Project Evaluation

For this semester's Make Up and Hair unit our project was focused on beauty and fashion. We had to choose a make up brand from the list we were given, to research them in depth and to come up with six different looks that sum up the essence of the brand and link to the current spring summer 2016 hair and make up trends. The six looks were devided into three categories; advertisment, editorial and catwalk. Each of the three are different, yet they all link together and go together hand in hand.

At first I could not decide between two brands, Revlon and NARS, but after researching both briefly I have decided that NARS was the brand for me because of everything that it stands for and the great artist and founder, Francois Nars. Personally, I am not one for high coverage foundations or the 'Kim Kardashian' contouring. I prefer more natural make up looks where the skin is even and fresh looking and can breathe through the base and I like to focus on the eyes and make them stand out the most.

Wishing it was summer (in Frebruary) I got highly inspired by all things tropical and holiday; Abalone shells expecially, which are irridecent, shiny, metalic and colourful. That was the biggest inspiration and theme behind my editorial looks.
As I have a high interest in wigs and wig making I used a wig, which I braided and weaved. In a way it looked like a thatch hat that you would wear as Sun protection in summertime. The idea was to use it to accentuate the parts of the face where the products I have chosen to advertise are meant to be applied, a highlighter and a lipstick.
For my 'Haute Couture' catwalk look, that I created in the assessment, linked to the editorial and Abalone shells with the metalic eyes and glittery hair, while the dutch braids in the hair linked with the adverts. As most of the catwalk looks created by NARS are the 'no make up', very natural looks, I used them as inspiration and created my own version of it keeping the make up minimal and the hair natural.

I tried to practice as much as I could and shot my looks a couple of times. The hardest part, as usual, was to find models, and I really struggled with finding a model for my catwalk looks are people backed out. Never the less, I practiced, did test shoots and am very happy with the execution of my ideas in the images I have created. I tried to post as much as I could on a regular basis so I do not fall behind on work, which was successful, and I was trying to be as reflective as I could throughout. The post production took me longer than expected and I spent the past three days glued to the laptop, editing, but I am very happy with myself and the final outcome.

Brand Evaluation

 NARS Cosmetics is a brand founded by a great make up artist, photographer and author, Francois Nars, in 1994. Nars focuses on natural beauty, encouraging self expression and individuality and their idea is to enhance beauty, rather than masking it and hiding under make up. Throughout the past 20 years he has come up with some great products and they are all created to suit any skin tone and are given unordinary names which is one of the reasons why they are so well-known. The brand falls into the high-end make up cathegory, but is still affordable with the average price range between £20 and £40.

Going through the brand's history and different collections and looks I decided to base my looks around holidays and tropical islands with Abalone shells being my main inspiration.

When it comes to advertising, they keep it simple, clean and quite minimal. The images are usually highly contrasted, containing only a few colours. The brand's logo is clearly visible and the text is either short (product description, etc) or not there at all and the same goes for the product images. Taking that in consideration I have created an advert for the Dual Intesity Blush collection and the Audacious lipsticks. I used a wig that covered my model's eyes with the idea to focus the viewer's attention on the feature where the product had been applied. Their website contains many quotes said by Nars so I used them as a description, rather than using images of the products. I had written the shade of the product that the model is wearing, her name and the brand's website as that is what I have seen in most of their advertisments. The bckground is black which made the model's face stand out more while the colour of the background of where the logo and the text is, is a shade taken from the products on the image.

NARS does not have a fashion line to showcase in editorials, instead they showcase looks and recent products calling their editorials - advertorials. I thought the idea of advertorias was quite interesing so I based my looks on the Dual Intesity Eyeshadows which can be used wet and dry. I came up with a story of a 'Tahiti Holiday' where we see her looks throughout the day. The first look shows her beach, morning look: wet messy hair, bronzed skin and on her eyes we see what the eyeshadow looks when applied wet. The second and third look are meant to show her throughout the day, in two different dresses. The hair and make up are the same; very subtle eye make up; eyeshadow applied try, and a slicked low pony tail. I decided to go with that hairstyle as they usually tend to do that, so it does not hide the face.

