9:09 AM 29
Hi Bellas,


I did a Bridal Consultation a few weeks ago and wanted to share some pics. The consultation was a lot of fun. I love doing makeovers on people who aren't afraid of makeup! Our bride to be was definitely a fan of dramatic eyes and liner. She brought in lots of pictures of Kim Kardashian makeup! In the end, we decided to compromise by picking a pretty lilac color as the star of the show.


She didn't want to be a typical bride with super natural makeup, but she didn't want to go too dark either. After our consultation, I think I was able to work with her to find a good compromise. It will be an evening wedding and she can definitely pull off a little more drama on the eyes. On top of it all, she has a large eye palette which made the look easy to do. We talked a little bit after our consultation and she decided to tone down the purple...I think it's a good move so we don't freak out the parents, lol.


She's also from my home town of Orlando so we had a lot of fun talking about going to the random reggae clubs and getting accosted by somebody's uncle, he he.


Anyways, here's her look!






On her eyes she's wearing:
-too faced shadow insurance
-bare canvas paint
-beautiful iris e/s
-smut e/s
-poison pen e/s (is that the name? it's a matte2 purple e/s)
-motif e/s
-parfait amour e/s
-we also used lots of black liner
-ardell wispies (2 on each eye)


FACE
-cinema secrets foundation
-graftobian powder
-studio finish color corrector in orange
-definitive sculpting powder
-Bobbi Brown blush in peony
-NARS albatross highlighter


LIPS
-plum soft lipliner
-NYX lipstick (don't remember which one)


More pics!


Have a great weekend! Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist

9:36 AM 18
Hi Bellas,


I've been wanting to do a makeup tutorial for Rihanna for a while now. She's one of the few in Hollywood that always seems to be trying new looks with her makeup. Most of the time, Celebrity Makeup looks the same to me...very natural with maybe some black eyeliner. Rihanna takes risks with her look and I respect that. We've all heard the recent events in the news about her situation with Chris Brown. Let me say that I'm definitely on Team Rihanna...and I hope she has a speedy recovery.


I thought it would be good to represent Team Rihanna with one of my favorite looks of hers. She wore this vibrant pink lip to the Nickolodeon Awards last year. I love the bright colors!





I decided to replicate the look. The key to the makeup is a winged out shimmery blue eyeliner and hot pink, matte lips. Another tip is that Rihanna tends to go 1/2 a shade lighter on her foundation so that she can do extra contouring with her peach/warm toned blushes and contour colors.


Check out my video tutorial!






Pretty close right? Looking back I wish I had a brighter lipstick but it's pretty close. My boyfriend suggested superimposing her hair on top of mine...that would of been funny but I was up at 3am editing the video and just wanted to get it done!




My next celebrity tutorial is on Ciara's look from her recent video. Also on my list, Britney Spears and Beyonce.


Stay tuned!


Atlanta Makeup Artist

9:42 AM 11
Hi Bellas,

The world of blogging has definitely introduced me to new beauty concepts and techniques -- one of which is sulfate free, organic hair products.

I've always wanted to jump on the band wagon since I know they're better for you...especially with shampoos and conditioners. Most shampoos contain sulfates which strips away the color and moisture making your hair worse off in the long run. A viewer of mine who works for a salon stated that it was like putting floor wax in your hair...not good! The hard part was that it was a lot easier for me to buy products that contained these bad ingredients since the former was not as widely available.

On top of everything, my hair has been colored for the last 8 years, which makes me paranoid about getting the right amount of moisture in my hair. Otherwise, it can feel like straw.

Seems like the concept of sulfate free products is finally catching on. L'Oreal just released this new line of hair products- The Ever Pure line. I was excited because right on the packaging you see that it's sulfate free! I've tried other sulfate free shampoos in the past...like Giovanni's Triple Tree ...it was hard for me to get used too because it lacked the suds action I'm accustomed to. L'Oreal's shampoo suprisingly had a lot of lather action. The smell of these products is very herbal and minty...very refreshing. The conditioner seemed to do it's job, but every other shampoo I still like to use a deep mask conditioner to give me the extra moisture I crave.


