. One important tip I learnt from this demo was to always apply a powder over the concealer to set it otherwise it would crease when you apply the eyeshadow on top.

In the Illamasqua demo, I learnt of a new way to apply foundation using a certain makeup brush. The makeup artist used a foundation which was a colour similar to the model's skintone and buffed this all around the face with a buffing brush that I never would have thought of using. Normally, when I apply makeup on myself, I use a beauty blender and for other people I would use either a flat, pointed foundation brush or a stippling brush.

This was the brush that the makeup artist used on her model. She only used a small amount of product and used a rounded motion on the face to create a flawless look without lines.

Another tip I learned from the Illamasqua was a really nice way to create a high glam but also subtle highlight and contour face look. The makeup artist mixed a foundation which was similar to the model's skin and then used the skin base foundation from their collection in shade SB 01, which is a white foundation. After applying the skintone foundation colour in places on the face such as the chin, cheeks, forehead and nose, she then mixed the two foundations together to create a highlighted foundation with a glow to which she then applied under the eyes and along the cheekbones and also down the nose (the places where you would normally highlight - the places the sun would hit on your face to create a nice dewy glow.) 

For the black and white photography project, I didn't feel that I really learnt anything from this, as I studied photography before this course but I still found it really fun to go out and explore the city and photograph it.

I felt like I really learnt a lot during my induction week at university, especially in the makeup department. I have picked up many new useful tips that I can now use when I start doing makeup myself. I also learnt a lot about the makeup industry from the two demos as both makeup artists explained how it is hard to get in to the industry and you have to work hard and work your way up, start from the bottom and just get any job you can to start off with. I also learned that this career that I have chosen is not something that has a specific time for it, I couldn't tell someone I worked a 9-5 job as one day I could be working on a photo shoot from 7am-9pm, I could also not be home for weeks or even months on end because I could be travelling the world and working in different cities and meeting new people.

I feel that this week gave me more of an insight into what my career will hold. I had already done a lot of research before coming to university to make sure that this career path was the right one for me and if I would enjoy it and be happy with my choice. I wouldn't say that this week affected me emotionally, in fact it got me really excited to start learning and practising makeup and becoming the best I can potentially be.

We had a couple of lectures during our first week too and I really enjoyed these as well. One of them was with our whole group, all four classes, and Sharon was our lecturer and she explained everything that would happen during the year, including our timetables, how many points we would need to carry on to second year and she also went through the handbook and carefully explained everything. I found all of this very useful to know. I wouldn't say there was anything I disliked during my first week. I was so excited to start University and meet my new classmates and friends that I enjoyed every single moment of it. On one of the days, there was also a two hour break in between our activities, so this gave my two friends and I the opportunity to explore around campus. My friends and I also went to the SU bar for lunch, which we all agreed was lovely and reasonably priced.

On the last day of our Induction Week, we explored the other campus for the freshers fair. The day was enjoyable with us receiving free goodies including tickets for free entry into clubs and also food vouchers. We thoroughly enjoyed the Domino's tent and despite the queue, we waited patiently for our free slice of pizza. There was also a chance to win a free large pizza by spinning a wheel which to my delight, I won! 

(Freshers Fair at Southampton Solent University 2015)

(Some goodies and gifts from the fair)

They also had a photo booth, so me and my two friends went along and got a photo.

Overall, I really enjoyed my first week at Southampton Solent University and I can't wait to start University properly and start learning more about makeup and getting creative.

Induction Week! Part 3

Tuesday 22nd September

Black and White photo challenge

One of the tasks we were given during out induction week was a black and white city photo challenge, for this we had to go and explore our new city and take photos in black and white. There was no limit as to what we could photograph. I was really excited for this as I absolutely love photography, having previously studied it before coming to university. I have always had a love for black and white images, at college whenever we could pick our own theme for our brief, I would always link in black and white in some way. I just think there's such a beauty in the image whereas with a colour photo, you concentrate more on the colours in the photograph whereas a black and white one draws you in to the detail more. I was really excited to go and explore the city as I hadn't seen much around it before. I really like the parks in Southampton, they all have a nice chilled vibe about them.

