Fashion House at Oakland University kicks off their fashion week with the first event make-up madness.

The fashion week consists of events planned from Feb. 17-21. Throughout the course of the week there will be  tie’s got swag, a do-it-yourself custom clothes day, a fashion panel and a best-dressed contest to celebrate fashion week.

“My favorite thing about fashion is expressing yourself, you can tell a lot about a person based on how they dress,” Dantel Shaw, Fashion House member said.

Make-up madness consisted of a make-up class instructed by Kayla Stringer. Stringer attended the Make-up Designory, located in New York and has been working with make-up for 11 years.

“It’s been a passion of mine ever since I was a kid, I’ve always loved it,” Stringer said. “I used to get into my mother’s make-up bag.”

Throughout the class she gave tips and tricks and shared her knowledge of working in cosmetology. She instructed the class on how to perform a smokey eye look. Questions were allowed to be asked while she demonstrated how to apply the make-up, and not one question stumped her. Whether it came to application of products or information on products Stringer provided answers.

Kathy Johns, who is working towards becoming a learning leader in the field of cosmetology attended the class. Johns began working at Paul Mitchell, located in Sterling Heights, in August.

“There are so many opportunities,” Johns said. “You can be a teacher, own your own business, do make-up or even work your way doing make-up for stars in Hollywood.”

Stringer also sees the various opportunities in the field of make-up and aspires to receive an Oscar award for her make-up or possibly open up her own make-up academy. Stringer is also embraces the idea of teaching make-up to others.

“I think teaching people is important because it took me a while to educate myself and I want to be able to educate other people,” Stringer said.

Along with every skill, applying make-up can come with its challenges and rewards.

“It’s recognizing the face that can be tricky,” Johns said. “I believe why there is so many hair dressers is because everybody has their own style, their own look and fashion it’s our job to enhance the beauty of the individual.”

“It’s a confidence booster, you’re helping someone feel better about themselves, I think that’s the true gift of it,” Stringer said.

To contact Kayla Stringer for personal make-up tips, look her up on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/kayla.stringer or instagram, Kaylasmua.