My unique selling point
is centred around my disability
and the fact that it is quite
unusual to see somebody with
a disability dressed how I do,
and with makeup.
Hi, everybody, and welcome to my very first clothing call.
I have got spinal muscular atrophy type 2.
It's a muscle-wasting disorder, so it makes me incredibly weak.
I can't stand or walk.
I was first diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy
when I was 18 months old.
My parents actually took me to the doctors
because I wasn't crawling or walking,
and ever since then I've been in an electric wheelchair.
I'd been following lots of bloggers on Instagram,
lots of social influencers, beauty influencers,
and I decided that, "You know what? I actually kind of think that's
"really cool and I can see myself doing that."
So one day I deleted all the
pictures of burgers,
pictures of my dog,
pictures of my family off my Instagram
and turned it into something
that would be a little more
interesting to people that
are interested in fashion or make up,
and I've slowly grown from there.
Instagram is my main platform.
I also use snapchat quite a lot, as well.
I'm still trying to get into the whole YouTube world.
Hi, everyone.
So, this is my first ever YouTube video.
I said I was never ever going to do one of these because, to be honest,
I was a little bit scared to...
That feels so weird. LAUGHTER OFF-SCREEN
That is a bad start.
All right, wait. Let me start that again!
From the minute I wake up, I have my PA come in and help me get ready.
They help prepare my food, they dress me.
Are we giving approving nods? Yeah? Yes, I think so.
Getting from my bed to my wheelchair,
things like going to the toilet, I do rely on great help from others.
I am able to do my own makeup.
For example, I do my own eyebrows,
my own eyes, my own lips.
My PAs do help with my skin,
so, when I employed them,
they had to be aware that they were
going to learn to be makeup artists in their spare time.
I'm sat now and I can't actually
move my arms higher than...
probably an inch off my lap.
So, the arm, I can raise my hand
over my head, I can scratch my nose,
I can pick it if I want to pick it!
I can feed myself and that might
not sound like a big thing to
an everyday, average person that can
do all this, but it's life-changing.
Scratching your nose is life-changing.
You are actually going to have to
bear with me on this one
because this is like weightlifting
for me, so I'm going to put the
product in shot for a few seconds,
then I'm going to have to put it down
because I might drop it.
So, huh! Here we go!
Is she in shot? Is it in shot?
OFF-SCREEN: Yeah. Excellent!
Today, the make-up that I've put on
only took me about half an hour, 45 minutes.
However, if I'm going all extravagant
and putting false lashes on,
and crazy cut-crease eye make up,
it can probably take me, like, two hours.
I've followed Tess from the beginning, when she had, maybe,
about 10,000 followers,
so it's been really fun
cos I've seen her grow.
I am very proud of her.
She's one of the funniest people I've ever known.
Genuine, fun to be around, really chilled out.
Tess hasn't always been good at makeup.
She didn't know how to put foundation on,
she put it on with her hands.
I am proud of Tess.
I think that some people might
assume it's because of her disability when it's not at all.
Just because she's in a wheelchair
doesn't mean she knows how to put on eyeshadow.
She puts it on better than me,
than half of my friends that are obviously able-bodied, so...
She's just naturally gifted.
I receive an overwhelming
amount of support and love
and really nice,
confidence-boosting comments.
However, I do get some quite
funny negative ones.
I've been called a doll,
I've been called a dwarf.
I get things like "vegetable",
"turnip", "carrot".
I don't generally hide away from trolls.
The way I see it is people need schooling.
They need to realise that they cannot go around saying
this stuff to people.
They've got to be held accountable
for their actions
and I'm just the kind of girl that
will go round and do that for them.
You ready? Let's go. Ahh!
A lot of people with disabilities have actually contacted me
and told me that I've changed things for them,
or I've made them see things differently.
It kind of makes what I do have a
little bit more meaning than
just putting a bit of lipstick on
or sticking a pair of shoes on.
It gives me, kind of, a bit of a purpose behind what it is that I do.
I usually hate the word "inspirational".
However, I'm slowly accepting that, to some people, actually,
I probably am a little bit inspirational.
It's not something that sits
well with me because, well,
I just kind of get on with things.
..which I'm kind of digging at the moment
as opposed to the khaki, and a wine...
CAMERAWOMAN: Ahhh! Wow!
CAMERAWOMAN LAUGHS
The Gimble's on one! Er...
I think I was saying something about a top!
Um... So, yeah, again, the same top...
CAMERAWOMAN MAKES NOISES
TESS SIGHS
I quietly hoped I'd get about a million followers, eventually,
but, you know, small steps, small steps.
I think that's it. What else do these YouTube people say?
Subscribe - check.
OFF-SCREEN: See you on my next video.
I'll see you on my next video.