I turn 25!

I've lived a quarter of a century! lol I wrote this blog post the day before the 'big' 25 ! Okay it's really not a significant number, but I find that it's actually more significant than 30 or something, which to me seems arbitrary, other than the biological/time to have kids significance!

I feel like this is the right opportunity to share one of these personal reflections that I don't know if anybody reads because it's so text heavy!  But it's my blog - who cares - you can just skip it!!  ;)  I've shared part of the story before - but the major turning point I've omitted.

The death that inspired me to live
My big sister decided she wanted to be a physician at age 6, so when I was born, because my sister played 2 instruments, early on my sister discovered I have a "perfect pitch."  This fueled my mom's aspiration for me to live life as a concert harpist and pianist - something desirable for a women because your students just come to you for class, you can take care of your kids, and you make $100 per hour. Oh and I believe if my mom could be in my shoes, she would have chosen that as her own dream.  Growing up impoverished, even touching a piano key/banging on it was a rare privilege and my mom just can't imagine why I would not want to play my instruments.  We were living in San Jose Costa Rica at the time, and I was tricked into going to Piano class (before turning 4 yrs old) - OK not tricked, but I didn't comprehend that the word "piano class" was an actual class! Then at 6, I too started Harp classes.  The struggle continued...I would practice the bare minimum, but seem to still get decent results and applause, which made it even more difficult because my mom said I was lazy and ungrateful for the opportunity. "Look at so and so practicing for 1 hour. You should do it too."  Even my teachers said so..."She reads music so fast and talented, but she is lazy."

*continue after the jump*

Underwater Photo shoot & Top Model Attributes!!

Photography: Chad Riley (Chad Riley Photography) @ Look Artist
Makeup : Elizabeth Chang (Elizabeth Chang | Makeup & Hair)
Styling : Katie Quinn (Q the Stylist)
Model: Allie D. @ Look Models
Photography Assistant: Antonio Fernando

You may vaguely remember the Underwater Photoshoot Behind the Scenes blog nearly a year ago! It was a long wait for these images, but I'm really excited to share them with you!

As mentioned in previous post, it was my first under water shoot and also the first time I needed this degree of waterproofing (completely different from the typical sweating, humidity or longevity of makeup wear for bridal).  From the sneak peaks I was very worried that the makeup wouldn't show up, but alas, I was just nervous over nothing.  Allie and I were joking that it's called "Makeup Forever" because it stays on FOREVER. For this shoot, I had specifically purchased a few items from MUFE that I didn't own at the time, and that combined with the tricks Liz Yu from Yaby Cosmetics showed me, the makeup actually showed up under water!! woohoo!!!  The star makeup brands for this shoot that saved the day are: Yaby Cosmetics, Makeup Forever, and Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics! Also very funny, was that after the first look, I adjusted her blush way stronger after receiving feedback from Chad so that it will show up under water and I showed Allie the mirror and we were like omg Clown! lol! But yeah, we did 3 makeup looks that day to go along with her outfits, and it was quiet an experience, doing the makeup changes while the model is still under the water!

For the green dress, I actually tried to apply false lashes to see what will happen- it's not the glue that's not waterproof, it's the force of the water when the model goes up and down for air - it makes the lashes flop and go crazy, like a clam shell!

Allie blew us away with her underwater posing skills.  Katie and I were just gawking in amazement at how graceful and gorgeous she looked ABOVE water! We could only imagine what was going on under the water! :P

I know this is only my 3rd year working as a makeup artist (2 yrs and 3 months in!) but out of all the agency models I've personally had the pleasure to work with, there's only a handful (I can count with one hand!) of Fashion models who really just blew me away! Ahh please don't misinterpret~~! No offense to the other wonderful models I've worked with, but Fashion to me is a very specific category, attributes and skill set - some models belong in more than 1 category (ie: Fashion/Runway & Commercial, Fashion & Beauty, Fashion & Swimwear etc etc etc endless combinations) and of course you can also be a TOP Beauty model or Top Commercial model.  What I am trying to express is,  Fashion models are very rare to come by, which is why when they become the top models, they get paid the most money.  I really got to understand this after watching Allie under the water.  Before, I just didn't have what you call first hand experience.  I never thought modeling was easy, but just in case anyone thought modeling was EASY as long as you are a certain height, weight, beautiful girl, you can be a model - that is sooo not true...!

Qualities of a Top Fashion Model (according to liz...from my experience...lol)
- Intelligent, educated, articulate & cogent
- TALL + extremely fit & physically healthy
- Beautiful body & limbs (you can be super tall, but not have proportional limbs or odd legs)
- Understand your body
- Unique facial features & strong bone structure
- GREAT skin, GREAT Hair
- Versatile/Chameleons
- Independent & Adventurous
- Super professional (shows up on time, completely prepared for the shoot, positive attitude)

Some of these you can learn & acquire with experience, but others you are born with. You need the perfect combination!

Allie - you are amazing!

Green dress look features OCC Lip Tar in Pageant!!

