Pretty Messy - a beauty shoot

So the other day a model I had previously done some portfolio shots earlier this year, approached me about doing another portfolio shoot and this time she wanted to do some beauty shots and she sent me a picture of makeup look from a photoshoot of a past Next Top Model show which she wanted to re-create.  The first shot above is almost an exact style crop of the original beauty shot she took inspiration from and then the rest we thought we might mix it up with some different expressions and hand gestures to make it her "own".

So for choice of a makeup artist, Jo-Anne Hardy (http://www.jo-annehardy.com.au/) sprung to mind, as she had done something similar (dusting the eyeshadow powder over the face) when we shot together last year the "Beached Beauty" editorial which appeared in Vestal magazine. I knew this particular makeup was delicate to achieve, it's meant to appear messy and uncontrolled when in fact you have to still apply control and precision as it walks a thin line of either being a pretty mess or turning into an ugly mess.

By the end of the shoot we decided to have some fun and smear some of the loose fine powder.  For me this makeup look is almost tribal, I felt like the model, Tiarna was putting on her war face and gearing for battle.

To shoot this, I unfortunately didn't have anyone to take behind the scenes shots of me actually shooting this, as it was just me and the model by the end of it, but I used two soft boxes, one directed towards a white paper backdrop and the other placed high and directly in front of the model (butterfly lighting).  I did however, take a few shots of the behind the scenes of the preparation / application of the makeup by Jo-Anne.

Hope you enjoyed our fun but messy beauty shoot.