So You Want to Be a Make-up Artist: Stories from MUD Manila at Day 5

My last day for school turned out to be the day with a massive traffic jam. Heavy rains had murdered the asphalt on the roads and boom! traffic everywhere. Class ended up starting late, but I must say it turned out to be a really cool last day. 

While waiting for class to begin (Kris was stuck in hellish traffic,) I was lucky enough to speak with Miss Georgina who was teaching the diploma course and to take a peek at her student, Zati's worktable. One of my biggest hurdles was my efficiency changing colors or brushes, and I took cues from Zati's worktable. It's like a chef's mise en place. Some notes:

1. A white towel or a dentist's napkin or a paper towel should be laid down for your palette and for your brushes.
2. Put your brushes at the center of everything; upright in containers or on your brush roll. Have separate containers for clean and dirty brushes. You can divide them by cream or powder, or even by their use. 
3. Have a container with tissue, cotton pads and cotton buds. Beside it can be your row of liquids—alcohol, make-up remover, brush cleaner, water (I use a container of saline solution, yup for contact lenses) toner even moisturizer. 
4. Organize your cosmetics as you like, creams with creams, etc. As long as you can keep clean and you know where everything is.
5. Have a trash bag or container. 

The rest of the story after the cut!

Kris was my first model for the day. She told me to give her a natural look, but to make sure it would last for the day since she was having dinner out. I realized this was the first day I was ever going to see her with a full face of make-up. And I was lucky enough that someone was speaking to her much of the time that I was doing her make-up or I would have probably been more nervous. I love that lip color!

See the full gallery on Posterous Then, Karen was gracious enough to allow me to do another smoky eye. Like I said about the smoky eye, always begin with the lightest color first. And alternate between the two eyes for each step to make sure that they're balanced. Consider also doing the base make-up after so that you can clean up any fall out with make-up remover. See the full gallery on Posterous

Here's my pièce de résistance. (heehee!) Kris noticed that I was having too much fun with browns, blues and purples so she suggested that I use brighter colors. At her suggestion, I tried this combination—a vibrant gold- yellow, a shimmer-y rust and a dark brown. This is Anna and her sunset eyes. (ahahaha!) The last photo is from Anna.

See the full gallery on Posterous

After which, Kris asked me to deepen the look. Make things more vibrant and to try a brash berry lip with the look.

See the full gallery on Posterous

EYES

See the full gallery on Posterous

1. HIGHLIGHT: MUD Sunset (vibrant golden yellow)
2. MIDTONE: MUD Pomegranate (shimmering rust color)
3. DEEP: MUD Espresso (dark, rich brown color)

CHEEKS

See the full gallery on Posterous NARS Dolce Vita (matte dusty rose) | CONTOUR Taupe (neutral medium brown)

LIPS

See the full gallery on Posterous MUD Rose Clay (natural pink-brown color) and Eggplant (burgundy wine color)

Ooooh i loved this look so much, we did it for the wedding (the one where I wore the blue smoky eye)

See the full gallery on Posterous

And that was my MUD Bridal and Beauty Class. 

Some last notes:

• It was really valuable to have time to practice, a trained eye to critique my work and access to excellent tools.
• The class ended with a spoken evaluation, it began with the setting of an outline. My HS teacher self was happy. 
• Hygeine is so important, I find myself doing the routine even when am doing my own make-up. I like routines, really. 
• Make Up Designory has a textbook that may prove valuable to people who want to learn the fundamentals. It's really a textbook so there are no inspirational shots, but they have helpful diagrams. I recommend Kevyn Aucoin's Making Faces and the Francois Nars' Make Up Your Mind and Make Up Your Mind:Express Yourself for inspiration. Illamsqua's Alex Box has what looks to be an excellent book too. Though am thinking of looking at modern art,indigenous tattoos and even tropical birds for more inspiration.

Do I recommend it? 

Definitely. It's a methodological approach that combines both theory and practice. They're lovely people and the time to focus on make-up and to actually do the work is worth it. 

Next up, my pro course at Maquillage Professionel and a lot of product reviews. 

Oh, of course, if you'd like to hire me, leave me a comment here or send me an email at irrationalfits at g mail dot com. 

My 5-day Beauty and Bridal Class was taught by Kris Bacani (trained at Make Up Designory in New York). The course itself is PhP42,000 (inclusive of a pretty decent starter make-up kit.) It doesn't include brushes, but PurBeauty has all that you need to build a good pro kit. 

MUD Manila is at Pure Beauty 2/f Serendra (facing Market!Market!). Please click through to their Facebook page for the information on their upcoming modules, I hope to do a basic hairstyle course soon. 

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