Box News Flash!

Carrying on from Friday 18th September, when Alex created the magnificent "glitter bomb explosion!" Ancient Egypt meets Blade Runner looks for the House of Blue Eyes SS 2010 show, London Fashion Week roared ahead with plenty of Alex's work on display.

On Saturday 19th September, Hannah Marshall presented her first SS 2010 collection at Somerset House. The show consisted of LBD's in a variety of architectural forms, from sculpted shoulders to pointed hips and jagged spines. The edgy, yet very wearable, collection was adored by Alex, who describes the make-up look as, "very sexy, very desirable with a strong graphic. Hannah and I work very closely on make-up looks as she is so clued up on make-up and creating a statement through make-up. I wanted the overall look to be very strong and masculine from the front, yet soft and feminine from the side." Cue frantic googling of Hannah Marshall to try and find a profile catwalk image from the show! I couldn't find one, so you'll have to take Alex's word from it! This is a very unusual look, I say to Alex. She laughs, "I call it slith - the slick goth!"

If you don't know much about Hannah Marshall, you will soon - she has designed outfits for the likes of Florence and the Machine and counts Erin O Connor as a close friend. Erin even suprised the fashionistas on the front row by closing the show. Alex, of course, did her make-up.

I personally love the make-up from this show and I have a step-by-step from Alex on how to recreate it, so I shall put a post up about that later this week!

Alex also worked with Malcolm Pate on a film called 'Encryption' for Hannah Marshall that ran during the show. "It was filmed where I live - it was such a great location, really industrial and fitted the mood perfectly."

Alex also worked on shows for Wintle ["a menwear show with a very strong, Leonardo di Caprio style brow"] and Carolyn Massey ["such fun - the feel was sunburnt, festival boys so I used a lot of reddish bronzer on the face and neck!]


So, other than fashion week, what else has Alex been up to? "I've had a lot of time talking to journalists about my book. Not just fashion and beauty press, but art and culture press too as the book is as much about art and photography as it is about beauty." Sounds tiring. "It is! I also have Homes Etc coming over to my flat soon to run a piece on my decorative style." I'll keep an eye out for that one!

What is on the agenda for this week? "Well, today I have a meeting with Katie to discuss product development and then I am heading over for a Gareth Pugh test shoot." Further probing gives me no details - all artists are sworn to secrecy on their looks with designers until after the show.
As it is Paris Fashion Week next, Alex is set to be very busy, so I ask her how she takes time out. "When I'm in Paris, I always take time to go around the vintage shops. And there is a great bar in the Louvre hotel, which is where anyone whose anyone is after the shows!"

Alex sets off for Paris tomorrow for a test at Anne Valerie Hash in the morning and again with Gareth Pugh in the evening. Wednesday is the show day for both Anne and Gareth and on Thursday I have the test for Veronique Leroy followed by the show on Friday. "I'm then jumping on the Eurostar from Paris to London and early Saturday I will be on a train to the Masterclass is Selfridges Trafford which I am really looking forward to. In the evening I will be back to London and then back on the Eurostar." Phew! "Doesn't stop there - Sunday is the test for Leonard and Monday is the Leonard show. Tuesday is the test for Collette Dinnigan and Wednesday is the show. After that I shall be coming home and chilling out!"

People Update!

Hello everyone - phew, it's been a busy past few weeks but I am here to give you all some updates!

We were really thrilled on Saturday because the Independant ran a great feature on theatrical make-up and even had our beautiful Dystopia promo image as the front cover of The New Review, the Saturday supplement.





Click on the images to enlarge them and have a read of the article - it's very interesting and thought provoking.

We had the House of Blue Eyes show and the All Walks Beyond The Catwalk event on Friday and yesterday we created looks for A Child of the Jago fashion show at Wilton's music hall. The label is the brainchild of Joe Corre [of Agent Provocateur fame] and was attended by Vivienne Westwood, amongst others. Unfortunately, I didn't get the time to go! I am awaiting some images from the show though and will get those up as soon as I receive them.



By the way, has anyone read the 1896 Child of the Jago book by Arthur Morrison? It's a Dickens-esque novel about the life of street children in the Victorian slums. I read it as a comparison point to Oliver Twist when I was about 16 and it's a very beautiful [but brutal] analogy of the streets of London in the 19th century.

So a quick update on people:

Katie, our wonderful Product Development Manager has several top secret projects on the go for next seasons collection [ideas currently being bandied around] as well as the mascara expansion project and special products for our birthday and Christmas coming up [the celebrations begin on 31st October - I'll let you know more closer to the time but it's going to be awesome!]

Jennifer is currently managing our Sephora expansion - 27 stores at present and I can reveal that we now have a new one in Roseville, California due to launch in November! Exciting stuff.

Kate is in Birmingham today, assessing sites for our new counter and taking a look around Birmingham for marketing opportunities. I have only been out in Birmingham once but it was a great city with a fabulous night-time vibe and we really want to embrace that!

Jonathan, our Retail Operations Manager has been hard at work picking a brilliant team to head up the new Birmingham counter - new additions to the Illamasqua family! To think we only had 16 artists when we first launched... we have over 50 now, less than a year on!

Alex Box is really busy with the Fashion Weeks across the globe - Paris is the big one for her but we have still managed to squeeze some time in for an appearance at Selfridges Trafford on Saturday 3rd October - more details on that to follow!

