SHOPPR BEAUTY WORKSHOP

E V E N T

- Shooting moving subjects for the first time and being transported to makeup heaven. -

Ever since I fell in love with photography, my main focus was still life photography and landscape photography while photographing people was easily my least favourite because I had to plan and work with the subject. I mean, with still life photography, you can command that lipstick to change positions a hundred times and it wouldn't complain. If it did, I'd toss it out of the window in a heartbeat.

After lurking around the style blogging scene for a while, I've really picked up an interest in street photography, capturing them at the perfect moment. Unfortunately, I've been too shy to photograph my friends because you know, I'd be shy too - wouldn't you? Most of my valuable times with friends are spent catching up and laughing anyway.

When Shoppr hosted their very first beauty workshop with Shelly, I knew it was a great chance to try my hands at photographing gorgeous stylish moving subjects. My main aim was to meet some awesome people and finally getting to watch Shelly's tutorials live in the flesh, as well as trying out street photography, it was a win-win all around.

Shelly's tutorial was surreal because after watching her makeup tutorials on YouTube, I had to remind myself a couple of times that 'Hey, you're not watching a computer screen this time, it's for real.' Shelly did an amazing job of explaining her application methods and what products worked for her, especially allowing me a close up look of her skin because I was having some trouble finding a good foundation. The very first few photos above is an assortment of Shelly's extensive and exotic makeup stash (some aren't available in Malaysia and Australia) - and let me tell you, being able to swatch and play with them transported me to makeup heaven. Yes, makeup swatching is one of my guilty pleasures.

I also managed to snap a few OOTD shots of the lovely ladies at the workshop, as well as a couple of candid shots after asking permission to photograph them. I'm so glad everyone happily obliged and posed so perfectly. If it's were me, I'd totally go all tensed and end up with photos resembling a crab. What do crabs look like anyway?? I don't know, I was just thinking of crabs a second ago. I really loved the candid shots I managed to capture and I wished I was brave enough to approach more people for shots. I'm looking forward to my next opportunity.

Thank you Shoppr for hosting this fun event and I can't wait to attend the next one! Also, thank you to the lovely ladies for allowing me the privilege to photograph you and thank you Shelly for sharing your wisdom with us!

❤

M.May

p.s. If any of you lovely ladies want a copy of any of the pictures above, feel free to message me on any platforms. =D

BESTOWED UPON BY THE LIPSTICK GODS

F L A T L A Y

- Nothing like luxurious gold packagings to make a girl's day. -

Hey!

After my last post on red lipstick, I got a couple of questions from some fabulous friends on what lipstick did the Lipstick Gods bless upon me at the magical warehouse sale, what blue liner I used to achieve the look on the left. Well, the photo on the left isn't very clear, I recommend you click click click to view the original post *nudge nudge*.

As you can guess, all the products I used can be found on the flatlay in this post, with the three main products shown in the next couple of pictures below: MAC Pearlizer Sheer Pigment - Good As Gold (lids and highlights - discontinued), YSL Rouge Pur Couture Vernis à Lèvres Glossy Stain - 09 Rouge Laque and MAC Pigment - Steel Blue (liner).  The products are pretty straight forward, except the blue liner I suppose - dip them liner brush in mixing medium, dip in pigment and you're good to go! Internet University has provided us with a long list of recommended mixing mediums - from contact lense solution, primer spray etc but I decided to go simple with just water, kinda like painting.

When I was younger, I loved painting - we had an entire wall filled with paintings by my siblings and I, and I guess that's how I gotten into makeup art, however that's a story for another time yeah.

I really want to tell you about finding my holy grail lip product in a warehouse sale, all beaten up, sitting in the bottom of a box of unwanted goods. Back in Melbourne, we drove an hour into the suburbs for the highly anticipated L'Oreal warehouse sale to hopefully snag some great bargains - I admit, I went late in the noon because I wasn't hyped up after being left disappointed

multiple times by the Heat Cosmetics warehouse sales. Boy was I wrong, products galore and we were greeted by a massive hoard of zombie-like women snatching up $2 lipsticks like there was no tomorrow.

When I arrived at the warehouse, a portion of the good stuff were gone but there were still some awesome stuff to get the heart rate soaring. I decided to rummage through the YSL pile just for fun and right at the very bottom of a lonely box filled with beaten up YSL packagings, I found this bright red product staring right at me. By random luck, I found this YSL Glossy Stain and it was love at first sight. I was clueless on the texture, durability etc but I had to have it! This, coming from someone who never buys a beauty product without prior research, was a huge leap of faith - and a very foreign feeling. I know there are consumers who think similarly and makeupalley's our go to place for a quick fix.

I also managed to pick up a bunch of other products I was eager to try, at a highly discounted price. I was a very happy camper that day. Nothing like luxurious gold packagings to make a girl's day.

Speaking of flatlay, I mentioned I couldn't flatlay to save lives in a previous post a while back but I refused to give up. I created a flatlay moodboard of my favourite designs, gathered as much inspiration as I could from them and just experimented with the design. I think they came out much better than my previous proper flatlay attempt and I'll keep on practicing.

Every practice is a learning process.

❤

M.May

THE RED LIPS

B E A U T Y

- The camera loves red lips, and you will love those red lips too. -

Ah. The classic red lips.

The red lips are almost synonym with the little black dress, ask most people what the perfect LBD accessory is, and you'd often get 'red lips' as your answer. The perfect red lips screams femininity, sophistication and boldness, often portrayed on iconic unique women such as Angelina Jolie, Marylin Monroe, Dita Von Teese and my ultimate favourite, Kpop star and the ultimate queen - CL. Sure, they look pretty darn good with lipstick that doesn't scream 'look at me!!' from a mile away, but with red lips, they stand out in pictures and the camera loves them red lips.

There's something about completing your makeup look with bold red lips, bringing it to the next level and making it seem like you spent hours upon hours to achieve, when in reality you probably spent more time trying to get those darn falsies to behave than anything else in your makeup routine. My favourite night out accessory (not that I have such a thriving night life) is a bold red lip - you spend hours and hours on the perfect cut crease, the sexiest smokiest eye you've ever achieved or the most Kardashian-esque sculpted cheekbones in the world, only to have it magically disappear when you step into the dim lights of the bar or club. Take a photo? Sure, your makeup gets washed out like #Iwokeuplikethis but no, we didn't go through that much pain to not have our makeup show up! Ah, bring forth those red lips and you will glow like nobody's business in pictures. The camera loves red lips, and you will love those red lips too.

There's a million YouTube videos and articles on how to select the right red lipstick - cool tone, warm tone, blue based, orange based, pink based - it's rocket science. I'd say, it doesn't matter because it's just lipstick, it'll wipe off. Pick the colour that you fall in love with because when you feel like it's the one, it's probably the one. I really can't say that I red through the whole 'Red Lipstick Text Book' before purchasing the lipstick I have on in the pictures above, I was at a makeup warehouse sale and I saw it sitting right at the bottom of a massive beaten up pile - I picked it up and fell in love. It was fate and I thank the lipstick Gods. Keep a lookout for this magical lipstick in my next post, along with some other items used to achieve the look above.

Alas, ensuring that your red lips lasts all day - that's a whole different volume of the textbook that I have yet to experiment with. But let me give you a tip - long wearing liquid lipsticks. 'nuff said.

When you know it's going to be a fabulous day, give them red lips a go.

❤

M.May