I'm going to NYFW! How did this happen?

I made an announcement last night via facebook, twitter, and instagram that I will be assisting two amazing, celebrity makeup artists next week at Mercedes Benz - New York Fashion Week. I instantly started getting inbox and text messages asking me, "HOW?"

Well, I'll tell you how!

I have to go all the way back to the beginning of my career to explain step by step how this happened.

This is a REAL Throwback Thursday.

------------------------------------------

This all started with this drawing I sketched in 2004.

I was attending Harold Washington College between 2002-2005. I drew a model I saw in Elle Magazine using my chalk pastels, my fingers, and an ink pen. Since I was 3 years old, I have always drawn models I saw in magazines, random faces, eyes, makeup, lips; I literally had no idea I was making face charts and preparing myself for my future.

I was a BROKE college student and I needed money to support myself. I stepped up to Macy*s , The Body Shop , and other retail places to interview for a sales associate position.

I had no resume, no experience, nothing: All I had was my ability to draw.

The management looked at me like I was crazy for only showing them my drawings, but they had faith that I could do makeup on customers, so The Body Shop hired me on the spot in August 2004.



Step 1: Discover your passion

This was when I first discovered my passion for makeup.

This was where I met a lot of amazing people like:

Vivienne, Jonilyn, Romney, Lizi, Yesenia, Jasmine, Brittany, Ryan, Jordan, Justyn, Crystal, Anna, Shawn, Katie, Edith, Danielle, Vera, Joaquin, Cleo, and last but NOT least my boss for 5 years, Ioana.

Each and every one of these people allowed me to experiment on their faces, or taught me something new, or we partied together, had fun together, laughed together, cried together. They all helped mold me into the woman I am today. I don't talk to every single person every day, but I think about all of them all the time. They don't realize how much of an impact they each had on me for my life.

To each and every one of my Body Shop crew: I LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU



I wanted to learn about makeup as much as possible, so I signed up for school at Makeup First LLC in 2007.

-------------------------------------------

Step 2: Educate Yourself

It was here I learned from artists Jill Glaser and Lani Swasko about amazing makeup artists like Eve Pearl, James Vincent, Maurice Stein, Kevin James Bennett, and amazing products like Make Up For Ever and Cinema Secrets. It was here where I learned how to do theatrical makeup, makeup for film and media, clinical makeup, basic hair styling, airbrush makeup and agencies within the Midwest. School is not for every artist, but it helped me get more focused on what I should and shouldn't do for my career.

To Jill Glaser and Makeup First LLC: I LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU

Once I graduated with my Makeup Artistry certificate, it led me to create my first website and sign up for Facebook in 2007.

-------------------------------------------

Step 3: Network

Through facebook, my little world of makeup grew into a major passion. I started networking with hair stylists, makeup artists, photographers, and any one related to fashion. This is where I met the young fashion photographer around 2008 from Tanzania, Africa: Nuru Kimondo.

Nuru is an extremely gifted young woman! I met her when she was just starting out, she was 16 at the time. We started doing photo shoots together on a weekly basis, we would hang out together all the time, traveled to New York together, we became really close friends.

To Nuru Kimondo: I LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU

On one of our last photo shoots together, I met hair stylist Dee Desalu.

Dee is absolutely amazing and she wowed me with her hair skills. Dee is super sweet, talented and amazing at hair styling. Dee is a true hair artist!

We always kept in touch and sent each other work from time to time. Dee always kept me up to date on fashion, events, networking, how to make a perfect curl and things I never knew about with hair!

Dee Desalu: I LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU

------------------------------------------

I met makeup artist Nicole Rogers via facebook.

Nicole was the first makeup artist I ever assisted on set, I reached out to her casting call for assistance and she brought me on board for a film set. I thought I knew what I was doing, but I didn't. Nicole put me in check REAL quick and told me what to do and what not to do with assisting another artist. If it weren't for her, I would have easily been a hot mess in my career.

To Nicole Rogers: I LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU

------------------------------------------



Step 4: Maintain Industry Relationships

One day, out the blue, Dee tagged me and a few other mua's to a post on facebook about a makeup artist looking for assistants for The Makeup Show.

It was celebrity makeup artist: AJ Crimson.

I honestly did not think AJ would reach back out to me, or answer my email, or even bother to read my message but in less than five minutes, AJ called me and asked, "Are you available?"

I said, "YEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!"

So myself, DeCarr, George, and Sarah were able to assist AJ for the launch of his makeup line.

