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

Ok, I know most of you don't really care about this.... but I am very excited to be one of the wedding Vendors in south carolina to receive this award! :D

Here's the press release they sent me!

Greenville, SC - January 25th, 2011 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce Cotton Rouge has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for the upstate of South Carolina! Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation. Cotton Rouge stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year. “WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud Cotton Rouge for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.” We are happy to announce that Cotton Rouge is among the very best of the Upstate within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011. For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at Cotton Rouge on Wedding Wire. For more information on the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

Busy Busy Busy and a portfolio builder shoot

Ok, so i really truly wouldnt have thought I would be as busy as I have been this winter!

I am definitely not complaining! But my grandiose plans of getting my youtube channel and this blog updated better has well... not happened very well!

I did have 3 weddings in December as well as family in town, but also lots of bridal consults.

I have already had 2 weddings this month and I have another 2 to go this month... but here's the amazing thing, I have 34 weddings booked so far for 2011! So if you are a bride... please dont wait to ask me about your date because I'm getting calls daily!

I've also had lots of portfolio building shoots for both models and photographers as well as some boudoir sessions (most of those I am not able to show you, but if you are interested in having boudoir photos taken, please let me know and I will point you towards the photographers I work with on these).

It's been crazy fun! I will try to be better about updating some of these portfolio building adventures on here!

SOOOOO... where to start?!

Let's start with a shoot i did last month. I was learning studio lighting with photographer, Alex Frazier. He was also taking the photos, but then we let me try each shot when he was done. The shots shown here on my blog are ones that i took with my camera. :D

Model is Sarah Ingle.

This was a portfolio builder shoot for the photographer, though i really think we all won out with this shoot!

With Portfolio Builder shoots I like to show the progression of the looks and what i do to successfully go from one look to another.

First, we start off a little more simple. You definitely need to be able to add on from this look.

We started with a sophisticated look that could easily be modified. I used the icon eyeshadow palette from Smashbox with a fluidliner by MAC in wavelength. Her lips is one of my new lip tars from Obsessive Compulsive cosmetics ( will do a whole post on this new gem of a product soon!)

Her hair we pulled to a low side braid. Sarah has extremely long hair! It was so much fun to play with!

Next up... what i call the Edward Scissorhands if he were a beautiful model!

To change her eyemakeup, i actually just wiped off the blue and started fresh on her lids only. I did have to use a bit of eye makeup remover to get the fluidliner off. The trick to that is to just put the makeup remover on a qtip and wipe off exactly what you want wiped off leaving the rest safe! Then i used an eyegloss i picked up what seems like ages ago from Frends Beauty Supply. It was just dying to be used! Of course in these photos, you can't tell at all that it's an eye gloss! Oh well!

For those gnarly lips, i used a black lipstick i picked up from the halloween section!

For her hair, we actually twisted it up the back (like you would if you were just using one of those massive claw clips) and used the big bobbi pins to secure it. Then we teased the snot out of it!

And now... look 3!

From the start I knew the plans were to have these shot options in both black and white and in color. So i had a lot to think about for color options. I wanted something easy to build off of for the next look... but still look different. Hmmmmmm. Oh yeah, it also had to look good in black and white!

And in color... ok, so my color version is a little enhanced...

I went with bright oranges and yellows because I knew in black and white they would add a nice contour shades even in the black and white photo. Colors too similar to the skin tone in brightness just get washed away in a b/w photo, and i didnt want to get too dark because I wanted to really change up the look for the final look.

I used the bright orange on both her eye and her lips (using a paintstick by MAC in genuine orange) Her lids were heavily lined using a cake liner by Kryolan.

For her hair, it's pretty self explainatory! We combed out the teasing (not... do not put a ton of spray into teasing if you know you will be brusing it out later, just be on standby to beef up the teasing if need be) And then we flat ironed it so it would be silky smooth!

Ok, are you ready for the final look?

Well i started playing and decided to leave her lid and added more yellow tones. The original plan was to add the dark silver to her lid as well, but i was really feeling this random eqyptian mode thing so i ran with it!

First i extended the shadow to her temple. Then i extended her brow with dark silver shadow and extended her bottom lashline. The inside designs were painting using the cake liner by kryolan and a small brush. I love kryolan's cake liner!

I did add more of a blush to her cheek to balance every thing out and i toned down the lip color by adding a pinkie brown right over the orange.

Hair: we just turned on a fan. hehe.

So that was our portfolio builder shoot and while I did take the photos, Alex Frazier set up the lights (except for the last shot in which he challenged me to do it myself!)

Is there something you'd like to see posted on my blog? Let me know and I'll try to get it done for ya!

Vintage Mod - Makeup and Photography

So i have been doing a lot of shoots lately with different models where I am both the makeup artist and the photographer and i must say, i am loving it!!!!

Now my first passion is still makeup and I will continue to work freelance doing makeup and hair only, but I have found a lot of fun and satisfaction in photography!

Here is the shoot i did yesterday morning with a model...

I had so much fun creating this vintag-ie style shoot. The poncho I had picked up (for myself) from Old Navy a couple weeks ago for a mere 15 bucks! I just thought it looked warm and snugglie! Since the weather is getting colder, I told the model she could wear it. ANd since she has very straight and fine hair, i knew we might be somewhat limited to what it wanted to do is the cold dry weather outside, so teasing it up seemed a safe bet. Suddenly, i felt this very vintage mod mood overcome and and we just went with it! Her eye makeup is a little geometrical which is something that really started in the 1960's with twiggy (the most famous model from the time era.

