Defaf's delighted - and so are we. Congratulations!

The International Make-up Artist Trade Show at Alexandra Palance in North London was well worth battling the weekend weather for! Prosthetic designers Neill Gorton and Nick Dudman both appeared on Saturday, with Nick recreating work for Harry Potter on the actor Warwick Davies. Another highlight was Lois Burwell, War Horse designer. Meanwhile our former student Alicia Davies recreated her award-winning bodypainting design for PAM and another former student Amanda Turner took the stage to talk about her successful career in theatre. Our tutor Shaunna Harrison was demonstrating the application of bald caps and another tutor Jane Maier did a presentation about airbrushing techniques (sorry for the poor photo quality - awaiting another - this one doesn't quite show just how beautiful the application was!) ....

A few days on, and back at the studio the snow's disappeared from the courtyard .. the Fashion students are busy creating looks for their final photographs, and Max Campbell is entertaining our TV & Film course with tales of his work on the BBC's Holby City and the feature film Wolfman. You can just see the 'edible' arm he created in the bottom left of the frame ... yum!

Yesterday brought two BBC filming crews in and presenter Alice Beer here to talk to one of our make-up artist Jane Maier about her work ... it turned out the cameraman Jim is married to one of our favourite make-up artists (Kate Benton from PAM) and even one of the directors had met one of our tutors on a previous job .... a reminder of what a small world it is. Here's Alice interviewing Jane ..

The 12-strong Fashion course are in their 3rd week, with lots of models coming in and out. And they're looking forward to seeing celebrity make-up artist Arianne Poole later today - a really popular speaker who offers lots of tips (and a lucky few get to go out on work experience as well ..)

The TV & Film course saw Polly Earnshaw do a laid-on hair demonstration the other day .. one of the most respected names in the industry, we felt very lucky to get her! They've also met Philippa from The Wigstore .... and then yesterday who should pop in but their hair-tutor-to-be Renata Gilbert (who's just finished one job and now off to design a kids' programme in Scotland) who just happens to have a birthday today! Happy Birthday Renata!

Christine says .. you can get hold of gold leaf (and silver leaf) from art shops .. it's not that expensive - only around £7 for about 10 sheets ..

She suggests first applying an area of gold glitter to make a design - then break off tiny pieces of gold leaf and put them on top, attaching them with something like a tiny bit of hair gel (at Greasepaint we use one from MAC) .. best to put them randomly because it's hard to get a regular pattern.

Next, finish the look by texturising the gold leaf with the end of a brush to give a 3D appearance (so it's not flat on the face).

Gold leaf's obviously quite delicate - don't stand next to someone using a hairdryer as you apply it or it will blow away!

Here's Christine using the technique during a make-up demo ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ8FTaCJ9f0

Recently signed to Carol Hayes Management, Beth talked to the students at length, both about assisting more experienced make-up artists and working on the shop floor at the start of a career in make-up. She also divulged her 'hero' products - the items she'd never be without on a job ... they included several big brands, including Bobbi Brown, whom she used to work for! Beth did our 5-week Fashion course in 2009 and has done exceptionally well in a challenging industry, but is wonderfully open about her experiences and regularly gives Greasepaint students the opportunity to assist her. As she gets busier and busier, we hope she'll continue to find time to visit us!

It was fantastic Karen's been able to visit - we've all been looking forward to meeting her. She impressed us right away by asking all the students individually about their dreams for the future, and then later remembering what each person said!

For Karen's talk, the fashion students were joined by students from the TV, Film & Theatre course. They heard how she knew very young what she wanted to do, and how that decision led to a long career as a hair and make-up designer - she's worked with Dame Helen Mirren, Kate Moss, Catherine Zeta Jones, and appeared on TV presenting make-up masterclasses. She's also been involved on special projects with companies including M&S, Clinique and Rimmel.

Inevitably, the students questions addressed the challenges of a freelance career in make-up, and Karen gave advice on building portfolios and how quantity was what mattered. She stressed the huge importance of being ultra-reliable and never late (something all Greasepaint students will have heard many times before!). She also described her experiences of working with and without an agent which the students found very useful.

The joint consensus was that Karen's visit left everyone feeling 'focussed', 'motivated' and full of appreciation for her generous honesty and directness!

Another busy week of make-up .. it's our final week of demos and practises before we're unleashed next week for photos! Here are a few highlights ...

Monday begun with the modern 50s look - which was one of the looks to go with the modern 50s quiff we had learnt in the first week. This look was all about a bright colour washed over the lid, with a contrasting colour on the lips, but focusing on the eyeliner 'flick'. It felt great to experiment .. always bearing in mind what would suit our model's eyes.

Later in the week in 70s mode Christine showed us a demo of a cascading hairstyle created by sculpting the hair into a tight, high ponytail and adding brighly coloured hair pieces to our heart's content. It seems in fashion there's no such thing as OTT. This was paired with the 70s inspired make-up - the winged eyeshadow! Again this allowed us to experiment with a variety of colours using MAC eyeshadow and pigment powders.

We had fun using gold leaf on the face - we created a tear effect and then positioned the models in a line to envisage the effect of several models wearing the look on the catwalk. Continuing this theme of texture we did the 'shimmer' look. Using MAC strobe cream, our aim was to create a dewy, glowing texture on the skin.

One of my final looks was the Marie-Antoinette inspired creme to go with our ribbons and bows hair. This was a make-up which used only creme based products, with a bright Russian Red lip and a small heart drawn like a mole on the cheek. We then began to warp everything together, a demo on men's make-up and a timed practise make-up - 20 minutes to create a beautiful natural make-up ..

With a little trepidation, we head into week 5 - final looks and the professional photographic day ..

and while she was here she mentioned that two of her first professional jobs are showing soon .. Crimewatch and a Question of Sport tonight .. I gather there might be a brief on-screen appearance, so if you want to look out for her, have a look at the 'one I made earlier' plaster cast to the left of the real thing in the photo ..

A full course of eight students have started work in our downstairs studio this morning - most are already make-up artists, one is a dental technician looking to get into this field .. Stuart Bray and his assistants David and James start by demonstrating a full head cast. Poor Jess is told to brace herself and the chilly alginate stirred and mixed, then slapped (gently of course) onto her neck, next it's the nose - lots of care taken not to block the nostrils - then onto the rest of the face ...