A couple of days with l'oreal id artist, gareth williams
Published
19th Aug 2015
by maryforester
It was Monday morning, 10am and it was time for the L'Oreal ID Artist family to meet once again. It seemed crazy that I started my ID Artist journey a year ago. We gathered at the L'Oreal Academy in Hammersmith, London to welcome the newest recruits to the ID Artist Programme over coffee and cake; readily feeding our brains for the exciting knowledge we were about to be exposed to.
We were welcomed by Cass, Stuart and Chelsea who outlined the next two days. Eagerly awaiting the inspirational live demos, the ID team welcomed Adam Reed to the stage. Hair genius Adam, showcased some stunning examples of work. We gained a real insight into his beautiful ethos about hair, here are some of my favourite looks:
Representing powerful women that embody sex appeal and authenticity, Adam clearly portrayed his influence of iconic women. It was such an honour to feed off of his knowledge; this man is an encyclopaedia of hair and then some. We were all so grateful for a man who is so busy to be dedicating his time to the ID Artist team - thank you Adam!
The stage was then graced by Jenny Pelter and Steve Rowbottom. Jenny, who is a colour wizard, and Steve, technically brilliant, gave us an insight into the Westrow Artistic Team and brand portfolio. As a Colour ID Artist, I sat there fascinated. Jenny coloured five models live on stage - FIVE! I told you she was a wizard. Jenny's main message was, less is more, she created bespoke colour that complimented Steve's beautifully graphic haircuts. Clever techniques, creative colour concoctions and an inspiring story made for a truly inspirational presentation.
Jenny, Colour Director for Westrow, then coloured a hair weft onstage, directly painting onto the hair a mixture of squares and rectangles. This was visually powerful and something I had never seen onstage!
The result? Stunning! Precise placement and a fabulous colour palette made for real statement hair.
After lunch the L'Oreal Professionnel team gave an interesting presentation on using colour to contour face shapes; something we at Headmasters are very passionate about. We also had the pleasure to see make-up guru, Nibras perform live make-up contouring techniques onstage. It was so dramatic to see the difference in face shape, just by using make up.
After lunch the L'Oreal Professionnel team gave an interesting presentation on using colour to contour face shapes; something we at Headmasters are very passionate about. We also had the pleasure to see make-up guru, Nibras perform live make-up contouring techniques onstage. It was so dramatic to see the difference in face shape, just by using make up.
The day was wrapped up by seeing a final hair piece extravaganza by Adam Reed, and the Westrow team showcasing their finished looks.
What an amazing end to day one - now it was time to check into the hotel and get our best shoes on; let's go bowling!
Drinks and food filled the room whilst all the team tried their best to knock down some pins. I won't tell you how good I was at it, especially after a few drinks, but my team certainly did not win!
Day two was our chance to try out the techniques we'd been shown on the previous day, as well as the opportunity to be mentored by these industry heavyweights. Being refreshed and revitalised from our 'early night', the energy and excitement to perfect the new things we had seen was palpable.
It was an eclectic mix of tutorial heads, sectioning patterns, discussions, techniques, trial and error, mentoring, pushing boundaries and challenging ideas that definitely enabled us to leave as better colourists than we'd arrived as. The research and sharing of knowledge with one another created such a buzz, something that will certainly spill over to the up and coming tour and something I'll take back to the Headmasters team.
Drinks and food filled the room whilst all the team tried their best to knock down some pins. I won't tell you how good I was at it, especially after a few drinks, but my team certainly did not win!
Day two was our chance to try out the techniques we'd been shown on the previous day, as well as the opportunity to be mentored by these industry heavyweights. Being refreshed and revitalised from our 'early night', the energy and excitement to perfect the new things we had seen was palpable.
It was an eclectic mix of tutorial heads, sectioning patterns, discussions, techniques, trial and error, mentoring, pushing boundaries and challenging ideas that definitely enabled us to leave as better colourists than we'd arrived as. The research and sharing of knowledge with one another created such a buzz, something that will certainly spill over to the up and coming tour and something I'll take back to the Headmasters team.
Once again thank you to everyone, the ID team, Chelsea, Stuart and all the mentors for a fantastic two days. Now it's time for my bed!
