Phamexpo This weekend

This weekend is the Phamexpo(Professional Hair and Makeup Expo) in Los Angeles. The event is open to the public and super beneficial to pros and the beauty lover.  The launch of the expo was last year and it was really intimate and similar to IMATS with professional speakers within the industry, workshops and vendor deals on purchases. In fact it’s the same place where Imats is held and Phamexpo replaced the original Imats date before it moved to January. So We now have 3 makeup conventions, (that i know of)! How awesome is that?!  I assume since the buzz is getting around and this year will be a lot more people, which is good because as an artist or makeup lover it is important to support these expos so they keep coming back with awesome beauty deals and insightful information for pro and aspiring artists. Not so great because of the crowds but great to be around other artists  and like minded people who share your passion. Lets face it, not everyone understands the methods to our madness. The speakers and education they have to offer is enough to go even if you can’t buy anything.

Last year I meat a few other artists who has helped me get to where I am today. It’s amazing for networking, learning and to get products and learn about what’s new.  I highly recommend this event if you are in the Los Angeles area, aspiring artist, makeup lover. It’s all good! http://www.phamexpo.com

I will be in this workshop taught by the amazing Donna Mee on sunday. I am currently an Empire Student and TRUST when I say you want to hear what she has to say. She’s absolutely amazing!

Come out and support the industry we love and appreciate! What are you waiting for?!?! 😛

Are you going to the Phamexpo this year?
Www.phamexpo.com

Exciting News!!!

Last year I went to an event showcasing work from up and coming artists in art, fashion, hair, makeup, photography, music, film and performing art called Raw. It’s an independent organization that supports artists and gives them a platform to showcase their work. It’s a great opportunity to network, get exposure, see some great acts and arts and most importantly to get inspired. Because I attended this even last year I was able to network with other artists and work with a couple photographers and other makeup artists. So just by being there doing nothing except talking with others about their passions and enjoying a fabulous show, I was able to get further ahead in my career path.

I am extremely happy and honored to announce that I have been chosen to showcase my work for the next RAW event, September 5, 2013. I will work with a hair team and create something fabulous that will be featured on a runways for a designer that will also be showcased. It feels so unreal to me. I have never done runway makeup though I have always wanted to and It’s mind blowing that I get a fabulous opportunity like this.

www.rawartists.org/ladydmakeup

I would really appreciate the support! People like you make this event possible and make aspiring artists dreams come true. If you live in the Los Angeles area, or surrounding area, please show your support to a great organization and purchase a ticket and attend the event. You won’t be disappointed! Share with other artists, family, friends or anyone who enjoys the arts. Please check out and buy a ticket through my link www.rawartists.org/ladydmakeup to support me. I would really appreciate it.

I would really encourage any artist seeking exposure and fun; hair, makeup, performing arts, art, film etc to check into showcasing. They have shows worldwide. It is extremely beneficial and it definitely wouldn’t hurt to check it out and apply. 

My personal experience of last years event and pictures can be seen here

www.rawartists.org/ladydmakeup

The Color of 2013 is…

Pantone Universe has hailed Emerald the color of 2013 and I think that’s a excellent choice because it looks pretty on everyone! Emerald is so lovely and vibrant. Whenever I see this shade I instantly think of life and nature. Although green is technically a cool color there isn’t just one green, or emerald, shade so it’s easy to find your perfect shade of green. When worn anywhere from head to toe, emerald will add a nice addition of color to any look. So play around and find your unique style and color combo!

Here are some random photos that caught my eye I found online and looking at online catalogs just to give a few ideas on how to wear this beautiful color.

What kinds of Emeralds are you wearing this season?

This beautiful dress is exactly what you need for a night out with the girls or for a hot date!

Choose one of these for a vibrant spring look and add some color to your home

What better way to add glamour to any look than with these beautiful drop earrings?

Glam up any casual look with these lovely green peep toes.

Emerald is a big hit with celebs, even with the beautiful First Lady!

