Betsy's wedding- one of my fav's of the season :)

Betsy's wedding party were all incredibly nice and I had a really great day with them yesterday! We were crunched for time and still managed to get everyone we'd planned on plus her Mom and the one bridesmaid who had originally opted out. Total of 8 girls in about 3.5 hours. Pretty fast and it was the hottest day of the year to boot! I gave them a bunch of blotting papers and hope to hear that their airbrushing held up in the swelter of July's heat index. I did run into the church when they were getting some photos taken and give them all a dusting of my favorite new product "High Def powder" from ELF!! It's an almost exact duplicate of the Make Up For Ever one that costs $25, for only $3. You can probably only get it on their website since I didn't see it the other day at Target, where they carry part of the line. Also recommend their eyebrow pencil (the fat one), eyeshadow base, blush/bronze duo that is a NARS ripoff, and neutral lip liner pencil with brush. These are all in the "studio" line with black packaging that rivals MUFE and NARS and perhaps Smashbox. For girls on a budget, a real steal! And for the record: 90% of my kit is high end makeup. I don't, in general, like drugstore brands- though I find certain items that are exceptions and will give them a shout-out and room in my traveling kit. Enjoy the shots I took of these weddings!

Megan's day-of pic

Megan wanted to change up her lip color, which was my favorite part of her trial. But, it's not about what I like- she wanted a more neutral lip, as do almost all brides these days. And I'm finally liking neutral lips, even though I was completely against it since it feels dated to me already. I think neutral lips may be here to stay and if done well, can really compliment a bridal look. Her hair person was still working on her when I snapped the pic of her wearing the pink cape. I was hoping to get one of her in her dress- but you get the "picture".

New bridal parties and one of our invitation shoot

Stephanie and her wedding party were all crammed into a tiny room downtown, but I just did her one sister and her. Then the rest of her maids came and finished getting ready. One girl couldn't get into her dress because the zipper was stuck all the way down. They brought a sewing kit in case of emergency.....but nobody knew how to sew. I didn't volunteer at first, because saying "I can sew" is an overstatement. I could never thread a machine and my stitching is obvious and generally goes awry. That being said, the girl had no other options....so I spoke up. Next thing I know I'm sewing the girl into her dress bottom to top! I gave her a couple threaded needles for backup in case it busted, but apparently it stayed put all day and nobody could tell :) Never knew that my costuming class would come in handy for doing bridal makeup.

Jay and I had pictures taken for our invitations 2 weeks ago by our friend Jenna. I am posting just one that I thought was funny. I call it "directing the model" because I'm used to being on sets and fixing people so they photograph well. It's hard to let go! Plus, I did my own makeup, of course- so officially, it makes sense to post this :)

New brides and trials

I've been busy, busy with brides for the last month. I haven't gotten any of the formal photos, but here are a few of the photos I've snapped on the wedding day after I've done the makeup. There are also a couple of pics of trials that I've done recently that I really liked the result.

Another CMH magazine photo

Did makeup for a very sweet podiatrist for the shoot "The Doctor is in (style)" from CMH magazine.

Corporate shoot

This is a shoot I did the hair, makeup and some of the art direction for last week. The photographer, Steve Belkowitz, is from Philadelphia. The company is Blue Diesel, a healthcare marketing agency.

new photo shoots

A jewelry advertisement and a stylist advertisement.

Mothers of the Bride and Groom

Many times at weddings I will end up doing the Mothers of the Bride and Groom. In this case with Mandy's wedding, I only did the Mothers since she hired another artist for the rest of the party. They turned out gorgeous and loved how bright their eyes look.

Now on The Knot

Hello readers,
I've just gotten an ad on The Knot. If you go to "Local Resources" and click on Ohio, then Columbus. I'm listed under the vendors for "Health and Beauty". I hope this brings me lots of wonderful brides and maybe some other biz too!

Even google can't find it...

I'm a little distraught over a discontinued product. Just because it's discontinued by the brand, doesn't usually mean that it's unpurchaseable. But after much traversing the internet- it appears that Cargo's melt-proof bronzer is gone for good. What was so different about this bronzer? For one, it's totally matte. Secondly, it's much darker than traditional bronzers and has less orange or gold. I ended up using it for countless photo shoots on dark skins as the perfect mattifying powder. It never got cakey or heavy looking and gave the skin a flawless look.

I still have half of one left, since it seems to last and last. But once that's gone, there is no more in the entire universe apparently.

If anyone can lead me to a secret stash, I'd be eternally grateful!

Individual style

I think the most exciting thing about doing makeup for a wedding party is making a cohesive statement with the makeup while still approaching each person as an individual. I think that Kate's recent wedding was such a wonderful example of this. If you look at the picture of Kate with her attendants:

On the left:
This bridesmaid was a warmer skintone and had a down-to-business, straight forward personality. She wasn't a girly-girl, but obviously wanted to look great. I did a very natural look for her with a focus on her lashes and upper lash line.

Second from the left: This girl had a very upbeat, outgoing personality so I wanted to give her a pop of color on the cheeks. Plus, she said that she wasn't afraid of cheek color!
The next girl is a sister of the bride, so I wanted to set her look apart from the others just a little. She was quiet, but had a little of a retro edge to her, so I gave her a liquid eyeliner cateye.

