Transformation: Danei --> Great Gatsby/1920's Inspired Look!

What: Transformation

Who: Danei

When: July 10, 2013

Photographer: KathalynCelestePhotography

I've been dying to get my hands on Danei's hair for a while now :) She loves trying all different looks with her hair from cuts, shapes, styles, and even the occasional updo. They always look good on her and I'm always inspired to try different things with my hair... although more often, I end up going out of the house with same look every day :)

Quite a few months ago, she completely chopped off all her long hair and got a semi pixie cut. As it started to grow out, I figured it would make for a really nice length to try a finger wave look. At the same time, my sister Jen had sent me a photo for a Great Gatsby inspired look. Perfect! I decided to meld the two and the 2nd look of transformations of the day was born.

Online photos for inspiration:

Click here to read about how the Transformation Day started with Carmel --> Flowerchild, along with how I met Lynn, the awesome photographer who was able to stay and take photos of Danei as well.

For transformations, I've been requesting my models to arrive without any makeup or hair done, along with bringing some clothing they feel might work with the look I was thinking of. This completely helps to tie in the looks :) Danei brought several outfits, including a flapper type dress (which I was REALLY hoping to be able to use, but ended up not being able to since the color scheme didn't work). The black lace dress ended up matching well, along with the long strands of pearls.

Before and After

MAKEUP FOCUS:

- Dramatic grey/black smokey eye

- Bold rimmed eyes all around

- Double false lashes

- Highlighted clean brows

- Healthy dose of blush and contouring

Lip Chameleon!

Look closely - I changed Danei's lipcolor THREE times! I wanted to see how the different colors would show up in the photos. The first color (left) was more natural, I was trying to match it more to the inspiration photo. For the second color (middle), I went with a brighter, almost cherry tone for some pizzaz. I wanted the last color (right) to be dark and dramatic. I added black powder to deepen the shade. Which one do you like the best?

HAIR FOCUS:

- 1920's big finger waves to frame face

- Large voluminous curls

- Good all around head shape

Before and After

Thanks Lynn for capturing this action shot. Lynn had just come in with Carmel after taking photos outdoors for the Flowerchild look. At this point, I had already pin-curled all of Danei's hair and had already gotten started on the makeup.

After releasing all the pinned curls,  I rearranged Danei's curls, framing her face to form a continuous "S" shape. With each bend, I placed a pin to help hold the shape, then went over and super sprayed them with hairspray!

Hair before and after taken with my iphone

GALLERY

Photos courtesy KathalynCelestePhotography

So regal!

Leaving you with something a little more on the playful side :)

Reminds me of something out of a musical/broadway show or something!!!

Thanks Danei for letting me play with your hair and face! We'll have to wait to see what your next haircut is and I'll probably come up with another transformation look for you! :)

Transformation: Carmel ---> Flowerchild!

What: Transformation

Who: Carmel

When: July 10, 2013

Yay for the summertime! This is normally the time of year I can start having tons of fun with my transformations. I love thinking up different looks that I wouldn't normally get to do on my bridal clientele... for obvious reasons :) and then asking my friends to help me pull off the looks as models.

A couple of weeks ago, we were able to get two completely different transformations done in one day! This blog entry will be dedicated to the first transformation for the day. I knew my friend Carmel was available and I immediately thought of this "Flowerchild" idea for her.

Key thoughts I had floating around in my brain to accomplish this look were:

- sweet

- dreamy

- fairy-like

- caught in the middle of lush green backgrounds

Here are some photos online that I found for inspiration:

A huge difference this year is that I had the help of an awesome photographer! I met Lynn at a Retro Photoshoot. I LOVED her photos of the event after she posted them and sent her an e-mail to see if she'd be interested in collaborating with me for the two transformations I had in mind. Lucky me she was available! Not only that, when Lynn showed up, she brought additional accessories, flowers, and props that might work with the two looks. Lynn also brought her camera equipment and lighting umbrellas. She fit right in with my friends and I, and stayed the entire day. I had a blast with her, super fun, friendly, easy to work with, and professional! Check out her webpage here!

