Once in a Lifetime Trip - by Eli Wakamatsu

Every now and then, I am so grateful for being a make up artist as I get to travel to amazing places for shoots, and this trip for Marie Claire UK was certainly a 'once in the life time' experience, travelling in style, shooting in and on the Eastern Oriental Express train as the train runs between Bangkok to Singapore over 4 days and 3 nights.

The first shot on the first day before the train's departure was in the tropical squall showering and cooling down the heat, which gave us a fabulous start of this dramatic story in full swing ! Good job we love some drama !

Marie Claire Fashion editor Sarah Christie and I took local taxi back  after dinner in Bangkok.

We got on the train in Bangkok with such excitement, checked into our individual cosy an suite rooms, which are turned into bedrooms for the night as we had our delicious dinner in the infamous dinning carriage. When I came back from the dinner, the seat in my room was turned into a comfy bed with crisp luxury linen like this.

On the second day, we got off the train near the River Kwai and spent the day  shooting around the river, sometimes on the boat like this one below.

As the train enters Malaysia from Thailand, there is a tranquil view of lush vegetation, Rice fields and steamy  mountains on horizon wrapped me with tropical Asian moisture air   .. Bliss..

Model Leah wore LE VERNIS Chanel Nail colour 637 MALICE,  Chanel LONG WEAR LUMINOUS EYESHADOW 817 APPARENCE, Chanel ROUGE ALLURE VELVET LIPSTIK 307 L'IMPATIENTE and Chanel ILLUMINUS POWDER

See the full story here.

Follow Eli on Twitter here.

Fragrance Exclusives at BeautyMART - by Eli Wakamatsu

Scent is the most powerful of the senses we have, it is directly connected with our memories, emotions, sexuality etc..
Smelling a certain fragrance can signal a treasured memory in us. Our sense of smell plays a crucial role in our emotional well-being in this rapidly changing and chaotic world.

Here are some fragrances which are only available at new concept shop, BeautyMART in UK, where Millie Kendall and Anna-Marie Solowij, two of the beauty industry's experts carefully selected to be a part of their edit.

Why not drop by and experience these scents for yourself !


Japanese room fragrance 'DEICA'

For centuries people in Japan have cultivated an appreciation for fragrance, using it to focus and elevate their thoughts and senses. It is always strongly associated with creating atmosphere according to the seasons and the sense of beauty.



It is interesting that perfume sales in Japan are miniscule compared to the West as for them, fragrance has a strong connection with social, cognitive, psychological, physiological domains and human performance. Thus, the Japanese room fragrance 'DEICA', pays special attention to their ingredients which mostly grow in their own herb garden, creating special scents in the form of a diffuser and room spray (£45.00 for 480ml in 3 scents: 'Reve', 'L'Argent' and 'Dream'.


The aroma diffuser in 3 scents with beautiful flowers (£75.00)

'Liberte'　180ml

'Beaute' 180ml

'Lamour'　180ml

Water perfume : I Hate Perfume 

This perfume uses no alcohol which evaporates quickly, dries the skin & hair and is highly flammable.  

The creator of the brand CB says that 'Oil & water are what the skin naturally needs to hold fragrance the longest ' CB initially started to blend perfume at Keihls which I love the scents of, and it's shows in unique and  impossible to mass-produce scents with fine ingredients.

5 special scents are available at BeautyMART (£75.00)
at-the-beach-1966
the-fir-tree
mr.-hulots-holiday
russian-caravan-tea
patchouli-empire

The LAGUDA
15ml £35.00

The LAGUDA is cultural and geographical alchemy: the scents of here and there. Bright and effusive bergamot, orange tree and spearmint are tempered by rosewood and jasmine, diffused by the warmth of sandalwood, frankincense and patchouli.
LAGUDA is exotic, multi-cultural, for any gender, Conceived by editorial hairdresser Ayo Laguda and realised by award-winning perfumer designer Azzi Glasser,



LURK PERFUMEOILS £42.00 each

From Soho NY, This natural perfume oil is hand blended and poured using only pure essential oils in a base of organic jojoba. No water or alcohol is used in perfume oil concentrates. It's uses no chemical preservatives, stabilisers or additives either.
It is in the handy little bottle which fits in your bag very nicely.

