Yummy411: BCI 4th Annual Celebrity Makeup Symposium, Part 1

Okay family! I'm so excited that Tawanna was able to attend Bennett Career Institute's 4th Annual Celebrity Makeup Symposium! Unfortunately, since I wasn't able to attend, I asked Tawanna if she would be a special Yummy411 correspondent! So here's Tawanna account of the special occasion!

Saturday

The symposium started Saturday to sign in, get your kit and attend the meet and greet that followed over at Catholic University (no major training or instruction went forth).

At the Meet and Greet, a few of the celebrity artists were introduced. This also gave an opportunity for attendees to visit a few of the instructors product tables where you could buy DVDs, and other makeup products. The MAC recruiter Homa was there for artists interested in working at a MAC counter within the DC metro area.

Following was the makeup fashion show and makeup competition!

Click photos to enlarge! Do you see Billy B in there! (The last picture shows Mr. Chet Bennett the founder of BCI, to the far right.)

Day 1: Sunday (All classes were held at Bennett)

The entire group 250 attendees were split into groups of 12-14 people per group. I was part of the "Blush" group.

Our schedule for Sunday was:

-James Vincent - Editorial Makeup - very humble; very informative. He's with the Powder Group; www.thepowdergroup.com ; which is the group responsible for On Makeup Magazine. (The Powder Group is hosting the Makeup Show in NYC on May 18-19, 2008.)

-Lorena Simpson - Foundations - Freelance Artist, very informative, taught on training the eye to mix foundations to match the shade of your client. A very hands on class and extremely helpful! We were informed to buy our own little small clip lamp lighting like from the hardware store, so that you can see what your foundation will look like in lighting similar of that which the photographer will use -- because lighting when you do the makeup may sometimes be different than the lighting used when the client is being photographed.

-Aisha Ferguson-Building Your Kit - Amazing! So willing to answer everyone's questions. Very knowledgeable about the industry. We were filled in that we should always keep up with the trends and stay in the know of what is hot this season. By the way, lilacs and blues are what's hot, similar to the Naughty Nauticals MAC line. She trained us to take products and use them outside of the traditional purpose; taking your lip liner and using it as a blush instead; taking your lip liner and eye pencil and using it as a eyeshadow color (she picked the products out of my kit and I had to demonstrate to her how I was going to use the lip and eye color as eyeshadow). She also mentioned that translucent powder softens anything once applied (eyeshadows, blush).

Lunch time!

-Gerald Armstrong -Quick Hair for on Set - One word: outstanding! He pretty much spoke on the "unfabulous" life about makeup that no one ever sees from the outside looking in. That you need to be a quick thinker, fast when it comes to working on a client. Key things like, when traveling overseas for gigs, that you have a European adapter, otherwise you won't be able to use your electrical items since Europe has a different electrical socket. Doing research prior to going to a shoot, asking questions to the Creative Director on the professional shoot and find out what looks are trying to be achieved before getting started. You may be asked to do hair; even though your job is just the makeup. You may not be a cosmetologist, but you already know how to pull back hair and add a fake ponytail. You may need to fluff out hair on a Caucasian woman and use aerosol spay to hold, because if you use spritz and it gets in the models eye -- and that's a lawsuit.... Great stuff!

-Billy B- Building a Celebrity Clientele- Amazing, Amazing Amazing, (did I mention he was amazing?) This man is so cool, no arrogance about him at all, although he should have every right to be, working with Mary J and Beyonce as part of his celebrity clients. This seminar, all of the attendees were brought back together as a whole inside Bennett's auditorium. He gave us a pep talk prior to demonstrating such as: don't copy what he does as an artist, but to build and do the "things" that makes you separate as a creative makeup artist (he didn't say this in arrogance, but more as a mentor.) Learning how to work on "real" woman is how you build on being an artist (as opposed to perfect runway models). Working at a counter and touching real faces, that's how you build on your knowledge. Watching the trends, trying to stay modern, telling us that trial and error is how you learn. He demonstrated on a lady's face and transformed her into non-other than Beyonce herself! He used only one dark brown color to sculpt throughout her face and defined her under the neck! He answered questions as he demonstrated and stated that you start light and build and go darker if you have to, in order to avoid making mistakes. He says that once he sculpts and shapes the face, then he can determine where he's going to go next when it comes to eye color and lips, and that makeup application order doesn't have to always be eyes first, lips last order each and every time.

Want to know what happened on Day 2 of the 4th Annual Celebrity Makeup Symposium?

Check back for the details from Yummy411 correspondent Tawanna!