Recent work with Mute Media and M.O.T Models.

I have been waiting to post these pictures for so long, I am so excited to show you all.

Back in August I collaborated with quite possibly my favourite photographer, Lel Burnett and a fantastic model called Lucy Cates represented by MOT Models. From the look of the images, we could have been some where truly exotic and glamourous, but we actually shot in sunny Bristol, Uk. We were lucky enough to catch a rare day of blistering sunshine and created some wonderful images and unearthing a few corners of the city that we had never seen. I love working with Lel because he pretty much lets me do what I want, he'll give me an idea of how he would like his images to look and I go from there. For this shoot I wanted Lucy's makeup to reflect the glossy, luxurious lighting and making the most of her strong bone structure by getting a little carried away with the highlighter.

Lel has a massive body of work that I highly recommend you look at as he is a great talent with a wealth of experience. Also, keep an eye out for Lucy, she is working all over the place for various clients including the wonderful FAME Team. I have included all relevant links at the end of this article.

https://www.facebook.com/mutemedia
http://www.mutemedia.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/LucyCates
http://www.motmodel.com/models/detail.asp?model_id=6754

© Mute Media courtesy of Lel Burnett

My Favourite!! Vo5 Miracle Mist and Vo5 Miracle Concentrate

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am not particularly keen on washing my hair. I remember as a child and my poor mum trying to wash my long hair over the side of the bath, I absolutely hated it! Well nothing has changed, but now I have the responsibility of looking after my hair.
My whole family have been fortunate to be blessed with thick, healthy hair with varying degrees of curliness, inherited from both mum and dad, however I do find my hair somewhat unruly, dry and never naturally shiny. I spent my teenage years straightening my hair daily and frazzling the ends because I was too insecure and foolish to realise how lucky I was to have natural waves. Thankfully, teenage insecurities have past and I have adopted a rather lazy approach to hair care and have let my locks roam free.
Many friends have asked how I keep my hair looking healthy and long whilst remaining pretty lazy, I tell them I drink a huge amount of water, never use heat on my hair and rely on two little gems I have come across in the last year. Step forward VO5 Miracle Mist Leave in Conditioner and Miracle Concentrate Elixar with Argon Oil! These two products have greatly improved the condition and texture of my hair and I am yet to find anything to take their crown.

After I shampoo and condition my hair I spray the Miracle Mist Leave in Conditioner liberally throughout my my soaking wet hair avoiding the roots, then leave it to dry naturally. The spray is fine and lightweight with a deliciously clean scent, it never leaves my hair feeling sticky or weighed down, just soft and tangle free. Once my hair is "half dry" I apply a generous amount of Miracle Concentrate to the ends of my hair. This gorgeous amber coloured oil is so rich it is perfect for dry, thick, wayward curls, my hair just drinks it up. It has the same clean scent which lingers for sometime, the combination of both products leaves you with the ultimate clean smelling hair. I apply the Miracle concentrate throughout the day once my hair is completely dry, but that is my preference, I would recommend this if you have similar hair type to myself. If you have finer hair then I would just applying after it has been washed, so as not to weigh it down. I have been become quite addicted to the both products and now I'm on a mission to purchase every product from VO5 whether I need it or not.
I have added a link to the VO5 UK website if you are interested in the full product range, also VO5 Uk have a twitter account and instagram if you what to see exclusive insights into the brand and cute daily pictures. They were kind enough to comment on my photograph, love 'em.

 http://www.vo5.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/VO5UK
instagram: VO5UK

All opinions are my own*

My Favourite!! Revlon Super Lustrous Matte Lipstick

I have so many women say to me that they would love to wear red lipstick but it doesn't suit them, I always tell them its about finding the perfect red. This can be a little tricky because it is a case of finding the undertones of your skin and the undertones of your red lipstick to compliment it. This, I feel deserves its own article where I can blab on in great depth. However, I have found a red lipstick that so far has worked on pretty much all skin tones, from the extremely pale to beautiful, rich ebony. This lipstick is the fabulous Revlon Super Lustrous Matte Lipstick in Really Red 006.

 

Revlon is a brand that, I feel, consistently manages to produce modern textures and formulations with a huge trend focused colour range. I had picked up a few of the Super Lustrous Matte lipsticks (Nude Attitude and Strawberry Suede which is sadly discontinued) a few years ago when I first started building my professional kit but had never given the reds a look in, until recently. Really Red 006, is a rich, true, tomato red with neutral undertones. I found when I blended it into my lips it didn't fade to pink and there were no obvious "blue" undertones , it stayed a true red. It's a lot more comfortable to wear than other matte lipsticks I have tried, the formulation is smooth and creamy and doesn't leave your lips feeling overly dry. I would make sure you apply a liberal amount of lip balm before you apply it to ensure it definitely doesn't dry your lips, overall however it is very easy to wear and stays put all day.

Revlon is available from Boots and Superdrug in the Uk with prices starting from £6.99.
http://www.boots.com/en/Revlon-Matte-Lipstick_870980/
http://www.superdrug.com/search?q=revlon+lipstick&searchsubmit=Search

Noir

Last weekend ( August 19th 2012) I had the pleasure of working with 3 rather talented young ladies on a fun, electric and dare I say, creatively indulgent photo shoot. Elise-Rose is the quiet genius behind all these gorgeous images, using just a simple light and simple backgrounds in the way of coloured sheet and blankets, as well as using the plain walls of the set. Elise specializes in fashion and portrait photography and is based in Cardiff, South Wales, with her work being snapped up but a number of publications she is high in demand so I felt very privileged to be shooting with her. Lucy Symons, also from South Wales, was kind enough to style the shoot, using high street and designer pieces as well as her own one off designs. Each piece was so beautifully made, the prints on the fabrics were so amazing and Vicky, our model, was the perfect choice to wear them. Vicky and I have worked together numerous times and it is always a pleasure, the cool thing about Vicky's face is that she looks different in job she does.

