Hey everyone!

Over the summer I worked for a cosmetics agency that mainly deals with counter jobs. However, I got super lucky and got called and asked if I wanted to work on a new reality TV show that is coming out in November… oh, and it was PAYED! Obviously I didn’t have to think of the answer for too long, since working for TV is one of the things I so desperately want to do. As a budding makeup artist I tend to say YES to every opportunity that comes my way, but this was a definite dream come true, and I was ecstatic (and petrified) for the big day.

We were told to be there at 11, but the night before I got a call from the key makeup artist to let me know that the schedule had changed and we had to be there at 8 am instead. No problem, except that this place was miles away and this meant I  had to leave the house around 5:30. We were also told that we would be filmed as well, so I wanted to make sure I looked my absolute best- which meant setting my alarm for 4 AM. This was definitely the earliest I have ever been full glam, and people on the 6 am train were definitely a bit surprised to see someone with a full face including lashes on the way to the middle of nowhere.

One of the other amazing makeupartists called Priya and I. At this point in the day my hair was no longer straight and my makeup definitely wasn't as full glam as it was at 5 am!

I travelled with the head makeup artist, who was a lovely guy, and after nearly two hours of travelling (and only getting lost a little bit), we arrived at the venue- a big restaurant with a bar/party room in the back, which would be our area for the day.

After setting up we had to make the shows presenters look, well, presentable. I was terrified as this was my first ever time doing any kind of makeup for real TV, but luckily I only had to do a few touch ups and a bit of powdering. After the presenters we had to wait about 4 hours until the contestants came and we got to work again. 

There were 5 of us, and luckily all the other makeup artists were really lovely and we all got along. There were probably around 60 contestants (male and female) for us to touch up and make TV ready, and after the first few I got into the swing of things and started enjoying myself.

 

 The contestants went off to do their thing, and when they came back for the bathing suit round we had to touch up their makeup and oil up their bodies. Yes, you read that right. The show is some kind of fitness competition, and this meant some of my job consisted of oiling up muscular men (and women). Poor me.

We finished around 7 O’ Clock, and thankfully the producers were incredibly happy with our work. This made us all feel so relieved and we were so glad to have had a successful day.

I got home at 9:30 from a 16 hour day and pretty much fell asleep straight away. Even though it was an incredibly long day with a lot of waiting and hard work, it was such an amazing experience, and has reaffirmed my dream of working for TV even more!

Lots of  love,

Rowan