MAC Face and Body Foundation

I’m so sorry for the lack of posting! Justin and I were in New York for the past week and it was amazing! It was absolutely freezing but I think it was totally worth it. I love how New York is always so busy and upbeat, honestly, I would love to live there. Living space over there is so small though! Anyway, if you haven’t already, go check out Justin’s blog for some pictures of what we were doing over there. I’ll have a blog up soon about the work I did but for now I have a product review. :)

 

For the longest time, I’ve been using Bare Minerals as my foundation. Don’t get me wrong, I love love love this foundation but when I was over in New York, the combination of the powder foundation and  frigid weather made my skin absolutely dry. I would use moisturizer on my face both in the morning and night and I still had dry spots. It was really irritating and disgusting. You could see my pores. Even Justin noticed them! Yucky. So after a few days in the city I had to change my foundation.  I went over to MAC in Times Square and picked up a bottle of MAC Face and Body foundation Saturday evening.  Let me tell you, even after only a few days, I definitely saw a difference in my skin.

 

MAC Face and Body foundation is definitely the lightest coverage in foundation that MAC provides so I recommend this for people who are looking to just even out their skin tone.  I would actually compare this to a tinted moisturizer.  It a water based foundation, and is very long lasting–I have yet to have to touch up my foundation during the day.  However, there is no SPF in this foundation which both has its pros and cons.  It won’t give you that white filmy look when you take pictures, which is common when using a foundation that has sunblock in it.  However if you plan on going out into the sun, I recommend putting on a moisturizer with an SPF of at least 15 before applying this foundation to protect your skin from the sun.  I apply this with the MAC 190 brush and the finish is very natural and sheer.  When I use my powder foundation I usually spray a bit of refreshing spray on my kabuki brush and buff like crazy to prevent my foundation from caking. But with this all I do is put a little dot on my foundation brush and blend a little bit to get a natural finish! This foundation retails for $32.50 which is a little on the pricey side but it does come in a 4 oz. bottle so I’m pretty sure this will last me for well over a year.

 

If you have any questions, please don’t be afraid to ask! I’ll post about New York soon, promise. :)

Travel Makeup!

So tomorrow is the big day! Justin and I will be running away from all the rain here to New York…where it is supposed to be snowing. Hopefully when we get there the weather conditions lighten up because we’ll be shooting an engagement there! I’m so excited, I’ll be sure to post pictures if Justin doesn’t beat me to it. You’ll probably want to look at his pictures anyway, since a) my skill with cameras is no where near as amazing as Justin and b) I’ll probably just be taking them with my phone. Anyway, I’m still in the process of figuring out what makeup to bring, not just me but also what I need to bring for my client, Val, as well.  I figured this would be a good a time as any to share with you guys what I like to bring along with me whenever I travel.

 

First of all, I’m sorry for the incredibly messy room. It looks like I’m throwing more stuff out of my suitcase than I am actually packing. But yes, I travel with my Urban Decay Naked Palette. If you guys haven’t heard of this palette, I definitely recommend looking into it. I believe they’re easier to find these days. I actually picked this up last summer (which shows you how much I love this thing since I’ve been using it practically everyday) when it first came out and these bad boys were sold out everywhere! I wanted to buy one to use for my clients and I had to be put on a waiting list on the Urban Decay website, it was ridiculous. I was on that waiting list for a month!  It really is worth it though. The color range can take you from a simple day time look to an elegent evening look and there are two travel size eyeliners that compliment every look. I believe this palette costs about $50 which I think is a steal, since you’re getting 12 full size eye shadow pans. Let me put it in perspective for you guys: I pretty much use this palette every day, and I’ve had it since last August. I still haven’t hit the bottom of the pan in any of the colors. Amazing!

As for the other personal makeup I travel with, I usually bring foundation, blush, lip gloss, mascara, and eyeliner. I’ll post a picture below, but to be honest, it’s not really that much at all. Whenever I travel I like to bring as little makeup with me as possible just because it makes things that much easier when I’m getting ready in the morning. Also a little tip, I like to pack all of the makeup that I’m going to bring along with me a night or two before I’m leaving. When I get ready the next morning, I put on my makeup using the products I’ve decided to bring along. Doing this gives me a chance to see if I forgot to bring anything because I hate it whenever I realize that I forgot to take something along, it’s the worst!

See, it’s not much makeup at all! Happy traveling everyone :)

 

Carissa

So today I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Carissa for her engagement session, which was at Disneyland! She and her fiance, Paul, came into the office a couple of weeks ago to book their engagement session and wedding with Justin and booked her make up trial with me. Carissa opted for a more neutral look, so we played around with browns, blacks, and grays.  While I was doing Carissa’s makeup, I noticed how long and perfect her eyelashes were! I’m so jealous Carissa, I wish my eyelashes were the same! Oh well, there’s always false lashes. I can’t wait to work with you again for your wedding, Carissa, only seven more months to go! Anyway, here are a couple of shots from today, courtesy of Justin Element. Please enjoy!

 

 

(click photos to enlarge)

Hello!

So I’ve finally decided to make a blog! I’ll be putting all of my work up here as well as random day to day things I want to share with you guys.  Don’t worry, it’ll be mostly make up related so come here for your make up needs, please. :) Recently I’ve been trying to put together a new portfolio and decided that a blog would be best so everyone can see what I’m up to.  Thanks to Justin, I finally got this bad boy up (believe me, I’m terrible with the whole website editing thing…see? I don’t even know what it’s called), so please enjoy!

 

P.S. I’ll be updating the portfolio section of my site slowly, I need to dig through old files which will probably take a while so please bear with me!