Feb 24, 2011

When did this happen?


When did it happen?! My sweet little baby grew up to a KID! I mean, he's not even little anymore!!!! Today he turned 5. And next year he will start kindergarten. Man, they grow up so quick.

Recently at his preschool they had a "muffins for mom" day. Each child drew a picture of their mom and also answered 3 questions (what is your mom good at, what does she like to do and a finish the sentence of my mom _______). Jack says "My mom is good at making up people". My mom likes to go to makeup stores and my mom rocks.

I love my kid!

Feb 19, 2011

MakeupTalk Beauty Blog

Well, i know I wrote a similar post once before with Makeup Talk had a giveaway of Mac gift cards. They are doing it again this time giving away entire Luminess Air systems (for airbrushing)! Many of you already know i totally heart my airbrush when doing bridal makeup. It gives flawless application that I can quickly address the entire bridal party. I must admit, I have not used the Luminess Air products before, but I am always looking to try out new products to ensure that what I use is the best! :D

SO... what is up with MakeupTalk.com? Well they have a great beauty blog for starters. Their is also a great online community of makeup loving fans. Some are artists, others are just lovers of all things beauty. You can find great reviews, fun contests and just a lot of good commraderie when it comes to makeup chatter!

Now I almost for to post about this contest (EEK!) but there is still time for you to get on the action too. Check it out HERE.

Here's a few other things you might want to check out!

Have a great day everyone!!!

Feb 11, 2011

Beauty Shots




I am continuing my quest to become a better photographer for beauty shots.
As always, I'm a makeup artist first, but I've really enjoyed the idea of learning photography and
being able to take beauty and headshots for models and actors.
Today, I got a new lighting kit!!! This will just be in addition to the lighting kit I already have... so bring it on models!

Here is a recent Beauty Shoot i did with a model named Angel Nikole.
She was a fabulous model and just a sweetheart! Doubling the fun, she has a big interest in makeup and is currently in Cosmetology school so we used the session as an information learning session for her as well! In fact, I've had a lot of student contact me lately, so hopefully I will be able to provide more information for them as well as other readers thru my blog in the upcoming months. I had no idea so many students followed my blog! It's great! I love to teach!

Ok, back to the shoot... We were really focusing on tight shots. You know, the kind you'd see in a makeup ad. These were shot with my Canon T2I camera with a 85mm 1.8 prime lens.


I love this shot! It really shows off the eye makeup without being a closed eye shot. Angel Nikole already has great bone structure for days! For makeup, I used my airbrush and Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics for the foundation. Blush is Garb by MAC. Lipgloss in Pout by Smashbox. and nails were painted with Pink-Ing of You by Opi.
Eyes as always were a mixture of many eyeshadows. Mac Skintone 1 (the gold tone), Mac Ricepaper for a bit of highlight. Stila Go Lightly and Barefoot Contessa for the darker shades.
As you can see in the above shot, I really focused the darker tones just above the crease as opposed to inside the crease. This is because I wanted to enlarge the eye and really show the depth of the crease tone without loosing it behind the falsh lashes in the more opened eyed shots. Her eyes were lined with a black gel liner with a fine point brush and NOT smudged.
Her lower lash line was also lined but was smudged for a softer look.



After the above beauty shots we taken, we decided to play a little bit more!
I added some brighter blue and green tones right on top of the existing makeup. To make sure the blues popped, i did layer some cream based blue to the outer corners. This helped for the blues to stick and have more vibrancy than if i had just added them to the top of already laid brown shadow. Shadow colors used, shimmermoss by MAC, Waternmyph by MAC, Blue by Ben Nye , Gold Luminess by Ben Nye.

She looks like a dancer to me here! I love it!
I did change her cheek color a bit to a more vibrant pink (i THINK it was hush by OCC) and changed her lipgloss color. I also added some half lashes to her lower lash line.

Then playing even more... we had the addition of some super fun feather lashes to her upper lash line! And shadowed under her lower lash line even more with the blues to compensate for the extra weight on her upper lashes.

Below is the same makeup but with a white background put up and a beautiful scarf wrapped on her head. She was channeling JLo from the American Idol show the night before. :D
I love how such subtle changes can really change the look.


What ideas would YOU like to see me create and shoot! Send me an email at Makeupbykatie@yahoo.com or put a comment on my facebook fan page; www.facebook.com/cottonrouge

Feb 3, 2011

Makeup Brushes!

Ok makeup fans! I tell my clients and those I teach in class settings that the key to makeup application is the right brushes! You wanna know who makes some GREAT brushes? Sigma Makeup! They make exact duplicates of some of the name brand companies and without a price mark up so they are very very affordable. Check them out!



Ok, I've been meaning to type up a post on makeup brushes for some time now. I've even filmed a you tube video and just havent gotten it all edited together (and in fact, i think i lost it in the computer meltdown crash so i'll have to re video anyway.) SO boo on that!

BUT.... Sigma Makeup is a great company that makes truly fantastic makeup brushes. The best part about it is that they are AFFORDABLE! I tell my clients as well as those I teach in consultation and class settings that the key to makeup application is good brushes.
Sigma makeup makes a lot of the "popular" styles made by big name companies and sells them at NOT a big name price. SO, if you are looking to get some new makeup brushes, they are definitely worth looking into!

On top of that, they are current having a few promos! 1 is to get a free gift with a purchase over $30! Another is that they have just created an affiliate program. If you arent sure what an affiliate program is, it's a way that the company can track where their customers come from. SO for example, if you click on one of my links, I get points. Woohoo. So yeah, it's good for me, but I'm really just looking into getting more makeup brushes and also looking to supply some give aways for my clients and blog readers. But if you also have a beauty blog or have a lot of makeup loving friends, you might want to sign up for the affiliate program yourself!

SO... if you havent checked out Sigma Makeup yet (yes they have makeup to, thought i must admit i havent tried their makeup, just their brushes) you really should! :D


Click here to visit www.sigmabeauty.com