Beauty School: wedding make-up

My second beauty school session was spent watching videos on bridal make-up. I recently took a class on bridal make-up while at IMATS. The make-up was beautiful but a bit too fashion forward for my brides. The women that I've done at Frenchy's sometimes want something a little more daring than the typical beauty make-up with with pin-up updos and hair dyed pink and blue to match the bridesmaid dresses. But most of them are happy with a subtle natural look.

One of the best things that I learned from the bridal make-up workshop at IMATS is to think of your bride as a character. Talk with her to see what type of character she wants to be for her wedding. And waterproof make-up is your friend.

I found a great Lauren Luke bridal tutorial on YouTube. This look is for a more adventurous bride, with purple in the crease and black eyeliner. I liked the drama of this look a little more than other videos I watched, plus it is a look that is easy to recreate if you have someone doing your make-up instead of doing it yourself.


My friend Reem from Esthetician School came over and we watched the videos together. It may sound silly but it was much more motivational to have someone watching and commenting on the videos with me than if I had been watching them myself. And the best part was when we got to practice on each other. I'd recommend that for everyone who wants to get better at doing make-up on other people not just watch the videos, but recreate the looks. Practice is such a big part of doing make-up, getting comfortable touching people's faces, knowing what to tell them when you need to apply mascara ("look over my shoulder" usually works the best), feeling okay to admit your mistakes and start over with a make-up wipe.

Here's a picture of Reem's work on me. She recreated the basic bridal look of Michelle Pham's with a little bit of the pop of Lauren Luke. I loved how beautiful the make-up looked on me but in the photograph it is a little washed out. That is mostly because I was using my iPhone's crappy camera to take the picture. But it's a good example of how when you are doing make-up for an event that will be photographed, it's better to have a heavy hand.

Pour some sugar on me

Anyone a big fan of sugaring? In case you haven't heard of it, sugaring is a method of hair removal that is supposedly less painful than waxing because the sugar attaches to the hair and not the skin. Here's more about sugaring on Wikipedia. During traditional waxing, the wax attaches mostly to the hair but also a little bit to the skin, giving your skin a slight amount of exfoliation. But that's why whenever you get waxed you should wait about a week before you go to the beach or get a peel, since the skin is already a bit thin after the waxing.

I must have tough skin since I've never really had a problem with waxing. Also my hair is fine so waxing tends to hurt less. But there are plenty of waxing horror stories that have been told to me about the skin near the eyebrow tearing (skin is thinner on your face, underarms and nether regions) or having to let the skin chillax a couple of days after getting a particularly sensitive body part waxed since it was so raw and red.

Sugaring is an interesting option for those of you who are sensitive to waxing. On the wikipedia website they have a recipe for sugaring that I might try out. I've always dreamed of being a kitchen witch that is an esthetician who cooks up her own beauty recipes in the kitchen. In my dream I magically discover the key to some beauty problem that has plagued me for years, bottle it and sell it for a gazillion dollars. The reality is that I don't even like regular cooking so I'm not sure why I think I'm going to be a cooking superstar when it comes to beauty products. Maybe it's the aspiring skin scientist in me.

Check out this article that I found on About.com talking about sugaring vs. waxing. And let me know if you've had a good or bad experience with either sugaring or waxing. I think, like most things in life, it depends on you and your body type. Waxing can work for some people, sugaring is better for others. The most important thing is to talk about this with your waxer to make sure that you are as comfortable as possible during what, let's get real, is not a very comfortable experience. We are ripping hair from the roots here people!

Beauty School: Smokey Eye

It's now easier than ever for women to connect with and learn from each other. My absolute favorite technology innovation is how many women are uploading make-up tutorials. It's an extension of an idea that I've been toying around with for years - what do you do if you don't have an older sister or a gay best friend to take under their wing and show you the beauty ropes? For many women, the alternative is to check out YouTube for make-up tutorials. Here's a great article from CNN on self-made beauty stars.

One of the most famous make-up video stars today is Lauren Luke. She went from posting videos on YouTube to starting her own cosmetic line at Sephora. I love the democratization of beauty! I don't think Lauren would have had as good a shot at starting her own make-up line ten years ago. Or at least it would have taken her twenty extra years to get to that level.

As a baby make-up artist (as my mentor likes to call me) and a lazy make-up artist, I need to get up to speed very quickly on some basic and not so basic looks. I could spend money on going to make-up school, but alot of people who've gone to make-up school have let me know that it wasn't worth the investment. So I've decided to take one-off classes from manufacturers like M.A.C. and Bobbi Brown, classes at Naimie's Beauty Supply Store, classes at trade shows and finally, watch free video tutorials online. Did I mention they were free? Yeah, that's totally the best part. I love free education!

Here's a tutorial that Lauren did on a basic smokey eye. What I find fascinating is that she didn't spend a crazy amount of time blending. The crease and the lid color are very separate. Blending is one of those things that I've had to work on as a make-up artist. But maybe I don't need to stress too much!


