Bridal Glam at All Saints Church, Pasadena

I had the pleasure of working with Hera for her wedding this week at All Saints Church in Pasadena.  We had a hard time finding a place to set up that had adequate lighting, but everything worked out in the end.  She was so excited the whole time - it was absolutely refreshing to work on someone who was genuinely excited for a new chapter in her life :-). Congrats, Hera & Tyler! 

The radiant bride! 

Hera's sweet mom was telling Thy & I about her 3 amazing daughters, 2 of which live in the Philippines. She was so happy with her makeup that she sent photos over to her daughters overseas! 

Makeup : Tina Tom

Hair: Thy Nguyen 

January 2015 Wedding Bridal Makeup Preview

I had the pleasure of doing a bridal makeup preview for Jenny recently for her wedding in January 2015.  She is such a funny and chill bride and the best part was that she was not afraid to give me specific instructions on areas she wanted to change - One common thing that I see among brides is that they are so timid during the trial but end up complaining or make changes as the wedding date approaches.  Remember, a bridal makeup preview is a comprehensive review and effort to come up with the perfect look on a bride's wedding day, so honesty and clarity is key (and sometimes photos wouldn't hurt, either ;-) !

Makeup: Tina Tom
Hair: Thy Nguyen

One thing that we are going to change for the day of the wedding is her lipstick - she requested a more nudey pink.  Her areas of concern were dark circles & redness around the nose.  Jenny was super happy with the outcome of her trial and loved her brows & contouring + eye makeup.  Her hair was done by Thy, a hairstylist that I team up with.  Can't wait to get her dolled up again January!

Ready, Set... Glam!

I was so happy to get a mother-daughter duo glammed up for the mom's 60th birthday party last weekend!  They were such a pleasure to work with and I am so happy that they were pleased with the outcome :) Take a look below:

This beauty was super concerned about her dark circles, but I was able to conceal the darkness with Graftobian's foundation palette.

This hot momma rocked this red lippie - and of course, it is the one and only "Ruby Woo" from MAC.

One major area of concern was their dark eye circles, which is hereditary.  I used Graftobian's cream foundation/concealer palette and lightly dabbed it onto the outer "ring" with my finger & blended with a concealer brush, then used Ben Nye's Banana Powder to set. 

The ladies loved their makeup & they even wrote about their positive experience on my Yelp page! 

Beauty Haul from Sephora, Tarte & Camera Ready Cosmetics

You guys, my wallet is crying - but I am one happy camper ;-) . I went kind of crazy buying beauty products last week - but in my defense! - most of the products I purchased were to replenish products that had already hit pan and were for my kit for my clients. 

Any of my clients will know that I use top quality, professional brands as well as mid to high-end street brands.  I put in a lot of time, money, and effort into researching products and obtaining them because I always want to use the best-quality products on my clients.  Lately, I've been hearing about some artists in the area who will offer services for a fourth of the price, but use low-quality, sometimes even counterfeit cosmetics.  It  really irks me that any true makeup artist would do that, and that consumers will actually hire these so-called "makeup-artists" and in a way, condone this type of behavior.

Anyway, away from the negativity and back onto my positivity float : I restocked on some new Clarisonic brushes, my beloved Tarte Smooth Operator finishing powder, and my favorite Tarte blush in "Exposed."  I purchased Ben Nye Banana Powder to add to my kit, as well as the Senna Contour Kit (LOVE!) and the Senna Brow Book, which has been a serious lifesaver for my past several gigs.  I also wanted to try out the Tweezerman tweezers to see what the hype's about - but really, I was not impressed at all .... For an almost $30 pair of tweezers, I expected much better. I also got Caudelie and First Aid Beauty moisturizers to use for skin prep on my clients.

Hope you have a great week!