Starting The New Year With a Social Media Shoot

Burhan Javid

Sunday was a breath of fresh air for the team as we finally got out and did some shooting with one of our regular models Burhan Javid, who asked us to help create some new content for his social media accounts. For us, it was a really good excuse to take dig out our little bridge camera and take some shots while we picked his brains over potential avenues we are looking at for advertising using editorial submission.

While we did keep the whole shoot casual and simple, it was still fun and gave us the chance to dust off the cobwebs a little and take the time to use an old friend of the company as a sounding board for ideas.

Interestingly, we have found several really smart options that will allow us to be creative and market ourselves with a minimal outlay for the fashion sector which as any business owner will tell you is a real bonus and will allow us to push a narrative of creativity that will be commercially appealing as well as visually.

*A little side note to this is we are going to be putting out casting calls very soon through one of the major networking and booking sites, our plan is to give new faces from the modeling world a chance to be showcased.

With so much potential for 2020, we felt this was a really good start to the year and will continue working on the new developments and concepts.

Creating an iKonic Show

When talking about fashion week or even the off-schedule events, there is one show that stands out above and beyond the rest: House of iKons. a stellar showcase weekend of fashion that is fast becoming a household name globally for their savvy marketing, press coverage and the divine array of designers whos work grace the catwalk.

From humble roots to a leading light in fashion in a few short years, it goes without saying that the talent-driven event holds a place creative director JamesC’s heart as he was there for the very first show working backstage as a makeup artist.

Through the years House of iKons has built a solid reputation for the shows and taken risks in film and music supporting various projects both inhouse and on a global scale with CEO and founder Savita Kaye taking on the line producer role for projects more than once in her career.

Giving a platform to the creative and working that tricky middle ground of commercial, it is within our sites to return to the fold and possibly pitch for members of our own team to work (alongside a sponsor) at the show which at this time has an extensive waitlist for not only the designer slots but the backstage area and we will be discussing the options with the CEO later in the year, although we most likely will be sponsors and front of house as a blog team.

With so much on the table with the lost creatives and our sister site Lost Project, we love the potential to showcase and it is little to no wonder that the House of iKons is top of the list for fashion bloggers and magazines with an ever-increasing TV channels like BBC worldwide, etc, vying for a slot at the prestigious show and a waiting list for the press pit.

To learn more about the iKons show or to purchase tickets see:

House of iKons February Ticket link.

House of iKons Website.

House of iKons Twitter.

House of iKons Facebook.

House of iKons Instagram.

Digital Magazine Research

In the grand scheme of editorial, it is a great tool for marketing when you handle it correctly and put a little effort into the background work of creating and then the marketing after the image(s) are published. Over the last week, we have been really carefully planning around this idea and thanks to certain websites, we have pulled together a list of potential magazines we will shoot Marketing content for.

We are putting together a budget for this, as its a marketing tool, we will be spending a little extra time and money to make this work the best for us as a team.

looking at this as part and parcel of running a business, we decided that alongside our social accounts, website and film plans (a separate blog will come soon on this), editorials are a great tool for putting out your information and showcasing the work we do and what we are planning for 2020.

Each of our planned shoots will be built around themes that suit the magazines we are targetting and interestingly there is an option that will give us front cover style images that can be showcased across the board on our social media accounts.

An option we are looking at which a few of the magazines do look for is behind the scenes stills and video to be included in the submission, which admittedly is a great concept and allows a greater degree of marketing to the images and opens up an interesting dialogue about shoots that we do love.

As creative director and head of makeup this also allows flexibility in changing up the products used, JamesC is looking to downsize some elements of his kit and bring in new products including the My Beauty Brand range for one shoot, in particular, offering an overall experimental feel to the shoots we have planned.

More updates will be coming soon on the forward momentum of The Lost Creatives.

Brushwork Cosmetics Customisation a Professional Take

As the creative director and senior makeup artist of the Lost Project and Lost Creatives, I do work in different areas from film and TV through to fashion and editorial. My working kit is something I am constantly working on editing it by adding or changing up the kit but one thing I am really big on is an investment in key components such as makeup brushes. With this in mind when I saw the news that Brushwork Cosmetics was offering customization throughout January, I knew I had to talk about it from a professional stance.

