Pictured: L-R. Donna McMillan, Kelly McKelvey, Kirsty Wilson, Vicki Munro. Front:  Ruth Campbell

Team Scotland which is headed up by the 2012 Miss European winner, Deone Robertson, said the standard of make-up provided by the College in the lead up to the pageant has been first class.

Deone commented, ‘The girls kindly agreed to come along to our Charity Pageant Coaching Day, to provide support on make- up artistry hints and tips for aspiring contestants. The day was a huge success and we ended up raising lots of money for Cancer Research UK as well as passing on valuable info on perfecting pageant walking, interview prep, question and answers, mind coaching and fashion tips.’

Student Vicki Munro, 27 from Rutherglen said, ‘It was really interesting to get involved in the workshops - we could share industry tips as well as tell the girls what products to buy. I’m interested in Glamour Make-up, so this work experience opportunity for me was very relevant.’

Kelly McKelvey, 28 from the Gorbals added, ‘In order to grow our portfolios, it’s important we get exposed to as many different jobs as possible – and well, this was definitely different!’

The students made such an impression at the charity day, they have already assisted at the official Team Scotland photo-shoot and will be travelling to the Folkestone finals this October.

Deone commented, ‘I just knew after seeing how professional the students were at the charity day that I’d love for them to get involved in the next stage! The girls and the contestants were so happy to be working together again for our Kilt shoot. The pictures from this shoot will be used in all our publicity before we go down to the competition, so it was pivotal that the make-up be perfect.

The students set to the task with such professionalism - I can’t thank them enough for their support to date.

Ruth Campbell, 27 from Kingspark said, ‘This experience has been the perfect stepping stone into freelance pageantry. It’s been really rewarding and we’ve been able to meet nice people.’

The finals next month will see 100 individuals come from all over Europe to compete for the title of Miss European. 

HNC Fashion Make-up student Donna McMillan, 32 from the Gorbals said, ‘I loved the experience so far, it’s given me a really good insight into the industry. It’s also really encouraging to receive such positive feedback about our work. We are all looking forward to travelling down to support the team at the finals next month.

Janet Munn, Make-up Lecturer at West College Scotland’s Clydebank Campus said, ‘I’m really proud of the work the girls have done so far. There is a chance that Scotland will be hosting the championships in the next few years and we want to make sure our students are heavily involved in the project.

In the past few years beauty pageantry competitions have really started to grow in popularity in the UK. Because of this, only a handful of make-up artists have exposure to the knowledge necessary to master pageant modelling make-up artistry. It’s a great opportunity for our students.’