Onto the photos:

Before and After

Makeup focus:

- Bright, big and bold eyes

- Fat fluttery lashes

- Super rosy innocent cheeks

Thanks KathalynCeleste Photography for the following beautiful photos :)

Hair focus:

- Incorporated crown of braids

- Relaxed loose waves

Before and After

This is what my home studio looked like for a while... it was so much fun :)

Oh yes, so as you may have noticed, my friend Carmel is a happy, glowing, mother-to-be!!! We ended up having a little bit of time in between the transformations with my next friend, so I tweaked Carmel's hair, added an additional hair accessory (actually a necklace supplied by Lynn), and had Carmel change into another dress she had brought. Here's what we came up with:

Glowing maternity shots:

I'll leave you with these last two shots... so dreamy :)

Thanks Carmel and Lynn for letting me have so much fun with this Flowerchild inspired transformation! :)

Stay tuned for the next Transformation: Danei ---> Great Gatsby, 1920's inspired look!

My Sister's Wedding!

Photo courtesy Calvina Photography

Who: My sister Jen!

What: Jen's Makeup + Bridemaids H&M

Where: San Jose

When: October 13, 2012 (Yes, a very tardy posting!)

Photographers: Calvina Photography & Ryan Ng Photography

So it's weird that I'm finally posting about my sister's wedding... over half a year later!!! I can't believe how time flies. There were a few reasons for delaying this entry, but I've been itching to post about the super fun and unique experience of helping my little sister with her makeup on her special day... as well as what it was like to be a part of the festivities from beginning to end.

Normally, I would be with the bride for just the beginning part of the day... before the first look, walk down the aisle, exchanging of the vows, celebratory "you may now kiss the bride," crazy banquet, games, slideshow, dancing, and all else that surrounds a WEDDING. With Jen, not only did I have the opportunity to help with the wedding prep, I was also IN the wedding as one of her bridesmaids. It was such a huge blessing to witness everything from start to finish.

We definitely had a lot of fun, seeing as how there are four of us sisters. Getting everyone ready with hair and makeup was like a juggling act, super crazy and on a time crunch... I think we all turned out okay once it was all said and done :)

BM #1: Jaime (Our oldest sister)

Photo courtesy Calvina Photography                                                 Photo courtesy Ryan Ng

Photo courtesy Ryan Ng

I did Jaime's makeup first before moving onto her hair. We went with a bold red lip to accompany the red BM dresses. The bright colors played well off the wedding colors and helped to not make us look washed out.

Surprise! Everyone of us had hair extensions in. We just used simple clip-on extensions that were easy to attach to our hair. We found them useful for getting that fuller look with the longer curls. I created a half up look for Jaime with a couple of braids from each side to give some added details.

BM #2: Me (The 2nd oldest)

Photos courtesy Ryan Ng

I did my own makeup while our youngest sister, Bo, helped with my hair.

Photo courtesy Ryan Ng

Isn't this shot crazy?!? Okay, so I didn't have a set time for doing my makeup and hair. It was just jump around and try to fit stuff in whenever there was a chance. In this shot, I was just about to get started on my mom's makeup while Bo was working on my hair. My mom was helping to hold up the mirror so I could see what Bo was doing with my hair. Jaime was laughing on :) She was already done with hair and makeup.

BM #3: Bo (Our youngest sister)

Photo courtesy Calvina Photography

Bo did her own makeup, while I was able to help with her hair. We did a side french braided pony with relaxed curls (although I don't have photos with the back hair details - shucks).

MOB: Our mom! (and dad)

Photo courtesy Ryan Ng

I LOVE our parents! They're so cute :)

I was able to help my mom with some light makeup application. Enough to look slightly more done up than her regular no makeup look. I airbrushed her foundation to give a flawless face look, filled in her eyebrows to give some shape and definition, and added a touch of lipcolor.

Btw - my dad's bow tie is the same one he wore for his wedding day!

Jen! The bride!

Photo courtesy Calvina Photography

Jen's big day! She was able to get her hair done first before coming to sit in the makeup chair.

Photos courtesy Ryan Ng

Before and After (minus the lipcolor)

Adding blush

Jen's lipcolor was a bright and bold red that was meant to stand out :) It's really important with such a statement lipcolor to keep on reapplying. We made sure to do touch ups at the church, right before Jen would walk down the aisle, and also at the banquet hall, right after she had changed into her cheongsam.

Photos courtesy Calvina Photography

Calvina Photography Gallery:

Jen and Pato

To view more of Calvina's blog entry on Jen and Pato's wedding, click here!

Jen and Pato, we could not have been more happy for the both of you on your special day. Jen, you have blossomed into a beautiful woman... always considerate and so, so kind to the people around you. You are more special and loved than you will ever know :) Pato, welcome to the family! We pray you both will continue to seek after God and grow stronger relationship with Him and with each other. We are blessed to watch your family grow and look forward to more get togethers in your new home! Love you guys!