“Looking though the window at life. You look amazing to me” is the title given to this photograph by the model, Kira Wilkinson. Kira and I shared a chalet whilst touring Jo-Burg with Madame Zingara and when she finally returned back from the UK I felt privileged to finally work with her on a test. I really love the ambiance of this photograph, the lighting, the reflections in the glass and the neutral colour palette. I hope to work with this team again soon!

Main Make-up ingredients: MAC: Face and Body in C6, brow-gel in clear,  eyeshadows in “brule”, “embark”, “cork” and “shroom”, technakohl liner in “graphblack”.

Pro Tip: When you’re applying your make-up with a clean, natural or matt look in mind use a non-reflective eye-shadow like MAC’s “brule” and then apply a colour like “shroom” (which is basically the same colour in a more reflective texture) in small doses under the arch of the brow or in-between the eyes on top of the bridge of the nose. Doing this helps to contour the face, draw attention to specific areas and sculpt the face – and the application of a non-shiny version of the colour first allows the eyeshadow to “dilute” making blending and subtelty easier.

Main Hair ingredients: OSIS “upload”, rollers and hairspray.

Photographer: Anton De Beer

Model: Kira Wilkinson

Make-Up: Samantha Kaye

Hair: Samantha Kaye

Stylist: Kira Wilkinson/ Nicky-Anne De Beer

Location: Houtkapperspoort, Constantia Nek

2009

Robert made the cat ears him­self in order to get the spa­cing and direc­tion and tex­ture the way he wanted.

Here Kitty Kitty plays with a roll of Gaffa tape. Jemma is a fan­tas­tic model, she was rela­xed, is natu­rally beau­ti­ful and pla­yed kitty-kitty with into­xi­ca­ting conviction.

Main make-up ingre­dients: MAC #7 Lash, DUO adhe­sive, MAC paint­pots, MAC tech­na­kohl liner in “graph­black” MAC pigment in “Copperclast”

Pho­to­grapher: Robert Miller

Model: Jemma Pearce

Hair: Samantha Kaye

Make-Up: Samantha Kaye

Loca­tion: Snap Stu­dios, Woods­tock, Cape Town

Make-Up main ingredients: MAC #20 lash (half lash), MAC fluid-line in”blacktrack“, plushglass in “Ample Pink”

Photographer: Anzio B

Model: Emma Lombard

Make-up: Samantha Kaye

Hair: Samantha Kaye

Location: Anzio B’s studio, Cape Town.

Date: 2007

This is one of the images from my first shoot with Robert Miller. I’d seen the wig whilst choosing costumes for a “pin-up” inspired shoot at Annies, which used to be in the same building as Snap Studios. I kept the eyes neutral toned, and sculpted them with texture, applied some individual false lashes (I find the individual lashes look more natural as they lack the “spine” visible with a full false lash) to bring out the shape of the eyes and then matched the lipstick to the wig with MAC’s Amplified Lipstick “Girl About Town“.

Make-Up Ingredients: MAC creme liner in Cranapple, MAC Amplified Lipstick “Girl About Town“, MAC lipglass (clear)MAC eyeshadow: “Shroom“, “All That Glitters“, “Cork” and “Embark“, Prolong Lash Mascara.

Photographer: Robert Miller

Model: Samantha Laura Kaye

Make-Up: Sam Kaye

Hair: Sam Kaye

Location: Snap Studios, Woodstock, Cape Town

Year: 2007

Kira Wil­kin­son is a South African Actress who I felt pri­vi­le­ged to work with. She has an amazing body, accompanied by a powerful face and powerful soul. She pulls off this shot fantastically!

Main Make-up ingre­dients: MAC: Face and Body in C6, brow-gel in clear, MAC eyeshadow in “brule”, “woodwinked” “embark”, “cork” and “shroom”, tech­na­kohl liner in “graph­black”.

Pro Tip: When you’re appl­ying your make-up with a “natu­ral  look” in mind – where you want to sulpt the face with colour (ie a light colour under the browbone) but without frosting or noticeable shimmer  in mind use a non-reflective eye-shadow like MAC’s “brule” and then apply a colour like “shroom” (which is basi­cally the same colour in a more reflec­tive tex­ture) in small doses under the arch of the brow or in-between the eyes or apply a dollop of “woodwinked” – (a veluxe pearl and especially shiny eye-shadow in a colour fairly neutral to people with tanned skin) to the center of the lids. Doing this helps to con­tour the face, draw atten­tion to spe­ci­fic areas and sculpt the face — and the appli­ca­tion of a non-shiny ver­sion of the colour first allows the eyesha­dow to “dilute” making blen­ding easier and turning the shimmer into “amazing” lighting or bone structure.

Main Hair ingre­dients: OSIS “upload”, rollers and hairspray.

Pho­to­grapher: Anton De Beer

Model: Kira Wilkinson

Make-Up: Samantha Kaye

Hair: Samantha Kaye

Sty­list: Kira Wilkinson/ Nicky-Anne De Beer

Loca­tion: Hout­kap­pers­poort, Cons­tan­tia Nek

2009

This is one of my favourite portraits. It’s from my first shoot with Robert Miller, where I was doing the make-up and modeling with a variety of costumes and wigs for a “pin-up” style shoot. This photograph is in fact a crop of a photograph of me relaxed and momentarily unaware of the camera, walking across the studio to fetch a new hairdo, my hair was disheveled from the violent way I’d pulled off the last wig.

Main Make-Up ingredients: MAC studio fix fluid, mineralise skinfinish “lightful”(ltd. “Corps de ballet“), bronzer “golden”, sheertone blush: “blushbaby”, lipstick “House Wine” and “Kinda Sexy” and “Honeylove”, Lipglass (clear).

Main Hair ingredients: Frustration and Apathy.

Photographer: Robert Miller

Model: Samantha Laura Kaye

Make-Up and Hair: Samantha Kaye

Location: Snap Studios, Woodstock, Cape Town

2007

This is one of the first edited photographs, I’m keen to see the end 4 x 4 arrangement. Robert Miller made the cat ears himself.

Main make-up ingredients: MAC #7 Lash, DUO adhesive, MAC paintpots, MAC technakohl liner in “graphblack”

Photographer: Robert Miller

Model: Jemma Pearce

Hair: Samantha Kaye

Make-Up: Samantha Kaye

Location: Snap Studios, Woodstock, Cape Town

This is one of the first edited photographs from a series inspired by the Heidi Klum cat-ear shoot. I’m keen to see the end 4 x 4 arrangement. Robert Miller made the cat ears himself.

Main make-up ingredients: MAC #7 Lash, DUO adhesive, MAC paintpots, MAC technakohl liner in “graphblack”

Photographer: Robert Miller

Model: Jemma Pearce

Hair: Samantha Kaye

Make-Up: Samantha Kaye

Location: Snap Studios, Woodstock, Cape Town

2009

FHM/GQ style shoot for stock. Camilla is beautiful.

To work with the soft natural light, I used a combination of the following products to give her that gentle sexy glow.

Make-Up main ingredients: MAC eyeshadow “Mythology”, “Shroom” and MAC Pigments “Vanilla” and “Tan“. Face and Body Foundation. Kohl Pencil in “Teddy“.

Photographer: Danny Steyn

Model: Camilla

Make-up: Samantha Kaye

Hair: Samantha Kaye

Location: Japanese Gardens, Durban

2008