Put your slap on like a star

"The most important thing is making sure it stays on day.

"Now who's going to volunteer to be made up?"

I do my best to shrink into the background and look invisible but it's not that easy in a class of four.

Two minutes later, I am in the chair, draped in black apron, hair pinned back and Charmaine rapidly removing all trace of colour from my face.

She has been a professional make-up artist for years, working with a host of celebrities on films such as Harry Potter, Pirates Of The Caribbean and Four Weddings And A Funeral.

Charmaine is one of several beauty consultants brought in from the world of TV and film to lecture in make-up.

The classes are aimed at the public and qualified beauticians who want to learn first-hand from experts how to update their skills.

The advice includes everything from tips for teenagers to corporate styling, stage make-up and hints for the mature woman on how to cover up wrinkles.

Everyone else in today's class is a qualified beauty therapist. There's Sarah, 25, who owns Body Tips salon in Peacehaven; Jo, 43, who runs Toners in Newhaven; and Lynn, 46, who runs a business called Beautiful You.

Lynn confesses she actually prefers waxing to putting make-up ("I love it. I just find it really satisfying,")but along with the others, Lynn's there to update her skills.

Slowly coming around to the idea of being turned into Scarlett Johansson, I ask our leader Charmaine which particular aspect of applying make-up she is most adept at.

"What I'm best known for is putting on facial hair,"she replies, rummaging in a box.

"Beards and moustaches,I specialise in special effects."

Half expecting her to pull out a handlebar moustache and fasten it to my upper lip, I ask her what's the biggest challenge working with facial hair.

"Trying not to get too much glue stuck on your fingers," she says, trying to keep a straight face. "The job does have moments. You get people coming up to you on set going, I think my moustache needs to be put back on'and they're kind of blowing in an uphill manner as they're saying it.

"Facial hair can be quite itchy and actors often try and get out of wearing it. When you're working with extras, they'll often huddle at the back when the props come out and you end up acting like a guard on patrol shouting, You! Come here!' "

She pulls out a professional make-up palette with every colour of the rainbow and varying tones of brown.

Selecting a shade five times lighter than I normally wear, she sets to work applying the first of many layers of foundation to my face.

"The first thing to get right is the colour, the second is making sure you have the right consistency,"

Charmaine says. "Look at the skin tone. If you're working with a bride, ask yourself will their wedding dress be low? What you can't do is make them look all brown on the face when they're completely white below. It'll look terrible."

Finding the right colour foundation is one of the hardest parts and there aren't many of us who can honestly say they haven't experienced the day-glo outspan effect at some time or another.

The key is to apply it under the cheek, just above the neck, and slowly work your way upwards.

If the foundation starts to look a bit thick, Charmaine suggests dabbing a spot of moisturiser on the brush to even it out.

After much painting, brushing, blotting and blending and high-pitched shrieks of, "Doesn't she look flawless", Charmaine moves on to my eyes.

"As far as the eyes are concerned, less is definitely more," she says. "It's really important not to put too much foundation or powder around the eyes or you'll start ageing quickly.

If you have dark circles, use Touche Eclat or a similar light reflectant and dab it on the darkest areas don't rub it across the whole eye area and don't use it as a concealer."

If your eyeshadow always ends up looking too dry and caked, she again suggests applying a spot of moisturiser to the brush to even it out.

Charmaine then moves on to my eyebrows which, after a brief pause, she admits "could do with a bit of work".

One word of warning if you're a bride to be and want your eyebrows in shape for your big day, don't be tempted to pluck them the night before. According to Charmaine, eyebrows should be plucked well in advance in case disaster looms and then a week before the day itself.

Meanwhile, I'm advised to book myself in for a re-shape as soon as possible.

The words"plucking" and "hell" spring to mind but there's no time to delay, Charmaine is re designing my eyebrows with intent.

Having worked her magic making me look more wide awake and alert than I have done in weeks, Charmaine homes in on the cheeks.

She pulls out three different shades of blusher.

One is a rusty brown, another is a pleasant shade of pink and the other is bright red the kind of rosy tint you'd only wear if you were playing Little Red Riding Hood in panto.

Just as I'm wondering who on earth would wear this colour, I'm told to "smile", out comes the brush and the dreaded scarlet tint is being slapped over my cheeks faster than you can say Aunt Sally.

Bizarrely, Charmaine is proved right and the colour does in fact produce the required "ping" and glow she was after.

I ask her what made her choose that one. "It's the nearest colour to blood," she says bluntly.

"If someone's very pale, they can become quite translucent and you need to bring out their natural glow by opting for the closest colour to blood."

"We are trying to create the illusion of radiant, healthy-looking skin," she tells the class.

"Wherever there are blotches or blemishes, I have used colours to rectify it."

Using a greyish powder, she gives a lesson on contouring how to make a wide nose look thinner, a more mature face look younger and a wide face slimmer.

Next comes the bit I've been dreading most lipstick.

Ignoring my suggestions that a clear lip gloss might work best, Charmaine is obviously after maximum impact and is busy eyeing up a bright orange rusty brown colour I wouldn't be seen dead in.

After dabbing on some foundation as a base to make it last longer (great), she uses a lip liner to first outline the lips before filling them in with colour.

As pleased as I am with my wide-awake eyes, I fear I'm starting to resemble Marilyn Manson with bright orange lips.

For anyone who suffers from dry, cracked lips, Charmaine recommends Benefit's Buffing Lip Beads by Dr Feelgood Lipscription or smoothing on Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream. (Vaseline also does the job if you're on a budget.) She also recommends using a lip liner if you have mature skin as it doesn't "bleed" in the way that a lipstick does and create lines around the lips.

After Charmaine's finished the demonstration, the class gets to practise techniques on each other, while I do my best to remove the lipstick without anyone noticing.

Given that applying make-up is second nature to most of us, how much of a need is there really for a make-up school for the general public? How many people are actually going to fork out £64 or more for half a day's tips?

Course manager Judy Smith says there is a demand from women who want to reproduce the looks they see in magazines.

"The opportunity for the public to learn first-hand from someone who does film shoots with an Oscarwinning team is something Brighton and Hove is lucky to have because most of the nearest make-up schools are in Southampton or London," she says.

Some of the courses are geared towards women who are in careers where image matters cabin crew for instance.

Others cater for school leavers looking for hints on how to present themselves in working life, while others take inspiration from bygone eras of Mary Quant and Biba and present it in a modern context.

The curriculum also includes foundation courses in trichology, tinesiology, osteopathy and podiatry for beauty therapists.

And anyone who completes five workshops in 12 months will get an advanced make-up skills diploma.

"Our lecturers are make-up artists who happen to have the skills to do lecturing, they're not lecturers who happen to have make-up skills.

Charmaine could be making up Judi Dench tomorrow and I think that's the difference," says Judy.

So was it useful? The students seem to think so.

"I've learnt that less is more," says Sarah. "If you want make-up to last longer, you always tend to put more on you don't realise you actually need less.That's a good tip."

Delighted with my own, been-up-all-night' sultry eye look, I head home anticipating a rush of compliments from my flatmate.

"Oh my God," she cries, grabbing my arm. "Are you all right? You've got a massive black eye."

For further information, email info@thecityacademy.co.uk, call 01273 770020 or visit www.thecityacademy.co.uk