Every season a key colour shines through at the collections. This season was no exception with runways awash with multi hues of blue from royal blue to cobalt, Electric to azure.

The feeling for blue inspired me on a recent shoot for Look magazine where I used a matte pigment from MAC in pro blue which is overloaded in bold pigment for a real statement eye. I also used my Stlia eye Kajal in Opal which for me is the brightest white pencil on the market. I love the way the creamy texture builds easily on the inner rim of the eye of a pure pop of white.

I shot with Ezra Parchett recently in the most amazing 70’s location house fully fitted with it’s own kitschy chill out room complete with mirrored bar and swimming pool. The styling was an eclectic mix of patterns and colour and I wanted to reflect this retro feeling in the makeup.

Joanna has immaculate skin which I polished using a pearl cream highlighter from Madina Milano and Face Fabric foundation by Armani.

To get the intensity in the purple for the eye I went back to my trusty MAC pigment and eye kohl combo. I find that by giving the pigment a solid base the colour stays bold. I went with Grape Pro pigment and Purple dash kohl with a few individual lashes added at the corners to keep the look pretty.

For the lips I wanted a full opaque colour with a high gloss. I recently discovered Inglot cosmetics in Westfield shopping centre and find their duo gloss perfect to get a really high laquered lip look.

Check out their website – www.inglotcosmetics.com

The idea of the no makeup makeup is something that as an artist I’ve really tried to explore and develop throughout my career. It’s often easier to beautify a face with the use of many products but the real art of makeup for me is being able to enhance a persons beauty using very little.

I wanted to explore this idea on a recent test with my good friend and model Kirstie Bennett who has recently signed with FM models. Kirstie has incredible skin and stunning bone structure which I wanted to bring out.

We played with illuminating products and very little concealer where needed to perfect the skin and give it a translucency. I wanted her face to have one strong feature and with my love for the fuller brow I decided that this element would give an edge to the natural pared down face.

To get the look I used the following products -

MAC Strobe liquid on the face and body.

Laura Mercier brow pencil in Dark blonde.

Shisedo Concealer.

I like to use this concealer when I want a very natural finish. It comes in very pale tones too which I like to mix and the creamy texture blends well into the skin.

Makeup forever High definition powder.

Vaseline on the lids and cheekbones.

I shot a Stepford wives inspired fashion story with Gary Steer and Jess Stebbings styling. We were inspired by the original Stepford  movie as well as taking reference from the 60’s and 70’s in our palette.

Francesca wa amazing to work with and reminded me of a young Vanessa Paradis.

We also shot a beautiful video of the shoot ….. coming soon.

The Makeup – I wanted Francesca’s skin to look super polished with a hydrated luminous feel. I started with a heavy duty moisturizer by Weleda called Skin food. This cream is really thick and great when you’re working on dry sensitive skin, I love the extra moisturized finish it leaves.

Cream bronzing is a good way to achieve a natural sculpted look and I’m really in to my new cream bronzer by Estee Lauder as it’s not too warm. I added a pop of health to the skin with Stila convertable colour in Gerbera.

I’m still using my Teint Miracle foundation by lancome and tend to leave it without powder as it never looks too shiny on the skin. I finished off by polishing the face with a MAC beauty powder in Drizzle Gold. This is a sheer highlight powder in  a butter peach shade. I wanted her skin to shine from all angels so I picked out all of the high points of the face.

www.jessstebbings.co.uk

www.garysteer.com

I shot the cover of this months Velour magazine with Helen McCardle recently.

Check out the Velour blog – http://blog.velourmagazine.com/

I shot this a little while ago and just rediscovered my love for it. Victoria has such an amazing presence on set and Fiona shoots her so well.

I’m loving Taupe this week, I shot this as part of a colour matching story for Look magazine.

I re-discovered Stone lip pencil by MAC, it’s the perfect flat taupe shade with a slight lilac undertone for the lips.

Emma Watson is the ‘It’ girl of the moment so I was thrilled to be able to shoot with her just before the London premier of the latest installment of Harry Potter. I’m a big fan of her new look, her hair frames her features perfectly and she has such a great face for makeup.

I kept her skin almost bare using the sheerest veil of Lancome’s Teint Miracle foundation which is my new kit must have. I used washes of toasted brown creams around her eyes for a natural shadow and finished with lots of black mascara. I’m loving Maybelline’s ‘The Falsies’ for jet black lashes and a brush that gets right down to the roots and builds without clumping.

I worked with the gorgeous and totally charming Crystal Renn for the Cosmo women of the year awards this week.

I’ve been a fan of Crystal for a long time, it was only in last months French Vouge that I was poring over her latest shoot with Terry Richardson so I was thrilled to be working with her.

Look wise, what else would do but a blood red lip! I used MAC’s Lipmix in Crimson for a classic colour that stays for hours.

I spent a sunny Sunday on the North East coast with my photographer friend Kayti Peshke shooting Olga @ Profile models.

Kayti is a bit of a location vulture and found this beautiful stretch of coast line with the most amazing bleached rock. With the sun blasting of the stark surroundings Olga was taken to a beautifully baron place…almost other wordly, hence the title Alienaton.

Kirstie Noble style the story with pieces from London new gen designers. I loved the piece by Falguni and Shane Peacock which helped inspire my monochramatic makeup.

I used my trusty MAC palette of Chromacake body paint to get the bold black and white eye makeup and blanked out the brow using soap to flatten then a full coverage concealer to take away the brow tone. I wanted all of the attention on the eye not the brows.