Learning Make Up Professionally at the Maquillage Professionnel School of Make Up Artistry
Make up is an art, some say.
But others who do not know the complexities involved in enhancing beauty through make up and the joy that ensues in achieving this goal would easily dismiss this. They may think it is easy to wield a few strokes here and there to create a polished look. Yes, it is easy for an expert, but for a novice, practice may just be the word.
This was what I learned when I went to school last week.
No, I did not get a load of academic stuff. Rather, I enjoyed learning something I am always excited about – make up.
I attended the five-day module 4 or personal beauty course (personal makeup) under Maquillage Professionel school of makeup artistry at Forbes Town Center, Burgos Circle in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
Instructors are trained at Make Up for Ever (MUFE). Needless to say, students also use the whole range of MUFE products.
The five-day course consists of lectures, make up application demonstration and practical application session. Rows of high-quality, highly-pigmented make up were provided for our use during the course.
Five different topics were covered for three hours each day: Day 1: Introduction to the art of make up, Day 2: Maquillage du Jour (Day Make up), Day 3: Maquillage de Soir (Evening Makeup), Day 4: The Smokey Eye, Day 5: Makeup for Photography.
The amiable Mikee Raymundo or Miss Mikee, as students fondly call her, introduced the art of make up.
Miss Mikee demonstrating the French method of make up application
I refer to my notes to make sure I follow the right procedure in applying make up.
Maquillage Professionel School of Make Up Artistry subscribes to the French methodology of make up application: Use a primer; 2. Use the corrector (concealer); 3. Foundation; 4. Lift concealer; 5. Loose Powder; 6. Define the eyebrows; 7. Contour; 8.eye shadow; 9. Eyeliner; 10. Mascara; 11. Blush; and 12. Lipstick
Different brushes for different strokes. The primer brush can also be used to apply foundation. “Never rub the foundation on your face. Use the sponge to even it out on your skin,” Miss Mikee said.
Loose powder should also be applied with the powder puff – by patting it lightly on the face and using the fluffy brush to scatter it evenly.
I was very impressed with how professional the Maquillage Professionel School of Make Up Artistry environment is.
Apart from the cleanliness and orderliness of our work area, the school staff also emphasized the importance of arriving on-time for the classes. After all, a professional make up artist should always report on the time for the project.
We learned the Open Banana Technique for the application of the Maquillage du Jour or Day Make up.
The Open Banana technique maintains an eye shadow style that has an ‘open area’ when the medium shade is applied. This means the medium color does not close at the end or does not touch the outer corners of the eyelid.
For the evening make up, we learned the close banana technique which is just the opposite of the first technique.
“Some considerations for this look: the colors should be intense, dramatic and the coverage of foundation should be fuller. We could also use false eyelashes and artistic products,” Miss Mikee said.
This time, we were given freedom to use the more daring colors in the palette such as the blue, green, pink and purple shades. Brown colors remain as the contour shade.
Day 4 came and it was time for the Smokey Eye look.
I was utterly amazed at the colors Sir Mio used at our Nigerian classmate, Ify. His creativity at choosing the right colors accentuated Ify’s peepers nicely.
Applying eye shadow is a weakness and it was certainly a challenge when I did my Evening Make up and the Smokey Eye. Suffice it to say that Sir Mio spotted the minor corrections I had to make just to get the right look.
Sir Mio expertly applying makeup for photography on Day 5 on Raven
“Yellow lighting softens the details of the face so you have to use darker shades or brighter colors. In natural lighting or in outdoor photography, you can just match the color of your foundation. When we are dealing with camera flashes, your makeup could be a bit dark because if you use lighter colors, the details of your face tend to be ‘washed out.’ Meanwhile, studio lights are very strong this is why you should use foundation that is a bit darker and it should be full coverage. Also, enhance your dark points. These are the temples of your forehead, the contour of your nose, the hollows of your cheeks and the chin,” Sir Mio pointed out.
Again, I was told I have a very light hand in applying make up and I need to use more colors to emphasize the contours of my face. Sir Mio shared a few more pointers to us to enhance our make up application.
Five days of personal beauty course and I felt like there is still so much to learn and so much to explore in make up. I gained a whole new sense of respect and admiration for make up artists who could create awe-inspiring dramatic looks.
Thinking about it reminded me of the flick of the wand of Cinderella’s fairy godmother.
