Strike a pose…

Hello hello!!

I had a lovely customer tell me today that they read my blog all the time… So I thought I better write a new one!

To save you some pennies I thought I would tell you more about what I’d been up to rather than what I’ve been buying. I recently had the pleasure of working on such a fun shoot with such a great team. On the camera we had the ace Daniel MacAvoy, working the camera we had the gorgeous Iona MacGowan and giving us the props of the day was the amazingly talented Lorna Kenny from Sakura florist. A florist you say…..

CHECKS THE UBER AWESOME HEADPIECES!!

I had such fun with this. The theme of the shoot was spring. And when I think spring I think fresh, pink, flowers all things bright and beautiful. For the shoot we had 2 make up changes.

For this look I wanted really dewy skin. So to get that real shine I actually used a very fine layer of bepanthan (yup) on the high points of the face, brows, cheeks and bridge of the nose. I then used Chanel vitalumiere in shade 10 and 30 building up the lighter colour to dark from the centre of the face and outwards. When I think of fresh skin I think freckles… And I hate to tell you freckle haters out there that freckles are in!! But unfortunately Iona didn’t have many natural ones so theeeeeeeese are drawn on!! I used Soap and Glory Archery and MAC eyeshadow Wedge and went freckle daft! Obviously if you try and create a look like this… I wouldn’t recommend using bepanthan. But getting fresh skin isn’t difficult. Tips are using all cream products as powders can be clawing on the skin. MAC mineralise highlighters are great though if you prefer a powder. And I love a spray of Urban Decay All nighter spray for that fix and dewy finish.

And here’s a sneak peak at the edited version of Look number two. I was so influenced by the colours of the headpiece. I wanted a really strong contour and the skin to look like cream. For this I used YSL le teint touché éclat and MAC. Studio fix to get a really flawless finish. I used sleek contour kit and Sleek fire palette on the cheeks.

And no shoot is complete with a bit of “behind the scenes”…

Fantastic shot from Daniel! Such a great team and such a great shoot… The images are great but you’ll just have to wait a little longer for the rest of them!

As always thanks for reading, I heard a little story from a bride this weekend that let’s me know the word of StephM.Artistry is spreading and I really am so overwhelmed by it all. I love what I do and that knowing it’s not just all in my head is very satisfying!! Ha!! So thank you.

TTFN… Ta ta for now! x

Even more make up month! (Yes I stole radio 1’s caption!)

Once again I have been extremely naughty and skipping blog days…. But September is so busy for me I will have LOTS to tell!!

I GO ON HOLIDAY 4 WEEKS TOMORROW!!! However over 50 make ups lie in between me and my holiday! So this months blogging is going to be my count down of make ups!

Make up number 1 was the gorgeous Grace! My partner in crime PVP and I had a play date with the amazing stylist Chloe Robertson and came up with this amazing autumn inspired look that the lovely Grace Arthur rocked…

Make up number 2 I don’t have photos of as it was a cheeky private shoot 😉 but Sandra was an amazing woman… So brave and deserved a special shout out!

Make up number 3 was for an amazing cause! Aberlour charity hosted a strictly come prancing event! They raised over £40,000 which is an amazing achievement and I had the pleasure of turning Tracy into a sexy flapper girl! Poor Tracy had never had this much make up on her face! Even a full set of top and bottom lashes!

Make ups 4,5,6 and 7 were the lovely Emma and her lovely bridal party! All such beautiful girls and all so lovely to work with! In the last half an hour pandemonium that occurs at most weddings I wasn’t able to get a picture of the beautiful bride all ready to go… So her reveal will have to be a surprise and you’ll just have to make do with her ugly bridesmaids (said no one ever 🙂 )

Make ups 8-11 have already been completed but you’ll just have to wait till next time!

In the news

Today is a good day! Postman pat brought me the newest edition of the Granite City Gazette, which features…..ME!!

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The story begins with a photographer, a stylist, a model, a make ups artist and a play date! The theme was British summer and in true British summer tradition it rained all day! But we camped in doors and got the shots. The shots were too good to waste, so we sent them for publication. However we wanted the shots in a local publication… there isn’t much representation of talent in North East Scotland.

The Granite City Gazette is a local publication featuring advertisement from local businesses. So when we went to the editor, Sue, with the photos we weren’t holding our breathe… But she agreed and now here they are printed in the middle section of the mag!! Sue has never done this before so we were extremely honoured to be her first venture into the submission world! See for yourself… She couldn’t have resisted these gorgeous shots 🙂 …

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Thanks to gorgeous model Iona MacGowan, the amazing styling from Chloe Robertson and perfect talent of Karen Will at Paloma Violet Photography. Until next time, you can find the whole range of pictures at the link bellow. Thanks for listening!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/StephMArtistry/175542622557392?ref=hl

I lied…

Okay I lied… I know I said I love to make  real women feel beautiful and I absolutely do…. BUT… I do love when photos from my latest editorial come through!!

This was a shoot I did last December and it has been killing me waiting to see the shots. The shoot was published for a local university magazine and was shot by the very talented Julie Christie at one of the most beautiful hotels in Aberdeen, Norwood Hall.  The idea was vintage lingerie, IMMEDIATELY this has my bells ringing. I am a big fan of Vintage glamour and a red lip, I believe there is a red out there for everyone. In my last blog I mentioned my artistic background, I always sketch prior to my shoots. It gives me inspiration, it gives me a calm way to be prepared.

I took inspiration from 1920’s through to the 1940’s, looking at all the classic beauties like Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth. The shoot was a modern take on vintage so I didn’t want to be too classic. The first model Rachel (on the left) has incredible features, and the perfect face to hold make up so I went all out! I used a hollow 1920’s effect on the eyes, making them really deep. She has incredible blue eyes so they stood out immediately. Normally in a 1920’s make up I would pair it with a blood red ‘Clara bow’ lip, but I wanted something brighter to stand out against  the dark eye. I used 2 lipliners, “MAC Redd” to colour the whole lip. “MAC Nightmoth” to outline and create that heavy cupid’s bow and a layer of “MAC Rubywoo”. With Amanda (model right), she had such soft innocent features I didn’t want to over power them and by this point she was already rocking those gorgeous big curls!  So I went heavy on contouring her dominant cheek bones and lash line, allowing these to do the talking and not a dramatic lipstick! She was oldschool, using her natural beauty to transfix us all.

I love working editorial. I love working with a team, having fun and submerging ourselves in creativity. I love the final result, the beautiful glossy images. But most of all I love working with the male models…..

If you like these images make sure to check out the full album on StephM.Artistry Facebook. Thanks for listening! Ciao.