For $7 a bottle, this is definitely worth trying out.


Till next time, Ciao Bellas!


, ,

9:34 AM 16
Hi Bellas!

Yesterday I posted a video showing some of the most popular products on the makeup scene. Many refer to them as the Coastal Scents palettes, but they are actually mass produced makeup palettes made overseas. Companies like Coastal Scents buy them and bulk and distribute them at a discounted rate.

Until now I had never tried these palettes. To be honest, I was a little skeptical. I know that oftentimes, large no-name palettes suffer in terms of quality. I have several MAC palettes and two Yaby palettes which were awesome. I didn't want to fall into the hype and be disappointed.

However, one of my new initiatives in terms of my beauty blog and YouTube channel is to do tutorials and looks that most of my audience can recreate. I realize that many of you have these palettes.

The point of my video is to show you that there are other sources for these palettes besides Coastal Scents. I've found them cheaper on Stars Makeup Haven. On top of this, they're not always sold out like Coastal Scents! I've heard you can also find them on Ebay...but if you want it from a reputable seller, I'd go with the former.

Check out my video!


Hopefully I don't get any backlash from Coastal Scents...I've heard that sometimes they get a little crunk with people who offer less than positive feedback.

Here are the items I tested:

Blush Palette: Coastal Scents Price $16.95 ; Stars Makeup Haven Price $15.95
Overall, this is a decent blush palette. Most of the colors are on the sheer side except the bride orange and pink. I was able to get most of them show by layering them on, but you may want to skip this if you're skin tone is darker than mine.


96 E/S palette: This is not on the Coastal Scents site. It retails for $24.95 on Stars Makeup Haven. This is my favorite palette of them all. The colors are super bright and there are so many to choose from. I wasn't disappointed with the pigmentation. However, you do need a base with these. I noticed that if you don't, the shadows start to disappear when you blend. However, I wear a base with all eyeshadows regardless. I'd definitely recommend. I compared this side by side with the 88 palette and this one is far better. I also wore the shadows in this palette in my Naughty Valentines Day look video.


28 Pan Neutral Palette: Coastal Scents $21.95, Stars Makeup Haven $19.95
I was a little iffy on this palette at first. A lot of colors are cool toned and have a tendency to give you that ashy effect. The key is to use a base again, and to pick the colors in the palette that work for you...mix and match. After a while, I found out which ones work for me. For the size of the eyeshadows and the price though, it's a great deal.


15 pan palette: $6.95 on Stars Makeup Haven. They don't offer the empty palette on Coastal Scents, just the one with pans. I like this one more since I'm a depotter...and I don't usually need extra pans since I don't do much pigment pressing. I actually just ripped out the foam insert and lined the bottom with an adhesive magnet sheet. Stars Makeup Haven sells the adhesive sheet. Then you can fit a few more eyeshadows in. This palette is smaller than the MAC 15 palette and also great for traveling. I'm going to probably bring this with me to the Philippines since it's small enough to fit in my makeup bag.


28 Pan Palette: They only offer this at Stars Makeup Haven for $10.95. With both empty palettes, you have the option of getting it with pans for about $1-$2 more. Talk about a lot of room for an eyeshadow palette! This is great for a large gig where you don't want to have a million palettes floating around. I'll probably do the same with this one and rip out the foam so I can just have a freeform palette to put in my MAC blush and eyeshadow pans.


So I hope my review helped some of you out. The bottom line is that both companies offer similar goods...but one company offers it cheaper. You can also get rare MAC and other high end goods from Stars Makeup Haven while you're there...i've gotten MAC pigment samples from them before and have been very pleased!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's video, my Rihanna Celebrity Makeup Tutorial.

Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist
,

9:13 AM 27
Hi Bellas!

How was your weekend? I had a really relaxing weekend with the BF. I had an early morning shoot that got postponed so I got to sleep in all weekend.