AJ Crimson: I LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU

-------------------------------------------

Step 5: Find A Mentor

In June 2012, I was working with photographer Escalante on a weekly basis. I reached out to him and a lot of makeup artists and photographers within the industry just asking for help in 2010. The only person that reached back out to me was Escalante.



Escalante has been a fashion photographer for the past 25 years, so he knows all the ins and outs of the fashion industry from the United States to Europe. Escalante helped me sharpen my skills, fine tune my lines, quicken my pace with makeup, connected me to my first agency: The Rock Agency, and really helped me become an all around better makeup artist. He pushed me to my limits and encouraged me to do hair styling which I never thought in a million years I would ever do. He also encouraged me to travel and market myself outside of Chicago. Because of him, I dropped a lot of fears and doubts I had within myself and worked harder than ever before. I made my first trip to Los Angeles to visit my family, but little did I know I would also be signing with an amazing artists agency from a referral through AJ Crimson:

Black Board Group

To Escalante: I LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU

------------------------------------------

Step 6: Take Risks

When I first signed with Black Board, they told me I needed better models, better photographers, better everything in order to get better jobs; that's when Jennifer Avello and I started working together more often. I started working with Jennifer in 2010.

 Jennifer and I took risks together, experimented, completely changed our portfolios, we worked to exhaustion to try to make our books more to our liking. We were getting so frustrated with people telling us to tone down our work, and telling us, "Your work is not commercial enough." Or, "It's not edgy enough" or , "It's not good enough."

After a while, we said, "Fuck the agencies!" and we allowed our creative juices to flow when we worked together. We did whatever we wanted to do and our skills grew stronger together.
Jennifer Avello is absolutely amazing.

It wasn't until we did this photo shoot for Tantalum Magazine together, with stylist Marta of Factor Artists, that Black Board Group was finally excited about my work.

This was when I got the message on August 27th, 2013 simply asking,

"Are you available September 4th for fashion week?"

To Jennifer Avello: I LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU
 

------------------------------------------

Today was when I realized everything and every person in life is for a season and a reason:

- My drawing skills led me to employment at The Body Shop >

- which led me to  > school

- which led me to  > social media

- which led me to  > amazing and talented people that I networked with

- which led me to  > referrals
- which led me to  > fashion week

This was NOT an over night process.
Your journey will be completely different than mine, but just remember:
Who you meet today could be the key to your dreams coming true tomorrow.

---------------------------------------

It makes me sad that I'm not able to talk to all these people every day, but I understand now more than ever that they were all in my life for seasons and reasons that I can only explain is God's doing. I have been working, and planning, and editing, and deleting, and second guessing, and going broke, and messing up my career from the beginning, but it was ALL to prepare me for next week, and for the rest of my career.

So right now, if you are going through a crazy time period in your life, or if things are not panning out the way you hoped, or things are not as good as you think they could be, just remember:

It's only for a SEASON!



HD Ready and Safe for All!

This past weekend, I was assigned to a commercial job and I had to make sure the talent was HD ready with a fresh, clean look. As soon as the talent sat in my chair, we had a brief chit-chat and I asked her, "Is there anything you are allergic to?" I was not prepared for what she was going to tell me:  -Petroleum
-Mineral Oil
-Gluten
-Parabens



So I calmly looked at my foundations, looked at my lip balm, looked at my concealers, looked at my lipsticks and realized: OMG. That was almost ALL my favorite products.   I will admit, I freaked out for a second :-O

More like 20 seconds.

No, more like 1 whole minute.

I was frantically searching for something with OUT these ingredients..... and then I smiled. ;-) In case you EVER have a client that is super sensitive to certain ingredients, here is a brief list of products that are safe for EVERY one to use AND they are HD ready. These are the products that I had in my kit that worked for my client:

 Face Moisturizer: Kiehl's Face Moisturizer

This has no frangrance, contains SPF 15, and doesn't leave the client feeling under or over moisturized; it's perfectly balanced for all skin types. Kiehl's also has an alternative for people that may be allergic to spf.  Eye Cream: Kiehl's Facial Fuel Eye De-Puffer

They key ingredient in this cooling eye cream is caffeine. Caffeine reduces puffiness which is a great natural alternative to hiding those bags under your eyes! After a few minutes, it reduces the puffiness which is GREAT for HD camera.  Eye Primer: E.L.F. Mineral Eye Primer

I found out this was 100% mineral based which means: No parabens, no dyes, no chemicals, nothing too crazy in this primer. Not only is it safe but it works very fast and adheres to eye shadows very well.  Eye Shadow & Skin: Dinair Airbrush

