Not so long ago I decided to take a makeup artist course, I
have been contemplating for a while now whether I should take it or not so I
finally plucked up the courage and went for it. I’ve heard that these courses
tend to cost roughly 1 and a half grand but there was only ever 1 artist out
there who I would even dream to be trained by, Lubna Rafiq ofcourse. I read through her course layout
and got the price, was more expensive than the others but honestly If you’re
going to do something you may as well do it right. I was so impressed from what
they were offering I knew it would be worth the price.
We had Lubna teach us 6 different looks and Uzma teach 4 hairstyles, the chance
to view it live AND practice ourselves. Guidance at hand when needed and knowledge
on what products to use, I, ofcourse, took advantage and asked loads of questions and they
never held back! Not only do you get what you pay for but if you’re clever and
ask questions they never hesitate to give more. I was especially impressed by
the fact that I went with a set of questions and Lubna had answered them all in
her tutorial without me even asking! They use high end clothes and jewellery pieces, Lubna even demonstrated how to do the hair with each look in front us so we can fully understand the value of a finished look. All the while creating her magic she continously gave us tips and advice of how to get the look right. Not forgetting the excellent business advice we recieved how to really get far. She cold easily tae your money but she leaves ou at the end of the day with enough tools to actually get somewhere afterwards. Someone who isnt afraid of spreading success, now thats my kind of teacher!
Coming from a textiles background rather than an art one has its own
advantages. I have enjoyed creating beautiful things and really appreciate the
value of designer pieces. Infact my love grew so much for the creative world I
became obsessed with every part of it, which is when I started to view makeup
differently. As cliché it may seem I finally got it, makeup really is an art
and the face, a canvas. Unfortunately my makeup was terrible regardless of the
amount of tutorials I had watched on youtube I could never quite get it right. Im
so glad I decided to take this course, the experience was so intense yet fun. Just three days of makeup leaves you learning sooo much and having been someone who really never paid attention to hairstyling wow honestly I cant believe how easy Uzma made it for us to learn!
After leaving LRA with such beautiful pieces in my portfolio my friends were
genuinely shocked that I was actually able to create these looks. Yes me :O
And theres one thing that the spec didn’t mention and that is the self confidence
they are able to boost in their students. I never expected such a high level of
moral support. Thank you for believing in me.
I would like to whole heartedly thank the entire team Lubna Rafiq, Uzma Rafiq, Shamila Yunis,
Samera, Safiyyah Khan, Zaf Shabir, Sorcha, Marwa Hamdi, Aman San, Charlotte Luck and James Rudland.
CrystalCrafts just got better guys ;)
Just wanted to also mention that the first 3 images are the looks that Lubna created live in front of me alongside 7 other students and the other members of her team. The two looks created on Charlotte luck was done by me with some assistance and then dressed and style by Zaf at the LRA studio and the final picture is a CrystalCrafts creation.. so decide for yourself, what do you think?
If you layering on top then there is a bit of a cheat where you can use
shape punches but if you're doing reverse applique I guess the best way
would be to use a blade to carve out your shapes. The best part is you
could probably make both types as long as you carve the shape neatly
you'll be able to make both an applique and reverse applique piece. 
