MUA Moans | The True Cost of Make up artistry

Since embarking on my new make up artistry journey over these last few months I really do feel as though I've seen it all, the good, the bad and the ugly (i.e. unblended shadow, unblended shadow EVERYWHERE!) But in all seriousness today, I'd quite like to address a post that sort of made my blood boil recently on one of the many many MUA / wedding forums on Facebook relating to one bride in particular who quite simply saw her wedding and make up for the day as a god given right. 

The post in question was from a lady down south who wanted to give one 'learning but highly skilled' make up artist the privilege of working on her face for her wedding FREE of charge instead paying the artist in exposure, and her reason? She does not have it in her allocated wedding budget to pay a make up artist but is quite happy for whichever poor soul she is able to rope in to this utter, utter scam to take pictures of her on her big day. Now I'm sure all of you creatives out there have come across this at some point in your life, and it is RIFE in the wedding industry, with a lot of brides expecting free trials, free alterations, photographs, you name it! After seeing this post and understandably feeling a bit tetchy I sat down to write this post and basically outline the main three reasons make up artists charge what they charge.

Time

Time is quite a large factor when it comes to charging for various make up artistry. For example an evening make up will take less time than a bridal appointment. But people forget that it isn't just time spent with your client, it's time drawing up face charts and contracts, it's time sitting down with your client and discussing their requirements, it's time sanitizing your kit and making sure you're giving your client the best possible experience and service, and particularly for those working in a salon or studio, for brides it's time spent away from that salon.

High Quality Products
I've seen people screw their faces at being charged £30 or so for occasion make up, but did you know that some of the individual products your artist is using can cost upwards of £30, particularly if they stock brands such as MAC. So you're not just paying for time, application and knowledge but the products too. Some artists will use your own foundation and your own products if you request this and they'll charge you at a lower rate but generally you want the best of the best for your big day or event and at the end of the day you're paying for use of their kit.

Expertise
Just like any other profession you're paying your artist to use knowledge they've studied and acquired through various courses, degrees, training and painstaking hours spent getting those flicks on fleek! Basically your artist has put a great deal of work into their craft and it ain't cheap for them either. It's a bit like if you hired a decorator to help you achieve the dream home you've always wanted, would you expect this service for free, or ask your handyman to do this for the experience? Probably not.

Now obviously this is a very quick, thrown together and basic list of just why you're being charged that £30, but there is so much more. From advertising and marketing yourself to researching new products, keeping on top of the current trends, travelling to various locations, replacing disposables on a weekly basis and generally working your arse off to man and own your one person business (and guys that's the TIP of the iceberg)

Have you ever had your make up done professionally? Did you find it was worth the money or were you left questioning why you were charged so much? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below, come share your brain with me on Twitter, or if you'd like to see more faces you can visit me on Instagram and Facebook.

Until next time folks.

H. Adams Make Up Artistry x

Granite City Girl's Wedding Photo Diary

 Reminisce with me today as I share my favourite memories from our wee wedding and Cornish adventure a year and a half into married bliss in celebration of all things love this Valentines! 

No wedding is without faults, and for our first wedding blunder I give you our vows; during the recital of our vows the registrar called me Emma... queue awkward silences and Friends references!

Until next time folks, sincerely,

Mrs H.Elizabeth Cosgrove Adams x

Make up application | You're doing it wrong!

This is something that I have been meaning to post for such a long time now, it's something I myself only learned last August before I was about to get married from my make up artist for the day, and let me tell you this one tiny make up tip and beauty blunder, that I'm guessing more than 90% of the nation get wrong, can revolutionize the way you do your make up on a daily basis. Now let me just start off by saying I realise most of you who read this will roll your eyes and think that is ridiculous I'm not doing it that way nor will I ever, but just trust me on this, try it for a week, a couple of days even and it will save you time, product and ultimately money! Sounds too good to be true right? Well you'll soon see for yourself.

I remember having my make up trial and wondering of all wonders what on Earth is this woman doing to my face? That weekend I had been suffering quite a bad breakout of immense and stress inducing proportions, so much so, that I thought my wedding make up artist wasn't going to touch my face with a barge pole let alone product, and I panicked a little when the first thing she did was come at me with some eyeliner and shadow products. But what about my base, 'bout my base? I said (lyrically) and it was just then that the obvious dawned on me, you're supposed to apply your eye make up first aren't you? Yes siree bob that thur is a hole in one! My make up artist then went on to enlighten me and my maid of honour that by applying your eye make up and brows first you're less likely to smudge your base and muss up your eyeliner. Logic right?!

At first I thought, ugh rubbish that won't make any difference to me, but being a lifestyle blogger and an I'll give anything a go once type of gal I thought I would make the effort and try it her way for one week. And guys, it has changed my life (well my face at least) I used to be plagued by eyeshadow dust, blasted by clumsy finger smudges and don't even get me started on those eyeliner fails, but with this technique this is a thing of the past. Because I haven't had to touch up and re touch up my base I've actually been saving an incredible amount of product as well as time and money (see I told you we'd circle back around to this)

Have I dazzled you? Maybe, maybe not, maybe you're sat at home thinking, as I did, what a load of rubbish I need a base from which to build my facial empire, and so to all of you naysayers I challenge you to one week, that's right just one week of trying things my way and just see how different your make up routine becomes. If you take on my challenge or just want to have a chat about this beauty base technique be sure to leave your comments and experiences below, come share them with me on Twitter or if you'd like to be dazzled some more be sure to follow Granite City Girl on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, revolutionising my own facial empire.

