The Magic

In Bloom – A Summer Colour Collection

I’m really happy. It’s been a month already, that this series of images was completed and edited. I was waiting for them to be published to talk about the process. All those colourful palettes you saw reviewed on the blog; well this is the reason why! Colour Collections are on the way!

Photography and Makeup by Ewa Bilinska
Model Rose at Dulcedo Models.
 

A YEAR IN COLOUR
In retrospect, I’ve been building up for about a year. Since I’ve been photographing and improvising, I’ve noticed that colour ideas were popping naturally, when I was “playing by ear”. On my journey into technicolor, I’ve been asking myself: how do I develop my own “colour language”. At first, I wanted to copy work that I admired. But decided it would be lazy on my part–and I do tend to be lazy. I asked myself: “What kinds of colours do I want to apply to a face? What is obsessing me?”. I obsess about flowers. And I wanted to bring these kinds of shades onto the face. That’s how I arrived at a Colour Collection inspired by flora. In any case, you can just try just the lip…. After all: Lilac is pretty hot. 

In-Bloom-Colour-Collection-Making-Up-The-Magic

GETTING OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE
I wanted to try mega-closeups… My comfort zone is  the “fashion portrait” format. I tend to use backgrounds or clothing as a sounding board for my makeup ideas, but I’ve never designed makeup looks that stand on their own, with no clothes. In this unstable position, I needed to work with someone I had already shot with, and with whom’s face I was familiar with. Rose at Dulcedo has beautiful lips, and a generous lid space to frame the colour work that I like to do around the eyes. She has the superpower to carry the most intense makeup looks and still look “natural”.

In-Bloom-Colour-Collection-Making-Up-The-Magic

In-Bloom-Colour-Collection-Making-Up-The-Magic

 

BUILDING ON A CREATIVE PROCESS
On the theme of getting out of the comfort zone: I decided to go against my slap-dashery, and to shoot over several days, as well as to try and plan my looks ahead of time. My goal was to experiment on my own, and learn how these flower colours worked. All these factors added variety to the shoot. It’s Rose’s face in all five images, but the camera angles and slight variations in lighting from day to day, create the illusion of different faces. Which is an unexpected result from working this close-up. 

 

In-Bloom-Colour-Collection-Making-Up-The-Magic

In-Bloom-Colour-Collection-Making-Up-The-Magic

FLOWER POWER IS GREEN
 I hadn’t noticed what made the images work together, as they were sometimes quite different. But after looking at all four previous shots, I realized that a shade of green was featured in each picture. My big lesson with this IN BLOOM “Collection” is that green is the perfect foil for any bright shade.
In-Bloom-Colour-Collection-Making-Up-The-Magic

GRATEFUL
I’m really grateful for Rose, who came to channel a flower muse, even though I didn’t know where this was going and we were both experimenting and having fun. We made some great recordings of these flower inspired makeup ideas. Thanks to Dreamingless Magazine, to have printed them in their magazine. If you wish to purchase a hard copy, please follow HERE.