Rick Baker Masterclass - Paris

On Wednesday 9th October I travelled with the Artists Liaison team from MAC Cosmetics to see a masterclass with the legendary Rick Baker.

I felt really honoured to be invited by Jo Scicluna, Christina, Francis and Dean. The other invited guests were Amanda Knight, Christine Cant and Sharon Martin. It was a real privilege to be invited and included with such inspirational makeup designers whose work I really admire.

We met at St Pancreas early morning and travelled by Eurostar direct to Gare Du Nord in central Paris. On arrival we checked into our hotel near Notre Dame and after a lovely lunch we made our way to the masterclass.

The venue was in central Paris in a club named Chez Raspoutine which was decked out in red velvet and gothic chandeliers, very apt. The music was a blend of gothic haunting themes that seemed perfect given the nature of the masterclass.

Rick Baker is the master of horror makeup and disguise, a true artist in this field. He has recently collaborated with MAC Cosmetics to design a range inspired by Halloween.

This is something close to Ricks heart, he enjoys Halloween each year.

The Spider Queen

This range is in the form of a Spider Queen Pro Palette of 6 colours, coloured pencils, acrylic paints and the wonderful chromagraphic pens in black. Rick completed this design on stage .

The Bride of Frankenstein

This design for me was incredible I had thought the stitched part of the face was a prosthetic piece but was achieved using highlight and shading techniques. Micheline was the model in the original video and was also brought over to Paris from LA to be Ricks model.

Zombie

Again using products from the Rick Baker selection for MAC we were mesmerised by how quickly Rick achieved this design using old school makeup principles of light and shade.

For the finale all three models lined up and Rick did a Q&A with the audience. He is a real storyteller with a history of the development of makeup in Hollywood especially recalling his experience of working with Michael Jackson on Thriller.

Rick gave us some very honest views of the industry and his origins and it was exciting to hear his passion for his craft.

Rick Baker is very family orientated and spoke of how his family engage in his work and also of their love of Halloween. In fact this year MAC cosmetics are hosting a special Halloween party in Ricks Makeup Studio. After the Q&A Rick took time to move around the venue and chatted to each of us, he is a legend and such a charming man.

This range designed by Rick Baker is available at MAC but will sell out quickly. They are great colours to have in your kit and I can't wait to play with mine. The range is in the form of palettes of eye colours, gothic lipsticks, pencils and acrylic colours.

The MAC team looked after us so well and we went for a very special dinner in the evening. I felt very spoilt and very inspired travelling back to the UK the next day. Big thanks to Jo, Christina, Francis and Dean for such an incredible experience, I am still pinching myself