Project Evaluation

This semester, our project was named ‘Beauty and the Brand’.  ‘Beauty and the Brand’ focused on Make-up and Hair within the Fashion and Beauty industry.  Practically, we learnt to perfect and expand our knowledge and skills in beauty make-up application and learnt various new hairstyling techniques.  We also had the chance to thoroughly research our chosen brand and study current and upcoming trends.  This project has been my favourite so far, with strong hopes of working within the Fashion and Beauty industry after University, I feel like this project has been really beneficial.

For me, the most enjoyable part of the project has been creating various different themed looks for my brand, Urban Decay.  Starting with the initial concept, researching trends, creating face charts and then completing the shoot.  I think this has given me chance to creatively step out of my comfort zone and has also allowed me to collaborate with many other students which is always a positive thing.  In terms of learning new techniques, I have learnt most in make-up sessions with Kat, especially when focusing on editorial style.  The ‘Colour Challenge’ sessions that Kat organised gave me the chance to not only experiment with a lot more colour but also with different shapes to create a unique and edgy look.  To improve on my skills, I’d like to learn a lot more about working on different skin tones.  This is something we haven’t particularly done much of but I think is a really important skill as a make-up artist.

When researching for Urban Decay, I have primarily been researching key figures within the brand.  These include the founders, creative officers and directors.  By researching these key figures it has given me an insight into the brand as a whole, and especially their creative processes particularly for their fun and colourful product packaging.   This research has inspired and influenced me into being more experimental with colour when designing my looks, which is especially important as my chosen brand is Urban Decay, who are well known for their vibrant products. 

The most successful part of my project has been the final outcomes of my photoshoots, these have been great for adding to my portfolio and although I did have some issues when trying to find photographers, this always worked itself out in the end.  I also felt as if I struggled to find a lot about Urban Decay’s key artists, they haven’t really had any well known make-up artists work with them, they praise the talent of their in-store make-up artists the most as all of these are extremely creatively talented.  However to overcome this issue, I was able to visit the Urban Decay boutique in London to do some research and also watch a few make-up demos, which helped me in choosing relevant products for my different themed looks and learn new and different techniques I could use in order to create a good final outcome.