ELLE

Recently I have had the opportunity to work with 2 amazing people. The first is the upcoming musician Elle. I have to say she is one of the most amazing people I have worked with in a long time. Beautiful, talented, and a personality to knock your socks off. I was lucky enough to fill in as a replacement artist for some pictures on her press kit.

 The photographer she chose to work with was Erik Motta and his wonderful assistant Ari Zapata. Elle's personality was captured flawlessly in his photography. Fantastic music played in his studio made it a comfortable place to be in. He did two separate looks to show off how individual she is.

 

For her makeup we stuck with a very basic look. She loves her winged eyeliner which became a staple for Elle. I had run out of my Smudge Pot so I went to CVS and substituted it with Maybelline's Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner. The eyeliner worked great. It was a cheaper alternative to the Smudge Pot. Like everything though, there are still the perks for the good stuff. The Smudge Pot by Stila  is bolder in color and I find to last a little longer.

 

As for foundation, I discovered a nice surprise. Revlon's photo ready foundation was incredible! A friend I went to school with had told me about the formula but I honestly forgot to try it. Elle brought her own and I was curious to try it out. It is now a product I will fully stock in my kit when my Airbrush is unavailable. We finished her off with a little bronzer, a MAC blush of her choice and my favorite eyelashes! They are half a strip of lashes to lay in the corner. Accentuates the cateye wonderfully! Finished with a nude lip for the one shoot and added a cupcake pink lipstick for the other!

All in all, the day turned out to be great. We even booked another shoot and vamped up that leopard print skirt! I cant wait to see the pictures and share them with you also. Feel free to check out the links below to see more work by Elle and Erik! 

ELLE:

 http://www.officialellemusic.com/
http://www.facebook.com/ellefanpage

Erik Motta:
http://www.erikmotta.com/
http://www.facebook.com/erikmottaphoto

The Retro winged eyeliner

The famed "Cat Eye". It's a look that took me a long time to master. Eyeliner can make or break your look and for me personally, the winged liner will enhance anything! To me, there is nothing classier than a great black liner and bold red lipstick. I have a technique that I have developed over time to help me achieve this look. Hopefully it will help you too!

First things first, make sure you select your liner. I am partial to an angled eyeliner brush and a cream liner. A pencil will make your look a little softer (and make sure its sharpened to a point), and a liquid will give you a dark, well defined look. I find the cream liners give you a look right in the middle (Stila's Smudge Pots eyeliner are my favorite!).

Start with your liner and draw a line from the outer corner of your eye on an upward angle. Your can make the thickness and length to your own preference

Draw a line from the inner corner of your eye connecting to the beginning of your angled line. Next draw a narrow triangle connecting the tail to your selected place on your basic eyeliner. Normally this is kept to a spot close to the outer Iris.

Now fill in that traingle!!!!!

 And Finally, (this part is optional) add your bottom liner for more definition and a super dramatic look! Oh, and also optional, add the red lipstick :)







Hopefully this will help you reach this awesome retro look!

The basic Smokey

One of the most common looks I am asked to recreate is the "smokey eye". It seems to be the one makeup style that stays timeless. What most people do not realize is that your smokey eye does not need to be just black! There is a whole rainbow of colors out there that can be used to add effects to your look.

Now remember, there are so many different intensity levels to a smokey eye too. You can  make this look a wearable daytime staple or really step up your game and make it a super sultry dramatic eye.
Today I am going to give you my technique for a basic, semi-dramatic eye. First make sure you have all your tools necessary. As I stated in one of my earlier articles, I absolutely cannot live without my fluffy blending brush. It makes your shadow look airbrushed. Heres how we start:

• Always apply an eye primer (my favorite is still Urban Decay's Primer Potion) or a light layer of concealer to even out the eyelid and hold shadow on for longer.

• Apply a light neautral shade from lashline to browline. 

• Take your darkest color of choice (typically a black, brown,charcoal or spice it up with a hunter green or a deep purple) and blend the color from the lashline to the crease. The key to this look is blending your color so you never have a harsh line. I personally like to use my fluffy blending brush for most of the application.

• Blend the color in small circles in an upward and outward motion.

• Your eyeliner is now applied how your most comfortable. It can be applied before the eyeshadow for a softer look. Also the line can be drawn after for a more intense eye. I personally love using a cream eyeliner for this. The liner can be smudged, again for that softer look or left alone to make a harsh line (which is more intense).

• For a little "POP" add a light application of shimmer right under the browbone.

• Add some liner to your lower lashline and inner rims

• And lastly, top in with mascara (2 coats)

OH! And remember, a little color goes a long way. It's always easier to add more shadow then take the access off :)

Wet and classy

2 More shoots were done and limits yet again were definatly pushed. Ally showed off her more natural side and Dave showed some incredible work!

We started this shoot with a more natural look. Originally these pictures were intended to be black and white but they came out so beautiful. The color with the simplicity made the photo. Ally was prepped with her foundation (We used MACs Select SPF 15 foundation in NW 45 and topped with Tartes Mineral Powder in Medium).  Just some basic eye makeup was used. Of course her liner was done with Stila's Smudgepots and Lashes were then added for a nice natural kick.  The final result was flawless!

