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.