My first image was taken of the skater park in the park on my way to university. I really like how the image has turned out in black and white as it still shows a lot of detail, which you are more focused on rather than if there was a lot of bright colours to distract you. I took the photo on my phone and then edited it and changed the colour of it to black and white.

My second photo was taken in a different park, just opposite the university. This one is probably my favourite image out of the three as I really like that it's more close up and focused rather than further away and showing more of the surroundings. Again, I did the same to edit it and I think it turned out really good.  I think the angle works so well as it's slightly on a slant and the left frame is filled up whereas the right one has a bit more open space in it.

This last image was taken in the same park as the previous photo but on the opposite side. As soon as I saw this pathway, I instantly fell in love with it. The detail is so nice and it has like a bridge affect to walk through. All my photos are of nature or it's surroundings because that's my favourite thing to photograph.

I really enjoyed this task as I got to combine sightseeing my new city and photography together. I don't feel like I learnt anything during this task as I already knew about photographing and changing photos to black and white but i'm still really haply I got to do it and also i'm very happy with the outcome of my three photos.

Induction Week! Part 2

Thursday 24th September

Kryolan Workshop

'There is only one real professional make-up maker. There is only one Kryolan.'

Kryolan is a makeup brand that I have not used before. When I was told that this brand was a big part of our makeup kit, I was slightly nervous as I was new to this brand and wasn't too sure about the makeup or the company. During our induction week, we had a Kryolan demonstration and I thought this would be the perfect way to find out more about the brand.

Gemma, who has been a Kryolan make up artist for 10 years, came to the university to discuss the brand with us. Gemma started work at Kryolan after a work experience placement and after studying make up at college. This brand is so very verstaille and the products aren't necesarilly for one particularly part of the body. The products are all made in scientific laboratories and they make sure that each and every item meets outstanding quality standards. It was also really interesting to find out the history of the company too, how Charles Fox founded the company 'Charles Fox of Covent Garden' back in 1945 and Kryolan took over in 1992.

Gemma chose one of the students to be her model and began selecting some products that she was going to use. She decided to opt for a glam/going out makeup look. Whilst she was prepping the models skin, Gemma's colleague explained the products that we had, including the brushes which I thought was really helpful and useful. I found it really interesting watching her applying the makeup as she had many different techniques. After applying primer on the skin, she proceeded to the brows, they were already quite thick and bushy so Gemma only had to apply a small amount of brow powder on the arches to give them a nice, strong shape. The next stage was the eyes, taking a small amount of concealer, Gemma placed it in the inner corner of the model's eyes and blended it out over rhe eyelid as an eyeshadow base. A tip I learned from Gemma was to then sweep powder over this to set it so the eyeshadow doesn't crease. I really enjoyed watching her create this makeup look as I love glam makeup looks. I was very excited to try all my Kryolan products and test them out! 

Gemma creating a makeup look on a student.

It was really nice that Gemma took the time to carefully go through and explain everything she was doing so we knew exactly what products she was using and how to use them.

One thing Gemma told us to remember was 'Blend! Blend! Blend!' You can never blend your eyeshadow too much!

Throughout the demo, I thought it was really important that Gemma kept reminding us about hygiene when working as a makeup artist! She gave us tips like don't eat anything garlic the night before working on a client, always make sure you have mints and don't double dip your products, especially when working with creams and liquids.

People got the opportunity to ask questions and her colleague gave the answers to the students. Someone asked 'what is the best way to get your self in to the makeup industry?' and he said to just get whatever job you can get in the industry and work your way up. They both started off at Kryolan through work experience and now they both work really high up for the company. The makeup artist also told us how much work is involved in this industry, he said he hasn't been home in over 2 weeks and he is off travelling again for another 5 around the world. He also said that he commutes to work 2 hours every morning and then 2 hours home every day. If you want to work in this industry, you've got to want it, you've got to have commitment because so many people want this career and if you're aren't willing to push yourself and work for it then you're most likely not going to get it. 

