Beautiful new bride photos and a dogbite

After I am done with a wedding, the work is done for that bride and her party officially. But then I try to remain in contact so I get to see the finished photos and how everything lasted throughout the day etc. I just got a couple updates from brides with their absolutely stunning photography that features how their makeup looked when I was doing it, as well as how it looked throughout the day. But all I can see when looking at the one set of photos is my stupid bandaid!

The day before bride Ashley's wedding my husband and I took our new Austrailian Shepherd mix to a park. She is 5 yrs old and until we adopted her she wasn't socialized. There was a guy at the park who started rough-housing with his rottweiller and our dog mistook that cue as something dangerous and she attacked him. 2 pit bulls came to the rott's rescue and all 3 were ganging up on our maladjusted dog. I was trying to break it up and got in the middle of the unfortunate incident with my hand/finger. That was March and it's now June...there are still a couple of marks on my thumb and forefinger. Ashley's photos and all their beauty is marred by that nasty looking bandage. I was just glad to be able to use my hand (I'm a lefty) just fine. My husband broke up the fight and all the dogs got away from it without incident- and my life transferred onto the photos for her wedding....:)

In the family

Photography: Picture the Love

Since being in business for the last 4 years, there have been many girls that were bridesmaids that became brides, many sisters of the bride that became the bride so on. In the last few weeks it seems that many of my clients feel like they are becoming part of the State of Face Family. Not only do I love referrals because it's more business, but really because I get to revisit past brides and maids. The bride in this pic, Amanda, was referred to me by the photographers at my own wedding and her sorority sister. Her "little sister" was a bridesmaid in her actual sister's wedding 2 years ago. After hearing my name from 2 different people, she finally called me up and we did a trial. Then she booked me. Then I did her makeup for her engagement photos (see post below), then for New Year's Eve, then for her shower, then finally her wedding. I love that not only was I referred to her by people who already worked with me, but that I got to know her face and personality so well leading up to her special day. It's a great honor to be part of someone's big day and I'm so fortunate to have lots of special days with lots of special people. You're part of the State of Face family forever!
Thanks to all the brides and vendors that are part of my "family"!

2012 Wedding season and a fun photo shoot

This season is getting started for REAL this Saturday. I have 2 bridal parties and it doesn't quit on almost all Saturdays and lots of Fridays and Sundays for the year. I was really hoping that the forecast of 65 and sunny would hold and it looked good until about 2 days ago: The brides this weekend are going to need an extra positive group surrounding them since it'll be 45 and rainy.

So far the trials I've had this year (and the few weddings that came early) have been erring towards slightly more sultry looks than the past couple. I think people in Ohio may finally be ready to come out of their shell. Although, I still love a super soft look too :)

If you're interested in booking a wedding party with me- contact asap. If I am not available, I can recommend another artist for you that will travel on location.

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to work with a new to town photographer, Corey Chattman. He was wonderful to do all of the photoshoot arrangements, which I often take part in. He booked a space (Heyman Talent agency), a clothing stylist, hair stylist (will update with their info), and the models (4 out of 6 were also Heyman Talent models...and I think they signed a 5th on the spot). It was overall a really creative and great day on the shoot- getting to play around with colorful and edgy looks. Some of my favorites are below.

Quick change artist

A few months ago I was booked on this photo shoot for the CEO of foot petals (those cute inserts to make high heels/sandals/other uncomfortable shoes more comfortable). What I didn't realize was that I wouldn't be doing just one look on her, but I 5 total looks in 5 hours: Both makeup AND hair. That time included the shooting time, the wardrobe time. It was a pretty solid test of my abilities and I think the pictures came out really well. These are the only ones I've seen, as many times on this type of shoot you don't get any pictures afterwards. This was directly from the photographer's (Micheal Bosworth) website.

State of Face is evolving!

It's been 3 months since the last update and I wouldn't want anyone to think that I'm not out here working hard! Over the last couple of years, my business has been growing a lot- always a good thing. I tend to book for a Saturday wedding on a prime Saturday VERY early (usually multiple bookings for all Saturdays March-November) and even Fridays and Sundays are booking up early on some days. In addition to that, I'm finally getting a lot of corporate/commercial/video/film work too. There are actually a lot of production companies that work in Central Ohio and I have been fortunate enough to make connections with people and start working regularly doing this type of makeup.
Since there aren't as many weddings throughout winter, this has been great to stay busy. The most recent jobs have been with Ohio Health on a web video, Mettler Toledo on another web video that was with actors over several days (it's really cute!), and just wrapped a shoot for a national commercial spot. My makeup focus on these types of shoots tends to be taking red out of the skin, keeping things smooth and matte, grooming flyaway hairs, brows, and being ready for anything. My kit is getting reorganized a lot to accommodate for new needs- like cream foundations. For these shoots, I end up using a matte cream to powder palette from Senna Cosmetics that I bought last year at a trade show. But my list of product WANTS is growing: A palette called RCMA which has dozens of cream foundations and is a pro staple. And I've heard years worth of raves about the Beauty Blender sponge, but with doing airbrush makeup, there was no need for sponges. Well....now good sponges are critical. (And they must be wet with water to give a natural and flawless blend for High Def cameras). I will post links to new work if I get them! :)
I hope you're making it through the winter, though a mild one in Central Ohio, and seeing some sunshine.