One of the things that the BF and I have wanted to do for so long was go to the Farmers Market to get some grocery shopping done. I've always heard that their is more variety and the fruits, veggies and meats taste better.

My BF had gone for Valentines day to pick up the materials for the dinner he cooked me. He had mentioned to me that he saw an entire section of Asian beauty products. Of course that wanted me to go even more!

I picked up face masks for a dollar a pop. I assume you just pop them on your face right? I couldn't read the instructions. I also bought some Charcoal nose clearing strips (like the biore ones), two mini eyelash curlers (one for me, one for the kit - perfect for recurling falsies since it doesn't have barriers on the side), and coconut oil from the Indian aisle.

I already tried the face masks, curlers and noise strips, lol. I'll fill you in my review when I get more of a chance to test them out.


They had a bunch of makeup brands that I didn't recognise, but then I saw these! Shisem lashes! Every since Pink started wearing them, I've been on a mission to find them. Have you all noticed that these are impossible to find online? Well I picked up 10 pairs at $3.50 a pop. I'm stocked! I'll probably also save some for some of my blogger sisters :)


Here's a close up of the eyelash curler.


This weekend I also placed an order for 75 pairs of lashes from Madame Madeline. I had to stock up because my resources have depleted. Mind you, this isn't just for me but for clients too, lol.

I'll share these with you when I get them.

Stay tuned for my YouTube video being posted later today...Makeup Palettes: Coastal Scents Vs Stars Makeup Haven (FYI stars makeup haven has the same ones for cheaper!)

Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist
,

9:17 AM 27
Hi Bellas!

A few weeks ago I did the makeup for an Indian wedding. It was so much fun. I did the bride and her mother. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the mother. Hopefully when I get the professional photos I can show them to you all.

The bride wanted two looks: one for the morning ceremony and one for the evening reception. I love these kind of weddings because you can actually play with color. She chose to wear one of my favorite lipsticks - So Scarlet from the Cult of Cherry collection.

Check out the before and after:



Here she is for the morning reception. I am in love with all her jewelry and her clothing! We went with the Spiced Chocolate quad on her eyes. She wanted a balance of color that would still be bright but wearable for the daytime.



Here is her makeup for the reception. I came back in the afternoon to do it. She wanted bright purples. I like the way the colors came out. We used helpcat, the purple from the pandamonium quad, beautiful iris a few other colors. We did some extra contouring for the evening time.



Here she is all dolled up and ready for the reception.


The happy couple! I helped him pick out that tie :)


I'll post the professional pics as soon as I get them!

Have a great weekend!

Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist

9:32 AM 16
Hi Bellas!


Time for another celebrity makeup tutorial. Jennifer Hudson is one of my fav actresses/singers. She's such a beauty and multi-talented. I loved her look for the Grammys and found a similar picture from another award show that I loved.


The focus on the look is the platinum colored eyes and glowy skin. This is definitely a very glamorous yet wearable look. I've been trying to do more tutorials which I think would appeal to everyone out there.




Check out my tutorial!





This look is also guy friendly. I wore this to a friend's bday dinner and even got compliments from one of my former guy co-workers. He was like wow your makeup looks really good, lol. Good stuff!


Here's What I Used (All MAC unless otherwise stated):

LIPS
Live and dye lipglass
Siss lipstick
Stripdown lip pencil

FACE
Blond msf
Fun and games blush
Shadester contour powder
Msf natural in med dark
Mineralized satinfinish foundation
Strobe cream
Bobbi brown corrector in dark peach

EYES
L’oreal double extend mascara
Texture e/s
Pure white chromaline
Llama e/s
Black e/s from Dangerzone trio
Platinum pigment
Bobbi brown gel liner



The final look!






Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist

9:01 AM 17
Hi Bellas,


I recently tried out Oil of Olay's new ProX line. Seems to me like this brand is really trying to step its game up with more advanced lines of products. And for $61.50 for three products, this line is definitely a few steps ahead of it's regular price point.


