Deer Photoshoot: Behind the scenes

For my additional final photoshoot, I have decided to create a character based on a woodland deer and to photograph it at a trout farm in Winchester which has a variety of different backdrops such as long grass, streams and woodland to shoot in. 

When designing the make-up and hair I wanted something striking yet simplistic to represent the beauty and tranquility of a deer, and I also had the idea that I wanted to create antlers out of hair to add an impactful and enchanted element to the shoot. 

For the make-up I started by mixing Bobbi Brown foundation in 'Porcelain' with a matte Illamasqua primer and buffed well into the skin. I then concealed any necessary areas. Next I used a L'Oreal cream contour colour to contour the cheekbones and blended. I then powdered the skin to give a matte look and went over the contour with a deep coloured bronzer to give a more chiselled look to the face. 

For the eyes I used 'Buck' eyeshadow from the Naked palette by Urban Decay and built up the brown colour in the inner corners of the eyes and the outer corners and under the lower lash line and buffed well to blend. I then took 'Naked' eyeshdow from the same palette and applied it over the lid and then pressed a white Sleek shadow over the top to give a halo effect to the eye. Next I took a white Inglot gel liner and painted small dots in the inner and outer corners of each eye to represent the white flecks that can be seen on some deers faces and chests. To match the white flecks I then used the white gel liner to paint the lashes white and to make the lower water line white to open up the eyes and give a more unusual, magical look to the make-up. To finish the eyes I used a corner of Paperself 'Deer and Butterfly' lashes and painted them with the white liner and stuck them to the outer corners of the eyes. For the brows I combed them into place and then found some tiny twigs and cut them the same length as the brows and stuck them on, using real twigs to keep linking the makeup with nature. 

Finally, for the lips I used MAC 'Stripdown' lip pencil to line and fill the lips, giving the model a slightly fuller lip for a more pouty effect. I then highlighted the cupids bow with some of the white gel liner. 

For the hair, I pre-made some antlers. I did this by first making the antler shapes out of tin foil, next I wrapped a few layers of strong brown scellotape on top to secure the structure. Finally I bought some hair extensions similar to the hair colour of the model, and I sprayed dry shampoo on them to take away the synthetic shine, I then backcombed them and wrapped them around the antlers and glued into place. For the actual hairstyle of the model I simply backcombed her hair all over and pinned into place and fixed with hairspray.