Vicky has beautiful porcelain skin, so making her look "pale and interesting" as per the brief was not a problem. I prepped her skin using Clarins Water Comfort One Step Cleanser, Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Cream and Vicky's favourite, the cheap and cheerful Lacura Aqua Complete Multi Intensive Serum from Aldi(!)

Foundations used were Mac Face and Body in N1, I also mixed in a touch of White to match Vicky's pale skin perfectly, on the top of the cheekbones I use Mac Cream Colour Base in Pearl for a soft sheen. I set everything with a light dusting of Collection 2000 Translucent Sheer Loose Powder. I wanted to keep the eyes simple but really bring out the blue, so I simply put a thin layer of Mac's Metal X Cream Shadow in Red Hot Copper, I believe this now discontinued (sorry). The main feature of the makeup was the changing of the lip colour. We ended up using 3 vivid, densely pigmented lipsticks all from Mac (it's a bit of a Mac-fest, I didn't realise). "Heroine", an intense true purple, "Girl About Town", an AMAZING true fuchsia and "Viva Glam 1", an intense brownish blue red. I felt all of these, paired with the rest of the face, were perfect for bringing a graphic "pop" of colour to each image. I am so pleased with how the makeup looks in each shot!!

For the full set of images and more work please visit:  http://elise-rose.com/
For Lucy's full collection and other styling work please visit:  https://www.facebook.com/LUCY.ELIZABETH.SYMONS
For Victoria's full portfolio please visit:  http://www.alphaagency.co.uk/home/portfolio/victoria-c/
https://www.facebook.com/VLC.modelling
If you would like to more examples of my work and keep up to date with regular updates please follow me on Twitter  https://twitter.com/SophieCoxMUA  and facebook  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sophie-Cox-Make-up/195022410510660?ref=hl#

Stockists
http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk/
http://www.clarins.co.uk/
http://www.esteelauder.co.uk/
http://www.collectioncosmetics.co.uk/

Noir - Preview

Last week I was involved in an amazing high fashion, editorial shoot which actually took place in my lounge. A follow detailed post of the day will be posted tomorrow but for now her are a few behind the scenes shot.

(Please excuse the poor picture quality, they were taken on a phone)

Product Review: DHC Deep Cleansing Oil

DHC are Japan's No1 online skincare company, all of their products are based around the natural benefits of  olive oil. They pride themselves on using high quality natural ingredients and all products are paraben and fragrance free.

I have been a firm believer in using olive oil as a makeup remover, especially when it comes to strong pigments and waxy textures, it breaks everything down and thoroughly cleans the skin without leaving it feeling greasy. I was happy when I received a 30ml sample of DHC Deep Cleansing Oil in a recent order as I had heard great reviews and had been wanting to try it for a while. It is a rich blend of Olive Oil and Vitamin E.

It has a wonderful golden colour and a smooth texture, the only thing I wasn't so keen on is the smell. Obviously, with the main ingredient being olive oil it does have the tendency to smell like a salad but unlike pure olive oil, I found the smell does not linger at all. Much like other cleansing oils, you apply it with dry hands onto a dry face and massage into the skin. It dissolves every scrap of make up, including waterproof mascara! Add a little water and becomes almost like a milk that you carry on massaging and then rinse. I like to repeat just to make sure that my skin is ultra clean before I apply my moisturizer, this step is optional but I would definitely advise it. 

This cleanser leaves my dry skin comfortable, clean and SO soft. Over the 2 weeks it has hugely improved the texture and tone of my skin and I've found that I use less moisturiser. Overall I am so happy with this product and highly recommend it to anyone, no matter what your skin type is.

For further info visit the DHC website http://www.dhcuk.co.uk/DHC/ 

Bek Cochrane A/W 2012

I had the pleasure of working with the amazing designer Bek Cochrane back in March for her Autumn/Winter 2012 collection. The whole collection was very grunge inspired with an androgynous feel. There were lots of heavy coats and trousers teamed with soft floaty silky t-shirt dresses, my favourites being the vivid blue and murky grey. The collection was shot over two days by the wonderfully talented and humble Emilie Layla Lovaine who has a wealth of experience. Emilie's style is simple and straight to the point, ensuring every shot captured the clothes perfectly.
For the makeup Bek wanted something that would compliment the clothing but not take focus away from it. I decided to opt for a smokey black eye and fresh skin using a mixture of Iglot, Barry M, Makeup Forever and Illamasqua. I love to layer dark shadows over inky, pencil bases to ensure the colour is at it full intensity.  For the studio shoot I kept the eye very matte and perfectly blended at the edges, on location however I added Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream to the lids to give the look a more of a broken down feel. I didn't touch up the eyes at all throughout the day as I wanted to let it break down and change during the shoot.

Video shot by Emilie Layla Lovaine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6TB8gQ8v1Y
To see the full collection visit http://bekcochrane.wix.com/design
Models: Victoria Lindsay Coutts and Jordann Ebbit
Photography assistant: Anthony David Vaughan (behind the scenes shots courtesy of Anthony).

Welcome!!

Welcome all!
I have started this blog to document a new chapter in my life. I have been offered an incredible opportunity as a makeup artist and many friends and family have asked for me to keep them up to date, so here it is. If you like all things makeup, colouring and general ramblings then please feel free to sign up to my newsletter.

Love you all!