Fashion Shoot with Brian Miller Photography

Recently I had the honor of doing a super fun fashion shoot with Brian Miller Photography and Jennifer McAbee in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

When I was first contacted by Brian to do the shoot, he told me the direction he wanted to go with Jennifer. It was just a fun, edgy, and a little bit rock idea, as Jennifer (a fab model) had a lot more of glam and pinup style in her portfolio and we wanted to shake things up a bit.

Then... the idea of a mohawk came into play (i think it was Jennifer's idea). Brian says to me, she has really long hair, can you make a mohawk? Oh yes... yes i can.

Introducing as I have dubbed it... the Rock the Hawk shoot!

Here's a shot after i had finished the makeup and I was at work getting that MoHawk up there!

Here's another favorite...

And here's another one after a wardrobe change... i love the change of feeling to punky and free to lost and lonely!

And anyway you turn that head... the mohawk stays! Thats fun too!

So since most of my followers are other makeup artists and models... the biggest question i got after posting these to my facebook fan page was how on earth did you get it to stay?!

A bunch of teasing, hair spray and manipulating until I had it how i wanted it. I did try a few hair products first, and I decided, just using up the can of hair spray was the best bet. The other products added too much weight to the hair. It was easier to just layer the hairspray on!

It also helped that Jennifer has bleached her hair, um, at least once so the hair itself is very porous and took to the hairspray well. :D The sides were french braided back and then flitered into the back side of the mohawk. :D

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

I'm a photographer now?!

Hello everyone!

Well i have a fun announcement... i'm diving into the world of photography!

Don't worry, i would never forget my first love of makeup and beauty! But i do love all facets of the fashion and beauty industry which has lead me to take up the camera!

I know i still have a lot of learning to do, but for the last month and a half I have been studying and studying aperature, ISO, and all sorts of other fun terms i never paid much attention to before! I have a new camera, with new fun goodies to attach to it (lenses, flashes, etc).

Here are some shots from my first shoot (and yes, i did makeup and styling as well)

I got the idea from a magazine tear sheet of a Oscar De La Renta gown. Ok, so my final shots have absolutely not one thing in common with the tear sheet other than the fact that i'm looking down at the model! HAHAHAHA. But it sparked some ideas. And i knew i wanted a gown... um, but i had no access to a gown. That's when my brain went to tulle, and I decided to make a brown tulle ballet skirt. FYI - sewing a tulle ballet skirt is not as easy as it looks!

My dear and darling hubby.... we have no leaves in our yard (or didnt at the time). Especially in our back yard. I wanted bright colored and beautiful fall leaves... so i sent him on a mission to find some. THe best ones he found were at a another house in a neighborhood (mind you someone we did not know). He knocked on the door and asked if he could rake some of their leaves for his wife who asked for brightly colored fallen leaves. The man laughed a bit and said rake away. And so he did. Didnt he do a good job? I heart my art department. :D

Oh - i suppose i should talk a bit about the makeup, huh?

I started off using Dinair Olive Beige airbrush foundation for a smooth and flawless fresh face.

Next I added some of the bronze Stila Smudgepot around her eyes and then smoked that out a bit using MAC's sable shadow. Her eyes were then also lined with a thin line of black to intensify the black mascara i'd be adding on her.

Blush is GARB by mac and her lips are Boss Brown (my favorite mac shade of prolongwear lipgloss).

Next up, we switched up the shoot a little and changed wardrobe and makeup.

This "bamboo forest" is actually in the backyard edge of a house for sale very close to mine. We just borrowed it for a moment. :D I actually do like the house even though a bit smaller than ours, and would buy it for the large property lot if we could sell our house! haha.

Here is a close up shot so you can see the makeup a little better....

I used MAC pigments (golden lemon, electric coral and shadow in steam) to create the eye look.

Her lips i juse added a little bit of myth lipstick by mac to tone down the existing lipcolor.

Here's one more shot...

