Project Evaluation

The theme of this unit's project was 'Beauty and the brand'. It was taking a step back from looking at makeup and hair from a Film and Tv perspective, and starting to look more at the side that drives the makeup industry: the brands. We were required to look at makeup more from a beauty and fashion side, and from a more commercial perspective than we previously have on this course.

Personally, this is the side of makeup that I love, so I was very excited when we received the brief. I love beauty makeup and editorials, and I am a huge product junkie. Before starting this course, and continuing into the course I've worked on various different makeup counters, so at the beginning of the course I felt confident on my brand awareness, and the different ways that brands market themselves. Having worked either for, or alongside a lot of different brands, I thought I would choose a brand that I had never really used, nor knew much about; Dolce and Gabbana I came across an image of an advert for one of their mascaras with an image of Scarlett Johansson against a background of the Sicilian coast, and it instantly inspired me for the project, based around Spring/Summer.

What I enjoyed most about this project is interesting, because it is also the part I found the most difficult; the shoots. At the time, I found them quite daunting, because could not seem to get myself into the right mindset, to create something that would represent the Dolce and Gabbana brand. It was also different arranging the shoots entirely ourselves. For most of my images, I collaborated with a Photography student, and used a model I had not previously met before, which I really enjoyed. It really made me think professionally rather than how I would if I was doing makeup on a friend. i'm pleased with how the images turned out and it was great having other perspectives on the images and working in a team.

I had a few issues with some of my shoots. Whilst shooting my first summer look, we got the timing of the studio opening times wrong. I had to rush through the makeup, and barely had any time do touch the hair. I eded up reshooting this look, as the images did not turn out well at all, but I learnt a great deal from it, and it gave me a little peak into the rush of the industry, where things like that happen all the time.
When I shot my first Spring look, I wanted to use yellow eyeshadow diffused all over the eye with a  pop of pink on the inner corner. I was really pleased with how this look turned out until I reviewed my images and saw that the colours had not photographed as strongly as I'd hoped. I redid this look, using stronger colours, and I'm much happier with the results.

Another thing I found quite interesting, whilst doing back to back shoots, and reshoots, is how much my confidence grew. If I were to compare how I felt when arranging the first shoot to how I felt when doing my last shoot; the difference is incredible. I find this the most interesting because I am confident in my makeup application already. Working as a makeup artist for Laura Mercier has definitely helped me with that, but it is entirely different when doing makeup for photo shoots.
I think this is definitely something I would like to work on further, as my application in some of the images is not as strong as I would have liked. Over the summer I plan to collaborate further with photographers so I can get my photographic makeup skills up to scratch.

Given the chance to complete the project again, I would allow myself more time to do more shoots and reshoot some looks, I'm not totally confident about.

All in all, I have throughly enjoyed this project, and I am so pleased by what it has shown me about my own artistry skills. I look forward to improving them over the summer.

Brand Evaluation

The brand I based my project on for this unit is Dolce and Gabbana. I chose this brand because I am constantly amazed by their beautiful catwalk shows and their constant references to the beautiful island of their roots- Sicily- instantly makes me think of Summer. As this project was to be based on SS15, it all just fitted together really well. 

Dolce and Gabbana is the cosmetic line the clothing designer duo had dreamt about for years. Their dream became a reality in 2009, when they launched their line of luxury cosmetics, to be sold in "very selected top luxury department stores". 

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are very deeply attached to their home isle of Sicily, and this always shows through in their work. Their clothing line exudes Italian sophistication, and this is no different in their makeup and fragrance lines. Both designers have a passion for red lips, but only added orange hues after makeup artist Pat McGrath (who is also the Creative Director for P&G) insisted they add other tones to the collection, to suit different tastes and skin tones. The designers said they would only tolerate it if it was the colour of oranges from Sicily. 

The Dolce and Gabbana makeup range falls into the higher price bracket of high-end or premium products. Their foundations range from £37-£50, and their nail varnishes are around the £20 mark. On the website, their slogan says "The collection is inspired by the Dolce and Gabbana woman who is always looking for the perfect look each day." Tom Pecheaux, when speaking of the range of matte lipsticks he created for the brand, said "For me the Dolce & Gabbana woman is definitely a powerful and sexy woman. The sexiness comes either from the eyes or the lips, and when it’s from the lips that is when the red colour becomes very important. There is constant reference to "the Dolce and Gabbana woman", which speaks about who their customer is. She is someone who is sophisticated, sensual and stays classically beautiful, rather than flitting between trends. Although they say the brand is for all ages, it is definitely aimed at women between the ages of 25 and 50, who like to spend a little more on themselves and have a healthy amount of disposable income.