While I appreciate this is a limited offer (for the month of January) it is really savvy for artists in makeup such as bridal and salon, fashion, film, and TV, to take advantage of this deal and here’s my reasoning why:

• Customized brushes with your name on the handle are easy to keep track of when you're on a job or with a client.

• It adds an extra dimension, think of it, clients will see this and know that you have taken time and care over what you have in your working kit and shows you have invested in your business.

• This also allows you to add your brand to the brush and it becomes a subliminal part of your marketing when you post images on social media. People will be aware of your name and associate it with professional brushes.

As someone who is a brush aficionado, I do support and endorse the range and this added dimension of “tagging” is for me a fantastic option that as stated above allows you to keep track of your kit. Brushwork Cosmetics as a whole offers Japanese Heritage brushes and cosmetics that are beyond compare and offer a premium range of well-curated brushes and cosmetics that sit beautifully in a working kit with or without the customization.

To learn more about the range or to purchase see:

Brushwork Cosmetics Website.

Brushwork Cosmetics Instagram.

Brushwork Cosmetics Facebook.

The Westmores of Hollywood

For anyone in the makeup industry, there is a nod of reverence due to the Westmore family that needs to be done as we move into a new decade: acknowledging those whose innovations and skills have helped to drive our industry forward, defining and shaping how we view the beauty side of makeup as well as creating iconic characters and showing the potential of makeup in a cinematic realm, the Westmore family is amongst those founding clans that have changed the way we look at makeup and created an art form second to none with a flourish that has spanned over a century in film and TV.

Icons of cinema and TV makeup, they are often overlooked in the public domain but remain firmly (and rightly), a part of cinema history with a continuing stance of professional standards that echoes across the world.  Hollywood royalty is a term that is often thrown around without knowledge and rarely looks at the talent behind the cameras who helped create the iconic images and star looks that are still held up today as a classics of both stills and moving images.

Credited as the founders of the makeup artist role in cinema, the Westmore family are seen across the board as being innovators at the start of an industry giving it an edge and sense of style to a world that is unrivaled to this day.  With reams of coverage over the years, the family historian, Christiana Benson a makeup artist and beauty marketing guru of repute in her own right, is taking the lengthy and storied history of her family and making them available to everyone as a part of cinema history. 

From its early days with George Westmore and his sons to its current family artists, the Westmore clan is amongst the elite of the elite in cinematic history and worthy of note to anyone in or entering the field of makeup artistry.  

To learn more about the Westmore family and their brands see:

The Westmore’s of Hollywood Site.

The Westmore Beauty Makeup line.

The Westmore FX line.

The Lost Creatives in 2020

In a short space of time, The Lost Creatives has become a major part f the Lost Narrative and we are really proud of what we have achieved to date. In 2020 we are looking forward to what will be a clean slate opportunity and taking the more strides toward achieving our creative goals.

We will be working on new and exciting projects with our affiliates and partners across the globe and making a concentrated effort to increase our marketing, expand on the narrative of professionals in the media sector. Our creative director is reopening his website as a portfolio only site and will continue in his capacity as the resident beauty blogger for The Lost Project and as our primary blogger as well as.

Expansion of the Lost Narrative is being worked on and we will be looking at bringing online (over the course of the year) an additional site that will become our home for film and TV, management services are also being addressed for the new year which will allow us a higher degree of control over how and where we are pushed as a brand.

Part of the expansion will include an increased and focused drive to work closely with our partners Nepal film production and of course HOD TV.

Both of whom we are really proud to be associated with on the film and TV side of our business. It is also worthy of note that World Fashion Media News will see more of our work in print and have exclusive access to the creative team for profiles etc.

In the coming year, The Lost Creatives will be pushed heavily and we will continue to work The Lost Narrative to showcase not just our creative team but the creativity and ingenuity of the media sector as a commercial entity.

Research and Planning

research and planning

We are just days away from the New Year (2020 is going to be huge) and our work has already started with blogs being prewritten and scheduled, stay tuned for a huge announcement, and we are now working on the next phase of our plans with a meeting lined up with one of our favorite indie film directors; Jim Manclark to discuss project development in TV and of course some new editorial behind the scenes and of course portfolio pieces for our creative directors new portfolio site.