Then there's Kate. She's a really down-to-earth girl with a lot of creativity. I gave her highlights in the inside of her eyes that really stood out, along with a soft, smoky look focused on the upper lashes.

Kate's other sister was outgoing and sweet, she definitely had a glow about her that called for vintage. I gave her a 20's look then put a glow on her upper cheekbones to modernize it.

The 2nd girl from the right was Kate's best friend. She was the lowest maintenance girl of the bunch and the only one who didn't want lashes. Her eyes were gorgeous without much of anything! I just focused on concealing imperfections and warming up her skin with some bronzer, then finished with light shadow and mascara. Still a major transformation if you look at before and after shots below.

The last girl is the sister of the groom. She was younger and quieter than the other girls, so I expected her to not want much makeup. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. The first thing she said was "I've always wanted to try a smokey eye, but I don't know how to do it." Voila, your first smokey eye! I opted for browns as to not overwhelm her too much for a first-timer.

Then, naturally the Moms were very unique. Obviously, they are older, but they are always more surprised at how great they can look with a little more time spent on their face. I always focus on making the skin look smooth, even, glowing and warmed up a little. Subtlty is key for anyone, but especially over 40. Then, add lashes, brows (SOOOOO important!), soft liner (set with powder eyeshadow), mid-tone eyeshadow (shimmer is great on the lid!), a matte mid-tone or lighter shade in the crease (dark looks too heavy and will actually make them look older), and I skip the highlight under the brow at this age unless a natural or semi-matte is used. Cheeks are usually pinky or peachy, stay away from dark colors unless the skin is also dark. Lips are great in a mid-tone rosey color that looks healthy on cooler complexions or a tawny copper for warm skin tones. It sounds like a lot, but if you look at the picture of Kate with her Mom below, it looks even, natural and younger. And she was incredibly pleased, as were all 3 of her lovely daughters.

I can't wait until the next wedding season so I can start again by approaching each person as a unique and wonderful challenge. It comes pretty naturally to me, but in breaking it down it sheds a whole new light to what the point is of hiring a professional makeup artist to do your wedding. I'm not here to toot my own horn, but the point is that we can see the face separately from the person and also as part of the person. You need to separate it for the skill-set of actually applying each part of the puzzle, but you need to see the person as a part of their face in order to get a concept for the colors and styles you will use in the execution.

I've been getting a lot of bridal inquiries for next Spring and Summer already. I wonder if there are any Winter brides out there who have yet to book a makeup artist. I'm free and I'm already jonesing for another!

Molly's wedding

Molly was a laid back bride, who was also really into products. After our trial the week before the wedding, she went out and bought a Nars lipstick that I had recently become obsessed with and showed her. We used it on her for the wedding day.

**Photo credit to Print photography's Kate**

She had a small wedding party and there wasn't the usual party-like atmosphere at the hotel that morning. It was just a few family members, including her Dad, who was so sweet. Her platinum hair and gorgeous dress really brought the look together. I'm hoping to get a few more pics, but this is one that captures her face right as I was finishing. Very pretty!

My own wedding...

Jay proposed last weekend: Wonder who will do the makeup for the wedding party? :) I'm thrilled to spend my life with this awesome guy. Planning a wedding? So far, so good...I bought bridal magazines, which I swore I would NEVER do. But I want a fun, creative and original wedding and what better place to get ideas than from these mags.
I'm thinking my makeup will be retro glam, a la early 60's cat eye and ruby lips. Hair idea that I had and have no idea how to execute (or if anyone else will for that matter) is to do a partial updo where the "up" part of the hair is made into a bow and the crown is teasted to high heaven- tres early 60's moment. I'm consulting a hair stylist out of New York who's a friend of a friend that wants to attempt taming my big mane. She's really into retro glam, so hopefully she can make it happen.

And check out that ring! It's a true Art Deco piece. I really wanted a vintage ring and this was my absolute favorite we saw anywhere. It's incredibly delicate as it has a ton of smaller set stones in platinum. I'm not used to sporting precious jewels!

We think the big day is going to be 10/10/10, stay tuned.

Pictures from Lauren's wedding

These are the gorgeous creatures known as Lauren and Lindsay, twin sisters whom I had the pleasure of meeting in May. Lauren is a wedding planner herself out of both Columbus and Louisville, link to her site on the right of this blog: abella event planning. She does fantastic work and she's such a sweetheart!

Kate's wedding pics

More pictures from a recent wedding

The top left pic is a "before" shot, look to the next post for the "after"

Another new wedding album

Kate's wedding was a lot of fun. We started in Lancaster at 7am and all the bridesmaids and both mothers were there...big early party. I did all 9 of them! Here are some of the best shots-

New wedding photos

Melissa's wedding was held at Jeffrey mansion in Bexley and the reception was at the Newport Music Hall since her (now) husband is the manager there. They have a gorgeous daughter that I heard Melissa call "bug" endearingly all morning while we got ready. She was a really chilled out bride and her wedding party was filled with lifelong friends. We had a good time and have kept in touch because I want to work with Melissa again- she does some modeling. Beautiful.

Melissa's pics continued

Melissa's sister is also gorgeous. And look at the beaming daughter! So cute.