The packaging for the range is gold, weighted and luxurious. When speaking of the lipstick tubes, Stefano Gabbana said "It clicks, like an antique box. It is for you, very private." The packaging is beautiful, and something women would want to show off in their handbags or makeup bags. The simple but renowned Dolce and Gabbana logo is clearly visible on the packaging, with each product embossed with a simple, but elegant "D&G". 

The brand has been known to use celebrities such as David Gandy, Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell to endorse their male fragrances. As far as female celebrities go however, the only international female celebrity that has made the cut is Scarlett Johansson. She is the face of the majority of their fragrance and makeup campaigns, and has been deemed by Dolce and Gabbana a "modern day Marilyn Monroe". Where most beauty campaigns are closeups of the face, they insist on shooting her whole body. Besides Scarlett Johansson, the designers stay true to their roots and brand ethos by using Italian or Italian-looking models such as Kate King, and Italian actress Monica Bellucci. 

The brand is a very prestigious brand, and over the years, they have built themselves up to be a name you want to be associated with. Who doesn't want to be referred to as sophisticated, or elegant? They do a great job of selling a lifestyle rather than just products. Their campaigns make you want to purchase the entire collection before jumping on the next flight to the Amalfi coast. You may not be able to afford a £2000 dress, but the £25, weighted, luxuriously textured lipstick will make you feel the most sensual, sophisticated version of yourself.

Final Images: Retouched

DAY:

EVENING:

SPRING:

HIGH SUMMER:

SKINCARE:

Skincare: Final Images- Unretouched

Here are my final images from my Skincare shoot. Overall, I am really happy with how the look turned out. I wanted to keep the skin the main focus of the look, and I think I achieved this really well, as the skin is dewy and fresh, but still polished.

To see how I created the look on Danika, here is a video of creating the look!

                                  

Skincare: Moodboard

Skincare Look: Design

For my 5th look, I have chosen to do a look for Dolce and Gabbana skincare. Below is my design.

I would like to keep the skin really fresh, flawless and dewy. Like most skincare adverts, the Dolce and Gabbana ones really focus on radiance, but the models do not look bare faced.

For my skin care look, I will have flawless, glowing skin, with a flush of colour on the cheeks and lips. I will tightline the eyes to create definition but not drama. The skin is the main focus of the look.

Dolce and Gabbana Skincare

For my 5th and final look I have chosen to to a skincare look. Dolce and Gabbana have a beautiful skin care range called the Aurealux range. The range features their exclusive 'Gold Flavo-Silk Tri complex', and is advertised to help create radiant skin.

In the adverts, the models have an ethereal look about them, but do not appear to be bare faced. There is still the polished look that Dolce and Gabbana create so well, and it is this look that I would like to portray for my look.

D&G Inspiration images for shoots

High Summer: Final Images- Unretouched

High Summer: Final Designs and Moodboard

High Summer: Initial Designs and Experimentation

For my High Summer look, I wanted to really focus on classic bronze tones and a red lip. At the time of designing my look, Dolce and Gabbana had not launched their summer collection yet, so I chose to focus on other new products they had recently launched. I chose to do a red lip because Dolce and Gabbana are known for their love of red lips and as they had recently launched a matte collection, I thought a matte red lip would be appropriate. I paired this with soft gold on the eyes to complement the red and give it a summery feel, and bronzed the skin up. I really wanted the skin to look bronzed and beautiful, so chose to use a gold highlighter and bronzer to give the skin that beachy look. As the lips are going to be matte, I feel the skin can handle quite a lot of highlighting and it will contrast quite nicely.

Here I played around with different lip textures. One was slightly more glossy and the other matte. For my look I am definitely choosing matte.

Initial High Summer Test Shoot- Unretouched

Below are the images from my initial High Summer look. I had a few issues when shooting this look, and I was very unhappy with how the hair in the final images looked. After a 1-1 with Emma confirmed this, I've decided to reshoot the look, and redo the hair so that it looked more like a Dolce and Gabbana look. There was also the issue of the model's nose ring, which was easily removed during retouching, so wasn't too much of an issue. However, here are the images from the initial shoot. I'm pleased with how the makeup turned out, and the gold and bronze, luxury summer look translated well onto camera. Dolce and Gabbana recently brought out a range of matte red lipsticks, so I chose to do a matte red lip paired with the gold eyes.

Besides the hair, I'm very happy with how these images turned out, so I'm looking forward to perfecting it in my reshoot!