Emma Gleason, Rag Pony

Emma Gleason has just graduated from AUT Fashion and is a stylist and blogger for Rag Pony. 

“I wash my face once or twice a day, I’ve been using that Scarlett and Greene cleanser which is quite good. It’s gentle. I moisturize with Kiehl’s. The products on a daily basis are: MAC skin brightening primer, which I got recently and I’m addicted to already, and MAC Face + Body foundation is just so good, it’s light and hydrating and perfect for me. I always do my brows, every day. Some days I won’t wear eye makeup and some days a bit of shadow and mascara. But yeh I’m usually just a nice base, always do my brows, and then I try and wear lipstick cos I think it brightens me up. Always MAC lipstick, of course.

I feel like I’m getting premature lines already on my forehead already, it’s quite depressing. I’ve got really dry skin but I also break out when I’m stressed so that’s a bit of a nightmare trying to deal with that. I’ve got very dry skin, that’s why I try and moisturize at least twice a day and I use a really hydrating foundation – anything less than that it feels parched.

I have been experimenting quite a bit with my hair in the past couple of years but I’m back to blonde. I think I’ll stay blonde, I think I’ve been trying to be something that I’m not for awhile – at the end of the day you’ve got to accept what you are and I’m blonde. Jason at Stephen Marr has been doing my hair for awhile and we’ve got really nice blonde going at the moment. I use Kevin Murphy Shampoo, I use hydrate me cos I’ve got really dry hair as well, and I find that’s amazing and not too damaging which is good. I should do hair treatments, I sometimes go into Stephen Marr when I have time but other than that I keep it really simple. I try not to wash my hair very frequently, I try to only do it every five days. Any more than that and it just dries out so much. A couple of days a week I just wet it and put it in a bun which helps a bit… keeps it together, less fluffy and less flyaway. I don’t use any product in my hair and I don’t straighten or blow dry… just air dry every time.

I’m not allowed a Tattoo, I’m under penalty of death if I do, so I’ll be disowned and it’s not worth it right now. And I think everyone has them so it’s kind of nice not to, yeh.

I love nail polish… my hands are terrible at the moment from uni, all the handling of paper and fabric. It just dried out and cracked so I’m trying to get them back to something not too bad, I need to get a mani. And I love polish. I tend to stick with either greys or neutrals,  like blues or silvers and oranges. I stay away from pink and red because I find those are all a bit, cliché  - a bit too cute or vampy on me. So I do tend to go for blues or grey’s or browns… OPI would be my favourite.

But now that Uni is over, I’m not sure what to do next. That’s what everyone keeps asking us everyday and you don’t have an answer. I’ve been so involved in studying that I haven’t thought ahead of that. I’ve only just, I’m still struggling to comprehend it’s over. So I think I’m going to spend the next month or two just trying to relax, do bits and pieces and then next year I’ll focus on freelancing; I’ve got a few projects on the go already. I don’t want to jump into 9-5, 7 days a week work at all. So yeh, just see what happens in the next year.

My inspiration comes from a lot of different places. I spend a lot of time looking at historical photos in the Life Archives which I love, magazines like that… inspire me to be better, those old editorials – I’ve spent hours on the internet looking at them. And the little things that you notice… see around you and people on the street and things in books. I like picking it up from a variety of places and letting it come to you.

I like magazines, I really like The Gentlewoman, Fantastic Man as a pair they are stunning. The Gentlewoman makes me want to be better woman, they’re so well thought out, so considered and they’ve got substance to them, don’t treat you like an idiot its not about the latest diet or celebrity interview. The layouts and styling are stunning, they’re just a pleasure to read.

So I love those two. I love POP and Love magazines. I don’t buy Vogue anymore because I got bored with it, I don’t usually buy it, ID is good and I like Pilot and No locally. I don’t buy that many magazines, I’ve been buying more books.

I try and share everything that interests me on my blog. So it’s not just about me and what I wore today. I find all these amazing things I want to share. Iv’e been blogging for 3 years and I’m still as passionate. It’s slowed down a bit in the sense that I don’t feel like I have to post every day, and it did take a bit of a back seat while I was at uni but it’s just nice to have that little outlet. I still love it.

My graduating collection was exploring comfort and familiarity, through garments that had some sort of significance to myself and my history. So I was looking at specific things like a raincoat or a certain type of trouser that I’ve always worn always just loved… exploring that through fit and cut. Exploring colour. I just really wanted to create a selection of clothing that made the wearer and onlooker relaxed and happy and yeh that’s what that was about. Which is good. And describing my dress personally. Quite tomboyish. Quite boyish. I do dress girly every now and then – I try to dress more girlie now I’m older. I think life’s too short to try and be sexy and attractive all the time or try and be too sensible or try to follow anyone’s rules. I think you need to find what you like, rather than follow anyone else. I like classics and I like fabrics and good cuts and I’m quite picky about good details, I don’t buy clothes too much because I’m always finding too many things wrong with them. I love good basics. I try and support local designers like Sherie Muijs and people like that beause they do such beautiful work. I like clothes you can live in every day.

I have quite a dry sense of humour. I’ll write things on twitter and then forget I’ve got like 1200 followers and then your like oh god what did you just say? But I think it’s important to be the first person to laugh at yourself as well. And that’s always been the way I’ve approached life. If someone is going to laugh at you, you might as well make the first joke. But also not to take stuff to seriously. You can’t be too serious about life cos you just end up getting burned one way or another. The best sorts of humour are inappropriate anyway.

You read the white girl problems twitter and you think, ‘oh my god, I’ve thought every single one of these things,’ at one point and yeh you just realize how you’ve got to laugh at yourself about it. Like, I am a relatively priviledged girl in a safe country you know you just got to realize that you can’t take life too seriously some days you say shit that is dumb and self absorbed or neurotic – you’ve got to realize you’re a neurotic female cos everyone is.”