I absolutely adored the finished result and the model's skin was so flawless too! I learnt a few techniques about applying face make up. Gemma used a flat pack foundation brush to apply the foundation and then a rounded buffing brush to blend it out. She also used a oval shaped brush to apply the contour and then a buffing brush again to blend it out. I love how dewy and fresh the skin looks and the lip colour goes perfectly with the model's skin tone and eye shadow.

Overall, I really enjoyed the workshop. There was an opportunity at the end to purchase some items that they had brought along and as we were students, we were entitled to 20% off. I learned so much from this and I feel like I know now so much more about the brand and I can't wait to start experimenting with the makeup.

Induction Week! Part 1

On Monday 21st September, I had my first day at Southampton Solent University! This first week was an induction week before our course started properly the week after.

We had several things planned over the week including lectures, meet and greets and makeup demos. These are the 3 events I have decided to describe..

Wednesday 23rd September

Illamasqua Lecture and Workshop

Before my course commenced the week after, Sharon (Spob) O'Brien, a makeup artist who has 30 years experience in the industry, working for film, tv, commercials, theatre and many more, came along to Solent University to give a talk about Illamasqua. (Spob is Illamasqua's head of professional development). As well as Sharon, Helen Roche attended, who also works for Illamasqua. The lecture started with them talking about how the company started and Spob telling us that she has worked for the company since it was a slideshow presentation back in 2008 (which is pretty amazing). We were given the opportunity to watch a slide show, showing us some of Illamasqua's collections and products. There was an opportunity for all the students to ask questions about makeup, the industry and Illamasqua itself. During the lecture, Spob said that she would recommend all the students to check out Charlie Brooker's 'Black Mirror' to look at the makeup and style and creativity.

Some examples of the posts on Illamasqua's blog

They showed us a new product which they are launching in December called 'Broken Gold' which was a gold metallic eyeliner and when applied looks dewy and wet but dries into a really nice bright matte gold colour and looks amazing on top of eyeshadow. 

During the lecture, Spob asked the students whether they wanted to go either into Fashion, Theatre or Tv and Film! The majority of people raised their hands for Theatre to which she said it would be quite easy for them to get a job! The next most popular choice was Tv and Film to which she said it would be hard to get a job in this industry but if you work hard enough then you could get a job doing this! The next choice (to which I raised my hand) was Fashion! Her response to this was 'good luck!' Fashion is the hardest part of the makeup industry to break into, but I see no boundaries nor no reason as to why I can't be one of those makeup artists working right now for London/Paris or even New York fashion week. 'Personality is everything' Spob said during the lecture, and with enough hard work, perseverance, knowledge and a personality that stands out I will do what it takes to push myself to reach my goals and be the best I can be. 

After the lecture, we went upstairs to the make up studio and both the artists did a demonstration on providing a creative makeup look. Spob talked about some of the makeup she had been doing recently and it was fascinating to know she is working on the new Jamed Bond film 'Spectre', she also did the makeup for the Sainsbury's 2014 Christmas ad campaign and told us she has just finished working on a shoot where it was based around colour and so she was researching Holi Festival of Colours and similar results and came up with lots of ideas on her Pinterest board for makeup looks to create.

(Holi Colour Festival - not my images, both are from Google.) 

(Spob O'Brien creating her creative makeup look on one of the students)

(Helen Roche doing a similar look on another student)

Each artist went through step by step of the products they were using and how to use them. It was really interesting to find out different ways of using products as one artist may use a product completely different to someone else.

As Spob O'Brien said in the lecture 'you are constantly learning!' 

