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This week I thought I'd feature the stunning face that makes my jewelry look even better! Laura Loveard is a makeup artist, based in Sydney who just happens to be my sister. Her work with color and shape is incredible, and she's makes a talented model too. Here she is talking makeup, style and fashion:

How long have you been interested in the fashion and beauty industry?
Probably since I was born, I remember playing dress ups and mixing "beauty products" up in the bathtub since I was tiny, and my mother says that I've always loved anything that sparkled. Which is probably why your jewelry is so attractive to me. My real obsession with fashion and beauty started developing at the end of high school and when I did my Certificate IV in Makeup Artistry.

My eyes were opened then to see whole new ways of making women beautiful. Fashion, beauty, hair and makeup are all pointless without each other.

What’s your background?
I grew up traveling between our home in Sydney and our bush property in the blue mountains with my mum, dad, big sister, and two cats. We had the best of both worlds growing up which I think has helped me to stay grounded in an otherwise very hectic, materialistic career.

I went to an all girls school where I made the best friends of my life, and started Tae Kwon Do which turned in to one of my life's biggest passions. Since school I've studied a Certificate IV in makeup artistry, am completing my Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy, and have achieved a 1st dan Black belt in my martial art, allowing me to coach the class I first started out in!

What inspires you as an artist?
The unusual. Anything that makes people look twice. I cut images out of magazines or newspapers that make me think outside the box, or show endless possibilities of a style or look that I couldn't have thought up on my own. I love the geometrical shapes, hard lines, and striking colors that make people stop and stare.

There is more art to these kinds of looks than the natural/blended makeup look, and so much more skill involved. Any artist that can recreate something that looks like it could have been done in Photoshop - they're the people who inspire me.

What designers have influenced you?
I love Christian Dior probably most of all. The Dior Haute Couture shows are incredible, the makeup, the hair, the clothes - they just get it. Go and look it up and you'll see what I mean. Other designers have their moments, and I prefer to take ideas from various people rather than just one, but no one can get it right every time, which is why I don't believe in only wearing what one person says you should.

What’s your style?
Dressy. I'd say my style is fairly safe, I prefer buying pieces that I could wear for two years, but I always try to buy items that can be dressed up. If I have to get up in the morning and wash my hair, or put foundation on, I may as well spend the time on doing the rest - eye makeup, heels, jewelry etc. But I do have my jeans, singlet and sandals days. :)

What outfit and jewelry combo makes you feel your hottest?
Chunky heels, a nice dress (short but not too short), dramatic eyes, and statement jewelry. You can pretty much wear this kind of outfit anywhere. I hate blending in..I'm 6 ft tall - why bother trying!

How important is makeup and jewelry in the life of the regular girl?
Essential. Not because of how it makes others view you, but how it makes you feel about yourself. Think how great you feel getting dressed up for a night out. Why wouldn't you want to feel like that all the time? A bit of beauty and sparkle in your everyday life might just be that thing that makes you smile when you didn't think you had anything else to smile about.

What’s your best makeup/style tip for every day?
Make the effort, even if that just means taking on the mascara when you normally wouldn't. As I said, looking good makes you feel good. My best advice is to pick something new to do with your makeup that makes you look brighter and better and do it every day til you don't even have to think about it, it will make your morning so much easier on those days when you'd rather set your hair on fire than go out in public.

What’s your favorite piece of jewelry at Elena Adams Designs?
The European Choker, and I love the three tiered rainbow obsidian necklace, and the sapphire necklace I was given on my 21st birthday - this is one of the most beautiful pieces of jewellery I think I have ever seen.