Better Fight 'Til The Day You Die

 I think of the times when my father said,"Computers would be good for you." 

I think of the times some friends would say, "You're gonna be broke." 

and I think of the times my sister said, "Makeup? Finish your Bachelors!" 

  

 and I think of the times an ex said, 

"My parents don't understand what you do. I don't wanna travel with you." 

 

 

I still didn't quit.

Now it blows my mind that every one is proud of me. 

Doesn't matter what any one says: 

If you have a dream, better fight for it 'til the day you die.

 

Photography by Emily Gualdoni, Jennifer Avello, Chris Free of Project Captured and Bing.com

How To Work Faster Under Pressure

Over the years, I have learned to work speedy for fast paced environments.
When I first started, I was a not very confident and I was unsure of a few things, so it would take me hours to finish one face. I would get so frustrated, start all over again, and it would slow me down. After working on a few photo shoots and video productions, I learned that time is money and it's not good to waste people's time if there is a way you can do things at a faster pace.

After working for Macy's and The Body Shop for a few years, I learned how to work faster to build more clientele in one day, to increase sales, and to keep my boss and the customer happy at the same time. Attending Make Up First also helped me to increase my speed by learning to use more products that do more than one job for me. Over the years, I learned how to 'cheat' a full face of makeup just by doing a few things differently. I ONLY do this for fashion shows, certain photo shoots or for events that I know the makeup doesn't need to last long.

Want to know how? Let me show you :-)

1.) Prep.


- For starters, prepping the skin is the most important thing to make it ready for makeup. I start with baby wipes. Don't bother to purchase fancy 'makeup remover' wipes, it is the EXACT same thing as a baby wipe. Don't be fooled.



- To make things faster, I mix my moisturizers, primers and my liquid foundations all together so I have a concoction of everything I need in one go. You are basically making a tinted moisturizer within a short amount of time.



2.) Brows

- I use a brown or taupe matte eye shadow as a filler, shape it with an angled brush, set it with a brow gel, and I'm done within 1 minute. Don't bother with pencils, or 'brow' powders, or stencils. Remember you're crunched for time, work with the natural arch and fill in where you see fit.



- If I am working with thick or curly brows, sometimes I use a brown/black mascara to fill them in. Mascara has a waxy formula which is perfect for taming unruly brows. I take an angled brush, swipe a small amount of the mascara formula off the wand, apply on brows and fill in where needed.



3.)Eyes

- You have your foundations laid down, so make sure you use a cream eye shadow or even a colored pencil as your base so you won't have any powder eye shadow fall on your fresh face. Use your cream eye shadow or pencil as your primer! Then lightly apply the powder eye shadow on top to set it.




4.)Cheeks
- Grab your highlighter/blush & your contour color, put them side by side.
Similar to how the NARS blush duo is set up>>


Use a fan brush to go over the colors.


Now you can highlight & contour at the same time! :-D



5.) Lips
- Gloss is usually the easiest way to cover the lips at a fast pace.
If you are required to apply lipstick, there are two ways to apply it faster.

A.) Apply lipstick with a brush, clean it up with concealer.
B.) Apply tape to the corners of the lips, apply the lipstick on top, the tape will clean up your edges for you.



You will be done in 5-10 minutes guaranteed.
Practice, practice, practice!!


Jon Recana Photography & Emily Gualdoni Photography

I:Scintilla

So I got to work with up and coming Industrial band, I:Scintilla.
The lead vocalist, Brittany, is such a sweetheart and a real trooper. She would literally scream at the top of her lungs take, after take, after take just to get the right shot for the video crew. I was able to do the makeup for their song, "Swimmers Can Drown".

The guys were very cool and just wanted clean, simple makeup.
Brittany LOVES lipstick and lashes, so her makeup was a really fun project for me.
I used Yves Saint Laurant eye shadow in 'Intense Plum", cheek color to contour from MAC in "Fever" with a dark lip polish from Arbonne called, "Raisin" and OFCOURSE Make Up For Ever liquid foundation set with the 'Mist & Fix' on top to resist all the sweat, smoke, smog, and snow on set her precious face had to endure.