5 signature scents are exclusively available at BeautyMART in UK

• PRJV1
• AS01
• BS003
• RSW005
• TBPV1

BeautyMART by Eli Wakamatsu

At last a saviour in the massive sea of the beauty world has opened !

Have you ever felt lost or overwhelmed in the sea of beauty products, not sure what to choose, can't make up your mind what is best for you.. all because there are so many products and so much publicity out   there all trying to convince you.. trying really really hard...after all it is their job to do so.

If so, I suggest you go to the newly opened BeautyMART! On the 3rd floor of Harvey Nichols.

It is on the fashion floor, away from chaos of the street, here in the fashion floor, you can shop beauty goods in the same relaxed style as you shop for your special fashion items.

The BeautyMART is all about the 'EDIT', editorial style shopping for the best beauty products edited by two experts of the industry.

I mean experts you can really trust ! They are  Independent advisers.

Anna Marie Solowij, World renowned beauty editor and Millie Kendall, Beauty PR who is responsible for the introduction of so many successful brands in UK and the world, are responsible of launching the BeautyMART.

They offer the best and most exciting beauty selection for you from mass to niche, for men to teenage, anti-age skin care to hair care, perfume to pregnant skin care, nail care to scented candle... for all.

There is no hierarchy in the BeautyMART in their selection or clientele, all needs are met and treated with their approval...The way forward.

Here are some of my favourite products on sale at BeautyMART which you can try and take home with you !

Pretty Peaushun Skin Tight Body Lotion - By far the best leg and body make up I ever seen, it is for red carpet legs and body !

Magic Velcro tape for placing Fringe in the right place.

KAHINA 100% ORGANIC ARGAN OIL.

This pure and best quality ARTISAN argan oil which is extremely rich in Vitamin E and antioxidants is from the nut of the argan tree. The oil is extracted by Berber women's coop, the indigenous people of  North Africa in the sustainable and ethical way to deliver to us an ancient beauty secret. Read more about it here http://kahina-givingbeauty.com

Face Stockholm Picture Perfect Foundation, and Corrective Concealer, Tinted Mineral Moisturiser

I am so impressed with the quality of these products. It has incredible texture and coverage which glide and spread beautifully to skin without appearing too dry or oily  with impeccable colour matching.

Jurlique biodynamic (Haute couture of organic farming ) and organic sanitiser for your hands. This item is placed throughout BeautyMART counters so you can keep your hands clean while browsing.

I love this product so much and always have this in my make up kit.

  

There is so many other I would like to mention, so Look out for the  part 2 of  my favourites from the BeautyMART soon !

Follow Eli on Twitter here and BeautyMART here.

Chola Latina for Kruv Magazine - By Emma Miles

My Kruv inspiration was obviously from the stylist mood board, seeing the very bright and vivid clothes, colours and textures.  

The initial make up was taken from a 70's cartoon character and progressed from there. Taking inspiration from the neon colour's on trend and the Chola Latina culture. (They usually have thin, arched, penciled-on eyebrows, brown or dark red lip liner, lots of gold jewlery, crunchy gelled hair either down or up in a high ponytail) and new age traveller-est, combining this with past Dior shows under the reign of John Galliano. 

Follow Emma on Twitter here.
See the full story here.

'My first Strip Bar experience !' in the Topshop Beauty Rooms - By Eli Wakamatsu

I went to the Re-launch of the Topshop Beauty Floor yesterday. Even through it was almost evening, Topshop was buzzing with people and atmosphere as if it was midday on a weekend, and I was invited into the closed off section of Topshop Beauty Floor in the-2.

The area offers all sorts of beauty treatments under one roof with perfection, fashion-forward style, and at an affordable cost. 

It really is the ultimate beauty destination in Central London. There is Tattoos and Piercing, Bleaching, Manicures and Pedicures, Waxing and Eyebrows and a Blow Dry Bar.

In Hershesons Blow dry bar, You can choose your desired style from the photos on the wall. You will be washed and styled in just 30 minutes and ready to go. What a great idea!

