LONDON TRIP

We went to London to visit the amazing make up stores M.A.C, Illamasqua and Charles Fox to have a look around and buy anything we need to improve our kits!

Out of all the stores M.A.C was the busiest and the least convenient when you have limited time but yet i prefer to other brands. It was extremely busy which meant that each of us had to wait for an employee to help us find products and match colours and on top of that we can't just pick up an item ourselves and walk to the till, we need an employee to take it out for us which made it harder. But none the less I ended up getting most of my products from M.A.C.

I had previously written a list of what I needed for my kit which made things easier. I started off with skin base, and got the M.A.C face & body in 3 different shades to match all skin tones. I also purchased a few eyeliners, face primers and eye primers to help make up last longer. Of course I had to get the highlighters in Soft & Gentle, Gold Deposit and Perfectly Poised.

*Going down*
Soft & Gentle
Perfectly Poised *2
Gold Deposit 
I was very pleased with all but perfectly poised. The light colour in the middle has no pigmentation at all even with a primer or a wet brush. However the colour on the outside is beautiful and I would use it as an eyeshadow for a copper look.

Charles Fox

Our kit is mainly made up of Charles Fox so I was very happy to visit the store and find out more about them. The employees there were very helpful and gave us a tour of their products. I absolutely love Kryolan bace products such as their Ultra Foundation palette so i was very happy to find out that I could purchase refills individually. I am not a fan of their make up brushes as I find them very hard to blend and achieve an airbrush finish so I skipped to products that I needed. I purchased Glycerin which is a wet look product which you apply after the make up is finished to achieve a wet look. 

The foundations I purchased from M.A.C alongside the stippling brush and Glycerin from Charles Fox.

National Gallery 

We also visited the tudors section in the National Gallery to get inspired for assessment of Elizabethan hair and make up. We noted down the different hair styles and make up the tudors wore in the picture which in the end helped us to chose an Elizabethan portrait to go alongside our Contemporary.

Here are some of my notes on what their hair and make up looked like :

Strawberry blonde hair 
Frizzy/curly hair texture 
A lot of Jewels 
Gold colour was common
Pale face, rosy cheeks, red lip
Thin to no eyebrows 
Heart shaped hair was common 
Also padded big hair with pearls 


Some of my favourite portraits.

'The Coronation portrait'. I love this portrait of Queen Elizabeth because it shows youthfulness but strength at the same time. Her iconic pale face and red lips show why women tried to be like her but at the same time she has the jewels which show wealth and the sword that shows her strength alongside other symbols of faith. 

Armada Portrait. This portrait shows Elizabeth ageing beautiful still carrying her unique look of the pale skin, rosy red cheek and lips. I love the heart shape in her hair and also the texture of it. Other than the make up and hair her dress shows wealth, power and strength which is what she was.