Preparing the skin

Cleansing the skin before applying any make up is the first thing you should ever perform when you are working on a client. If it's not your make up then remove it!

This will allow you to see what your clients skin is like, is it dry, oily or is there a combination. 

By doing this and assessing the skin with nothing on it you can decide what products to use and what will work best. There are numerous amounts of skin products you can choose from such as liquid foundations, cream based, gel based and powder forms. You will know which one to use when you can see the skin naturally. 

When cleansing the skin always use one for sensitive skin, you are then covering all skin types with just one product instead of carrying around 4-5 different ones. This is much easier for artists as they can use one for every client and not worrying if it's too much for the skin and causes a reaction or even makes a skin conditions worse. 

Health and Safety 

- follow all basic health and safety routines

- when you have finished your cleansing routine put all dirty make up pads and buds in the bin straight away, you want a clean surface to work on and not have dirty consumables on the side that can look unprofessional

Important questions to ask your client before any treatment is carried out - 

1. Are they allergic to anything on - this can help you determine what products to use on the skin and which ones not to 

2. Do they wear or have any contact lenses in - making sure you ask your client this is necessary as you don't want to do too much eye work and get product in the eye as this can irritate it. They may even take the lenses out whilst you do the clients make up. 

What you will need 

- a gown/wrap to cover your client 

- 2 section clips to secure any hair out the way of the face 

- bed roll to cover your work surface 

- make sure your clients face is in the middle of the mirror 

- your skin cleanser, toner and moisturiser for sensitive skin 

- cotton pads 

- cotton buds 

Actions 

1. Set up your station with your products and consumables in a neat presentable way 

2. Put your cotton pads into pairs and put a blob of cleanser in the centre of each pair 

3. Cover over your client with your gown or wrap, make sure the clients hair is all off the face by using the section clips 

4. Stand behind the client, looking in the mirror and ask them to tilt their head back so you can see their neck in the mirror 

5. Get a pair of cotton pads and rub the cleanser into them both so you have one in each hand. Starting from the bottom of the neck smooth over their skin in upwards strokes removing the make up 

6. Then move on to the face getting clean pads when you need to, always using upward/outward strokes. Make sure you get into the eyebrow hairs and the hair line removing all traces of make up, dirt, grime and other things from the atmosphere off the skin 

7. When you have removed all the make up off the skin, put a small amount of cleanser on the back of your hand, using a cotton bud put some cleanser on it and wipe under the clients eyes, on the eye lid and in the eyes lashes removing all eye make up - if the client has a lot of mascara on you can give them a cotton pad with the cleanser on and ask them to give their lashes a rub to help remove it 

8. When all the eye make up has been removed get a clean cotton pad in both hands with toner on and using the same upward strokes remove all traces of the cleanser and any left over make up off the skin
9. Using a 5 pence piece size of moisturiser, rub it into your hands and then onto the clients face covering all areas including down the neck in nice massage movements

If you feel like your clients skin needs an exfoliation, ask your client to do so the night before or 2 nights before to remove any dead skin cells from the face and neck. You may even recommend they do it a few nights before as the skin will still be plump and red the day after and that can make your job harder as a make up artist to get a perfect coverage.

Now you have cleansed and cleaned the skin of all traces of make up, dirt and grime you now have the perfect base to start your make up.

Reflection

As I have already studies Beauty Therapy I did have a good idea on how to cleanse the skin already, but I did learn new things.
I did learnt how to cleanse the skin by standing behind the model rather than them laid down in front of me. I also learned the importance of the motions we use to remove the make up. Stroking the neck upwards with the neck stretched so you can get into all the lines to remove all the make up as you don't want to miss any areas. I also learned how to carefully remove the eye make up around the eye with a cotton bud, this was interesting because you think you have removed all your make up the night before or on the day with a wipe but there is still a large amount of make up still sat on the skin and in the eye lashes.

I enjoyed learning how to do this again and refresh my memory on the techniques that you have to use because it showed me the importance of removing all traces of make up off the skin because you don't wait it to effect the application of your make up.

I was unsure on how much product we should use but it all does depend on how much make up your model has on her face. It doesn't matter how much you use just as long as all the product is removed.

Next time I cleanse some ones face I'm sure I will be better at it, as practice makes perfect and the more times you do things the better and quicker you are.