Linda & Richard, Villa Montalvo/Saratoga Wedding May 2011

Photography: Junshien International Photographers | Junshien Lau + David Lok/Assistant Photographer
Makeup & Hair: Skyla Arts |  Elizabeth Chang/Makeup & Lead Stylist
     + Carolyn Jean/Hair Stylist & Assistant Makeup Artist + Erika Taniguchi/Assistant
Coordinator: Just a Party Girl | Kathy Chen
Caterer: Cafe Primavera | Kathy Chen
Bakery: Satura Cakes, Pamplemousse Patisserie, and Linda (bride)!
Florist: Pico Soriano Designs | Pico Soriano

Ahhh I am skipping around for my blog posts and wedding chronology! But that's OK, I am just waiting for the photos - but my April bride is a nurse and she is busy saving lives and taking care of her beautiful family and I think that's way more important than my blog being in chronological order! ;P These photos were published yesterday on Junshien's blog and I didn't see it until this morning, which definitely made my morning! Normally (people who worked with me know this...) I like/need to crop my Portrait images so they are perfectly at the same width, but today I'm just happy to be able to post the photos! In the freelance world, you face a lot of rejection (ie: when the client doesn't hire you lol) and sometimes it eats me alive by filling me with self-doubt. I'm still learning how to not take rejection personally, but it's much harder when the service you provide is personal.  What is more personal than somebody's hair and makeup on their wedding?  We're touching you, pulling you, twirling you, we are there with you until the last minute where you need to go get married or take photos - and take the next step in your life!    

I love looking at my client's wedding photos...even though I only know them very briefly during the trial and emailing back and forth, I can't help but feel happy and touched (and a little teary at times) that they feel and look beautiful on their wedding day - oh and of course, an International Photographer, to capture these moments, definitely adds to the estrogen stimulus lol....   These photos will stay with you forever! That's why your photographer and your hair and makeup vendor should be decided FIRST, right? right? :P  When one of the pretty BMs Sirinya shared that she is getting married in Santa Monica in September and she hasn't found a makeup/hair vendor I was like @o@ OMG! Get one now! lol...She later emailed me for referrals and I believe one of my colleagues in LA will be taking good care of her! :)

That day, we did 7 additional services - 6 makeup apps (4 BMs and 2 lovely moms), and 1 blow-out (the beautiful BM with straight hair)! I loved that all the BMs left their hair down and that they were excited about their makeup and false lashes! Carolyn helped me prep and prime the skin, and we were a well-oiled machine! ;)  It was Erika's first time coming with us to a bridal gig, and we were happy to have her help clean our brushes & monitor our schedule.  We stayed on schedule on the DOT *high five girls!* We are a great team~! :)

What a beautiful wedding & beautiful couple! Congratulations again to Linda & Richard! I'm happy that you will have a room for all of Richard's computers! ;)

P.S. You can check out more photos on Junshien's blog and oh he made a beautiful slideshow! Watch in 720P HD! :) 

LOVE this idea! So cute!!! 

*tear*  Linda's mommy is so cute!

I love this image...! It sounds like her BM is saying something really <3-ing! 

I don't know which ones Linda baked but they all look DELICIOUS

cuteness overload!

aww mother and son dance!

<3

Gabriele for Lexus GS!

Watch in 1080P!!!

Remember the very handsome & talented model Gabriele I worked with earlier this year for a fall men's fashion story from City Model Management?

Photography: Laura Tillinghast, Wardrobe: Katie Quinn, Men's grooming: Elizabeth Chang

We LOVED Gabriele's look!  He looked so good in that jacket with the orange zipper.  Perhaps our fashionable photos helped him get the gig? :) lol no Gabriele had a fabulous portfolio already!  Anyways, I am very excited to see him in the Lexus commercial! He looks fabulous and now I totally want to by that car - cannot afford it...!  lol..  I drive a Certified Preowned Lexus IS250 2007 - I cannot believe how a car can change my life... previously I drove a Toyota Corolla 1999 and I was fearful of going on the freeways, living in LA.  Going to places gave me significant anxiety and inhibited me from doing things because I was constantly worrying about getting hit or hitting someone due to reckless driving.

Onto some personal reflections... Today I cleared my schedule to focus on office work in preparation for my upcoming trip (will share more on that later!) and the reason being I needed to wait for Fedex & UPS.  I ordered some MUST HAVES for my trip from the MakeupForever Pro Road Show and my peers already received their packages, which of course puts me into a panic.  By 1pm, I decided to phone MUFE office and they informed me that from their end, they saw that someone had signed for it as it was delivered YESTERDAY at 11:45am!  

I totally panicked, and cried thinking that someone had stolen my package!  The thing is, my HOA sent out a newsletter a few months back saying that someone had stolen a package in our complex and the incident was reported.  Then...it turns out they had sent it to my neighbor with a "1" instead of a "7" (me)...so they advised me to walk to my neighbors to retrieve it.  Wiping my tears, I walked and there it was on my neighbor's front mailbox!  It's a lot of stress...I don't have that money just lying around... in fact, I saved up for the Glamcor lights that I had wanted to invest in when I saw it at The Makeup Show LA in Feb 11'.. which brings me to....UPS not showing up until 7:30pm!  That drove me crazy - the wait!  

