I was inspired to blog today, after working with a lovely lady who travelled from Hull to have a make-up lesson with me.

During her initial telephone enquiry she was very concerned about her make-up, skin and wanted to have a "make-up overhaul". She had been thinking about coming to see me for quite a while. She didn't really wear foundation and just wore a little bit of pencil underneath her eyes.

Irina's concerns included -

Is her 80's make-up outdated now?
What should she be using for skincare and make-up?
How could she make her sparse brows, (from over-tweezing) look better?
What is going on with the Instagram style make-up?
Should she be contouring?
How come girls as young as 14 are going to school wearing false eyelashes?!
Why do girls these days want to look suggestive and older than they are?/why do they wear so much make-up?
Why is everyone getting fillers in their face and botox? even at a young age?
Why doesn't anyone actually look like their photo anymore?/why do they lie and use filters?

It is a very common conversation I seem to have with a lot of my clients, and the only answer I come up with is social media and the pressure to conform and look a certain way, especially for the younger generation.

Most of my clients come to me, as they like the fact that my work is very versatile but also that I specialise in a "natural" looking make-up style. Something which I am very proud of and I guess, that sets me apart and goes in my favour, as I refuse to conform.

To me, real make-up for real women/girls should be there only to enhance what they naturally have, not to mask or to dramatically alter their face, e.g, like contouring can do, or applying too much make-up. (I don't mean to offend.)

Don't get me wrong, I love to experiment with make-up for shoots and creative projects, but I think that real make-up has kind of gone out of fashion it seems. It seems more is more! Make-up companies are cashing in on this!

For day make-up I love classic and natural make-up, for me, it's what I believe in and what I think that most girls and women look better and real wearing. "Make-up that looks like you, but better" - a quote from Bobbi Brown, which I still use today.

I simply don't see the point of dramatically altering someone's face, to make them look like they are wearing a thick mask of make-up with dark brows and dark eyeshadow, with dark lipstick and blush and lots of contour and highlight. That only suggests that that person's face has something wrong with it that needs masking or altering surely? And why do people think they have to do these things?...Social media! (No harm done I know.)

I suppose I am quite lucky in the fact that my 18 year old daughter doesn't wear a lot of make-up, (admittedly, she does wear foundation, but she certainly doesn't like wearing it, as she has acne.) But she has the best skincare routine and uses non-comedogenic make-up. Her aim is to just wear moisturiser and a little bit of make-up, perhaps a touch of concealer for any little blemishes, brow gel, mascara and a little bit of lip balm. That is it. She is not into the whole Instagram style make-up trend. (I suppose I have had a hand in that.) She wants to look like herself still, (thank goodness!)

Now, each to their own and all that but I just wished that the internet didn't exist sometimes, (or at least didn't have all of these images/videos.) You know the ones, the ones where theres a girl there, dripping foundation onto her skin and then bouncing a make-up sponge, then tapping her finger on her cheekbone, pouting, looking so pensive!....It's all a bit overwhelming I feel. I think it certainly feeds any insecurities and therefore unfortunately makes people compare themselves to unreal images and make-up trends that just do not do anything for a face...apart from drag queens of course. I do love a drag queen make-up...on drag queens!

And so, Irina sat in my make-up chair and I taught her each step, from using the right skin prep to the last step of applying a pop of lipstick. I only use a tiny amount of each product, and she looked like herself, and felt so great! Its all about using the right textures, products and techniques to enhance. She left still looking like herself, but she looked a better version of herself? I hope you agree.

Make-up can be such a confidence boost, its a very powerful tool, if used correctly. I just think that there is too much brainwashing going on. I am hoping it will all calm down soon and things will get stripped right back...wouldn't that be great?! Imagine...women/girls feeling like they don't need to post selfies all of the time wearing a lot of make-up, feeling insecure about their looks, waiting for those all "important" likes!! Surely being themselves and looking like themselves is better for their confidence than masking their beauty with a tonne of make-up?

Thanks for reading x

Let me know your thoughts. I would love to hear from you. E-mail - tina@tinabrocklebank.co.uk