MUFE Aqua Cream 22; Pure color palette Emerald Oasis; Mac Steamy e/s; Butter London British Racing Green; UD liner Graffiti; Nails Inc. Nail Jewelry

And of course I HAD to throw in some makeup! This is a makeup blog after all 🙂

 Below are a couple of past looks I have done using green.

Makeup Bag Essentials- Gel Eyeliner vs. Liquid Eyeliner

Eyeliner is an imporatnt finishing touch to your eye makeup. Eyeliner creates illusions. Eyeliner can give the illusion of thicker, fuller lashes and eyeliner can change the shape of your eyes. For example, those with smaller set eyes can apply liner to open the eyes and make them look bigger; for bigger eyes one can apply liner to make the eyes look smaller. If your eyes droop a bit at the outter corners, one can create a cat eye to give the illusion that the eyes are lifted. I like to think of eyeliner as a magic wand for the eyes. The possibilities are endless.

There are many types of eyeliner at your disposal. They all create different effects. The eyeliner you want depends on what you’re using it for.

Liquid eyeliner is a liquid texture. They come matte or shimmery. Even some matte liquid liners can show up a bit shiny and wet looking even after it dries. Liquid liners give a more sharp, precise line. Liquid liner gives the perfect flick for a cat eye  and the line is usually thinner, though the width of the line can be Made thicker. I like using black liquid liner to hide the strip of false lashes. Liquid liners are to be used on the upper lash lines only. I made the mistake of trying it on my lowder lash line and not only did it look crazy but it irritated the crap out of my eyes. Liquid liners are more opaque(not sheer) so they give a really dramatic look. I like liqiud liner because the brushes are usually easier to control and are smaller to create the desired line. I actually prefer liquid liner because they are easier to use, especially for beginners, and they are perfect for quick eyeliner application.

My liquid liner Picks: Makeup Forever Aqua Liners(reviewed here), Mac Penultimate liner( the felt tip applicator gives a nice precise line on the lid, doesn’t pull or tug at the lids and a good matte black that doesn’t dry shiny). None of these liners fade or crack off throughout the day and they aren’t runny. Mac Superslick Liquid Eyeliner.

Gel/Cream Liners are great for creating smokey eye looks and give a more intense look. Depending on the brand and color, these can be opaque but quite a few apply a bit on the sheer side and needs to be built up. The line isnt as precise as liquid liner can be but it comes pretty close. If not a perfect line it can be smudged out to your desire. You need a liner brush to apply these. They give good coverage and can be used on the upper and lower lash lines. These also works good alone as a cream eyeshadow and/or eyeshadow base to enhance the color of your powder shadows. The finish is a lot less shiny and isn’t runny. Even the gel liners with shimmer to them doesn’t always come out super shimmery like in liquid liners.

My gel/cream liner picks: Makeup Forever Aqua Black, Mac Fluidlines, Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Liners.

Shades of Fall- Mac Spice it Up! Lipstick

I wanted to do a series of lip and eye products that looks great for the seasons. However, I do believe that one should wear what they want, when they want. I’m a wear white after Labor Day kinda girl, myself.
Since It’s officially fall, here we go.

When I think of fall I think of earth tones like brown, olive, green, yellow, I also think of wine(color, not the drink LOL) and plums. Wine and berry shades are in this season(every fall actually) in particular, “ox blood” was seen on the runways for fall fashion shows. It’s basically a dark red/wine color. Ox blood just sounds gross to me but whatever.

This lipstick is Spice it Up! by Mac. It’s described as a brownish berry shade but it looks like a brownish red color on me.  It’s a luster finish so it gives a nice glossy finish. I am not wearing any gloss with this lipstick. Lusters are typically on the sheer side but this shade isn’t lacking color. Luster finishes are pretty creamy in texture and they feel good on the lips. I wore this shade for a good 4 hours before seeing fading. I like that this is not a super dark color and it’s not super sheer. It’s a really nice balance for fall lips.

