What does the word ‘hippy’ mean to you? Dreadlocks? A penchant for tie dye? Free love?? The English Oxford Dictionary describes a hippy as ‘typically having long hair, wearing beads, one associated with a subcultural rejection of conventional values and the taking of hallucinatory drugs.’ But I say look beneath the surface you will find that what makes someone a hippy is so much more than that. Indeed, the original hippy movement was born in North America and Western Europe as a counter existence to the more conventional and accepted modes of living which placed money and personal power at its core. Hair was worn long and loose and clothes became colourful and flowing in defiant juxtaposition to the clipped and uniform post war haircuts and solemn and formulaic garb of corporate and conventional living in the late 50s/early 60s. And obviously there were the drugs. New age mavericks such as Timothy Leary and Aldous Huxley were experimenting and challenging conventional modes of thinking and being through the use of drugs such as LSD …

If I had a pound for every time I have been asked how to do contouring makeup look in recent months, I’d be one very rich Becca! The majority of people asking me how to do this look are young girls, teens and women in their early twenties which I have to say makes me a little sad. Several of the young women I know including daughters of friends and the teenage girls I often make up in my wedding and prom work are fixated by this face shaping makeup craze which has been sweeping the internet of late with the prime source being one Kim Kardashian. Kim has become a viral sensation through the continual tinkering and adaption of her appearance from that extraordinary bottom and inflatable bosom through to her elaborate makeup which transforms the planes of her face with the clever use of light and shading. And it is undeniably clever. You only have to see photos of her without makeup (in which I personally think she looks very lovely) to see that …

One of the things I am very passionate about as a makeup artist is a move towards more holistic products which are safe for the skin and body in general, kind to the environment and which really work. And I am delighted to say that there are some fabulous ranges on the market these days. Over the years, I have worked alongside some wonderful mineral based brands including Bare Minerals and the English Mineral Company and fellow makeup artists and make up fans are often mentioning new holistic product lines to me which shows it is a growing market. I will talk more about the aforementioned brands and some of their counterparts a little later and introduce some of my favourite or ‘hero’ products as they are called in the beauty industry but firstly I want to explain why I am so passionate about raising awareness of the importance of safer, more sustainable beauty and why the time is now for making changes both from a health standpoint and for the future of this beautiful planet. …