When the 1960's came about, makeup started to really get FUN! Now don't get me wrong, i love the makeup styles of all the different decades for different reasons and it isnt that makeup wasnt beautiful prior to the 1960's, but in the 1960's, makeup got more playful. It was no longer just for adults and being glamourous, but more teenagers began wearing makeup thus bringing out the "trend" factor. The eyes were the main focus in the 60's. They were played up with false lashes, geometric shapes and sometimes bold colors. The crease was often shadowed heavily making the makeup very visible even from far away. Eyeliner was also used often with thick lines and eyelashes accentuated with either a LOT of mascara or the addition of false lashes. Lips were often muted out with pale colors.

For Kelsey's eye makeup, I used deep purples along her crease and brought them much further into her nose than the tradional crease makeup. Often in the 60's, the crease was shadowed in a very round shape, which is not something I did here. So i guess this is a bit of my modernized version. :D I did use a thick black liner straight across her lash line with nice long false lashes!

Here is a close up shot where you can see the makeup a little bit better, without the color story corrections.

You can see her mouth is very muted in a pale pink (I used Obsessive Compulsive's Lip Tar in Hush).

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Feel free to leave a comment with what you'd like to see!

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!

Morgan's Wedding

In late summer, I was fortunate to work with Morgan for her wedding. Let me tell you, this girl is so sweet, but very fun at the same time. And she is hip to the latest trends thats for sure! She wanted feathers in her hair (i have been gathering info for a post about feathers and should have that up later this week.... consider this my introduction!). Feathers in hair is a very popular concept right now! And with white or ivory feathers, it's just gorgeous on brides!

Here is a rundown of our get ready followed by some awesome pictures of Morgan and her hubby. All photography is by Jeff Hall Photography. His business is set up in Greenville South Carolina. He has an amazing eye and captures weddings in such a fantastic style! You really should check out his portfolio, whether or not your looking for a photographer in Greenville!

Here's us getting ready. I'm not sure what I was looking for. Morgan looks bored. Ah, well it was early and I dont think they had brought her STRONG coffee yet. ;)

I started by spiral curling Morgan's hair, which is pretty straight when left alone.

I teased the hair at her crown and since it was being pined in low curls, i didnt want the weight of all the hair to bring down the "bump" so i started pining the curls low and added on top.

The final layer of hair I used a criss cross pattern above. This is something i do often. I think i just love the way it looks and gives a little bit of a different vibe than being pulled straight into the hair design. Plus and added benefit is that the light cross over pattern allows minimal weight pulling down the height at the top, which is good for the style and also good that the teasing doesnt have to be so extreme that it's difficult for the bride to get out later.

Below is a final shot of the hairstyl after I added the feathers as well as some small flowers and stemens (pearls that were actually created to go in the center of fake flowers)

Next comes makeup! I LOVE when a photographer gets me some action shots of makeup application! Thanks so much Jeff!

We started with the airbrush... i love my airbrush system!!!! The airbrush i use is by Dinair and I actually use the Paramedical makeup. It has a 24 hour wear and is completely water proof so just in case there are tears (at a wedding??? never!) or a rainstorm, this makeup isnt going anywhere!

It's all about the EYES! Morgan is stylish and CLASSY! She wanted a lot of sparkle to her eyemakeup without it looking too overdone. After priming her lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion, I mostly used shadows by Stila Cosmetics. They pack a shimmer factor, without a lot of fall out (you know... all those random sparkles that fly off your makeup brush and land Lord knows where). They also arent glittery, just perfectly shimmery!

Here's another shot of the in process eye makeup. I used a lighter shadow over the whole lid (i THINK moonlight in the inner corner and brow bone with wheat over her whole lid) And then to intensify her look, i used Go Lightly along the lash line and in the outer view blending it into her crease. What you dont see in this shot is the later addition of false lashes and Expresso shadow more intensly along her lash line and just outer v corner.

Her cheeks we kept a lightly peachy pink (um... i THINK peaches by MAC, may have been a light application of Garb. Sorry, it's been too long!) And her lip color we kept night and light as well. Below are 2 final shots that you can see her makeup.

Doesnt she look smashing! Ok, so she's a pretty girl to begin with, but i love the final looks!

Here's alot shot of that hair! :D

This shot is precious... that tree is in Falls Park in downtown Greenville. I know you've seen it in wedding shots on my blog before... but isnt it gnarly cool!

Okie dokie - thats what i have for ya today!!!! Check back soon for that "feather post" and why every gal should have some feathers for her hair!

Wanna win a Mac $50 gift card?!

Hello Lovelies! Sorry my posting has been a little everywhere. I have been SO BUSY! Last weekend i had 3 weddings, today I have a bridal portrait, 2 weddings tomorrow and then a bridal portrait on sunday! To many, "wedding season" is in the summer. While i do stay very busy in the summer for weddings, since i live in the South, the busiest wedding season here is FALL! It's not so densly hot and sticky, but it's not very cold yet either. The leaves here are just starting to turn... it's gorgeous! Maybe i'm partial since I was married in November!

As soon as the photos start rolling in from these weddings, I will post them, i promise! And I just got a new and better video camera! So more video tutorials and such will be coming SOON! Keep posting for casting calls!

Ok, while I wanted to update everyone on whats going on with me... there is something that i'm sure will be far more exciting for you! A chance to win a $50 gift card from MAC!

You all know that i LOOOOOVE my MAC!

This contest is being sponsored by MakeupTalk.com

Makeup Talk is a super fun community online! They have recently revamped and redesigned their website as well so if you've been there before, but not for awhile, you should check it out again. At Makeup Talk, you can chat with other beauty lovers, read reviews about products, and swap out some products that didnt work you you with someone else who may have something you've been lemming after!

So check out their forum, and if you want to enter to win, here is some details on how to do it!

Now i'm off to prep for the bridal portrait today! Chat with you all soooooon!