The minimal and clean looks are best shown through the catwalk looks that they tend to do as they use a short list of products creating either very natural or bold looks. Inspired by the look created for the Creatures of the Wind SS16 show, I used silver metalic eyeshadow which links to the Abalone shells and applied glitter on the roots and down the two dutch braids, while my second look was very natural; fresh looking, sun-kissed skin.

I think that the looks I have created within this project capture the spirit of the brand and link to it quite well as I have researched it indepth which helped me to understand the essence of the brand. 

Catwalk Looks | Post Production

I didn't edit the catwalk looks too much. I have lighly edited the wrinkles and creases under my model's eyes and the lines on her neck as they were quite strong, and flyaways here and there, but nothing too major as these are catwalk looks and they don't usually go through post production. I have mostly played around with the text that I put; designer's and model's name as well as my own and the brand I have 'worked' for. In both images the text is in the bottom right corner as I thought it was visually the best place to put them, It is black in one image and white in the other, as it contrasted the clothing and this way it would not get lost in it.

For the Ready-To-Wear final look I have gone back to the first shoot I had done as I prefered the quality of the images and the overall look. I have imagined that that look was aimed for Thakoon's fashion show based on their SS16 collection. Marc Jacobs was the designer I have chosen for my second look, for the same reason. The image I have chosen to be my final is a profile shot as it captures both hair and make up. It is more interesting, too. As the hair in my catwalk look had to be changed due to the model's haircut, I decided to have both hairstyles for my 'Marc Jacobs SS16 show', while keeping the hair the same. Nars has done individual looks for every model at Marc Jacobs in 2009, and there are many shows where I've seen more than one hair/ make up look. However, as my final work I will submit only this look.

Here are the test edits:

Catwalk Ready-To-Wear

Test Edit

Catwalk Ready-To-Wear

Test Edit

Catwalk Ready-To-Wear

Test Edit

Catwalk Ready-To-Wear

Test Edit

Catwalk Ready-To-Wear

Test Edit

Catwalk Ready-To-Wear

Test Edit

Here are my two catwalk final looks:

Catwalk Ready-To-Wear

Final Edit

Catwalk Haute Couture

Final Edit

Adverts | Post Production

Editing these adverts was probably the most challenging and stressful part of this project for me. Never in a milion years did it occour to me while I was braiding this wig that I will have so much editing to do in post production. It took me quite a while, about 4-5 hours, no lie, for each advert, which is why I picked the best images wisely and edited only them. 

The first day advert I didn't like as the highlighter was not showing properly so I decided to start over, however, when it comes to the way the wig was edited I think that was the best one. I used Utsaah Regular font to write the small print and I downloaded the NARS logo in vectors. I put the writing over a rectangle, then played around with the colours of the text, using black and white and picking up colours from the wig and lips. Finally I decided to fade the rectangles to 50% opacity, black text and logo and pick up the beige and red shades from her cheek bone and lips. As I didn't use the product images, I thought this could be a good way of having the background reflecting the product colour. I didn't use the combination of frames or white and black background as I was saying l will do as I thought this looked a lot better.

The text next to the NARS logo in the day advert says: 

"Illumination really captures the light and helps you to look incredibly sexy" - Francois Nars
Beth Kabuga in Dual Intensity blush in Jubilation
Make up, hair and photography by: Antonella Coric
narscosmetics.com

And on the evening advert I put:

"I have a real love affair with lipstick. It gives you more power."- Francois Nars
Beth Kabuga in Audacious lipstick in Audrey
Make up, hair and photography by: Antonella Coric
narscosmetics.com

Advert Day

1st image

before editing the wig

Advert Day

1st image

Half edited

Advert day

1st image

fully edited

Advert day

2nd image

before adding text + logo

Advert day

2nd image

1st version

Advert day

2nd image

2nd version

Advert day

2nd image

3rd version

Advert day

2nd image

4th version

Advert day

2nd image

5th version

Advert day

2nd image

6th version

Actually, after I have edited the first day image I have moved onto the evening advert, then went back to the day again and edited another one. Therefore I have created most versions with this look, then picked the best and tried to link the colours with the day look. 