Something we are really keen to get done is some projects designed specifically for the festival circuit and editorial submission as promotional material to help push the lost concept and of course, to promote our team as a whole.

Part of this will be a selection of small meetings and then a full-scale push through January to do the work. We are being selective about the work we do with planning and research being put in motion now. We are starting to add to the makeup artist library we have with new FX and character makeup books being added and a definite must-have that will be coming soon to our collection will be the book on out of the box FX.

From a purely creative stance, our plans are more commercial than artistic which ultimately what the business is all about.

Adding to the overall theme of change will be the addition of news sites and management services for the Lost concept already in the works allowing us to have a wider and more comprehensive business model and umbrella formation around the Lost Concept.

Over the next year, our goals are to create, commercialize and push a narrative of the media as a commercial art form.

Flexible Planning Strategies

We are as a team pushing forward with the creative plans to update all our websites and with the upcoming relaunch of the JamesC site, it is going to be interesting to move into 2020. With so many new and exciting options being brought into play, not just with our UK clients but our partners and affiliates in South Asia (particularly Kathmandu and Mumbai).

It is our intention to start working on new, flexible strategies for the new year, something we have always maintained from the beginning has been we need to be flexible and open to new options and look at the possibilities, hence the revamping and reopening of our creative directors artist site and plans to bring in a set of new projects that will be used as showcase work for the team.

At the moment we have a digital marketing specialist looking at our sites and will be working on a strategic marketing campaign that will push the Lost Concept harder than our current organically built following.

Our lightbulb moment and planning come in place thanks to our friends and supporters including the fantastic owner of World Fashion media news and of course the author and scriptwriter Susan Ronnie Marshall, who have both been instrumental in the promotion of our latest articles.

Naturally, we will be working to set briefs for our initial commercial projects in line with the partnership with HOD TV (submission details and parameters on request).

We intend to continue down the path we are on and look forward to all this brings.

The Office of Lost Creatives

We have been really working hard over the last few months designing, meeting with stylists and wardrobe staff and negotiating contacts that will come into full effect in the new year. Much of the work has been done in our home office with emails, WhatsApp messages and our social accounts being heavily used for international calls and messaging.

There are some really big announcements to come as our continuing work Nepal Film Production and they're associated businesses along with plans to shoot a TV series here in Scotland mid-2020.

Portfolio wise, the JamesC mua site will be reopened for the new year and we are working with James on updates and script choices for festival entries (micromania film festival we are coming). Naturally, we will be looking at the Himalayan film festival as well.

Something we are focused on getting done is more of the out of the box fx work to update our books and give some depth to the upcoming shoots we have planned and of course there is our beauty work which will be tied to creative director JamesC webstore with My Beauty Brand.

We are really excited about the prospects for 2020 and so grateful to all our supporters.

My Beauty Brand as a Professional Tool

From a professional makeup artist stance (or that of a beauty blogger) the newly launched range of My Beauty Brand has all the hallmarks of a game-changer for the savvy artist. Looking at key areas of the makeup range and potential avenues we wanted to break this down and show different artist positions and how this can be a beneficial range as a sales tool or for the sheer simplicity of access.

1: Salon freelancers/wedding artists: sales can often top up the wages of an artist and having a brand in-store can be expensive to arrange. My Beauty Brand offers up a simplified solution. Having the range in your kit (an investment with a potential return is always good), you can add the link to your own store to your cards allowing clients to choose from your curated favorites or buy from the collections giving you a commission on sales.

2: Fashion/event makeup: our creative director has worked on numerous shows as an artist and a supervisor, so understands that models do ask for information on the makeup used so they can buy it for themselves. What better option is there on two levels than My Beauty Brand, you can control the look and offer a one-stop-shop for a look, earn commissions on sales and ensure that everyone is on the same page for cosmetics with the back up of ease of marketing as stated above, your shop link on a card or linked to your site allows you to promote your own favorites and streamline the process as supervisor.

