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