Advert evening

before adding text + logo

Advert evening

1st version

Advert evening

2nd version

Advert evening

3rd version

Advert evening

4th version

Advert evening

5th version

Advert evening

6th version

Advert evening

7th version

Advert evening

1st version

My adverts are the looks that I am most proud although I think I spent an equal amount researching and creating all three categories and am proud of all of them. Looking back on last year and how I was with hair, then fast forwarding to this entire year I think that that was one skill that I have improved the most throughout my time at uni. I never thought I would prefer hair more than make up, wigs expecially. I used the wig because that is an area of the industry that I am very interested in, so I wanted to create a look with it so that improve on my skills. To me the wig really looks like a thatch hat, which was the idea, and I will not go on about why I covered her eyes with it and what inspired me as I feel like I have repeated myself so much throughout this blog. Very happy with the adverts, the wig in the day advert could have been edited a bit better I think, but at least now I know for next time.

These are my final day and night adverts:

Mini Magazine Editoral Spread

I decided to create a short magazine spread out of the editorial looks that I had. I didn't submit these as my final work as, honestly, I am not 100% happy with the layouts. I used Photoshop to edit them as when saved on InDesign the quiality of the images was ruined and they looked pixelated in both the PDF file and after converting the file to JPG (I saved one image too see what it looks like). 

I used a white frame in all images, without having it on the side where the two pages come together. I put a SS16 Beauty section as I have seen it in the InStyle magazine and the title and writing I made up myself, apart from the TIP section where I put how to use the eyeshadows as that was taken from the NARS website. I decided to have pages 20-23, I started with 20 as it has been a year and a half since the brand celebrated its 20th birthday, this year it will be 22 and the next year and new collections will be here before we know it. 

In the first few test versions of the front page you will see that I put the models and my name as well as where the dress is from. Then I remembered to link the clothing with the brands that NARS works with so I put Thakoon for the blue dress and Tanya Tailor for the pink as those patterns reflected the designers best from what I've seen throughout my research this semester. I was changng the font, colours and text until I was happy with what I had.

In the title I put "Top Makeup, Hair & Fashion Trends You Need To Know" so in the look with the blue dress I spoke about hair and how to create the pefect slicked look with the Tony&Guy Styling Spray Gel, Then the second page is the day, beachy look where I spoke about the eyeshadows worn wet and in the last look is the dry version of the eyeshadows with the necklace. They also have descriptions about the dresses and the necklace.

You will notice that I have several versions of the first two pages but not of the other two, that was because by the time l got to the third layout I had an idea of what l wanted so I just placed all the text. 

First page

1st version

First page

2nd version

First page

3rd version

First page

4th version

Second page

1st version

Second page

2nd version

FINAL MAGAZINE SPREADS:

Looking at them all know, I probably should've used the image with the necklace as the front cover then use the other one for the dry version of the eyeshadows as you can see her eye make up better. Something weird is happening in the background and on her neck and face of the third page which is weird as it wasn't there when I was editing or looking at it when saved it as a jpg to my laptop so I really don't know what happened there (what is that???).
 That is why I didn't submit them as I don't think they are professional enough, but I really did my best to produce them in Photoshop. The hardest part is placing everything on the images proportionally as in InDesign you get double pages. I spent hours creating them and I really like them but I think that I can probably do a lot better than I did. 