You can see the selection on their website tells you how long it'll take, together with short and beautiful video of the style and you can  also book your appointment !

I try the stip waxing at the Stripbar for the first time in my life ! I know some of you do this regularly and I get to hear educational stories from models I work with about this all the time but I never done it for myself, so I thought I'll have a go. An experienced and friendly therapist named Alison immediately made me confortable in the boutique, hotel-like room and answered all my questions about it.

It was a wonderful treat, and now has me hooked, I'll be back for regular visits now.

Here in the Stripbar, they do all waxing for men and women, Spray tans, and a tailor-made eyebrow called 'HD eyebrow'. I can highly recommend them for their hygiene, high standard and quality service. I did my patch test for my HD eyebrow so that I can make sure there is no allergy to have them done.

I loved this picture in the treatment room 'smother me in berries'

Follow Eli on twitter here.

See Eli's website here.

When STYLIST Became Art by Leigh Keates

I arrived at Stylist Magazine head offices at 7.45am for a cover shoot and all I'd been told was that I had two girls that needed to be made identical, 15 minutes per girl with a car picking us up at 8.15am, to take us to the Saatchi Gallery.

It's not often you get to shoot in places like the Saatchi gallery, but apparently the girls were 'to become the art'. As we were shooting them from behind it was decided that we go for a Pony, keeping the sides sleek and adding slight volume on top, effective but not ideal with such time restrictions.

I popped a touch of mousse on the hair line and dried in. Once dry, I layered with Redken Quicktease and back combed the top section with a Kent backcombing brush. I gathered into a pony with my Mason & Pearson, ensuring that the back and sides were sleek without compromising the volume at the top. I tied with a 'bungy' and wrapped a piece of hair from the pony to conceal the bungy elastic.



I repeated on the second model and we jumped straight in the taxi.  At the Saatchi gallery the cleaners were still going about there morning routine as we set up. Every one knew what needed to be done and we was wrapped by 10am, just in time for the gallery to open .

To follow Leigh on Twitter here.
      

'Opium' - 1883 Magazine - How to get the look By Leigh Keates

My first print shoot with 1883 magazine and I've got to say I really am chuffed, I love the darkness to the story, fitting perfectly with title of the issue 'A dark romance'.

The Dries Van Noten collection was stunning, and not to mention the the jewels that were escorted in by their very own minder and  worth more than my house, or possibly my street!

I loved what we did with the hair,  I pin curled and set each of the three girls using my Cloud Nine wand, then one by one shook the curls like a mad man creating a much looser texture. 

Parting the hair to the centre I then mixed Tigi serum and Tigi wet look gel in order to decrease the gels stickiness and enhance the serums hold- a perfect consistency to slick down the girls hair from the crown to the tip of the ear. To keep the glimmering finish of the gelled area, I went to town with the Tigi shine spray.

See the full story here.
Follow Leigh on Twitter here.

'Fighter' - 1883 Magazine by Leigh Keates

I worked on this shoot with the lovely Holly (Ounstead) from 1883 and talented photographer Neil Francis Dawson.

The inspiration for the hair in this story came from the iconic Chanel 'Underwater' show.
I piled on the mousse and added Tigi Styling cream to prevent the mousse drying to crispy. Using a wide tooth comb I gathered the hair, leaving a side part, and tied at the back before loosely twisting into a wetlook chignon. Adding a touch of Tigi wet look gel to hairline to stop it from drying fluffy. A final douse of Tigi Weightless shine spray shine spray for extra sheen and the first look was ready.

For the second look we let the hair down, staying within the 'Chanel' theme I lightly spritzed with water and added a little more styling cream. We had fun playing around with this look, switching from having the hair, strategically placed over our models face to slicking it behind her ears.

We finished with the hair up and off the models face again, but this time went for a super sleek wet look top-knot, spraying almost point blank with shine spray to finish.

A last minute shoot that resulted in working with a great team, producing great results.

See the full story and credits here.
Follow Leigh on Twitter here. 

