Update!

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate and that you're looking forward to the start of a new year!

Once again, it's been a really long time since I blogged, but I have just been so busy! The combination of work and completing the make-up course was quite a lot for me. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I put my heart and soul into everything I do and it all just ended up taking up all my time. I've just ended up making myself unnecessarily stressed out which has ultimately caused me to get nice and poorly - I currently have shingles which is so horrible! I'm hoping that I'll have some free time soon to start writing on here more often because I really do love it! I have so many posts planned out that I want to share with you, so fingers crossed it starts to happen soon!

So, what's been happening?

Well, I'm still working in retail which is fine for now. It's been very busy due to it being Christmas and then going into the sales. My illness could not have come at a worse time, but never mind, I'm trying to power through as much as possible!

My biggest news is that I finished the make-up course and......

Drum roll please.....

I PASSED!

I am so beyond happy! I can confidently start to market myself as a make-up artist knowing that my work is of a good standard and that I am practicing hygienically and maintaining good client care. I really enjoyed taking the course - the tutors were amazing and so knowledgeable, I learnt such a lot from them! And all the other girls that I took the course with were so lovely! I'm hoping that we stay in touch and cross paths again in the future.

I studied Level 2 make-up at the Jackie Hamilton School of Beauty which is in Norwich. I don't actually live in Norwich, or Norfolk for that matter so I had to travel from Suffolk every other Sunday to get there for 10am. Leaving the house at 8:20am on a Sunday morning is not the one - but I'm SO glad I did it! We learnt all about hygiene, client care, colour theory, face shapes/tones/types etc, cosmetic science - and so much more! We also (obviously!) learnt how to apply make-up correctly for 4 different types of make-up - daytime, bridal, evening and special occasion. We were also given the opportunity to unleash our creativity a bit and do an "Other" make-up, for which I re-created a historically accurate 1920's look. We then took a theory exam which was multiple choice and the following week we took our practical exam for which we showed an examiner that we could perform a full cleansing routine and daytime make-up in 30 minutes following high standards of hygiene and client care.

Now that I've passed the level 2 course, I have applied to do the level 3 course which starts in February and focuses more on fashion and photographic make-up. I'm so excited to start!

In the meantime, I'll be starting to launch my business and build myself up as make-up artist whilst I'm still at work.

Thank you all so much for reading and I'll hopefully be updating this blog really soon!

SOTD - Blue by Beyonce

IOTD - Zoe Sugg

The Start of Something New - UPDATE!!!

Hello kind readers!

I hope you are all doing wonderfully and have had a fab month while I haven't posted (that's my covert way of saying sorry for being lazy...).

I've been really busy! Working, socializing and getting ready to start my new training course. You may be thinking, "Training course?! What training course?!", wellllllllllllllll... I'm about to start training to become a qualified make up artist!!!!!! HOW EXCITING!

I've actually known about this since June, but I didn't want to write about it until the time came for the course to start. My track record of dropping out or chickening out of things is pretty darn high, so I wanted to make sure I didn't write a massive post about it, only to write another one telling you how much of an epic fail I am! But I start on Sunday and I'm really hopeful that this will turn out well.

I'll be studying at a small - but perfectly formed! - beauty school in Norwich, The Jackie Hamilton School of Beauty and the course will take place over the next 12 weeks. I go in for a day a fortnight and then complete case studies during the periods I'm not there. In December I'll take an exam and then if all goes to plan, I'll be able to start working as a pro MUA.

Over all the years I've spent trying to decide what I should do with myself, beauty therapy and specifically make up is something I've always come back to, and also something that my friends and family have always said I'd be good at. I'm not sure about that, but I do know that it's something I'll enjoy. I'm so interested in make up and it's honestly my dream to make a career out of it. In years previous, I thought it would be best to get a degree and then do something more "sensible", but that's so not for me. I tried it and it was a disaster. It's so much better to do something that you know you'll enjoy. So if that's going to university and getting a degree and then a job through that, then you should definitely do it. But if it's going to beauty school, or something else that's more vocational, then do it!

SOTD - Waterfalls by TLC

IOTD - Samantha Chapman

My faaaaaaaaavourite make up artist. Sam is someone I look up to so much, and if I can be even half as successful as she is, I will be over the moon!