Mariah's Makeup Application [BM]

Who: Mariah
When: Saturday, July 21
Where: San Francisco

Working with Mariah was a hoot! We had a blast, and it was so neat hearing about how she and Jenny grew up together. Childhood friendships that last from elementary school to standing by each other on that special day are such a treasure!



Before and After




Prepping the eyes is a really important step for helping the eye makeup last the whole day. I use Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion to help with that. I like this product because I also have very oily eyelids. If I don't apply this product on prior to my eye makeup, it'll be guaranteed that my makeup will lose it's color and move around throughout the day. Looking in the mirror afterwards has that "eek!" effect. That is NOT fun!




I went for a smokey purple for Mariah to match the color of her bridesmaid dress. What was bizarre was how much Mariah's eyes reminded me of my cousin's eyes! When I mentioned how my cousin was half Chinese - half Caucasian, Mariah nodded with a knowing smile and told me she was half Indonesian! That was a cool ah-ha moment.




Adding blush and staining the lips




Eyes open, eyes closed
Mariah opted for no false lashes. I'm so glad she had lashes I could work with though!



Mariah, thanks for sitting in my makeup chair! What did your girls think? :)
Hopefully your trip to visit family after the wedding was a fun one!



Stay tuned for: Hong's Makeup Application [BM]

Erica's Makeup Application [Best wo"Man"]

Who: Erica
When: Saturday, July 21
Where: San Francisco, CA

This past Saturday morning was spent with Jenny and her fabulous wedding party! It was great meeting everyone and finding out that all of the ladies in Jenny's entourage were educators... go teachers! These always make for fun conversations.

I started with Erica first, who was actually the Best Man (sister of the groom) - how cool is that?!?



Before and After



Before I started on Erica's eyes, I made sure to even out her skin tone. I also added a bit of blush on her cheeks first to help me balance out the eye makeup colors I would use on her.




False lashes added, lining the lower lids

We had a lot of fun figuring out the lighting since we had started so early in the morning. It was SO NICE to be able to see what I was doing!!! Erica was a good sport about it :)



Erica brought her own false lashes, which I was able to apply for her. As for the color scheme, we went for a gold/champagne look, matched with coral blush to help accentuate her skin tone. I also kept in mind that she would be wearing a black dress.




Well that was fun! Erica, I hope you have a wonderful start of the school year and are able to enjoy your little one at the same time!



Stay tuned for: Mariah's Makeup Application [BM]

Regina's Bridesmaid Updo

Who: Regina
What: Updo
When: Saturday, June 30

The perfect opportunity to practice hair came a couple Saturdays ago when my friend Regina stopped by to get her hair done. She was going to be the maid of honor for her friend's wedding, and needed something a little more special done for her hair.

I remember our conversation on the phone as we were trying to get this set up a couple days prior, "...Um, okay I don't know exactly how it's going to turn out, but I'll make sure it's MORE than just your normal, everyday hair!"

As Regina sat down in the chair, we talked again about what she might want. Because of the length and thickness of her hair, we decided to try an updo.


Here's a side shot of Regina's hair before anything was done to it. Super thick right?!? She's also growing out an A-line bob.



Before and After shot of the back


Gallery:


Back, Top




Side view from different angles



Detailed shot


I'm soooooo glad Regina came in and trusted me with her hair! We had a lot of fun and used a TON of hairspray :) That just might be my new best friend when it comes to doing hair. Haha.

Transformation: Angel --> Glamrock

What: Transformation

Who: Angel

When: June 28

Duration: 1:30pm - 6pm

With this next transformation, I wanted a punk rock, EDGY look added with a whole lot of GLAM! I really wanted something completely different from the previous look [Twiggy Doll], while still using the same model.

Here are some photos I pulled off the web for inspiration:

These girls in particular are from the Korean Pop Group 2NE1

Before:

After:

Photo courtesy Angel

Angel's rockin' her own leather jacket which happens to fit so perfectly with this transformation.

Gallery:

The eye makeup design took a while to create since I wanted it to match well with Angel's natural eye shape. I first used a pencil liner to create the design, then went over with a gel liner once I was satisfied. Making sure that the two eye designs were symmetrical was tricky!

Contouring was key to this look as I wanted to make sure Angel's angles were apparent. Cheeks, jawline, nose, and temples were all contoured to some degree.

Right side, left side

I added some natural looking false bottom lashes to Angel's real lash line as well.

 

Eyes open, eyes closed

The process:

Upper lids lined with the winged tip (eyebrows have not been shaped yet)

Additional designs added to the eyes, along with shaped brows and flawless face application

Hair:

I was going for a fauxhawk glamoraous updo. It took a really long time! But totally worth it :)

Angel doesn't have bangs, so I took the ends of the front section of her hair, flipped it over to create a loop, and pinned the remaining pieces to drape as if they were her bangs. 

Here's one last photo taken by Angel when she got home:

Thanks again Angel for being such a good sport and letting me have so much fun with creating this look!

PTL! :)