Next came our "WET" look. This was a look we were all so excited about! I was a little hesitant about this shoot. I have never worked with water in this way before at all. I spent a few hours online researching the best way to acheive that drippiness we were going for. Thank you Canon for your wonderful forum. Someone had suggested to use baby oil all over the body, then use a spray bottle with water so the driplets would stay. We had revamped her makeup from the first look and made it slightly more dramatic with irridescent colors and by applying a bold red lip. Red lips never seem to fail. The hard part was getting the baby oil on her face where it didnt act as a makeup remover and take off the makeup.

Poor Ally was unable to touch her face at all and Dave had to shoot fast but we got what we were looking for! I still find it to look like a gatorade advertisement and I love it!

Again, we had a productive shoot. I find myself lucky to be working with such an amazing photographer and beautiful model. Again, if you ever want to review there work, feel free to search there work :)
Dave:Model Mayhem #: 560120   or FreshGraffix.net
Ally: Model Mayhem#: 2299895

Pool!

For our first shoot which was an outdoor shoot in our assistant Rosannas pool, we took on new boundries in a full waterproof look.  We started Ally off with the basics, I used "Get a Tint" tinted moisurizer by Mark. That gave her some nice hydration and just a sheer wash of neutral color (For more info, check out my Mark. boutique http://jaclynherbert.mymarkstore.com/ ). Following that, one of my favorites were brought out! Make Up For Ever Face and Body foundation in Honey Beige #34. If you have never used this foundation before, make it a point that you do! It's an extremely light weight gel formulation that's waterproof (and sweatproof  on those humid days). The formula also photographs wonderful :) A sheer application of MUFE's "HD Microfinish Blush" in "First Kiss" was added and Ally's complexion was complete.

Our next task were those eyes! Having never done a water shoot before I had to tackle a dramatic eye without it running in the least bit. As always, they started with Urban Decay's Primer Potion. As for our first sweep of color on the lids, I had used Ben Nye's powder eye shadow in Azalea mixed with Nurturing Force's "Seal the Deal". I was very impressed how this held up, hence the "Seal the Deal" being one of the products I can no longet live without!! Her definition was done again with more MUFE aqua cream shadows in the shade Anthracite. The cream blended beautifully. Finished off with a basic shimmery highlighter and of course, Stila's smudge Pot in Black and woolah! We had a look that came out exactly as planned.

Lastly, Ally's lips. We just threw on some gloss for a simple sheen. I still feel you could never go wrong with Tarte's double ended glosses!.
Feel free to check out more photos from this shoot on either our Fabulous Photographers Page (http://freshgrafix.net ) or on Ally's new Model Mayhem page! (She can be searched under MM# 2299895)

And then there was 3:

Recently I have been collaborating with a great team working on some new photoshoots. We have been trying to take things a little out of our comfort zones and make awesome photos!!!! Our model Ally, is new to modeling and already proven to be a natural! She decided to start modeling to prove to herself she is comfortable in her own skin, and what a knockout!!!! Dave, our photographer is most accustom to more active shooting like working with bands and live action work.  However, he took beauty to a whole new level. And myself, well lets just say I was dying to try some things I have never tried before and I have to say, the finished looks made me proud.

We had our first shoot done in a pool at night. This was my first shoot dealing with a full face of waterproof makeup. Thank you Makeup Forever!!! You have just proved yourself to me in more ways than one.

Our second shoot was a basic beauty shoot. We (well should I say Dave) got some great shots! It was the natural side of Ally. Some great headshot came out of this one and we had many laughs from the day!

And lastly, the most current shoot we did was a "wet" look. I still say it looked like a gatorade commercial. This was one of the trickiest shoots I have done yet. Full face of makeup taken with beads of water. The finished product kinda blew our minds!!!!!

We still have a few more shoots to play around with. As soon as I have the finished product in hand I am going to post the pics along with the makeup used for the looks! Can't wait for you to all see them!!!!

And here we are! 2 of the goofballs doing our thing :)

Temptu training

After quite a few years being in the Makeup Industry I decided it was time to venture into the "Age of the Airbrush". It has never been a main priority of mine up until recently. Airbrushing has now become one of the staple techniques in the industry.

After about a few months of consideration I decided I was better off taking a class then jumping the "gun" (airbrush gun that is) on my own. With careful research, I had decided that the courses Temptu had offered was the way to go. As the leading airbrush line within the industry, I felt they had the most to offer. And I was right

The course is given for a fantastic deal in the NYC and LA showroom. I had taken the course in the NYC location. It was offered from 10am to 4pm. The training consisted of a thorough understanding of how your airbrush operated. A puzzle that would have probably taking me days to solve having never used an airbrush in my life.  Being an ingredient junky, they also offered product knowledge in the course. And being a celiac, it was nice to learn the complete Temptu line is gluten free. After some exercises with the gun we were sent on our ways.  All in all it was a good experience. $150 for the course which is then redeemable in credit. I put that towards my compressor.

Now for the only bad part, the showroom was sold out of the gun!!! I was unable to come home with my new compressor and miniature foundation set and play with it! Also I was unable to bring my airbrush to 2 awesome photoshoots I had just worked on. And I never in 1000 years thought it would be so hard to find a Temptu gun in manhattan. Internet ordering, here I come!