Here's a more dramatic smokey eye. I love this look. I practiced a smokey eye once on a friend and did something like this. My friend thought it was too dramatic. I think I'm all about the drama though since this look appeals to me much more than the first smokey eye.



Here's a really extreme dramatic smokey eye. Lauren calls it her "Kim Kardashian" look. Maybe it sounds silly to reference pop culture, but I've had more than a few directors (who are typically male) use pop culture short cuts like "I want a Real Housewives of OC look" to let me know what they are going for. So thank you Lauren and your video tutorials for helping us recreate the look of celebrities. Plus I think the snoring pug in the background of some of her videos is charming! I can see why she has such a tremendous following.



If you want to follow Lauren on YouTube, here's her channel "Panacea81". I'm making a goal of watching 30 minutes of videos a week and blogging about it so check back here for more tutorials from Lauren and other video make-up stars that I find!

The Lazy Make-up Artist

The fact that I'm truly a minimalist when it comes to my own make-up was the biggest barrier for me to see myself as a make-up artist. I'm not a morning person, as much as I've tried to force myself to become one. So when it comes to getting ready in the morning I'm lucky if I have time to blow dry my roots and do a little schrunching of the hair. Forget about stuff on the face. I never leave without sunscreen and moisturizer but anything else use to be too much for me. And so I lived with the idea that because I didn't wear make-up on my face how could I possibly be a make-up artist.

Funny thing is when you start networking with other make-up artists, you find out that they don't wear much make-up either. I wonder why that is. The two who I met recently who don't wear a lot of make-up look great with and without make-up. Maybe they don't have an interest in playing up their looks; they'd rather focus on other things, like playing up the looks of their clients. Maybe they like the natural look. Or maybe they don't have time like me.

I've just started to play with make-up on myself again, after a ten year absence. When I got to college I was introduced to the wonders of eyebrow plucking and M.A.C. make-up by my best friend Dale. I worked on my look for a couple of years, including post-college first jobs. Then I got to a job that consumed everything in my life, got a boyfriend who doesn't really care if I wear make-up or not and just fell out of the habit. But now I'm back on track because my own face is the best place to practice new looks. I struggle a bit since all my good make-up is in my kit. And as soon as I figure out something that looks cool on me, I want to throw that make-up into my kit and use it on clients.

Currently on my own make-up table I've got stacks of colorful loose eyeshadows that I collected from all my broken shadows, the glitter platte from NYX, mascara, lip gloss and two things if I'm feeling really ambitious: black pencil and blush. I also have a bunch of primers that I'm testing out for Painted Ladies, plus moisturizer, sunscreen and a combo concealer, foundation, powder that I got at the drugstore. I tend to focus on creating a nice canvas with skin care products and then do something fun with my eyes. Lips and cheeks just aren't my thing so they are always the first thing to go when time is an issue.

If you're wondering if my make-up table is always neat and organized, I decided to post before and after pictures. I try to straighten it up once every couple of weeks, which allows me to go through and get rid of the stuff that I'm not using, and take the stuff that I really love and throw it in my kit.

BEFORE

AFTER

Letter to my 20-something self (yeah it's another sunscreen ad)

On NPR today, I heard about a young women named Cassie in her twenties asking her friends in their thirties and forties to write letters to their 20-something selves in order for her to be inspired/know what to do with her life/know what not to do with her life. The letters are collected here on her blog. It reminded me of that episode of Sex and the City, "Twenty-Something Girls vs. Thirty Something Women" At the time it aired, I was smack dab in the middle of my twenties, about to hit the quarterlife milestone of 25. I didn't identify with Carrie and her friends at all. Now, when I watch reruns of "Sex and the City" on TBS, I cringe at how much I identify with Carrie and her friends. And how little I paid attention to their warnings while I was in my twenties. Dammit.


So my dear Cassie, as much as I'd love to say that you are going to learn so much from these letters that you will never make the mistakes that we made throughout our twenties, I'm sorry. I just can't say that. Unfortunately, you need to go through the stuff in your twenties, and thirties and forties and beyond, in order to build the totally awesome woman that you are supposed to be. Plus I'm almost a little afraid that your social experiement might rip a hole in the space time continuim, so please be careful with all this knowledge. Like Marty McFly careful.


Except I'm really not kidding about the sunscreen everyday thing. That's the type of mistake that doesn't build character. It just makes you look all wrinkly in your sixties.


*** 


Dear 20-something Ilana,


Hello from your future self! Isn't the internet a miracle? Someday it will be everywhere. Take a break from it every once in a while. And no you don't need to have internet on your phone. 


First things first, you need to start wearing sunscreen every day. And I'm not talking just about on your face. Hands and decolletage. Repeat after me. Hands and decolletage. You probably don't even know what the heck decolletage is but trust me you will someday. It will have freckles and annoy you because it's a different color than your face. And this is not just because you start working as a skin therapist (WHATWHATWHAT?) in your thirties.