Editorials | Post-Production

I had a good selection of editorial images and I narrowed the selection down to 7. 
There wasn't much editing that I have done on them apart from the under eye circles, the flyaway hair (in the evening look expecially) and the colour of the background. On her skin I have only toned down the shine that was on her forehead. The rest of her skin was left untouched, partly because my model had great skin, but I didn't want to over edit the images as there is a very thin line between good, subtle editing and over editing. Imperfections are not always a bad thing and I wanted to make her look as natural and 'NARS' as possible. 

As I didn't want to use the bikini she wore at the shoot in my images, and wanted only closeups of her face, I edited only three images and the others didn't look right when cropped, expecially the ones with her hands in her hair. Sharon pointed out that her head was tilted too much when I showed her one of the images and she said that Nars shoots from the front. Immidiately I remembered the book I have and all the portraits so I decided to choose the close up of her face as my final look. 

As you will see in the first three images I was testing the Burn Tool to see how bronzed I could make her look, but it looked too unnatural. In the third image was the image I submitted. I have posted many versions on here of where to place the text, or if I should even use it. The text I was thinking of using was just the models name, my name and the brand's website butI decided to just use the logo only in all editorial images. They look clean and I didn't want to throw everything on the image as it could distract the viewers. This way, if anyone saw the images in the magazine can see the logo and research it from there if they wanted to.

Editorial day look

1st image 

1st version

Editorial day look

1st image 

2nd version

Editorial day look

1st image 

3rd version

Editorial day look

2nd image 

Editorial day look

3rd image 

1st version

Editorial day look

1st image 

2nd version

Editorial day look

1st image 

3rd version

Editorial day look

1st image 

4th version

I spent a LOT more time editing the flyaway hair around her hair and other bits around the evening looks as the hair was slicked so needed it to look nice and polished. I also fixed her hair line slightly as that was another thing that Sharon pointed out to me. Then the dress was also fixed slightly and the background, too. 

 I tried to even out the background by picking up one of the tones from the original image, I tried black (but didn't fully edit the edges as I didn't think it went with the summer look) and I also picked up the tone from the day looks. The day images and evening have different toned background as they were not shot in the same studio and for the evening look I had two lights while for the other  had only one. 

The first image below was definitely my favourite and I always kept going back to it. Even though the dress is not very glamorous, she looks very classy and like she owns the world. This was the kind of facial expression I wanted for my editorial look.

As I couldn't decide on the dress, I submitted one of them as well. I liked the one where she looks up as it is different than others where she is looking at the camera, and the make up and hair looked good from her profile. I was playing around so in one image you will see that I got rid of the pony tail completely, but I used the one with the pony tail as my final image.

I didn't submit the look with the necklace but I edited it and used as one of the images in my mini magazine spread that I have created along side my final editorials.

I decided to place the logo in the top left corner, which is the opposite from where the logo is in the day look. Day and night are opposites, so are the effects of the Dual Intensive eyeshadows, and the logo placement also tells the images appart.

Editorial evening look

1st image 

1sr version

Editorial day look

1st image 

2nd version

Editorial evening look

1st image 

3rd version

Editorial evening look

1st image 

4th version

Editorial evening look

2nd image 

1st version

Editorial day look

3rd image 

1st version

Editorial evening look

3rd image 

2nd version

Editorial day look

4th image 

1st version

Although I said I'd try to put some overlays, background etc., and I did it, but I didn't like it. Honestly, I didn't want to over-do it but also, it is one thing to say what you are going to do but when you actually start editing you realize "OK, maybe this looks better, the idea I had would've been too much."

I know the background looks a bit unnatural and that the lighting that is on her doesn't match it. I just cut her out and placed the background then, just played around with the adjustments and opacity, it took me about 15 minutes and I used two different images as background.

Editorial evening look

1st version

Editorial evening look

2nd version

Editorial evening look

3rd version

Editorial evening look

4th version

Editorial evening look

5th version

I am really happy and proud of my final images and the fact that I had a really good model really contributed to this. 

My final three editorial images: