Los Angeles | August 2012

I finally took a much needed vacation this year!! I wanted to check out a place with beautiful weather and beautiful people. My mentor Escalante recommened I check out LA, so I dropped everything and left for a week. I also wanted to spend time with family that I haven't seen in a long time, so LA was a perfect vacation spot.

I rode on Virgin America Airlines for the first time. I was SO impressed that they had music and movies to watch. I was jamming to Prince and Adele on my way to the Westcoast!

As soon as I landed, I was instantly calm. There is a sense of tranquility in the air. Every one takes there time and things are quite blissful in LA.
  The flowers are so beautiful! Everything look amazing.
  I'm still a fan!!!! :-)   Can You believe this?? I WISH Chicago had these rates.   I had NO idea LA has a train system!   They have a blue, red and purple line as well.   It was so empty and clean compared to the CTA.     I also had a chance to meet up with the humble and sweet AJ Crimson during my stay. He was so divine! AJ gave me great advice on my portfolio and a little guidance for my career. I appreciate that he took the time to speak with me during his busy schedule.      

I work so hard and so much that I often forget to take out time to myself; Los Angeles was a MUCH needed relief at this time in my life.

I will be back and forth between Chicago and LA more often, so stay tuned for more projects and events coming up soon!

How to: Pack Your Bags Like a Pro!

So, I'm going to LA tonight. :-)

It took me a few days to figure out how to condense all my makeup stuff into small cargo, but I did it! I wanted to share how to pack all of your makeup items when traveling.

1.) In the wise words of Erykah Badu, "Pack light."

 I prefer to carry-on my luggage, so I packed both my hair products and my makeup items into this one, small unit.

I found this at The Container Store for $99! This is very similar to a Zuca case, but it opens up like a file cabinet inside. This has 5 big pockets that I can stuff all my palettes and products into.

 2.) Condense, condense, condense!

 I condensed ALL my makeup into these small containers.

I found these at CVS for $4.99.

You can use the bottles the travel kit comes with for your foundations, your brush cleaner, your skincare products, your personal items as well. I used a few of them for my personal stuff:

I used the bags for the rest of my makeup products and organized my kit with them. Here is what my condensed kit looks like:

3.) Make sure you keep everything UNDER 3 ounces.

Any liquid items you have, replace them with travel size items at 3 ounces or less. If you really need certain items in a bigger size, wherever you are heading, hopefully there is a store that has what you need in the size you need.

4.) Check Please!

If you are working on a big project and you have to carry heavier items, you'll have to 'check' your bags in. This always gives me a heart attack because your luggage could possibly be lost when checking them. Make sure you purchase travelers insurance. It's always better to be safe than sorry!

I hope this helps!!
I'll take pics of my trip :-)

The Makeup Show: Chicago 2012

At The Makeup Show, I was anticipating purchasing my usual items, meeting the usual people, and doing the usual shopping during that weekend.
But no.
Not this year.
God had other plans for me!
The amazing hairstylist Dee Desalu informed everyone on her facebook page that AJ Crimson was coming into Chicago for the weekend and looking for four assistants.
Within one minute, I emailed him my phone number and website.
Literally, one minute later, he called me!!!!!
He said he loved my work! I was completely shocked.
I was sooooo excited to have been chosen as one of the assistants for AJ Crimson.

Have you heard of AJ? Let me give you a brief breakdown:

- AJ has done makeup for Hillary Duff, Estelle, Fergie, Brandy, Amerie, Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child, Christina Milian, Keyshia Cole, Missy Elliott, Letoya Luckett and many more.
- Was the "Life Coach" for MTV's "Made"
- His work has been featured in Glamour, Marie Claire UK, In Style UK, Ocean Drive, Z!NK, Essence, Vibe and many more...
- Assisted Mathu Anderson, Joann Gair, AND Pat McGrath for Paris Fashion Week
- Launched a makeup line called, "Kissable Couture"

He is amazing! He was coming into Chicago to launch a few new products from his makeup line; I was very excited and proud to be apart of it.

June 16th: Deirdra Carney, Sarah Fierz, George McKenney from Detroit and myself helped AJ organize and clean up his booth area and prepare for the next day.

We all had a chance to briefly chit-chat and introduce ourselves to each other in his team. AJ has a very cool, laid back personality. He takes his time explaining things, also with makeup application and with everything around him; his vibe is very mellow and chill. Being around him and the team, I was really excited and pumped up for the next day.

June 17th: We started off with a bang! Although our booth was one of the smallest, we were also one of the loudest booths on the floor and grabbed the most attention! We had a lot of customers running up to the booth to take pictures with AJ and try out his new glosses. Every time we sold a gloss, we would scream, shout and celebrate. People from other booths were rolling their eyes, but we didn't care!! 

We had so much fun :-)

After 5 hours, we SOLD OUT of the "Fantasies" red lip gloss.

It almost felt like a family reunion! I was able to stop and say hi to these wonderful artists through out the day: 

Norah Salazar, Vanessa Valliant, Iris Guevara, Allana Hicks, Zee Gustafson, Kat DeJesus, Jennifer James, Theresa Jones, Candace Corey, Kate Johnson, Doris Rohr, Loni Hale, Belinda Campbell, Rachel Odem, and I'm sure there were more but those were the ones I could remember off the top of my head.

  Viola Nicholson

Later that evening, about twenty artists went to dinner at the Grand Luxe. It was so refreshing to break bread and see the people that I talk to via Facebook on a regular basis.

Angela B. Hall, Teague Vivolo, Lynn Golovich

Yvonne Wallace

Our fruity drinks!

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June 18th: Monday morning started off a little slower, so AJ started doing live demos right on the main floor. 

The crowd was getting hyped up and people started rolling in. A few photographers and bloggers stopped by to take photos of us at the booth:

Just an hour before the 5pm closing time, we all had a chance to take a break and purchase items from the different booths. These were the items I had a chance to grab:
Cinema Secrets Brush Cleaner, 3 Powder Puffs, and Moisture spray for $33

 

2 Naked Pigments for $40

  All of these Crown Brush Products for $60

 

2 Foundation Palettes and 1 Powder for $30

5 NARS Velvet Lip Pencils and "Turkish Delight" Lipgloss for $90

 

13 Shades of Kissable Couture Lip Gloss

 

3 Embryolisse Moisturizers for $48

 

Team AJ Crimson was so tired and so beat after another 9 hours on our feet, but it was fun and definitely worth it. Such a fun and crazy weekend!

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*Photography by Chicago Imaging Solutions, Yvonne Wallace and Myself