Blog Post 3
During the better lives unit, we have thoroughly explored the themes of sustainability, social responsibility and diversity. On the Make-up Break Down course and in the making of my final project, I was keen on mainly focusing on the social responsibility theme as the main message behind my project, as well as including diversity and sustainability in its process. Our assignment was to create a makeup look based on imperfections and the fashion mistake. We were able to include items or materials found around the house in order to create our final look.
For my final makeup look, I was inspired to highlight skin imperfections though texturising the skin with natural elements and highlighting our human nature in a world where perfection is the new normal. I wanted my look to be diverse, made with sustainable products, with a message that is based on social responsibility. I started the look by applying a low coverage vegan based foundation, and creating depth in the eyes and cheeks with bronzer (also a vegan formula). This would let some of my own imperfections shine through, without covering them too much. I then used some avocado, cocoa powder and beetroot extract to create a texturised film on my face, mimicking damaged, scarred and imperfect skin. I topped of the look by applying lettuce leaves on my eyebrows to blend in the already green colour palette and enhance to natural focus of the look. Using fruits and vegetables in the project was important to me, because it can show that creativity can go beyond the normal and can be sustainable at the same time. The message of my project is that imperfections are beautiful, and should be normalised since we live in a world where the norm is perfect skin that can be easily edited or smoothed over by easily accessible technological tools. If you take one scroll through any social media app, perfect features and airbrushed skin is all you can see. For this project, I was really amazed how it put me out of my comfort zone and made me look at makeup in a different light: a tool of creativity and a boundary pushing practice. Trying to make a creative makeup look with the limited resources I had at home was definitely a challenge, but it was a lot of fun and I found a whole new element of inspiration by looking at everyday objects in creative light. As a stylist, I will always get to work with makeup artists, and having experienced their practice for this unit has definitely made me look at makeup artistry in a more creative way and has also made me more confident in my own make up application.
We were all able to share our final looks on a padlet and seeing the other’s students different perspective on the better lives themes was very interesting. The whole unit has enforced my skills to think and work differently than before, being aware of the important issues it highlights.