The workshop lasted for one hour and was my favourite part of the whole week. I really do love Illamasqua and after using their products for the first time around 2 years ago, I quickly fell in love. I like how verstaille all the products are, for example how a 'blush' doesn't have to be just that, it can also be a lipstick and an eyeshadow as well. The packaging is so lightweight and designed so well, and basically just everything about this brand I love. 

This was the final look created by Helen Roche. I love the spiked up brows and the quirky multicoloured eyes which work so well with the half pink lip, lining up perfectly with her nose and gap between her eyebrows.

This was the final look created by Spob O'Brien. She went for a more glossy eye look with slightly less bright colours on the eye. Her look also consisted of spiked up brows and a half pink lip.

I really enjoyed both the Illamasqua lecture and workshop and it made me really excited to start getting creative and doing my own makeup looks. I also learned a lot of new techniques and gained some new ideas. One of the ideas I liked the best was the blocking of the brows, for this they taught us a technique of using purple glue and creating layers of this on top of the brows (leaving it to dry in between layers) and combing through with a mascara wand to create a blocked effect - which is very popular in drag makeup. I found the talk really helpful and enjoyed meeting both women who have inspired and influenced such an amazing, powerful makeup brand.

'If I could, I would..'

(photo of the summer project 2015)

Over the summer holidays, we got sent an email which included information such as how to order our makeup kit, inspiring beauty and fashion bloggers and our summer project. The title of the project was 'If I could..I would' and the purpose of it was to answer several questions that they had sent us on a mood board. Some of the questions included 'where would you like to be in 5 years time?' and 'who do you want to work with?' We were told we could be as imaginative as as we liked, there were no boundaries-no glass ceiling! We were told we were going to present our mood boards with other students and discuss them.

Straight away I started coming up with ideas and jotted them down. I thought about the type of person I wanted to be in 5 years, what I wanted to look like and also who inspired me and I would want to work with. I used the internet for inspiration and also make up magazines that I had purchased from Imats. I looked through and found which images I liked the most and cut them out to begin sticking on my moodboard.

This was what my mood board looked like. I bought a small, thin canvas from a craft shop and some coloured string and began wrapping the string round to give it a cool effect. I then began placing my images on and deciding where I wanted them to go. I also purchased some little tags to write on.

'My dream job would be to work as a fashion makeup artist doing work for fashion week and magazines such as Vogue. I would also be interested in working in the film industry and learning special effects makeup so I have the knowledge behind me.'

'The type of person I would like to be is happy with my career and to wake up everyday excited to go to work and create new projects and show my creativity.'

'In 5 years... I would love to be working in the fashion industry. I want to create my own makeup book and create my own line of makeup for a brand such as Illamasqua or Mac.'

'I would like to work with Alex Box and Pat McGrath, both are truly amazing and inspirational makeup artists with their own creativity and uniqueness. I would like to take after Alex Box and create my own makeup line for Illamasqua.'

I really enjoyed answering all these questions and creating the moodboard too, it was a lot of fun and I would love to do something similar again.

The next part of the brief was to pick a film from this list and write a short review (300 words max). We had to answer some questions like 'what film does the genre belong to?', 'did it start a style movement or was it mirroring society at the time?' and 'did it help make the leading lady or man a fashion/style icon?'

I chose the film Clueless to review as this is one of my all time favourite films.

'Clueless is a teen romantic comedy which has inspired many people since it's coming of age with it's quirky outfits and 90's hairstyles, it was the film of the decade. The film did take inspiration from society at the time as people were wearing tennis skirts and scrunchies but I think it had it's own unique twist on 90's fashion to give it it's style. Cher, the main character became a fashion icon around the world after Clueless, even now people still dress like her and look up to her. The most iconic accessory of the whole film was definitely Cher's two piece yellow checkered set, this outfit just made the film. When you think of Clueless, you imagine Cher walking through school wearing that outfit. The makeup artist for the film told Lisa Eldridge in an interview that he only had a week to come up with the ideas for the film. But with just a weeks planning, Alan Friedman set one of the biggest trends going with Mac lipstick in Malt and brown lip liner. Now, 20 years after the making of the film, brown lipstick is making it's comeback. This, along with theatrical eyeshadow colours was the look of the 90's that has influenced many generations.' 