3: Film and TV makeup: in much the same manner outlined in the previous two, you can work theMy Beauty Brand range into your kit and know that you will be able to recoup some of your outlay (if you shop from your own store) and that the makeup is suited to your needs from the creative to the commercial. With the added bonus of knowing that actors who want to have a piece of the range can buy direct through your store via a business card or link on your site/social media page or account.

4: Beauty blogger/social media influencer: in much the same vein as other commission-based lines, My Beauty Brand is designed for social marketers and gives you not only a professional grade range that can be integrated into your work but a retail store that does not require you to carry stock or handle shipping etc.

It should be noted that this is currently available in the UK only for shipping and each link in this blog is tied to our creative director and head of makeup JamesC who offers his own professional endorsement of the range and is not affiliated directly with the company at this time he is a supporter and has a storefront of his own.

To learn more about the range or shop from the JamesC favorites click here.

Refreshing The Lost Concept

In the last month, we have been working really hard on the creative and more solid business elements of our work and we are really grateful to our partners for not only being in regular contact but helping with giving us a new direction and helping to define boundaries.

Over the next few weeks, we will be working with our creative director JamesC on what will be his relaunch, a new portfolio website and shop with My Beauty Brand is being constructed to showcase his work and separate him from the more lifestyle and art-based work of the Lost Project.

With all the new doors being opened up to us with our new collaborative relationships and partnerships in place with companies such as Nepal Film Production and HOD TV, whos horror and thriller distribution service we will be making good use of, we are really gearing up for the new year as the starting point of a whole new and fresh business year.

Lost Project will continue as an art, beauty and lifestyle blog with a new element of travel (which we are really happy to take on) with efforts made toward creating new work for that site around its current themes.

Lost creatives as a site is going to expand and we will have a new banner for production coming soon, with ties to our current team members here in Scotland and some more options coming to the fore with our partners overseas.

Overall, we are happy with our new direction and will continue to push boundaries with our team and media partners.

Smartere Secrets London a New Professional Kit Staple

From a media and fashion perspective the Smartere Secrets London concealer has all the hallmarks of an artist staple; waterproof with a good shade range that can be mixed and customized, a built-in brush for convenience, it is the total package for longevity and artistically can and does suit multi-use from concealing blemishes to contouring and sculpting the face (a must in the fashion arena). 

Ideally suited to the rigors of fashion shoots with strong lighting and longevity on a film TV shoot minimizing the interruption to scenes allowing additional time to other areas.  Smartere Secrets London is a brand that must be seen for anyone working media and fashion. 

When it comes to male grooming there is often a demand for quick, easy solutions as most male presenters and on-air talent (including models) want to look clean and tidy rather than made up (news readers often make this request).  

In fashion terms, the ability to use two of the six shades to sculpt and contour the face with minimal hassle is a savior for time when on a shoot or backstage at a show.  Defining the face and giving coverage with a few simple strokes of the built-in brush, again minimizing the need for brushes, etc. 

A range that is designed to work with both consumers and prosumers, it is vegan and cruelty-free with the added and frankly noteworthy certification from the World Land Trust an accolade alone that makes this a brand worth noting and integrating into a fashion and media artist kit. 

To learn more about the brand or to purchase see:

Smartere Secrets London Website

Smartere Secrets London Instagram

Smartere Secrets London Facebook

The Process of Consultation and Management At Lost Creatives

As we move ever closer to our goals for the end of the year with contracts being reviewed and an increase in our consultation work for production and other areas, it is interesting to see how our work is being viewed and see the key areas that we wanted to tackle being put into action.

To date, we have secured deals and partnerships with Italy (HOD TV) and Nepal, with further plans to create our own projects in 2020 with some of our business contacts in India such as actor and model Raj Srivastava who has become integral, alongside the team at Nepal Film production, to our overall goals.

Of course, we do have plans for the UK and in particular, Scotland where we will be shooting some of the new content for our website (hopefully by mid-December), it has been slower on that front than we would have liked but certainly positive as we can say that our goals and aspirations are being met in a time frame that is frankly speaking ahead of schedule in key areas.

As we have always maintained, we would prefer to have all the I’s dotted and t’s crossed to ensure that things roll smoothly, which at this point the consultation and management structure we have in place is really moving things forward.