Makeup Bag Essentials-Brow Gel

Eye brows are an important piece to your makeup routine. Ever seen someone with beautiful makeup; flawless face, gorgeous smokey eyes and a perfect lip? But when you look at the eye brows it just messes up the look. I’ve fallen vitctim to doing that myself and I’m sure I’m not the only one. But we live and learn. The eye brows  frame your eyes and your face.  Well groomed brows are important and add the finishing touches to your look. Brow gel is used to hold the brows in place after filling them in with a pencil or powder. Brow gel is perfect for those with unruly or stray brows. I know someone with curly brows and no matter how much I brush them into place they just curl back. Brow gel works perfect on her brows to shape them and hold that shape all day.

Your Brow gel shouldn’t make your brows flaky or make them hard and crunchy. A good brow gel has conditioning aspects like aloe vera, beeswax or essential oils to combat any alcohol in the product. After researching, I found that most brow gels on the market have some kind of alcohol content BUT the best brow gels are the ones where alcohol denat is not one of the first or second ingredients, which means that ingredient is the most potent. If water or gylcerin is the first ingredient that’s how I know it’s a good product. Your eye brows are hair so you should treat them just as good as the hair on your head and not use products with alcohol in them because it is drying.

My picks for Brow gels are Mac Brow Set and Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Gel. In Anastasia clear brow gel the top ingedient is Glycerin and no alcohol. They leave the brows smooth and the brows don’t become flaky. Mac Brow gel also gives a nice smooth finish. Their top ingredietns are water and beeswax. There is some  cetyl alcohol later down the chain of ingredients. It’s not that much but it’s there, however I don’t find them drying to my brows.

I especially love tinted brow gel because not only do they hold the brows in place all day but they also fill in the brows and give them a lovely tint of color. There’s no need to dye your brows if using tinted brow gel. If you’re like me and just don’t find it necessary to dye the brows or just want colored brows for a day or two, tinted brow gels are ideal. Tinted brow gel don’t add too much color to the brow like if you were to dye them but in my opinion it’s a nice substitute. Tinted Brow gels give a nice natural looking tint of color to the brows. I like using brow pencils but sometimes my brows come out too dark for my taste, unless I am going for strong, dark brows. There also aren’t a vast variety of tinted brow gel shades on the market but the basics are covered.

My Pick for tinted brow gels are Mac Brow Sets. I love the  colors! I used these more than my brow pencils.  Anastasia Beverly Hills brow tints were a little too light for my taste and they made my brows a bit stiff. Why? Because alcohol denat is the 3rd ingredient in the tinted brow gels.

My tip for tinted Brow Gels: I like to use a brow pencil lightly(I use Mac Spiked) to shape my brows, using light strokes I fill them in just a bit where there are gaps and then I use a lighter tinted brow gel (Mac Boy Girl)to fill them in to lighten my brows up. Using both with give a more defined brow. But Brow gels can definitely be used on their own.

Do you use brow gel? Tinted or clear? What’s your favorite?

3 Ways to wear Mac Amber Lights Eyeshadow

Look 1

Look 2

Look 3

Since I am on an Amber Lights kick I thought I might as well do a 3 ways post. Moving forward I figured I would do an eyeshadow series, 3 Ways to wear… of all my favorite eye shadows! I think it’s fun to see the different looks one can create with just one eyeshadow.

Are there any thoughts or any eye shadows you’re curious about or want to see in a look? Let me know and I’ll be happy to do so!

See another Amber Lights look and products I used here in a previous post!

Look 1:

Face:

Dior Nude Foundation

Mac MSF Natural

Cheeks:

RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek Illusive

Eyes:

Mac Amber Lights e/s

Mac Cranberry e/s

Mac Sketch e/s

Mac Swiss Chocolate e/s

Makeup Forever Aqua Liner 7

Mac Raven Kohl Power Eye Pencil

Brows

Mac Brow Pencil Spiked

Lips:

RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek Illusive

Look 2:
Face:
Laura Mercier Oil Free Primer
Chanel Perfection Lumiere foundation
Makeup Forever Full Cover Concealer

Cheeks:
Illamasqua Blusher Excite

Eyes:
Mac Nubile Paint Pot(LE)
Mac Amber Lights e/s
Mac Goldmine e/s
Urban Decay Half Baked e/s
Mac Brown Down
Makeup Forever Aqua Black Liner

Brows:

Mac Brow Pencil Spiked

Lips:
Mac Marquise D Lipstick

Look 3: I wanted to have fun with this look and try something different. So I added two different eyeliners, a black and a copper, orange liner. This is a fun look to go out in!

