It’s sort of ironic that Uma’s most striking image is that of a coke-ed up 90’s poster child, Mia Wallace. But to me, the more inspiring Kill Bill character, was what I really wanted to channel in this iteration. So I decided to combine both into this single shoot. I started out mimicking the famous film poster, and it sort of felt flat. That’s usually the issue when you try to copy something,.. you can’t always get the same flavour. It’s always better to put your own twist. So I put on “fake blood” (lipstick, actually ) and tried not to look so pretty. Who knew that not trying to look pretty is quite fierce! Images are self-portraits, editing was done to hide my acne scarring.

More than once people I meet tell me I look like Uma Thurman. It’s always annoying that you look like someone else, and not yourself. But for these series of self-portraits I’m going to confess: I’m not mad. I’ve been going through some personal issues, and it felt good to exorcise it in these images. When I was selecting the images, I felt that maybe the head on shot was too much, but I’m liking it more and more. There is something to be said about giving yourself permission to feel wounded and angry, yet triumphant!

Products used: RCMA 11 palette, K V D Contour palette on face and eyes. MAC brow Duos in Red Head and Brunette. Kevyn Aucoin lip pencil in Medium. Sephora Lip Stories in Yum Yum.