Continuing forward we are looking at stock levels, camera equipment and planning around this to ensure that we have everything in place to a level that creative director JamesC (also senior artist and blogger for Lost Project) is happy with.

In addition to our film and TV goals, we have reopened dialogue with some of our fashion contacts including London and Delhi.

Out of Kit Prosthetics

Out of Kit Prosthetics was an interesting Instagram find by our creative director who was researching options for upcoming projects including a TV series and several shoots which will require Prosthetics. What caught our attention as well as his, was the potential of the range and selection. Built around film grade materials (silicone and top quality skin-safe adhesives), the Out of Kit range is a film artist dream for cost-effective and high-grade materials that will revolutionize the indie film sector in particular.

Image courtesy of Out of Kit

What drew us into the potential of the out of kit range was this quote from the website:

“When you’re being crushed by production deadlines, there’s no room to do anything but react. You can only run around putting out whatever fire is burning brightest.”

As we are working with the team from Nepal Film Production on PR and project development, this has the potential to be a real asset to us long term and the catalog of items on the website have already got us thinking about how and where these items can be used to add depth to our character for the TV Show we have planned for 2020. Standing out for us is the fighter kit (available in 4 different skin tones), which would fit perfectly with one of our planned stills shoots).

Out of Kit offers a bespoke service (details available via the site below) as well as their premade items and collections including trauma, old age, fantasy, and character.

To learn more about the company or to purchase from the range see:

Out of kit Website

Out of Kit Facebook

Out of Kit Instagram

Planning and Development with a PR agency

Image Courtesy of Pexels

In what is a short amount of time, we have secured a great deal of support both in our (current) home base and with outside parties (Nepal Film Production) to a point where we have had early morning video calls back and forth, planning strategies via email, WhatsApp and occasional phone calls.

While this may seem a little strange for a creative team to be doing less of the creation and more of the management it is the nature of the work and we are happy with the progress and deals being pushed which include negotiations with distributors, PR support for the beauty blog side of the business (The Lost Stories) all of this leading to what will be a multi-faceted and diverse company.

This for us means we are making the right choices and dealing with the right people which is a positive step forward and will later, give us the flexibility to be creative as there will be a multinational team rather than just a local base, handling the work. Such an amazing opportunity for us to take risks and put in motion projects that have been on the backburner for a while.

With so much in the works and a clear set of short and longterm goals being placed in motion, it is really an exciting time to be a Lost creative.

Nepal Film Production Partnership

Nepal Film Production

Our creative director and founder JamesC has done his time across the globe working in Europe, across the UK and of course a 2-year stint in India, so it was a natural progression to deal with Nepal and this new partnership with Nepal Film Production is an absolute joy to announce.

One of the most unique and beautiful countries in the world, Nepal is the jewel in the crown of South Asia and is considered a hub for creativity, tourism, and spirituality that has no parallel anywhere in the world.

We are familiar with the managing director Digbijaya Bharati who’s connections and business skills are widely known and respected throughout Kathmandu (Nepal). His attention to detail, malicious business sense and ability to spot trends have put him in a unique position of authority in the media industry.

With Lost Creatives and Lost Project (by extension makeup artist and creative director JamesC) all joining forces making us the UK partner to the Nepal Film Production team with more options being discussed and contracts being drawn up it is the start of our existing business relationship that will see us make changes alongside Digbijaya Bharati and his team across 2020 and beyond affecting not just how the Lost concept moves but the Nepal film production team works as well.

Having built a solid reputation for their professionalism in media including previous work as location fixers and production managers for companies working documentary, drama and a huge array of film and TV projects from across the world including the USA and mainland Europe.

More announcements on this partnership will be coming soon. If you want to learn more about the potential of Nepal for film and TV production see:

Nepal Film Production Website.

How We Plan To Move Forward Creatively

There have been some really interesting changes and updates in the background of our work that from a creative perspective have been good and bad. Our creative journey is really getting interesting and as we have a very definitive idea of what we want we have had to put somethings on the back burner to allow us the space to focus on the grander scheme.

We were approached by a New York agency that wanted to take our creative director on their books for development, a huge compliment, but not really a fit for what is planned for the Lost Project and Lost Creatives at the moment but we will look at this in the future.