Institute Magazine - by Sophie Harris-Greenslade/The Illustrated Nail

For this beautiful editorial by Hollie and Grace Carlin in Institute Magazine I made sculptural 3D nails to look like pieces of nail jewellery. 

I filed the nails to a sharp point and covered in gold metallic Minx. I then cut folded and shaped gold foil to sharp points and attached to the nail. 

I think the nails make a great statement and I absolutely love these shots. It was a great team to work with and I had so much fun shooting that day.

See the full story here.

Autumn's Urban Uniform -Blog and Styling Sarah Clark & (Make-up) Eli Wakamatsu

Eli and Sarah worked on the make-up and styling respectively for the Autumn's Urban Uniform story in the September issue of Red Magazine with the photographer David Mandelberg.

Sarah: "I really loved the Topshop Unique show back February (in fact, it was one of my favourite London shows). I never thought a Topshop show would provide the inspiration for one of my shoots, but with Kate Phelan at the helm, it was a very different show. 

I loved the way she deconstructed the military looks to make them cooler and more wearable. I thought this was a great take on the (huge) trend for Red - not too young or gimmicky, but still stylish and cool. 

I wanted to style the clothes in a way that was really effortless and easy for every day (but without being boring). My favourite pieces were the Topshop coat (amazing, although not sure I'm tall enough to pull it off myself), the Margaret Howell navy wool cap, and the Joseph skirt. And I was also completely obsessed with the Pringle boots! 

I wanted to shoot the story in a really simple location, (and definitely didn't want any military references), and I just love Hyde Park. It's so beautiful, and so photogenic. So we shot one day there and one day around the streets in Shoreditch and Brick Lane (to balance out all the green!)."




Eli: "We had such a lovely location shoot, a day out in both Hyde park and  in the East end of London.

Our model Claudia Raba at Models 1 was well cast to do this shoot which needed someone cool, effortless and stylish.

She was all that before I started make-up!

The make up was totally aimed to do just that as well, nothing too 'statement', just beautiful skin and with her gorgeous smile just shined. And showing her independence and determination by filling her eyebrow well.

All colours were in the pallet of urban tones, well worked into the skin.

I used  Dior skin Nude as a base. 

Her eyebrow was defined and shaped with Becca  Cosmetics Brow Powder and Brow Shaping Gel.  

Her nails were painted in Nars polish in the 'Desperado' shade. 

See the full story here.

Follow Sarah on Twitter here.

Follow Eli on Twitter here.

Introducing Hair Stylist Leigh Keates

Leigh at work on the Firetrap Campaign

I am delighted to announce that award winning hair stylist Leigh Keates has joined the agency. He was crowned as Creative Head Magazines Fashionista’ and One to Watch’ 2011/12. He was also shortlisted as a finalist in several other national competitions for 2010/11.





Leigh started hairdressing in 2003 and this year joined the Josh Wood Atelier in Holland Park in order to pursue his session dreams whilst continuing to take care of his valued clientele. 



As well as working on teams during Paris and London fashion weeks, Leigh has worked for editorials including Tatler, Harpers Bazaar, L'Officiel, Dazed & Confused, Super Super, The Observer, NME, 125 Magazine and Creative Head and clients include Firetrap, Sunday Girl, BOY London, Victoria Beckham, Camilla Rutherford and Monsoon.

Follow Leigh on Twitter here.

See Leigh's step by step for Retro Waves in Grazia Magazine here.

By Sophie Harris-Greenslade Harpers Bazaar China Shoot

For the Harpers Bazaar shoot I woke up super early to catch the bus to Dover for the day. We all headed off about 6am to the beautiful St Margaret's Bay in Kent. 

I used Orly dazzle, a really beautiful silver foil effect colour and also an icy blue, Coat Azure by Essie to work with the "Cool Metal" story. I changed the blue however in the afternoon to a natural cream (Nigella by AFNB) as we thought it would work better in shot.

It was a freezing cold day and the sea winds on the beach really cut through you. I don't know how the models got through it! Unfortunately the weather turned from bad to worse and poured down in the afternoon but the pictures are so beautiful it was well worth braving the cold for. 


See the full story here.
Follow Sophie on Twitter here.