A passion for fashion

A lot of women consider themself to be a slave to fashion. This was certainly the case for bride, Genevieve, who works in the industry. It can be a little intimidating to do someone's makeup who has such a specific idea and knows their stuff with all things magazine worthy. (I mean, her soon-to-be husband bought her a Burberry trench as a wedding gift!) But Genevieve immediately put me at ease. She said her favorite stores were H&M and Forever 21. (Mine are TJ Maxx and Target FYI). And I forgot that I was dealing with such a gorgeous stylish person and just felt like we were friends working together to create her vision. She was all about matte, matte, matte. Typically I am all about glow, glow, glow. I gave her what she wanted and it actually ended up being one of my favorite bridal looks I created this year. It's good to step out of your go-to and stretch your vision of "bridal". She showed me a SUPER smokey look on Blake Lively (major runway look), but said "I'm afraid of eyeliner". That, my friends, is what I get paid to do: Strike a fine line between what you show me, what you say, what my abilities are and what you will end up loving. A little tweak here, a little tweak there (she did end up with eyeliner, but very soft)....and voila: A subtle smokey matte look with major lashes. Love the photos. And I completely identify with the bridesmaid who has has eyes closed. Haven't we all been THAT girl? :)

Engagement session perfection

Picture the Love referred an awesome client, Amanda and here's a glimpse of a shot from her engagement session last week. Stunning!

Theatre or Theater?

As a Theatre (er?) graduate it was fun to revisit Kenyon college yesterday and work with some Seniors who were getting their headshots done. Thanks to Braden Moran and his great photography both of these actors will be getting better roles in their future acting endeavors!

Referrals are my favorite!

I love getting to work with people more than once, which is another reason why I absolutely adore referrals! These pics are from a wedding last weekend featuring a bridesmaid who booked me last year for her friend's wedding. This time around she's the bride and the client from last year is a bridesmaid. Not only do I get to work on the same face again, but I feel as though I'm "in the family" in a way, getting to experience both days with them. It's pretty cool. For some reason, the pics of the bride didn't turn out so well due to lighting, but I got some shots of the bridesmaids, including the bride from last year (with the super pastel skintone). One of the girls had a funky personal style and I wanted to bring that out (with the bride's full approval, naturally) and she let me do greens and golds. For the other girls I focused on making the eyes pop with natural tones. Pretty!

Granville is so cute!

The last 2 weekends I've been out in Granville, OH for wedding parties and it is such a quintessential small town. So adorable! This past week was at the Byrn du Mansion for Sarah M's wedding. She had such great taste and I absolutely loved all the girls' dresses, the decor and whole vibe. Sarah's a doll and we had a great time! Thanks to Julian Allen Photography for sending me some pics so quickly, too!

Picture the Open House Love

Thank you SO much to Picture the Love for coming to our Open House a few weeks ago and taking these photos!!

Now THAT'S a trial!

Yesterday I had a bridal trial with Chelsea, who is an avid horseback rider and cares for/bathes and grooms horses. She told me that after the trial, she would be putting the makeup to the ultimate test when she went to bathe and ride her 2 horses in a heat advisory! I was so excited that I told her to take lots of pictures. I was hoping it would hold up well, but didn't know for sure with that type of activity.

The results were fantastic. Behold, the progression of photos of Chelsea throughout the day as she rode, bathed, brushed 2 horses over the period of 6 hours in 95 degree weather. Amazing!!!

Pro shot of bride Casey and More from Summertime Shoot

I had to share these pics that just came to me. There were pics of Casey (bride) loaded to my blog right after her wedding because she looked so pretty, but this pic came from the actual wedding photog and not my little cheapie camera.

Then a few more pics were edited from photographer Allyson Keenan on a shoot with model Bre. These show a few more looks we captured- enjoy!

Open House was a success

Last Friday, we here at State of Face had a great turnout for the first ever Open House. After this one, we are all jazzed to partner with our vendor buddies for another one in the depths of winter.
A BIGGGGG shout out to the following vendors for making this possible:
-Picture the Love for taking photos throughout the evening (pics to come!)
-Jessica from Lavish Spa and Salon for giving facial treatments
-Jennifer King from Salon Lofts for doing hair styling
-Carrie's Cake boutique for sweetening up the evening
-Ashley Miller with Sweet William Floral Design for bringing beautiful arrangements
-Lea Gray for hanging one of her origami lanterns (she's in the pic below, makeup done by me and wearing an origami dress!)
-And I cannot forget the awesome interns that busted out the last couple of weeks to make it a success!! Thank you to Kelsie, Jillian, Nicole and Marlowe.

Summertime photo shoot

This was a collaboration from a couple of weeks ago with model Bre and photographer Allyson Keenan.