I'm very proud of myself! I know that i still have a bit to learn, but i'm getting there.

Stay tuned!

McAuley's Fall Fashion

It's a beautiful fall day here... ok, not quite. It's been rainy and miserable! Luckily, it wasnt miserable last weekend when I worked on the fall fashion shoot for McAuley's Unique Boutique!

This shoot was SO much fun! Although we started a smidgen early, filled to my brim with coffee and with bright eyeshadows in hand, I had a lot of fun to say the least on the looks for the models!

We met up at the Vintage Hair Loft in Anderson, SC where Hannah was busy at work on the models hair. After the makeup was all done, i trekked it on over to a warehouse Missy (owner of McAuley's) owns in downtown Anderson where Jake Simpson was waiting to get started.

Now for the record... Jake is an phenom photog who has moved from South Carolina to New York City. I am often fortunate enough to work with him when he comes back into town, but if you are in NY, or traveling to NY... you want to book him!

Ok, so here are some of my favorite shots. I have more of them uploaded to my facebook page if you are interested. While you're there, become a fan why don't ya!

Tish

Chelsey

Taylor

Ashley

Katie

And just a couple behind the scenes... because i think they are so fun!

Such a fun fun day!!!!!!

An Ice Princess for If Only Photos

Hello Makeup Friends! I PROMISE i'm going to have some tutorial updates and things very very soon! I've just been consumed with WORK (and my little guys, which they are just so cute i cant resist park playdates and whatnot while the weather is nice!)

I do have 5 weddings booked this month alone, however and some other fun shoots so yeah, i've been a busy (and happy) gal!

Here's a shot from a shoot i did this past week with a new photographer friend!

You should be seeing a lot of collaborations with him! His work is fabulous! His name is Alex Frazier and he shoots EVERYTHING! If you are a model in the greenville area, book him! He has a Hasselblad camera which translates to extreeeeeemly high def pictures (makes me very happy as a makeup artist!) But he also does weddings, portraits, family stuff, kiddos, etc. You will not be sorry. You can see his website at www.ifonlyphotos.com

Fun stuff huh? I don't get to do "extreme" makeup nearly as much as i once did. Now that the kiddos are a little older and I can at least leave them with a babysitter that i know i can hire again and she wont run away screaming (ok, she still might, i have a hyper 2 and 4 year old), I can take on more of these types of shoots that are more for fun than anything else.

For Becca's makeup, I used Dinair white glamour airbrush makeup. I focused the white along the outer edge of her face and worked inward leaving the center. I then used Alabaster to airbrush the center of her face giving it a "thawed ice princess" vibe. I didnt want her face to just be ghost white.

I used a number of different blue shadows on her eyes and brought the shadow down along her temple and cheek bone using a duo fiber (or soft stipple) brush.

Lips were colored by mixing MAC Pigment in cornflower with clear lip gloss. This gave the blue effect without being BLUE. Had the pigment been mixed with a thicker medium or with using a LOT of pigment, you could achieve denser coverage.

Her eyebrows where shaded in with a dark blue eyeshadow as well. Since Becca bleaches her hair (noooooo, really? hehe) her eyebrows were already a little bit darker than her haircolor. However, a lot of that color was taken out by the airbrush. I wanted her face to be striking and really bring out the blue tones, so i added the blue to her brow, but her brow bone was highlighted with a white silver first.

The "cracks" in her skin were a story of a lot of testing! Originally we were wanting to use silver leaf but it wouldnt stick to ANY of the adhesives i had on hand. grumble grumble. So i resolved to hand painting the "cracks" which were meant to resemble cracks in ice.

Becca's hair was teased to all High Heaven. Thankfully she was a very good sport! I actually added in pieces of cotton batting (yes, the same stuff that is in your pillows) under the bump to make sure that the teasing stayed put instead of falling flat.

Overall i was extremely pleased with this shoot! I had a lot of fun with the model and the photographer and can not wait to do the other half of this shoot which will be all fire oriented!