All Hallow’s eve…

This is my favourite time of year!! I love all things gory!! I am a big believer in Halloween etiquette
… If it’s not scary it’s not Halloween…. However I know a lot of you prefer your night of spooking a little bit more PG. So I’ve been a busy bee doing all my Halloween make ups and I’ve catered for all of you!

Traditional, you can’t have a Halloween without a witch… But as Glinda from Oz says “are you a good witch or a bad witch”

One of my favourite movies is “The Rise of the Guardians”, I know it’s not scary but if anyone attempted this for Halloween I would forgive them!

And finally MY kind of Halloween make up… I love getting my hands on liquid latex….

However even after all this prep… My plans have been stopped in their tracks and a course of anti bionics may just stop me from trick or treating this weekend… But whatever your type of Halloween have an amazing time getting dressed up!

Human doodle pad!!

Now and then I like to flick through all my photos on my phone, laugh at the reasons behind most of them but too also look through all my hard work. The last time I did this I noticed a pattern emerging…

I have a human doodle pad!! This is my sister and its just as well she is beautiful! Her face is used and abused frequently! Even though I am biased she does have THEE perfect face for make up and I never tire of it. I wanted to dedicate this blog to her, she’s always the one that’s there when an idea pops up into my head and she’s always willing to lend her face!

Sisterly love… (For now anyways 🙂 )

PRESENTS!!

It was my birthday this weekend… If none of you knew that… ( 🙂 )

And I thought I would share some of the gorgeous beauty buys I received as gifts!

First in the picture, is one of my favourite scents in the world. Jo Malone pomegranate noir. This is such a feminine scent and is right up my street. Jo Malone describes this as a dark and enigmatic fragrance, with rich tones of pomegranate and raspberry. I love mustier, heavier scents. Makes me feel much more confident.

Next which was AMAZING was my new Lancôme moisturiser!! I love Lancome’s skincare, I’ve never felt a product that I haven’t loved. The hydra zen has a great rich texture for my dehydrated skin, an SPF to protect my skin and calming properties to protect me from my hectic lifestyle!!

And last but certainly not least is THEE red lipstick of all red lipsticks!! I am now the proud owner of my very own ruby woo!!!!!!

I had a lovely weekend, three rounds of celebrating! But best of all high tea wearing my ruby woo!!

Love birthdays…

Tears, tantrums, trials, tribulations and testimonials…

Hello again! It’s been sooo busy at StephM.Artistry and as much as my brain can feel like mush I thought I would share some of the lovely compliments that make it so worth while!

Believe me, running your own business is not easy. There have been a few tears and tantrums! But when I know I have made someone feel as good as they ever have…..it can make it all seem worth while… 🙂

ttfn… Ta ta for now!!

It’s all in the lips…

I have been sooooo busy over these last few weeks that when the sun came out I was not going to ignore it! So apologies its been a bit radio darkness from me. Just something small and simple today on one of my favourite make up trends… Red lips.

People always tell me they would like to wear red but they can’t find one that suits them. Red lips are massive right now and with “ombré lips” being a massive fashion trend, right now is the best time to give it a go.

Before you even think of trying red lipstick half the battle is getting the right shade. It is difficult identifying skin tone. Generally if you are fairer a darker blood red will be better and if you are darker and warm skinned then something more tomato red would sit better. But with the ombré lip were going to use both shades!

Step 1. Make sure your lips are moisturised and prepped (use Vaseline and a toothbrush to get rid of any dry skin.) and apply your red lip liner all around the edge of your lips,I used Bloom lip liner £1 Superdrug.

Step 2. Then apply your lipstick all over the lips. I used my absolute favourite MAC “Rubywoo” £15.50 .

Step 3. To create the ombré effect apply a second layer of liner with a darker shade, i used MAC “Nightmoth” £12 over the edges and slightly in the corners of the mouth and lightly blend with a brush or finger.

Step 4. To finish the look I added Barry M “Cherry” £3.95 pigment in the centre to add that lighter pop of colour and adds a layer of powder to set the lips… They ain’t budging!!

Enjoy having fun with this! It doesn’t have to be expensive, can be done with lots of other colours and can be super fun to mix colours! Until next time arrivaderce!

Oldie but goodie…

You just can’t beat a classic! I have searched high and low for the all time blackest of black eyeshadow… Not slightly grey, not blue or green when it’s blended but BLACK!! So when one of my favourite ladies says she doesn’t want her MAC carbon eyeshadow anymore I was more than obliging to take it off her hands!

MAC carbon is extremely black and because its matte has even more colour pay off, it really is one of the best black eyeshadows I have found. It works great on a flat edged or diagonal liner brush as a liner or….

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On an amazingly black smokey eye like I was dying to do since I go it! I won’t go into tutorial mode but as you can see all the products coordinate with the steps I took in creating this smokey eye! Apologies for the light…. but I must dash, this look was created in honour of girls cocktail night! Thanks for listening, chat to you all later!

Inspiration

Inspiration… “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative” This is the Oxford dictionary definition of inspiration. It’s very easy for me to fall into the habit of picking up my favourite eyeshadow or a lipstick I know goes with every skin tone. So for me, it’s very important to be constantly inspired and have new and fresh ideas. Everyone has their own way of getting their creative bells ringing. Appreciation of fine art, bright colours they see on the street every day, beautiful pieces of jewellery. For me I love nothing more than spending hours riffling through other artists work. Now, this may sound like cheating but I love looking at other’s talent, seeing how successful these people have become and how one day this could be me.

One such artist that regularly has me swooning is Alex Babsky. Babsky has been in the industry for many years, initially studying fashion at St.Martins College of art. After starting off his massive industry career working along side artistry legend Pat McGrath, Babsky has a long list of regular A-list celebrities such as Nicole Scherzinger, Naomi Campbell and Alicia keys. A mountain of front covers featuring on global magazines such as Vogue, Elle and Harpers Bazaar. This however is not why my make up crush on Babsky is so huge…

It’s pictures like this that make me admire his work so much. He is so committed to detail. He holds such passion for this industry which oozes out of all his amazing sketches. During the X-Factor season while everyone screamed for Union J, I secretly sat waiting to see Nicole’s make up and then jumped onto twitter to see his gorgeous pre-make up sketch!

Like I said, this isn’t cheating… Babsky’s work forces me to be better, forces me to try and think outside the box and like him I love to sketch ideas. My artistic background helps me to brainstorm in an artistic way.

Now, I’m not a stalker.. 🙂 I’m not the only one to love and respect this artist and I dare you not to fall in love with his work either… So check it all out….

https://mobile.twitter.com/BabskyMakeup
http://www.frankagency.co.uk/index.php