Some things I've been working on

These are a bunch of sketches of looks I want to try.  Some are more costume-y and some are just colorful beauty looks.  Now I just need models!  Or maybe I'll try them on myself.  If you want, let me know what you think!  

Any suggestions for what to try next?

Wendy's Wedding!

Hi All!


Last Saturday, I had the honor of doing Wendy's make up for her wedding, along with 3 of her beautiful bridesmaids!  Although it was in March, it was still freezing cold, AND we dodged a bullet for possible snow!  


The wedding took place in Deale, MD in a local Methodist church.  She has 5 bridesmaids and her adorable son was the ring bearer.  We went with nice clean and natural look for Wendy, since she's not the type of girl to wear make up.  I think she looked gorgeous.  Here are a few photos from the day!

She was happy, I swear!

see...

a few more of the Bride...

Wendy, it was my pleasure to doll you and your girls up for your wedding!  I pray that you and Steven and little Steven have a wonderful life together!

Cool new-ish product!

Hi all!

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of meeting Debbie Hebert of Motives Cosmetics.  They sell a full line of products (including false lashes, yay!!) and specialize in mixing custom foundations for their clients.  I went to Debbie's home to check out what they had to offer and watch a custom mixing session in progress.  After the client's foundation had been mixed, the finish on her face was flawless!  Her skin felt velvety and looked so healthy.

I was very impressed with the rest of the products Motives has to offer.  The eye shadows were highly pigmented, the eye liners have serious staying power, and the false lashes were really glam.  They even have palette sets!

I'm so excited about this brand and can't wait to work with Debbie as her make up artist in the future!  If you want more information about having a home party to get some custom foundations for you and your girlfriends, check Debbie out on Facebook here.  There are a lot more details that Debbie can share with you about cash back and referral programs.  Give her a try and get some custom mixed foundation for yourself!

Artists that inspire me

Hey everyone!

I wanted to take time to write about some of my favorite make up artists that really inspire me to get better every day.  They are 4 people that work in different genres of make up and are 4 very different people in and of themselves.  Sometimes I get insecure about my work, but these four people remind me that everyone has a different style, technique and approach to make up.  Hopefully you'll like them!  And hopefully I'll work up the guts to show some more creative work!  Here we go!  Take a look at some of my faves:

Kandee Johnson:

Kandee is probably the cutest person I've ever seen ever.  She's a Hollywood make up artist that blogs about everything from her kids, to "how to" videos, to just passing on some inspiration to the rest of us.  She's incredibly talented at character make up, able to duplicate every character from Poison Ivy to Princess Jasmine.

Check her out, she's pretty amazing!

Alex Box

She's the visionary artist behind the Illamasqua brand of make up.  She's truly amazing in her use of color and different techniques!  I even wanted her platinum streak in my hair, but Maricel said heck no and gave me purple instead :)

Here is some of her work:

Lan Nguyen

She's an Irish born, London based make up artist who works with color and texture like no one I've ever seen. At such a young age, she's been the lead make up artist at so many fashion shows and photoshoots, it's incredible.  Here is my favorite piece of her work:

                                                                 (amazing!!!!!)

Billy B

He makes up Lady Gaga a lot...and he's awesome.  He's worked with just about everyone and has worked for just about every magazine.  Here's my favorite piece by him:

Now, who wants to sit for me and let me do my take on some of these?!?!!?

DC Model Contest

Hey guys!

I'm so excited to be participating in the 1st annual DC Model contest and  Fashion show!!

 I'm working on a team with Russian Designer Evgenia Luzhina Salazar and the guys at Sun Sight Photography.

Make sure to check out each of their websites!  Evgenia is an artist of many sorts--an amazing painter, interior designer and Russian costume designer.  The guys at Sun Sight are photographers and videographers headed for much success in 2011.  I'm going to be doing stylized Russian inspired make up to compliment Evgenia's clothing.  The guys are going to be taking runway shots and working on a documentary style video of the whole fashion show.  

There are going to be celebrity judges (Michaele Salahi), food and prizes for all the models.  Check out the model contest website to see about getting tickets!  I hope to have photos to post when the event is over!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

New Vendor!

Hey guys (and future brides)!

I just met with a new vendor tonight that I'm going to be adding to my vendor list and telling all of my brides about.  She is Dottie Sheldon, owner of Pearls of Wisdom, a wedding planning company.  She's a great, high energy lady that will make SURE your wedding day will go off with out a hitch. 

She's been planning everything from weddings to anniversary parties for over 10 years and would love the opportunity to meet future brides in the DMV!  Check out her website and give her a call if you'd like to chat with her about her services!  

More later!

Basic Skin Care

Hey guys!

Lately, I've been having people ask me questions about taking care of their skin.  I've been getting all kinds of questions from what type of cleaners and moisturizers to use to how to get rid of blemishes and imperfections.  Hopefully this post will answer those questions and turn people on to some products they haven't tried before.  So, here we go!

The first step to getting great skin for everyone is to DRINK WATER!  Be sure to drink 64oz of water every day to flush all the impurities out of your skin.  Also, to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes :).   Drinking 64oz of water (only 4 standard 16oz Deer Park bottles!) is pretty easy if you break it down throughout your day.  Try 32oz before lunch and 32oz after lunch, before leaving work.  If you're the type of person who MUST have a coke during the day, save it for a reward once you get home for drinking all your water that day.  Besides, with all the water you need to get in, you won't have time to think about coke.  So, getting enough water and staying hydrated is the first step.

The second key is proper exfoliation of your skin.  You don't need any fancy tools to exfoliate, just a regular, sturdy washcloth.   My favorite cleansers to exfoliate with are Biore's Complexion Clearing Pore Unclogging Scrub.  It's got those little round blue things in the cream, which are great for exfoliation.  Use this twice a day applying with your hands and wiping off with a warm, wet washcloth.  Your skin will feel amazing.  Also, this runs about $5-7, so it's perfect for everyone's budget!

My second favorite product is MAC's Green Gel Cleanser.  It runs about $20, but can last for 6 months with every day use.  You don't need a lot with this stuff!  Use this twice daily with a washcloth and your skin will look and feel great!

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The last step to getting great skin I want to share today is using some kind of moisturizer.  If you have really oily skin, finding a good moisturizer that isn't too greasy is hard.  I've tried lots, and I've found that my favorite moisturizer isn't a moisturizer at all.  It's actually a foundation base from MAC called Prep and Prime.  This is light enough to give a little moisture to oily skin and strong enough to hold your foundation on all day.  It runs about $26 but can last about 3 months with every day use.

Well, that's about it for this first post on skin care.  Hopefully this gave some good info and I hope you'll try some, or all of the products.  Thanks guys!

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