Reflection

Looking back at the past year I have learnt so many skills and techniques that will help me not only for starting second year but for getting into the makeup and hair industry. With this there is also many things I can improve on and achieve better on. In the first unit it was good learning the basic skills like; washing hair, contouring, a good base, hygiene, eyes and lips and learning to keep my kit clean. From learning these skills I gained the confidence and skills to develop makeup looks for my assessments.

The first assessment was called ‘The new Elizabethans’ and we were asked to create a contemporary Elizabethan look, based on the knowledge we had learned in lectures and our own research. I found the new Elizabethans’ really interesting, I really enjoyed learning about the Elizabethan lifestyles and fashion of the time. Because they didn’t have the resources we have today it was really interesting learning about how they used what they had and made it beneficial. One of my favourite things was learning about the different products they used as cosmetics, for example using cochineal on the lips to achieve a red lip. Something I would have liked to have done better in this unit would probably be maybe looking at some more Elizabethan portraits for influence and incorporate them into my final design.

For the second unit we focused on the Victorian era and Great Expectations, in this unit I felt that I learnt a lot of interesting hair styles.  I found it interesting  to work on a project that isn’t fashion based and I really enjoyed it, from learning about the novel ‘Great Expectations’ to how the Victorians loved their ghost stories. I enjoyed researching about Victorian life and how different it was from any other era, making it so interesting to learn about.

Comparing the first unit to the second unit I think that I used the technical skills I learnt in the first better in the second and utilised them more. Looking at both of the final images I can tell the improvement in quality from the first to the second. I think I improved mostly on the design aspect, for the first unit I didn’t really think outside the box, and the look seems quite simple. Whereas in the second the hairstyle is a lot neater and the makeup looks are more accurate.

Another part of the second unit was the Claudia and Quentin unit, where we were asked to create 2 characters to be part of a Gothic TV series. The TV series I chose was American Horror Story season 1, with Claudia being another daughter of the family and Quentin being her imaginary daughter. I really enjoyed the design and research aspect of this unit, not really being interested in the gothic genre it was interesting for me to find out the background of it. I kept my Claudia character quite simple as I wanted her to fit into the story line, which I wish I may be made a little more interesting. Also for the Quentin character to make his look more dramatic and gothic looking may have helped me achieve a better mark.