It came in a really snazzy packaging. Do you think the model's skin looks that good because of the product?

I love how they have such clear instructions in the packaging.

The set includes: Eye Restoration cream, Age Repair Lotion with SPF30, and Wrinkle Smoothing Cream. I really like how the line came with all 3 products together...it makes it a lot easier to put together a face routine.

I'm a big fan of Oil of Olay's Daily Moisturizer with SPF15 for sensitive skin. As you might know, I really do have sensitive skin. I break out into disfiguring hives (okay maybe that's an exaggeration, but I do get allergy rashes) when it comes to a lot of face products.

This line seems like it's geared towards repairing fine lines and wrinkles. At this stage in my life, i'm more so trying to prevent this from happening. Still, I was excited to see the results.

Check out the ingredients:

Ingredients
Age Repair Lotion with SPF 30 Active Ingredients: Homosalate (8.0%), Avobenzone (3.0%), Octocrylene (2.25%), Ensulizole (2.0%)Inactive Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Isopropyl Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Nylon 12, Dimethicone, Isopropyl Isostearate, Triethanolamine, Palmitoyl Dipeptide 7, Palmitoyl Pentapeptide 4, Carnosine, Panthenol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Sodium Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Isohexadecane, Pentylene Glycol, Titanium Dioxide, Stearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Polysorbate 80, PEG 100 Stearate, Methylparaben, Carbomer, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate, PEG 4, Decyl Glucoside, Lactic Acid, Ammonium Polyacrylate, Benzyl Alcohol, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Dimethiconol, Behenyl Alcohol, Stearic Acid, BHT


Eye Restoration Complex: Inactive Ingredients: Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Dimethicone, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Isohexadecane, Polyethylene, Caffeine, Isopropyl Isostearate, Behenyl Alcohol, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Tocopheryl Acetate, Panthenol, Palmitoyl Dipeptide 7, Palmitoyl Dipeptide 4, Carnosine, Dimethiconol, Stearyl Alcohol, Sodium Acrylate/Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, PEG 100 Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Cetyl Alcohol, Sucrose Polycottonseedate, Titanium Dioxide, Polysorbate 80, Propylparaben, Stearic Acid, PEG 4 Dilaurate, PEG 4 Laurate, Decyl Glucoside, Lactic Acid, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, PEG 4, Citric Acid, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Ammonium Polyacrylate, Disodium EDTA


Wrinkle Smoothing Cream: Inactive Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Dimethicone, Niacinamide, Isohexadecane, Isopropyl Isostearate, Dimethiconol, Panthenol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Palmitoyl Dipeptide 7, Carnosine, Palmitoyl Pentapeptide 4, Elastin, C13 14 Isoparaffin, Stearyl Alcohol, Polyacrylamide, PEG 100 Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Cetyl Alcohol, Benzyl Alcohol, Behenyl Alcohol, Polymethylsilsequioxane, Sucrose Polycottonseedate, Laureth 7, Stearic Acid, PEG 4 Dilaurate, PEG 4 Laurate, Decyl Glucoside, Titanium Dioxide, Tin Oxide, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Ammonium Polyacrylate, Mica

There is a lot going on huh? I'm definitely not a skincare expert so I decided to follow the steps and see what happened.

Results: OMG my skin broke out into those nasty hives I was telling you about! On top of it, my skin got this really rough feeling texture...almost like Sand Paper. My skin definitely does not react well to all of the ingredients. I think the product is too strong for me.

My conclusion: This line seems like it's more for mature skin who are actually looking for age repair solutions...hence all of the specific ingredients. If you're into prevention like me, I would skip. If you have super sensitive skin like me, please be wary. It's also super expensive. I realize that Oil of Olay is attempting to offer a more upscale line, but it's still hard for me to swallow. On a positive note, I will say that the eye cream seemed to work okay on me...no adverse reactions. I think i'll use that one for my mature clients and throw it in the kit.