We had to get into groups of 5 and present our moodboards to each other and discuss our future plans. 

This is a selfie of our group.

I really enjoyed doing my summer project, talking about it to my new classmates and hearing all about what they want to do within the makeup industry. 

My New Adventure

Starting University

On the 14th September 2015, I started my new adventure in my life. I left Liverpool, my home for the past 19 years and moved to the other side of the country to Southampton. The reason behind this was because I was going to Southampton Solent University to study Make Up and Hair Design (BA Hons). I found it quite scary at first, especially because I was moving so far away from all my friends and family but after a couple of days of settling in and going exploring the city which was to become my new home for the next 3 years, I realised how independent and determined I am. I decided to move down a bit earlier as I wanted to settle in before all the craziness of freshers and induction week. In my next blog post, I will document everything that happened during my induction week at university.

My new home at Liberty Quays, Southampton

Me, Myself and I...

Me...

For my first blog post, I thought I would tell you all a little bit about myself. My name is Philippa Dawn Louise McGee, I am 19 years old and I am from Liverpool in the UK. After I left school at 16, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with my life or what I wanted to study/do as a career. After a summer of reading through different college course books, I decided to take a level 2 BTEC in Art and Design. I have always been a more creative than academic person and after art being my favourite subject at school, I decided to study it at college. The course was a year long and I came out with the grade of a Merit which is the equivalent of a B. During my time on the course, I discovered my passion for photography and decided this was what I wanted to do next with my life so I enrolled at the same college to do a level 3 BTEC in photography and graphics. I really enjoyed photography and I learnt so much on the course, I felt like I really pushed myself and gained so much knowledge about something I was passionate about. Many times, we would do studio work and for one particular project, it was fashion based and we had to create a theme and I picked 'glitter'. For this, I decided to research different  glitter makeup looks and I came up with 5 ideas of my own to create. Whilst working on this project, I did the makeup on my model and it was this moment that I realised I was interested in makeup. I enrolled on a 10-week fashion and photographic makeup course. I absolutely loved this course and I learnt so much in such a short amount of time. After the course finished, I had a portfolio of makeup looks I had done and also a Level 3 makeup qualification. At this stage, I knew that makeup was what I wanted to do as my career and I wanted to further my studies so my next step was to apply to university. I applied to Bournemouth, Southampton and London College of Fashion. Southampton was my first choice, as soon as I went for my interview, I absolutely fell in love with everything. The city, the university, the course, the tutors, everything. I went for my interview and they told me it would be about a week before I heard back, so we started the long drive back to Liverpool and after about an hour, I received an email saying I had been given a conditional offer. I was so excited, I actually screamed in the car (my mum almost crashed the car, oops). I finished my course with Distinction, Distinction, Merit (AAB) and I got my place at Southampton Solent University.

I absolutely adore makeup and anything to do with it. I really love the fashion side of it and I think that's where I want to lean my career towards. I would absolutely love to work for Fashion Week and also for high end fashion magazines such as Vogue. I would also like to work in the TV and Film industry and whilst at university, I would like to learn prosthetics makeup incase I ever did want to go towards that side of makeup. There are so many artists I would love to work with, Alex Box and Karla Powell would be my two dream makeup artists to work with. Both are so unique and creative and have done work so different that's never been seen before. I would also like to take in Alex Box's footsteps and work with a big brand such as Illamasqua or Mac and create my own makeup line as well as creating my own makeup book full of my work and tips and guidance for other makeup artists. My ultimate goal is to be able to travel the world and I am so lucky and blessed to have chosen a career in which I have the opportunity to do this.