MASA Make-Up Graduates Work Backstage Assisting International Make-Up Artist Lan Nguyen-Grealis

Last week we were invited to assist international Make-up Artist Lan Nguyen-Grealis for her #ArtAndMakeup interactive seminar at One Belgravia. The event commenced at 4pm and consisted of demonstrations, talks and an exhibition by Lan showcasing some of her most innovative make-up creations.

The afternoon started with guest presentations from top industry artists such as Phyllis Cohen the creator of Face Lace, Daniel Sandler and Ruby Hammer MBE. Lan’s demonstrations followed and the night concluded with a panel Q&A, and guests retreating downstairs for canapés and prosecco.

Carla our Head of Make-up selected her team to assist on this event from previous MASA Make-up Alumni students. The graduates started their day at 10am and assisted Lan’s team with the set up of the whole event – from goody bags, making up the models to cleaning brushes. Our team had an excellent time and even managed to watch the whole seminar and take home a goody bag worth £250! The day concluded at around 10pm, so everyone was very tired, but totally buzzing from the amount of creativity demonstrated on the day.

LAN NGUYEN-GREALIS

We noted down the top tips that the artists shared from the night.

Daniel Sandler

Daniel’s favourite type of make-up is when you can’t see where the make-up starts and where it ends. Blending is key. It is actually Phyllis Cohen’s work in the 1980’s that inspired Daniel to become a make-up artist! He now has his own make-up line with products inspired by the needs of a professional make-up artist. One of his bestsellers is the watercolour blush.

Ruby Hammer

Ruby is a well known household name, remembered by many for her transformations as an artist on the television programme ’10 years younger’.

Ruby launched her own successful make-up line ‘Ruby & Mille’ which was sold in boots and became a roaring success. She likes to focus on skincare and making the skin look as fresh and flawless as possible. Her ultimate tip is ‘the last 5% of a make-up – always stand back, view your work as a whole and add or remove, have the confidence to do this and you will go far’. If a make-up looks good to the naked eye then it will look 10x better on camera.

Phyllis Cohen

Phyllis is an extremely interesting person, she is known for working with some of the most famous people on the planet including Kylie Minogue, Janet Jackson and Bowie. Phyllis worked in the industry for 10 years before taking time out to study a Masters Degree in Perceptual Science. This lead to Phyllis having a deep understanding of the anatomy of the face and influenced her thought process and creativity.

Phyllis launched Face Lace in 2012 which is now in pretty much every artist’s kit as it is so versatile and takes a make-up from being ‘nice’ to ‘extraordinary’. Her best tip from the night was ‘I used to make myself 15 skin tones darker with foundation to understand how to do make-up for black skin’ – if you don’t have a model then this is a great way to learn!

Lan Nguyen-Grealis

Lan was the star of the night; an award winning make-up artist and creator of the Art and Makeup book, she continues to inspire artists from all walks of life and at all levels. There seems to be no limit to her creativity. Lan demonstrated looks on a variety of models throughout the evening and shared her secrets on products, colour and how to layer different textures. One thing that Lan always keep in mind during a make-up is ‘does this look beautiful?’ – when a make-up starts to look ugly, that is when you know you have taken it too far.

There is always a thought process behind Lan’s creations, she doesn’t simply slap on the make-up. She draws attention to the highlights of the face, uses different textures and tones and the layering process is really something special to watch. There was pretty much silence from the whole room as Lan was demoing a look, everyone was absorbing as much knowledge as possible.

If you would like to join our events team and participate in events such as this, then please take a look at our MASA – Complete Pro Make-up Designer Course and our MASA – Complete Pro Make-up Designer Course plus Advanced Portfolio Development.