Would I repurchase? Nope! I'm sticking with my current skincare regimen--it's cheaper and works better for me.

Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist

, ,

11:07 AM 25
Hi Bellas!

I finally got my Hello Kitty Tutorial out. I know a lot of people have been using the Too Dolly Palette to do purple, pink, blue kind of looks. I wanted to do something different though. I only purchased the 3 items below and wanted to make a look using them.

This was my favorite of the two palettes. The colors are pretty dupeable but I wanted at least one of the palettes for collection purposes.


I've never owned a MAC glitter liner before. I'm impressed! They come out really pigmented and not sheer like some other liners. I went back and got another one, Her Glitz. You can definitely rock these are liquid shadow. Talk about glittery and super pretty!


I really love this blush. It's a beauty powder blush so it's super smooth. I didn't think this color would show up on me but it gives me such a nice glow. I've only been rocking this blush lately.


For my look I decided to veer from the typical colors in the palette and went for a nighttime Hello Kitty look. I used the Glitterpuss glitter liner as a liquid eyeshadow and loved how it came out. I can't wait to try it with my other glitter liner I purchased :)

Check out my tutorial!



As you can see, I strayed from the typical Hello Kitty colors and went for a glittery gold/smokey evening look. It's really easy to do. I've been picking more simple tutorials lately because sometimes I can't deal with using 8 shadows in one look.

Here's What I Used (All MAC unless otherwise stated):

EYES
-indianwood paintpot
-yogurt e/s (from too dolly palette)
-glitterpuss glitter liner
-stately black e/s (from too dolly palette)
-smolder eye kohl
-lashes
-l'oreal double extend mascara
-rimmel professional brow pencil

FACE
-msf natural in med dark
-bobbi brown corrector in dark peach
-sculpting powder in shadester
-fun and games blush

LIPS
-soft wave lipglass





Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist

10:12 AM 18
Hi Bellas!

Happy Monday! I'm off today, woo hoo! I'm definitely chillaxing today. This weekend I put down a deposit on my new place with the BF. I'm excited! Separate makeup room here I come! Hopefully everything goes well and we get approved and all that jazz.

I might stop by MAC today with my girls. I want to try MAC msf natural in medium plus. I'm using medium dark right now and find it to be too dark for me in my paler winter months. I'm also thinking of getting myself a few more of the glitter liners from the HK collection...they make such pretty liquid eyeshadow!

I'll have my Hello Kitty Tutorial up today so you can see how I pulled off the glitter liner as liquid eyeshadow look. Wednesday I'll have my Jennifer Hudson Tutorial up.

Today will be a short post since I'm off and trying to enjoy the Holiday :)

Make sure to check out my girl Julia and her new blog She's an amazing YouTube guru and I'm excited to add her to my blogroll to keep up with her!

Here's one of the shots from the shoot I did with a model several months ago. You probably recognize here. I wanted some beauty shots for my portfolio. I airbrushed her foundation and gave her smokey eyes and nude lips.



Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist

9:37 AM 17
Hi Bellas,

Happy Friday! I'm so glad for today since it's the beginning of a long weekend since we have President's Day off here, woo hoo!

FYI, I picked up a few items from the MAC Hello Kitty collection on Wednesday. I wasn't overly impressed with the collection but picked up a few things for packaging and collecting. I'll have the look I created posted on YouTube on Monday.

Last night I had another bridal consultation. It went really well. The bride definitely loves her makeup so we went for a more dramatic bridal look using lavendar and purples. I'll post pics soon! I noticed that my consultations tend to run about 3 hours...I like to take my time with the appointments so that we can try out any look and discuss any changes to the makeup. I think this definitely makes the bride feel better. I've often heard that they'll get their makeup done without the chance to really put their input in...it's like wham bam thank you mam! I like to get the client really involved to make sure they love their look. It's worked so far since I've booked a wedding for every consultation I've done. Cross your finger that the streak continues!