Here are a few shots on set and behind the scenes taken by one of my most favorite photographers, Emily Gualdoni.



















Her heels had to have been 8 or 10 inches! I looked like such a shorty :)



AND The video JUST premiered today!!! Check it out and support this amazing band :D

Happy Birthday to Me :-)

So like the dork I naturally am, instead of celebrating my birthday at a normal party with normal friends in normal birthday attire like most normal people do, I was working at photo shoots. Honestly, as much of a home body I would like to be, I'd rather work than do nothing at all.

My first shoot was with Emily Gualdoni, one of my fav photographers.

She cooked breakfast for the team!! I have never had freshly cooked eggs and cinnamon toast as breakfast for a photo shoot before. She made it with love and it was REALLY good!

I did natural, fresh, clean makeup on model Lauren Maria . I couldn't stay for the whole shoot, but the stylist brought beautiful vintage, natural clothing and I know Lauren is a divine model. Here are a few shots from the day :D

My next shoot was with photographer ESCALANTE.

You HAVE to write his name in all CAPS because his PERSONALITY is just that LARGE in LIFE. He is a photographer with over 20 years of experience, he is a real sweet heart and EXTREMELY passionate about fashion and models. I really enjoyed working with him because he keeps it REAL, he let me know things I didn't know I needed to know about the artistry industry, and he genuinely cares about showing people the right way to present yourself and present your work.

Here are a few shots we did for the day with model Steffan. The first look was a 'princess eye' with bold, red lips and a sleek, high ponytail to show off her bone structure. The second look was a simple smokey eye with a pink, nude glossy lip and a ballerina bun to top it off. Simple and clean. Emily is a fresh new model with lots of potential:

At the end of the day, I got a honey bun as my birthday cake and jerk chicken for dinner from my man.

I couldn't have been happier.

Wednesday Inspiration: Emily Gualdoni

Emily Gualdoni is a photographer in Chicago with a lot of versatility. Emily does Bridal, Fashion, Beauty, and so much more. Not only is she extremely talented behind the camera, but she has a beautiful and sweet personality.

We got to work with one of my most FAVORITE stylists in Chicago, Marta Cebrat-Czernik. I love working with Marta because she brings so much passion, drive and originality to each shoot.

Here are a few shots we did last Friday. It only took her 4 DAYS to edit the pictures!! That's a pretty good turn around. Photo editing that takes less than one week makes me so happy!!

The look was Dark and inspired by a few editorials I've seen in Vogue. It was all about contrast: pure blacks & pure whites. I wanted the makeup to compliment the jewelry, not over power it.
I used:
- Black glitter eyeliner by Sephora and black sand to create the eyes
- Face & Body Liquid Foundation Shade Ivory 20 from Make Up For Ever to give the models a creamy, even, brighter skin tone
- Silver Dusk Loose Powder by M.A.C. to give their skin a luminescent glow from the waist up
- MAC Cheek Color in "Sweet As Cocoa" for contour

Model: Sarah Uchison
MUA: Andrea C. Samuels
Hair: Anita Arsova
Jewelry: Marta Cebrat-Czernik
Photographer: Emily Gualdoni

















Model: Megan Graveline
MUA: Andrea C. Samuels
Hair: Anita Arsova
Jewelry: Marta Cebrat-Czernik
Photographer: Emily Gualdoni









Model: Lauren Mulford
MUA: Andrea C. Samuels
Hair: Anita Arsova
Jewelry: Marta Cebrat-Czernik
Photographer: Emily Gualdoni








And here's a video of us working on this shoot!

Chicago Photo Shoot with Emily Gualdoni from Logi Productions, LLC. on Vimeo.