From this, it becomes clear to us how we want to move forward and we are planning accordingly. As we have outlined previously there is to be a studio shoot, some location work and we are waiting for feedback from a film festival about working together as a form of a PR support network which is fantastic.

Our goals have been getting worked on for a few years and now we have started the ball rolling toward what will be a long term plan with some smaller short term projects in between to bolster the narrative. The dream won’t come true unless we work for it.

With some longstanding inspiration behind our plan (we will be revealing details in the new year), and careful research and experience backing our goals it is really about creating the narrative that we want to see in motion.

It is worth noting we are giving serious consideration to relocating the business as well, we can see from demographics across our sites where the support is coming from and who is conspicuously absent and will adjust our plans accordingly so watch this space.

Creating a Narrative

When I talk about creating a narrative what I mean is keeping the story linear. Each aspect of what the Lost Concept is has to fit smoothly with the other elements and gel. From the language, I use in The Lost Stories to the way I talk to a potential or existing client.

As the founder and creative director of the Lost Project and Lost Creatives, I do spend my time on the background work and fitting the pieces together. With shoots planned and brand campaign articles to write for PR agents its a matter of juggling my time to fit in what is feasible in a day.

Checking the stats on both our websites, we can see a real global reach to the Lost Project and the start of something similar to the Lost Creatives that is really gratifying given the short amount of time we have been working on this.

Seeing a pattern to the stats is giving us the team a more concrete sense of what we need to do and how to focus our energy on moving forward from a business and geographical stance.

We really are grateful to our audience and will be working on showcasing the other elements of the business very soon, we are looking at relocating and equipment, adding new stock for shoots and so much more is planned much of which will be put in motion in 2020.

The Lost Concept is growing and we cannot be prouder and will be increasing our marketing over the next few months to make the whole package even bigger.

Working Smart in a Hustlers Market

Working Smart in a Hustlers Market

We are taking our time over how and where we market ourselves as a business, building the groundwork before we go full scale in 2020 with our projects in the wider media spectrum. We are focusing on the bigger picture overall and adding smaller details as we go.

To us, the hustle of creating in this market is part of our reason for taking time to get things right, dotting the I’s and crossing the t’s to ensure that every single aspect of the work is clearly defined and fits our brief and look.

We are working with some amazing talents across the globe and have a solid idea of what we want to do and how we want to approach this from a business perspective it does look slow but trust us when we say it, there is a method to the madness.

Aside from our studio based shoot plans, we will be doing a series of location shoots in the UK focused on the Lost Boys and Lost Girls concept taking the dynamic of these ideas and expanding it in a visual context and padding out the idea overall to match our vision.

With our media plans, we have in place the HOD TV option for horror and thriller (they have some amazing projects already in place) and Streamlette who are nonexclusive and open to all styles of shoots, that we will be working with to push our film and TV projects.

Taking the initiative has always been at the heart of our work and will continue to be so, The Lost Concept is built on experience and expanding to encompass and support creative talent.

Searching For a Studio

We are currently on the lookout for a natural light studio to book so we can do what will be a 2-day shoot focusing on the areas of work we will be focused on in the long term.

• Portrait and beauty.

• Character and out of the box FX for film and TV.

Our goals are simple, we want to create inhouse, a series of still images that will be portfolio based for the models and ourselves to showcase not just the skill set of the team but the potential of what we are doing.

With a series of long term plans and targets for 2020, it is really interesting to get to be able to see our hard work behind the scenes coming together, we are constantly dealing with brands and opening up new avenues that will include product placement and video of the work in action. Which we might send-off to one of the many fashion film festivals if we can find something suited to our work.

In fact, part of the plan for the studio shoot is to be behind the scenes videos that will be a showcase of the work as it’s done with our Lost Boys and Lost Girls them from The Lost Project being carried over into the work we are doing.

Naturally, we will do some outdoor shoots in and around the Lost Concept in industrial and bleak landscapes, adding a touch of dystopian drama to our work.

While we are really aiming to be making waves in 2020, we are laying the groundwork now to help with the marketing push we have planned that will integrate all of our social accounts and give a deeper insight into the creative process.