Anywho, last weekend I went out with another one of my fellow A-town bloggers Leslie. We discovered that we both love Ethiopian food so we decided to meet for dinner and bring our boyfriends along.

Food porn! If you've never had Ethiopian food, you're supposed to take the flat bread and pick up pieces of the food with the bread. Very similar to Indian or Trinidadian style food with naan or roti. The picture on the right is our appetizer - Fried Lentil Sambusa...OMG so good! I cheated on my diet that night to have one of them :)


Silly picture of me as my boyfriend is testing the camera's lighting. This is my look from the Hayden Panettiere tutorial. I finally got to rock a look I did for a tutorial on the outside!




Me and Leslie. Bloggers unite! I hope to work with her on a gig soon :)


Double daters!


Hubby and I :)


Tonight we're taking one of my best friends Melissa to a birthday dinner at a Vegetarian restaurant. Hopefully she's not reading because it's supposed to be a surprise so I won't spill all the details. I think I'm going to try doing a tutorial for Jennifer Hudson's Grammy makeup tonight and wear it out.

I'm in the dark about what the BF is planning for Valentines Day, I hope it's good! Have a great Valentines Day weekend Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist

10:27 AM 16
Hi Bellas,


I've got a request to do my skincare routine more than any other request in my year and some change of doing YouTube videos and blogging. Mind you, I'm not a skincare expert, hit up our girl Mischo Beauty for that. Instead, i've found what happens to work for my sensitive, dry skin.


A lot of you fellow bloggers/cosmetic junkies knows that it's hard to pick one specific routine since we love to try out so many products.


In the last few months, I've found a routine that works great for me. Last fall my skin was starting to look tired and dull and I vowed to take better care of my skin.


Check out the video explaining my skincare regimen! I'm not wearing any makeup in the video so you can see what my skin really looks like.







First I like to remove most of my makeup with the Mandom makeup remover. I hopped on the Mandom train, this stuff is the ish! Doesn't sting, and can get that pesky mascara, lash glue and liner off. It saves a lot of trouble to at least take off your eye makeup first. Use a cotton pad...they're better than cotton balls because they don't leave fibers behind. If I have a crazy amount of makeup from something like a Halloween tut, I'll use MAC cleanse off oil and rub it into my entire face dry, then wash it off. It works pretty well too but can get into your contacts.





Gotta cleanse! I do this morning and night. This cleanser doesn't really take the makeup off so that's why makeup remover is important. Instead, I feel the glycolic acid tingling and rebuilding my skin...getting rid of scars and what not.


Toner helps get whatever dirt is left from the first two steps. It also makes my moisturizer sink in better. I love this Alba toner so much I'd definitely repurchase it. It smells yummy and isn't as harsh as some of the other toners I've tried.


This is my second tube of MAC cream in a year...lasts a good while for a small tube. It feels like it has silicone in it which makes it a great prep for eye makeup. Ladies, we gotta start wearing eye cream now so we don't get wrinkles later!  The  Genucel Skin Line is another good option for reducing dark circles and eye bags.



My throwback moisturizer...I started using it in my Dermatologist days and haven't stopped. This jar lasts foreverrrrrr.


My HG lip moisturizer. I have a separate one for my clients as well. Everyone loves it!


Gotta condition those lashes. I find mine to get a bit dry and thin from all my falsies. These have strengthened them and I feel like my bottom lashes are definitely longer.


I know Queen Helene is a popular drug store fave. I picked this one up because they didn't have the Mint Julep Mask. It seems to work though...my skin feels super soft afterwards.




To keep skin bright and glowy, you gotta exfoliate. When I feel my nose getting gunked up and bumpy from black heads, this takes care of it. It also let's new skin shine through so you never have that dull look of winter skin.


I'll always love my pore strips. It seems to work like no other in removing all that gunk from my nose...which is my problem area. I hoard these though since there's not that many in a box and I run through them!


So I hope you guys enjoyed my skincare regimen.

Till next time, Ciao Bellas!


Atlanta Makeup Artist
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