Learning More About Make-up and Clothing.

 Due to the lock-down and stay in place dictates I'm under, I have time to do things I don't usually do.  I've been exploring certain shows on Amazon Prime, ones that I've wanted to check out but haven't have time.

I began with "Making the Cut".  It is one of those runway competition shows where designers are given a challenge to create an outfit and their final entries are judged.  Often times, they are asked to create a runway version and an accessible version.

They've worked in pairs and individually.  Each one has been pushed to step outside their comfort zones and expand.  The clothing they create from my point of view are very edgy and not to my taste but it is what they need to be doing to make it to the next level.

I watched one person get dropped because she couldn't sew or draft patterns.  I guess she just comes up with the ideas and has someone else do the pattern making. She tended to go for lots of sparkles and pastel colors with big bows. I didn't think her work stood out particularly. Another went because his work didn't pop.  I've watched the first few episodes so far.

Currently, I'm starting the second season of "Gok's Fashion Fix".  I loved the first season because every week Got created four complete off the rack outfits to compete against four designer outfits.  He maintained, one can buy off the rack and with a bit of adjustment, the outfit can be as good as designer outfits costing hundreds and thousands of pounds. Furthermore, every week featured a different focus such as work clothes for the office.

Gok could spend no more than 800 pounds total for all four of his outfits including shoes and all accessories.  Then at the end of the episode, there'd be a fashion show with all eight outfits.  The audience had no idea which outfits were expensive and which were affordable.  The audience decided the winners by voting.  He won every competition in the first season.

I loved the way he shared ways to make off the rack clothing look far more expensive.   He'd take cloth flowers, sew them to a plain dress and to an added over the shoulder strap.  Voila, it looked so much better.  I even discovered that when you add a belt to the outfit, it can cover a seam where the bodice meets the skirt which is one thing to say it is off the rack.

He even layered things over dresses, put sheer blouses on upside down or back to front, threw on some bling, added things to shoes and the end result was so exciting and popped.  I'm getting ready to start season 2 tomorrow.

Then I found "Make me over, make me under" with Isobel Bedoya which I found quite helpful.  It is only about 10 minutes long but in those 10 minutes, the Isobbel does two make-overs.  For the first one , she helps someone who doesn't normally wear make-up and in for the second one, she takes someone who has overboard make-up and hair and helps them take it down to a more normal look.

For each step, she talks about foundations, primers, contouring, concealers and so much more.  She names each product she uses so you know what to buy and she includes the information on the shade.  I learned when doing eye shadow, put a transition color on first and then you put the normal eye shadow over it.  She shows how to add a bit of light color in the corners to make things pop more.

I learned there is an eyebrow template one can use to make sure you get the perfect eyebrow.  She used this on one person who had shaved her eyebrows and replaced them with checkered ones. I wouldn't be surprised to find out they have an eye liner template to help create the winged ones.

I like the short episodes and I plan to watch the series again because I can pick up additional tips to make my makeup look more professional.  I hope you get a chance to check these out.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.