Face:

Dior Skin Nude Foundation

Cheeks:

RMS Beauty Rapture Lip2Cheek

Eyes:

NYX Eye shadow base 3

Mac Amber Lights e/s

Mac Bronze e/s

Mac Carbon e/s

Mac Swiss Chocolate e/s

Mac Rose Blanc e/s

Makeup Forever Aqua Cream Liner

Mac Auto Orange Liquidlast Liner(on top of Aqua cream liner)

Brows:

Mac Brow Pencil Spiked

Lips:

RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek Rapture

Home/Personal Makeup Kit

Weather you wear makeup everyday, on special occasions, or if you’re not really a fan of makeup or don’t know how to use it, this list gives a nice basic idea of what you should have stashed away. You never know when you’ll need to get all dolled up for a day, or night, out. Here’s s few essentials you should have in your home drawers, cabinets etc. It doesn’t need to be expensive but since it’s going on your face it should be a good quality. I’m happy to see a lot of the drug store brands like Maybelline, Wet n Wild, L’Oreal etc are stepping up their makeup game! Honestly the brand doesn’t matter as long as you know what you’re doing!

Concealer-Think of it as an instant eye lift and brightener.  Used to brighten any darkness around the eyes, eye bags, and any skin discoloration. If you have great skin with just a few dark spots, redness, and/or darkness around the eyes, just use a concealer that matches your skin, add powder and you’re good to go, skipping the foundation. To highlight the skin or brighten a specific area like under the eyes or even the cheekbones, get a concealer 1 to 2 shades darker than your skin tone and get to highlighting!

Foundation  Used to even out the skin, covering skin discolorations, acne, acne scarring and the like, you should have a good foundation that’s good for your skin type.For oily/combo skin use a cream or powder foundation(you can use a liquid but make sure it’s oil free, stay away from light reflecting foundations and use a mattefying cream or powder). For dry skin use a liquid. For mature skin use a self setting, or anti-aging  foundation( stay away from powders since they tend to settle in the lines.)
Powder Used in conjunction with your foundation to set it so it doesn’t melt off mid day, powder is pretty essential especially if you have oily skin. Powder can help suck up excess oil on the skin. There is a wide range of powders on the market. There are pressed powders, which usually are blot powders, and loose powders that are usually finely milled into a dust like consistency.  There are shimmer powders that give an iridescence to the skin, there are matte powders. Those with mature skin should skip powders altogether because they can settle into fine lines and look cakey on the skin.

Eye Shadow– Keep a few different shades on hand to glam up your look. At least 4 basic colors like brown, gold, ivory and black looks good on just about everyone and it’s good to have a variety of shimmer eye shadows and matte eye shadows.   OR Just opt for a pre-made palette from Urban Decay or Mac with a nice range of color options.

Mascara used to add volume and/or length to your lashes, whether you have long lashes or not. I used to think because my lashes are long and pretty thick, I didn’t need mascara. But mascara can make or break your look. Your eyes and overall look could be flawless and beautiful but if you skip mascara your look will look half-assed.

Blush will bring color back to your face. If you use foundation, the goal is to have a blank canvas so it’s taking away some of your natural color or your skin just might be pale in general,  no matter what your skin color is. There are cream blushes which I love because they make the skin look more natural, giving a more natural glow to the skin. Then there’s powder blush which is also great but it’s easy to add too much which can look too powdery or unnatural. I love both types and its great to brighten the skin as well. What ever texture you decide peachy blushes usually look good on everyone. Corals and pinks are also good. They don’t need to be super bright to look good.

Lipstick, Gloss and/or lip pencil also adds a finishing touch to a look. Gloss or lipstick brings it all together. Even if you opt for a sheer, colorless gloss it just looks good and gloss makes your lips looks fuller too. Again, peachy or pinky tones look more natural and are not so over the top. Lipstick is more pigmented and instantly brings attention to your lips and last longer on your lips. I recommend having one red lipstick or gloss for that special occasion.  Lip pencils are good to keep your lip color from bleeding and good to help it last. Not a lipstick fan, fill in your lips with a pencil, add some clear gloss and you’re good to go.

