Red lip - Final Images

These are my final images from my red lip shoot (both individuals and sets)...

Pretty happy with these, I have wanted to do a red lip shoot like this for a while but have been scared to because of how neat a red lip needs to be. I think I managed quite a good lip shape but I have realised that I think it was down to the fact that I have used this model quite a few times before so I must be more used to her face. I think the sets work well, particularly the sugar set of 3.

Red lip - Design and shoot prep

This is my mood board for my red lip shoot...

As I'm only doing a close up of the lips for this shoot I have chosen not to do a face chart. I have a pretty clear idea of what I want to do in my head so will work with that. The look has come from the classic red lip and to be honest I don't want to mess around with it very much, I know I would like to make a set of images to put together though. I will choose a red suited to the models skin tone and then play with texture, matting it down, heavy glossing and using painted sugar to create a different texture again. 

Model requirements:

- Fairly pale skin 

- nice lip shape (good cupids bow angle)

- white teeth

Matching - Final Images

Here are my final images for my matching look...

Overall I am pretty happy with these, I think the matching background worked well (also tried a beige one and it really didn't work) and fitted the matching theme. If I were doing it again I would probably try another top and gone a bit darker with the eyeshadow though.

Matching - Design and shoot prep

This is the mood board for my matching look...

...and the face chart for the look...

This look has come from the amount of co-ords in fashion at the moment and the ongoing classic trend of matching. 

Model requirements for the look:

- long preferably straight hair 

- well shaped brows (not too thick)

- fairly pale skin 

- clear skin

Tuck and brows - Final Images

These are my final images for my tuck and brows look...

 

I was hoping the tuck and brows would go well together and I think they did, I only made the brows out of painted paper in the end but I think they look pretty effective. I tried to keep the rest of the look minimal as I wanted the focus to be on the tuck and brows but actually I could probably have added more contouring to add to the angles.

Tuck and brows - Design and shoot prep

Here is my mood board for the tuck and brows look...

...and here is my face chart too...

This look has come from how much people like to emphasize their brows these days, not just in a Cara way but so much that they end up looking like they have been stuck on.. so I will actually stick them on. The hair design has come from a catwalk image I have seen (featured on the blog) where they show 'the tuck' the idea of having a temporary bob seemed really interesting and something I wanted to try, also something that I thought went well with the brows so I've put them together.

Model requirements:

- long enough hair to tuck in to top

- straight hair 

 - fairly big eyes

Dark skin + freckles - Final Images

Here are my final images for the freckles variation shoot...

I'm really pleased with these images and infact I think they are some of my favourites so far. I think the light freckles on darker skin are really effective and the lighting was really interesting to work with too, I wanted to branch out a bit using different gels but wasn't sure what to expect. I really liked how the lighting made every photo very different because of the way the light fell on the skin with different poses. My model was also amazing at posing and really understood what I wanted which was so good too.

Dark skin + freckles - Design and shoot prep

This is my mood board for the variation freckles shoot...

Here is my face chart for the look too...

You don't often see freckles on dark skin so I wanted to try it, making the freckles white will add extra contrast to the skin and make them the main focus.

Model requirements:

- darker skin 

- good cheekbones (for angles)

- clear skin

Instagram

I know I've done it later than I wanted but I have finally set up the Beauty Classics Instagram account. 

I knew Instagram would be important but whilst setting it up it has made me realise just how important. With the huge rise of social media/creative platforms (and merging of them both) such as Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr it is definitely important to make use of that because of the similarities to my brand's concept. Beauty Classics needs to be quick and easily accessible inspiration for the beauty/fashion conscious, providing inspirations/ideas for classic looks that they may already favour but with a twist, this all fits well with the setup of Instagram too. 

'beauty.classics' is the name of the account, it is live but private just for the moment whilst I make sure it looks right! Of course I'm sure I'll tweet things but as it stands this is what it looks like..

I'm pretty happy with the account photo/logo at the moment, I took time to look at other beauty/fashion accounts and felt that monochrome pictures looked really slick and sophisticated and monochrome also fits with being 'classic', also expectedly the account photos were the logo or name of the brand not a photo like most personal accounts. I tried several fonts...

... and originally I was thinking the initials would look best but after trying them all in the instagram account circle actually using the whole name not just initials looked much better, and I think I will add it to the website/blog too as the main logo.

After both looking through brand and personal accounts I also decided that the images needed to have a uniform layout in order to look slick and professional. I have and will make sure all the images have no filters and have an indent of 107 of white on each side, I think this both looks nice layout wise but also showcases the photos in the best way. 

It is also important that the individual photo layouts/formats were/are the same. Through looking at other professional brand accounts I now acknowledge the kind of etiquette/standard used to clearly credit and hashtag instagram images, I have used this on the currant images and will use that as a template for all future images. 

I have also added the brands own hashtag of #bcbeautyclassics (which I have made sure is not yet used) to have a growing compilation of images from the BC instagram both from the brand account and for others to get involved. I have also used #bc.... to be able to put the photos into categories eg. flick, red lip etc, again for both to use. This will also enhance the quick inspiration element to the brand because you can simply search for the hashtag to find the beauty classic look you want.

I  still need to look into more ways of gaining more followers and promoting the page and website which I will get looking at next.

Freckles 2 - Final images

Here are the final images from the freckles re-shoot...

This different lighting setup definitely made all the difference to the clarity of the coloured and glitter freckles, I'm much happier with them and they are much more like I imaged now. The photographer was also able to edit the photos to contrast the light and dark more which I think also helped to bring the freckles out.

Theme

After trawling through SO many potential themes on both the wordpress website and others I finally decided on one I think fits really well. It is called 'Spun' and it is from wordpress themes. Here is a screenshot of my current beauty classics site using 'Spun'...

I still have a lot to do to make it how I ideally want but it seems to have the features that suit my concept so I think it's the right theme for me. I think the circle post format looks stylish and not too busy, also as I want the blog/site to be easily accessible inspirations for my on-the-go reader the layout also suits viewing from a smartphone or tablet too. The predominantly black and white colour scheme also fits with the classic concept as well.

(INSERT SCREENSHOTS FROM PHONE AND IPAD)

Things I need to work on still are the content of the drop down menus on the top right, as I want to redirect certain posts to their specific categories. I also need to add content for the other pages too.  

Extended Flick - Final Images

Here are a few of my final images from my extended flick shoot. I think I achieved showing the ever extending flick and played with the idea of the flick taking over completely around the face/body (since I had bought such a long length of ribbon just incase). 

I tried out the different ribbons under the light but this one suited the thickness and colour of the eyeliner best.

I still need to tweak some of the editing of the images and I also wanted to play with layering some of the images because I think the contrast of the black line would look interesting layered.