Blog 3 – Project Outcome and Personal Development.

For the project of ‘Better Lives’, I chose the ‘Make-Up Breakdown’ class. While I have no interest in going into make-up in the future, I thought it would be interesting to step out of my comfort zone and learn more about the work that my future colleagues in the industry will be doing. From contouring to colour theory, I did learn a lot in these lessons that I didn’t know previously; and, upon exploring the ‘Better Lives’ themes with the make-up designs we created, I now realise just how powerful and expressive make-up can be. 

The lectures and the actual class I had regarding the ‘Better Lives’ unit had different themes. ‘Diversity’, ‘Power’ and ‘Empathy’ were the lecture themes, whereas the make-up breakdown themes were ‘Imperfections’ and ‘Fashion Mistake’. Instead of going strictly for one or the other, I mixed ‘Imperfections’, ‘Fashion Mistake’ and ‘Power’ together, deciding to portray the imperfect world that we live in through my make-up design. Despite ‘fashion’ being about beauty, it shows that fashion can be very ugly and that the industry causes a lot of pollution.

For this unit I wanted to try and push my boundaries by not only going out of my comfort zone, but to try and think outside of the box. Despite the unit being interrupted by the global pandemic, it has still managed to plant a seed in my brain that will help me with future designs and projects. That ‘seed’ gave me some food for thought, and in the future, I will certainly make a conscious effort to keep what we have learned in mind. No matter what I design now, I know that I will be thinking about the effects it could have on others. 

Not only do I know a lot more about the themes we discussed, but I also now know of the impacts that they have. Through the work I have discovered that we all have voices that we can use to make a change, and I’ve found that this is something that means a lot to me, as I always want to try and make a positive change through helping others. I’ve used my voice during this unit to express the themes closest to me through my work and will continue to do so for future projects. 

This shows me that, despite not immediately seeing it, I have made personal progress during the ‘Better Lives’ unit. Although I am not one hundred percent proud of what I have accomplished due to the ramifications of the pandemic and the toll it’s taken on my health, I know that I have done my absolute best, and at this moment in time, that is all I can do and continue to do. 

Featured Image: My final ‘Make-Up Breakdown’ design on ‘Imperfections’ and ‘Fashion Mistake’, inspired heavily by the pollution that the fashion industry causes.