Eyeliner is good to have but I don’t think it’s always necessary. It really depends on who you are and what your makeup type is. If you’re not into makeup, especially eye makeup, eyeliner is look because it adds some depth and detail to your eyes. If one doesn’t wear eyeshadow, mascara and/or eyeliner is perfect.

What are some of your makeup essentials?

Here’s Some of my Favorite Essentials:

Concealer- Makeup Forever Full Cover

Foundation- Sheer, Mac Face and Body; Full Coverage/Special occasion,  Chanel Mat Lumiere

Powder Mac Mineralize Skinfinish Natural

eyeshadow Urban Decay Naked Palette

Lipstick- Mac Viva Glam V

Lipgloss- Nars Dolce Vita

Blush- Powder, Illamasqua Excite ; Cream, Mac Optimistic Orange

Mascara- Maybelline Falsies Mascara

Eye Liner- Mac Feline Kohl Power Eye Pencil

3 Ways To Wear Mac Feeling Fresh Eyeshadow

It’s been gorgeous, weather wise, here in LA and I’ve been feeling summer-y and been “feeling fresh” so to speak. Lol, a little corny buy I laughed 🙂
So here are a few looks using Mac’s Feeling Fresh Eyeshadow. I like this color a lot. It’s a great summer color and as you can see with only two weeks left of school I kinda stopped caring about how bright my makeup has been. Take a looksy. Hope you like them.

Look 1: pretty simple, not too bold, still wearable for a day, going to the beach or pool, look.

Urban Decay primer potion
Mac Bright Future e/s
Mac Feeling Fresh e/s
Mac Beach Blonde e/s
Mac Blue Stripe PowerPoint Eyeliner
Mac Blessedly Rich Lipglass

Look 2: The ocean was my inspiration here!

UD Primer potion
Mac Feeling Fresh e/s
UD Haight e/s
UD Dashiki e/s
Mac Blue Stripe PowerPoint Eyeliner
Mac Blessedly Rich Lipglass

Look 3: This came out looking a bit too Christmas-y for my taste but I still wearable. Something to keep in mind for the holidays 😉
Nars Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base
Mac Saffron e/s
Mac Feeling Fresh e/s
Mac Beach Blonde e/s
Mac Orpheus Khol Power Eyeliner Pencil
Mac Blessedly Rich Lipglass

Different ways to wear Mac Jaunty Eyeshadow

I am loving and having so  much fun with Jaunty eyeshadow. Since I work with kids, specifically special needs kids, I often don’t like to wear crazy, colorful eyeshadow because it seems to distract them(sometimes I just don’t care and I go all out) so I love Jaunty for its subtly but I also like that I can make the shade more bold, colorful or fun by adding a colored liner or a colored eyeshadow to the crease and/or outer lids.

Here are a couple looks I created using Jaunty as the primary shade. I feel I’m not done experimenting with this shade yet!

Look #1: I kind of rushed through this look because I was running late, so it’s not to MY standards but it gets the point across 🙂
UD primer potion
Mac Jaunty e/s
Mac parrot e/s
Nars Stylo Eyeliner Blue Bayou
Mac Blue Stripe powerpoint eye pencil
Mac Blessedly Rich lipglass

Look #2
UD primer potion
Mac Jaunty e/s
Mac Beach Blonde e/s
UD Buck e/s
Mac Rapid Black penultimate liquid eyeliner
Mac Feeling Fresh e/s(lower lid)
Mac Sail La Vie Lipstick

Look #3
Was the same as in look #2 but I wiped away the green on my lower lash line and built the colors up for an evening look so I could go out later. I just added:
UD Darkhorse e/s to the crease and lower lash lines
Mac Engraved Powerpoint eyeliner to the water line
Added an extra wing to the lower lash line
White e/s separating and defining the two wings.
Mac Sail La Vie lipstick