In February of this year I was lucky enough to win a competition with Glamour Magazine and The Body Shop to go to an event with celerity makeup artist Chase Aston and Some of the Glamour beauty team. The competition was in the January issue as a mentoring session, there were three different exclusive sessions which you could apply for these were careers and finance, fashion and beauty or health and wellbeing. I applied for the fashion and beauty session as I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet such industry greats!

The night was organised by The Body Shop to promote a new fragrance called ‘Dreams Unlimited’ and was described as a celebration of our hopes and our aspirations, it would deliver a burst of feel good factor that empowers and uplifts us to believe that we can achieve our unlimited dreams. The tag line for the fragrance was “if you can dream it, you can do it”.

After waiting two months to find out if I was one of the lucky 12 readers to attend the event on the 1^st of February I got an email telling me I had won a place and that it would be held in the famous Mayfair Hotel in London. I was very excited and could not wait to see what an event like this would be like. I was allowed to bring a guest with me; I chose a college friend who I knew would benefit from talking to the people who were there as she would love to become a makeup artist.

When I got to the Mayfair hotel I was amazed at how grand it looked, as the doorman opened the doors we were greeted by a beautiful gold and red foyer with plush sofas and staff waiting to help you with anything you could want. We were directed up to the second floor and as we were walked in we were greeted by a Glamour intern with champagne and asked who we would like to talk to at the event. I jumped at the chance of talking to celebrity makeup artist Chase Aston as well as the beauty editors and directors.

Our pictures were then taken and we were offered more champagne and escorted into a conference room set up for a presentation of the ‘Dreams Unlimited’ perfume, Chase Aston came and gave us a small talk on who he was and the celebrity clients he has worked for. At the end of this we were told we were all going to get manicures and makeovers and to enjoy ourselves.

I was first to be called in to talk to Chase Aston. He first asked how I was and immediately made me feel at ease. He then asked if I was having any trouble with any aspects of my makeup or if I needed any tips. I immediately asked if he had any advice on how to do the perfect winged eyeliner and he gave me an amazing trick of using the web of skin between your thumb and finger as an eye socket to give you an easy way to practise. He then explained that this is also an excellent way of showing a client how their makeup would look. We then continued to talk about what it is like to work in the industry and what’s expected of makeup artists, he gave me great advice to never get too comfortable and always have your own signature style.

I was called in to talk to the editors, although I was nervous I was determined to ask them all the questions I thought I would need to know as working for a magazine is what I see myself doing. I sat down and they asked me what questions I had, I immediately said that I wanted to work in magazines and would love a job like theirs. The first question they asked me was if I had a blog and I said yes, they seemed impressed at this which gave me a small confidence boost, I was then asked what part of a magazine I see myself in to which I responded the beauty department. They were both really helpful and gave me some great pointers in how to break into the industry, they told me to intern for as many different places as I can think of as the experience you get is irreplaceable.

I found the whole night an amazing experience and got some advice I never would have without attending such a high profile event. I was even lucky enough two weeks after the event to be asked to contribute a quote to the magazine for the April issue, as well as this I left with £100 worth of products from the body shop and a whole new confidence and fresh ambition to work for a fashion magazine. 

Hana

xoxo