Five Days of Inspiration (Starts with a Seed) Day Four

Day Four:  Inspired by Pat McGrath

Did you see my post, “Get Outside The Box”? That post was all about being inspired. I believe if we are rarely amazed by anything, we are rarely inspired by anything.

This is kind of a funny quote, but I love it. My husband says, “I’m fine with being the dumbest one in the bunch”. He says that, because it means he has the most potential for growth. It’s all too common for people to get comfortable and stay there. What I mean is, most will not venture out into things they may fail at. I believe failure can be a catalyst for success. When we continue to repeat the things we know we can succeed at, the rate of growth in minimal because we are not challenged. It’s good to venture out into uncharted territories, because the new task evokes courage, awareness, and fresh perspective. If the challenge is met with success… FANTASTIC, and if it is met with failure… even better yet. The cycle works like this: give yourself permission to stay challenged until the point of failure, then analyze what happened and what you would change, and then grow in your knowledge. Many times when we succeed at something we might not even be aware why, but when we fail we can usually pinpoint exactly what we should change.

Above photo is Pat McGrath’s work, and the next photo is my replica. Hair, makeup, and photography are mine.

These next images were created on the same day.

This look is Pat’s work created for Fall 2005 Ready-to-Wear John Galliano on Lily Donaldson.

This is my hair, makeup, and photographic recreation.

I was terrified to take on this challenge. I admire all of Pat’s work, and the idea of recreating it (knowing that she would see it), made me shake in my boots. Once I got started I was a woman obsessed. Tomorrow’s series of four images also happened in one day, for the same contest, created on one model.

Stay tuned and stay inspired!

Five Days of Inspiration (Starts with a Seed) Day Three

Day Three

I had the amazing opportunities to do cosmetics for TIGI (sponsor and product), Eric Gomez (hair), and Babak (Photography). The top two sets of images are inspiration boards.

This was the result.

Next is a second look shot on the same day. For this concept we were inspired by a piece of clothing by “Mother Of London.”

Below is a photo of the piece:

These were our creations with the piece:

Stay Inspired!

Five Days of Inspiration (Starts with a Seed) Day Two

Day Two:

The best way to be great at your craft is to keep growing your skill. I love to come up with an idea, and see what can come out of it.

Here is an inspiration image that sparked a shoot for publication.

I loved so much about this image that I connected with a couple of other creatives in my field to work on recreating something similar. This is what came out of our efforts.

Stay Inspired.

Five Days of Inspiration (Starts with a Seed) Day One

I tend to talk a lot about finding inspiration and creating something spectacular from that seed. Here is a sample of a story board of makeup and hair inspiration that planted a seed of creativity in me. You can also see what bloomed from (photos below) from that seed.

This is what came out of it.

Stay inspired!!!

Demystify the Cat Eye

Does the cat eye makeup technique leave you scratching your head? If so, don’t cry — you are not alone. This is challenging even for many makeup enthusiasts. Here is some instruction that will work for most everyone.

Keep an eye on the eye!

 Believe it or not, this application is as easy as 1 2 3…

Before I give you some of the tricks in my bag, I want to share a tip for a clean liquid liner eye frame. When you apply liquid liner, use the lashes as your guide. Instead of trying to create a perfect line on the lid, place your brush on the lashes and slide along the lash line and you will never get it wrong. This technique can be used for the simplest of eye frames.

 I know this sounds too simple, but every time I teach it, the technique draws a crowd.

 Now, let’s build upon this simple eye line and take it to the dramatic cat eye.

Step 1. With the eyes open (left), mark the intersection where the eyeliner will pass through the crease of the eye.

Step 2. Mark where you want the eyeliner to end. The diagram on the right is what the points will look like when the eye is closed. Every eye has a different shape so these points will look different on every eye.

Step 3. The image below shows your final step. Connect the dots and fill in the shape. When the eye is closed there is strange triangular shape, but if the technique was done correctly, you will end up with a perfect cat eye sweep of liner.