Second, Proactiv is awesome. Not everything that you buy off of TV is going to be as awesome (NADS, Shamwow, Magic Bullet) but sometimes things work out. It's kind of a metaphor for everything that happens to you in your twenties. Not everything, most definitely, but a couple of things are totally awesome. You are going to kiss a lot of frogs and then meet a prince. You're going to be stuck in a crappy job but meet some friends that you'll have for life. You're going to get into a car accident but end up buying your first car all by yourself.

Third, you really should start writing everyday. I know this sounds cliched but when you finally start in your thirties, it's the most wonderful fulfilling life changing thing you could ever do. And can you imagine where you will be in your forties if you start writing every day in your twenties? Pulitzer! Academy Award! Or maybe just a working writer. Which would be an amazing accomplishment because in the future, books will turn into digital disposable commodities just like music. Yeah, I said music. Don't worry about how you don't buy too many CDs since they'll be dead and gone in less than a decade. You should, however, buy at least one CD from the following bands if you really want that prince to swoon: R.E.M., Roxy Music, The Police, U2 and especially the Beatles .

Finally, I know you laugh your ass off when Scott Peterson shows you his "blog" in 2000 which basically is a boring looking website where he posts pictures of his travels around the world. Stop laughing. Start blogging. That can be your excuse to write everyday. Maybe try writing about working as a stripper. Or pick a cookbook that you like and do a recipe everyday for a year. You could even write just simple little paragraphs about all the crazy shit that your parents say. Any of those choices might land you a book/movie/TV deal.

xoxo Thirty-Five year old Ilana.

IMATS Inspiration continues!

The L.A. Weekly visited IMATS and took some amazing pics, courtesey photographer Star Foreman.

You can check out all the pics here. I've posted a couple that I really love:

Glitter Therapy: IMATS 2010

I attended my first IMATS (International Make-up Artist Trade Show) on Sunday. I've gone to hair trade shows for the past five years while working for a hair manufacturer and spa shows as a working esthetician, but this was my first time at a show purely focused on Make-up. The energy was more colorful and exciting and fun than spa shows, with people in character make-up all around the show floor.

Manufacturers:
Most of the big manufacturers were there right up front like M.A.C and Make Up For Ever. The booths were packed from the moment I entered the show to the time I left.

Other popular booths were NYX and Dinair airbrushing.

I was more surprised by the manufacturers that I didn't see or the ones that had tiny booths where they weren't selling products (Urban Decay). Although to be fair big manufacturers like Bobbi Brown and Jane Iredale decided to be part of Naimie's booth (a large beauty supply store in Studio City). Still it made me wonder if this show is seen as more of a consumer event from the manufacturer's perspective.

The interesting thing is that I don't necessarily go to shows for great deals on products. Shows are more about seeing what the latest product news is, getting inspired by looks and other beauty professionals, and picking up a couple of items that I'm missing from my kit or my spa room. It just so happens that I can get the products on sale at the show, with the real convenience coming from the fact that they are all located in one place. And if I get a great deal that's just icing on the cake!

Trends:
Bright Colors
I saw bright colors (YEAH!) at both M.A.C., Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics and on a model being painted at Make-up Forever. I love that color is making in-roads. I've always been a fan of wearing all black with brightly colored accent pieces and colors on your face. Right now I'm working with orange bangs and yellow that frame my face and using either purple or teal on my lids.

2in1
One manufacturer, Naked Cosmetics, was touting the fact that one pot of product could be used wet or dry, on the lids, cheeks or lips and even on nails. So I guess technically this product is a 5in1. Another manufacturer was selling "The First ever 2 in 1 oil blotting papers and bronzer".

Glitter therapy
Glitter seemed to be everywhere at the show but maybe that's just because as a glitter lover I saw it everywhere. But I did capture this sign from a manufacturer that sums up my love of Glitter: Glitter Therapy. Sparkles make me smile. Plus have you noticed that other people smile more when you've got glitter all over your face? Glitter seems to be making the move into a more controlled version as eyeliner and away from an all-over glittery mess on your lids. I did buy a glitter palette from NYX and played with it yesterday as a liner. I think I'm more into it as a shadow. I probably just need time to get used to the more subtle look, if you can call a line of glitter on your lid a more subtle look.

Education
I went to the Make Up For Ever class on Bridal make-up. The educator showed us a vision of the bride of the future, which was very inspirational but not very practical for the make-up that I'm going to be doing on my brides. Maybe I can convince at least one bride this year to go with dark plum eyebrows, bright pink lids and a dark dramatic crease. The one tip that I thought was helpful was how the educator emphasized using waterproof make-up. Even if the bride isn't crying up a storm, she's probably sweating, especially during summer weddings. Make-up down the face due to tears or sweat doesn't make for an ideal bridal moment.

There was also a beautiful bridal fashion show that Dany Sanz from Make Up For Ever created, showing bridal make-up and fashion throughout the ages. I'd love it if women started coming to me with period bridal dresses and asking for 60's inspired bridal make-up. The Make Up For Ever educator did encourage us to think of the bride as a character, and get to know her personality to help create this bridal character. It got me thinking that it might be nice to have my brides fill out a questionnaire so I can work with them to better develop their bridal character.

My two favorite brides were from the 90s and the 70s.