I applied water based Dinair as her eye shadow, her concealer, and her foundation. I applied them all with synthetic brushes & my fingers first, then followed up with a thin layer of foundation with the airbrush gun on top. I lightly powdered over everything to make sure her skin doesn't 'crack'. Sometimes, water based airbrush tends to 'crack' in the skin if there is too much product dispersed at one time, so I lightly go over it with my fingers or powder to take out the 'cracks' in the skin. My client was relieved that I was using water based products because she mentioned problems she had with silicone based airbrush products in the past. A majority of my favorite concealers contained petroleum which I was very surprised about, so I stuck with airbrush for her skin and applied the airbrush a few extra times over her blemishes. The end result: She looked very natural and her skin looked refreshed under camera.  Mascara: Clear Gel from The Body Shop

I used a clear gel and a mascara wand, used a small amount of black eyeshadow and created my own mascara for her. I didn't want to chance it with the mascara's I had in my kit, I didn't have the time to google the ingredients for each mascara brand I had, so I custom made it for her.  Lips: NYX

I used this palette that I purchased from the American Beauty Show. I was very happy, surprised and relieved to see that the main ingredient was beeswax in this palette. The talent loved it and it showed up beautifully on camera.  At the end of the day, I was happy to have this challenge and try new things that I would not have done before. I suggest to new and seasoned artists to be open to trying new things and don't stay stuck with your 'favorite' brands or doing things the same way that you usually do while on set; switch it up and try some thing new to prepare yourself for any situation that is thrown at you while working.  I hope this helps! :-)

Top 5 Mascaras!

These are the TOP 5 mascaras I have used so far. If I didn't mention a certain mascara, that means it didn't stick out in my memory. So here we go!


#5!

Define-A-Lash Waterproof Mascara by Maybelline: $7

This one is interesting. The wand is limp and rubbery, which worried me. Since it's so rubbery, I was afraid the wand would fall off but it never did. The packaging is bright lime, not the typical black or brown like most mascaras so it definitely caught my eye. I didn't expect volume since it's not advertised as a voluminous mascara. When I first applied it, I wasn't too impressed. After a few more tries, I liked it. For some reason, I like to go to sleep with mascara to see how well it holds on after I wake up. It wasn't flaky for me, which is great. It'll last after I dance for hours. It defines every single litle lash and it adds a little length. It's not my favorite since I LOVE volume, but it makes my eyes appear fresh. I give this a B-.



#4!


Dior Show Mascara by Christian Dior: $24

Over priced. It does the exact same as mascaras for much less than $15. I use it for photoshoots and fashion shows since the mascara wand is nice and fat. It adds volume, adds length, it's not bad at all. But again, it performs the same as the other mascaras for a less expensive price. I give this a B+




#3!


Maybelline Lash Stilleto: $8

This is the one I currently use now, I purchased it out of curiosity. It's not bad. It doesn't flake, it's not clumpy, very nice quality. I think the bristles of the mascara wand make my lashes look regular, it's one of those new, advanced rubbery wands. (Speaking of, what's the deal with all these rubbery wands? I think it's stupid.... helps define lashes but that's about it. Venting over.) It doesn't have that "OOmpf" factor... that 'Wow, look at those eyes!' factor.... but it's good. I give this an: A-




#2!


Bad Gal Lash by Benefit Cosmetics: $19

This is a good one. When I was working for Benefit, I noticed it was easy to apply, easy to sell, but hard to take off. This is key. At the end of the day, you don't want to rub, rub, rub over the thinest skin on your body. The impact on the lashes are great. Very voluminous, very lengthy, very girly. Bad Gal Lash is now offered in three new shades (brown, plum, and blue). The plum is unnecessary to me, the blue for some reason is a nice shade for most skin tones. I give this an A



#1!



The Body Shop Super Volume Mascara: $14

I love this one. When I was working for The Body Shop, I advertised the HELL out of this mascara. It seemed to be the only mascara that worked for all eye shapes and lash lengths. This is key! A majority of the ingredients are natural and they've infused marula oil inside. Marula Oil has similar properties as Vitamin E. If you like volume, this is a really good one. It adds length, volume, va-va-voom quality, AND you don't need a lash curler!! It somehow naturally curls your lashes. CRAZY!! People always thought I was wearing false lashes, but nope, it was just a damn good mascara. The bristles are separted in a unique pattern which enhances the lashes and creates the illusion of bigger, longer lashes. It's a pretty good illusion too. A+