H.Elizabeth x

Granite City Wedding | What one year of marriage has taught me

Life, as you all know, is full of lessons. From seemingly teeny tiny things like learning how to wake up with your alarm for once (this one, many of us are still mastering) to much larger lessons like how to cope with the loss of a loved one (another sadly none of us will ever fully master) but today as my husband and I celebrate our first wedding anniversary I'd like to share with you a few little life lessons that our first year of marriage has taught me personally and hopefully uncover some of the myths that often surround life after 'I do'

Marriage changes the way other people see you, particularly if you're a woman
The inane pressure you have to settle down and make babies becomes far more apparent once that ring slides on your finger and it really shouldn't. People start cooing and awing any time they see you in any proximity of a small child or worse still a baby and cult like chants of 'you're next' become the norm, questions of when rather than if or do you want to dominate conversations, but marriage, as I'm sure the educated of you are aware doesn't equate to babies all of the time, and it's funny because my husband hasn't been subjected to such questions, quizzical looks and general torture to my knowledge.

The terms 'husband and 'wife' will never not make me squeak just a little

Not in the negative ugh I hate being someones wife or I hate having a husband, but in that it never sounds normal. Being introduced as 'my wife' or introducing my signo as 'my husband' sounds bizarre but in a very sweet, uncomfortable, odd way right? A little bit like I imagine Edward Scissorhands feels in his day to day life!

Marriage can mean anything you want it to mean, it is what you make it
Tradition dictates that marriage means a woman being under a mans thumb, the man being the sole provider and the wife acting as homemaker and quite often when people hear I am married this still conjures up images of a bored, sexless housewife, but I've got news for all you nay sayers, marriage can be anything you make it. Much as we have seen in celebrity news from Will and Jada Pinkett Smith it can be one thing for you and a something completely different to your neighbour. For us marriage means a partnership to share in lifes ups and downs and someone to have all of the experiences life can offer us together.

So guys I hope you have enjoyed this off beat anniversary post and I'd love to hear from all of you single or married how you feel about married life? Are you someone who doesn't believe in the 'institution' of marriage, I'd love to hear your thoughts, or like me are you someone who has faced bias and misconceptions about your own marriage it'd be interesting to hear your experiences. Be sure to leave your thoughts, comments and experiences below, come share your feelings with me on Twitter, or of course if you'd like to keep up with the latest Granite City Girl posts you can follow them on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, remember kids marriage is what you make it.

H.Elizabeth.

GCityGirl Catch Up

Hello lovelies, and thank you for being oh so patient with me while I have been off gallivanting and having all sorts of milestones, events and well just adventures really (also my laptop broke) Apologies, but rests assured I am well and truly back and you have my (almost) undivided attention!

So today's post is going to be a shameless justification of why I have abandoned my blogging duties and neglected to share with you my lovely life updates. 

Here goes nothing:

1) All of my hard work finally paid off and I graduated in Communication and PR with a 2:1 Honours Degree. Woop!

2) My lovely friends treated me to a very suave and sophisticated hen weekend in Edinburgh

3) Shortly after my nearest and dearest took a 13 hour train journey to celebrate my marrying the love of my life in the most perfect Cornish wedding there ever was, has or will be! 

4) I swapped careers a couple of times, but have finally settled into a job I am super happy in and actually get to use my degree

 (More exclusive than the Jolie - Pitt wedding)

All in all ladies and gents a whirlwind few months for me, I hope all of you guys are keeping well and if you've celebrated any big days, milestones or had a fantastic moment in life recently I'd love to hear about it. Drop me a comment below, be sure to catch me on the Twittersphere or if you want to see more keep up with me on Bloglovin

But for now I leave you with a wee collage of the past few months (above), hope you enjoy.

H x

Valentines Day - A Granite City Romance

Happy Valentines Day everyone, today I thought I'd do something a little bit different to the traditional 'valentines day look' blog post and instead tell you a bit more about my own love life in the form of documenting my relationship milestones in photographs thus far. 

Going Courting: Year 1

First things first, Nick and I met a fairly generic way in a bar in Summer...while he was clad in lycra and dressed as one of the greatest cult superheroes of all time, Spider-man. Indeed I love the eccentric and meeting a man in dressed lycra, on a Summers night, for no particular reason...well naturally this was a pairing that was meant to be (plus the comical link of Spider-man and redhead Mary Jane)

Going Steady: Year 2

This year Nick and I came a long way in our relationship, as a very talented watch maker I received the most thought out and personal gift, a custom watch as you can see above (he's a difficult gift giver to top!) For our first anniversary we hired bikes and embarrassingly Nick taught me how to ride one... (when I say I'm a city girl I mean it in the most literal sense) And on another milestone, we took our first couples holiday to Rome. City of romance and rejection I'm afraid (My attire wasn't appropriate enough for his highness the pope..oops) But lovely none the less the Trevi Fountain is on my list of top favourite romantic places.

Going Down the Aisle: Year 3

Last year marked one of the best years of my life as you can probably guess. On taking a trip to London for our anniversary Nick proposed in the only way I would have expected, while we were eating pizza and he was dressed as Spider-man. Best holiday ever! (to end on a high I'll tell you the top right pic is us at the Rocky Horror Picture Show)

And here are some of the other bits in between

I hope everyone else is having as fab a Valentines day as I am, I look forward to the next 3 years worth of milestones Nick and beginning the rest of my life with him as from August this year.

How have you guys been spending your Valentines Day, drop me a comment below, send me a Tweet or if you want to keep up with my posts follow me on Bloglovin

H.Elizabeth