Your questions, answered! (Part 1)

I'm back in Australia (well I think I'm back, the jet lag still thinks I'm in Paris). My kit made it back I one piece with no eye shadow casualties to speak of. A great tip if you are travelling with MAC Mineralized Skinfinish Powders: put a cotton pad/round inside the case — it really helps stop any shattering when baggage handlers don't understand the word "fragile"!

Thank you all so much for all your comments and questions — I am going to try and answer some of your requests.

I was asked about the models a lot — what are they really like, do they have super-human skin etc. Well, the plain truth is (unlike what the populous are led to believe) that the girls are lovely and sweet. Most are very excited to be at the collections as they know they are one in a million to get that kind of work, and they relish every minute of the opportunity. Most are teenagers and suffer the same anxieties over skin that a lot of teenagers do. Yes, they have break-outs from time to time just as we all would; however, they are one in a million, in the lucky gene pool stakes, and do have fantastic skin. As a make-up artist we have to take special care of their skin during the hectic time of fashion week as the skin can get very stressed and reactive during this time. Often make-up is on and off five or six times a day or more every day for a month. I always use very gentle, un-fragranced skincare that will not upset reactive skin. The skin sometimes gets a little surface dryness as a reaction to the fashion week requirements so I always use a lot of mineral water spray misted on to the face to super hydrate and cool it down. I have also been using a new MAC essential oil that is coming out later in the year. A few drops of this into the foundation and moisturiser proved really effective at diminishing such sensitivity and dryness.

Another question was about brushes and tools to create the smoky, blown-out make up I have talked about being one of the major trends, and also how to apply it to get this frameless application. The best brushes to use are soft, fluffy brushes that have a lot of flexibility to them (look for brushes that resemble a fat quill pen). I used the following MAC brushes to get the effect: #217, #225, #224, #222. To create this look, start with the palest in your colour palette of eyeshadows (eg. a soft, dove-grey such as MAC Velour Eyeshadow was a big backstage favourite). Wash this all over the eye area, avoiding the brow bone. You can even run the same fluffy brush under the eye creating melted-looking eyeshadow definition rather than a hard eyeline. Then layer your mid-toned eyeshadow in the same way, concentrating on the outer corner of the socket, under corner of the lower eyelid and in the socket line. Accent your deepest tones last in the same area, applying sparingly. Make sure there is no obvious difference between the colour tones, it should feel that at a distance, it looks just one colour, but has definition and shape without a frame.

Read more about how Nicola became a make-up artist ...