We have some great events coming up for our first Birthday and with the excitement surrounding Dystopia, we will be sure to include demonstrations and get-the-looks across town. Plus, we have a new recruit to our Selfridges London freelance team that I think that some of you are going to be very excited to hear about....

House Of Blue Eyes - Get The Look

The androgynous/ futuristic/ Cleopatra/ Babylon/ Blade Runner-esque make-up was a work of art in itself. Alex Box tells me how she created the look...


Face

Smooth, glowing, glistening skin was the way forward. "As there was so much gold on the eyes, I needed to complement this with sparkling skin." Says Alex, "I mixed a small amount of Powdered Metal in 'Bebhionn' with Cream Foundation for the paler girls and Powdered Metal in 'Thalia' with Cream Foundation for the olive/ darker skins."

The face was heavily contoured with the Powdered Metals - 'Thalia' was used for a golden highlight whilst 'Erzule' was buffed in to cheekbones for an 80s, sculpted look. "These are the most versatile products" explains Alex, "They can be used on the body, face, cheeks... mixed with lipgloss creating a wonderful sparkling lip colour."

Eyes

The eyes were liberally painted with Liquid Metal in 'Solstice'. "We used a template by cutting some tape to mask the areas we didn't want to cover and then painted over this template. We then piled on the Liquid Metal in 'Solstice' with a foundation brush to create a smooth, even base of colour with which to contour on top."

Contouring was done with the Powdered Metals and a mix of Powder Eye Shadow in 'Lestat', 'Wolf' and 'Fallen' to create depth. Illuminator in 'Halcyon' was used to highlight under the brows and down the bridge of the nose and on the cupid's bow to catch the light.

Alex's trademark brow completed the look. "Mix a drop of Sealing Gel into Eyebrow Cake in 'Vehement' and stroke over the natural line of the brows using the Eyebrow Brush. Then go back over it and take the colour above and beyond the natual brow for a real Cleopatra look." Explains Alex, "balance this with the strong eye. We used False Lashes in number 15 on top for the spidery effect, and number 13s below to create a very open, framed eye."

Lips

To soften the effect of the strong eye, the lips were painted with a mixture of clear gloss [try Sheer Lipgloss in 'Brilliant'] and Cream Foundation. Some of the models had extravagant head gear on, and these guys had Liquid Metal in Solstice painted on for a pure molten mouth.

House Of Blue Eyes - The Fallout

What a cracking night at Jalouse on Friday 18th September! It was all hands on deck for the House of Blue Eyes "I Feel Love" Spring Summer 2010 show - I turned up at around 6:45pm [the show was due to start at 8] in my evening outfit [was going out after the show with some friends] and was immediately roped in by Alex to start painting the boys gold!
It got pretty mucky and by the end of it I was just coating the boys in moisturiser and showering them in gold glitter!

Alex Box, Aga, Helen and Halimah were all on hand to create the look of the night - so what was it?

A futuristic blend of Ancient Egypt and Babylon with a slice of Blade Runner thrown in!

Last Monday, you may recall that Alex and I went to visit Johnny Blue Eyes, the creator of The House of Blue Eyes, at his flat to work out looks for the show. I was holding back from showing you the pics as I didn't want to ruin the surprise of the look, but here is what Alex came up with that day. I can tell you now, I had a real sense of 'John Malkovich' seeing all the models looking identical to how I looked on Monday!

The host was Mahogany Hair Academy [owned by the lovely Richard] who created some fabulous gold locks and the atmosphere was one of bustling excitement. The models - who ranged from the winner of Britains Next Top Model Mecia and the runner-up Jade to tattooed 6ft 3 hunks - were all given individual spins on the key look of gold, gold and more gold!


Johnny told me on Monday that he wanted to create an atmosphere of optimism and disco with fierce make-up and directional, futuristic clothes in a palette of slick black and bold gold and variety of textures from soft knitwear to skintight spandex.

The models were eventually rounded up at around 8:40 and ushered to the street where they stamped down the road to the flash of the photographers cameras and the whoops of the city boys in the pub next door! After this, to the tune of 'Sing it back' by Moloko and, of course, 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer.



The show was great because everyone was actually having fun, unlike how it seems at some fashion shows. Johnny did a couple of celebratory victory laps around the club at the end, Voguing like there was no tomorrow! Don't you just love the fabulous outfit [especially loving the gold codpiece...] and gold veil that Johnny rocked.

Everyone got up and had a boogie [including yours truly!] and then headed off for the after party in Shoreditch.

This was my first show and I absolutely loved it because it really celebrated why I became interested in make-up in the first place - it was about creating a look; an ideal and then building upon that to create your own individual, unique look that compliments who YOU are as a person. As Johnny told me " We are all beautiful and we are all beautifully different".

Couldn't put it better myself.

London Fashion Week is A-Coming...

London Fashion Week is coming and this is the first time we have dipped our toe in! The House of Blue Eyes is a show that promises to be wacky, fun and totally individual, so we just had to get involved with this.

Today I had a meeting with Johnny [the brilliantly extrovert stylist and founder of House of Blue Eyes] and Alex Box to discuss looks for the show. We didn't have a model, so yours truly got to sit down and have Alex create a look that will reference the ambience and theatrical splendour of the outfits that will be paraded on Friday night.

I can't give much away [obv!] but be prepared for a full report [and a pic of me in the test shoot make-up!] next week. Last year, Johnny persuaded Kate Moss, Beth Ditto and Alice Dellal to walk for him, so who knows who will be stalking the catwalk this time around...

Check out Johnny's work at http://www.houseofblueeyes.com/collections