I kept checking the door like a mad-woman, any sound of any van or truck, I go to the kitchen and o-mi-o-my I slipped, twisted my right foot, which sprang my gluteus muscle! aiya~~~ Today is not a good day.

Finally finally UPS came and as he was bringing my package, I waited for him by the door~ he goes: "oh Hello there! Waiting for this?" I said: "Yesssss ALL DAY LONG!!!!" (in a super chipper voice lol) ~  What arrived was my glamcor lights~ superior design, and none-heat producing LED lights, which is the most important factor in addition to the design and portability for me.  Lights make me very hot and uncomfortable and thank god for such an invention!  OK OK Enough rambling for now! :) 

New Beauty + Fall 2011-2012 Makeup Trend Report [trends I'm into, that is]

Makeup & Hair: Elizabeth Chang
Photography: Rummy Makmur

Model: Lauren Loveless @ Stars Model Management SF

*pats myself on the back* For taking further steps at separating my Bridal from Commercial/Fashion work. I am also very proud of this image :) The makeup before and after post processing is barely noticeable! Big *high five* to Rummy Makmur - again, we pulled out ALL the stops! YAY!  Special thanks to AJ for sending us Lauren. We absolutely love her....!

On the day of the shoot, I had a few makeup looks in mind, but after seeing her face, I decided to go with a look fresh off the runway, 2011-12 A/W Gucci show in Milan - I summarize the look as the following:

- Flawless, beautiful "Porcelain" skin

- Perfect vampy lip

- Perfectly Symmetrical Brows

- A lot of mascara - clumpy and sexy

- Classically lightly defined eyes

I definitely had a strong feeling about these lips.. I can't believe it I did this lip 3 times the last MONTH. I had to just get it out of my system, and I am happy to say I probably won't be doing this lip until...whenever it's "in" again! lol!!!!!  That day we also did the D & G Fall look with a twist with the graduated faded lip, but I think that this image above is the strongest from the set.  :) 

And then funny funny thing is when I received my Bazaar Fall Fashion Issue, Coco Rocha rocked this makeup look in those Saks Fifth Avenue ads.  It's funny to me because last fall, I had absolutely NO CLUE what is trendy for fall.  I think my trend predicting antennas are growing a little stronger ;P  This was just one of the looks that I loved loved off of A/W 2011-2012. 

Also found in Bazaar this season - PERFECTLY SYMMETRICAL BROWS!!!! oh yes, and FULL too.

Sorry for the caps, but I wanted to say that if you meet 10 makeup artist, 50% will say: "Brows are sisters, not twins", and the other 50% will say: "Brows SHOULD be twins" - and I say: "Brows should be twins in the perfect Grecian tradition" - Symmetry IS beauty I say!! 

And guess what!?!?!? It's the RETURN OF THE PERFECT BROWS! My glory day has returned j/k j/k~  It's just that... I definitely belong to the 50% of the artist who cannot stand asymmetry in brows. Yes, naturally brows are most likely going to be sisters - Only very few people I've met had perfectly symmetrical brows, and when I see them I cannot stop staring at them and admire them with my mouth agape! No brow product or anything, just perfectly symmetrical. I like them longer and fuller - and tamed into perfection. 

If your brows are not perfectly symmetrical, there are ways to shape it to "appear" perfectly symmetrical.  For that, you really need to go to a TRUE brow artiste and not just any esthetician out there ;) 

ALL my clients and models I've worked with know that I am into symmetrical brows...lol....If you come to me with brows, I will most likely inquire if you go see someone for your brows, and if not, why not? What can I say...I just love beautiful brows.  Jordan @ Scout told me she loves how I do her brows~ :) 

What can I say, at least for this season, I WIN! *does a victory dance* 

There is no "I" in Team!

Makeup, Hair & Manicure: Elizabeth Chang

Photography: Rummy Makmur
Models: (left) Morgan @ Stars, (right) Jordan @ Scout
Post-Processing: London Retouch

I know...I was planning to do a whole blog post on this and that, but I've been a little bit occupied with work! That's a good thing right??!  Got bills to pay! :P I am uber proud about my recent projects.  This one above in particular - The last shoots I worked with, Morgan on the left, and Jordan on the right, I was not 100% proud of the images, so I requested an opportunity for a re-shoot, and during the re-shoot, I planned everything myself, including coordinating the models, making the schedules/call sheet, and Oh yeah, doing Hair/Makeup/Manicure for both models - all by myself.

Sometimes you just have to make things happen for yourself.  Every single person who participated at this shoot, we pulled out ALL the stops!!!  ALL of it.  The difficulty was HIGH, but despite the challenges, I am just thrilled we got 3 images out of that evening for our portfolio.  It's not perfect, it's not the most exciting thing you've seen in the world, but to me, that day I really pushed myself harder and was able to say that I reached my goal and not just "oh man I wish I could have done this..."  I am only as good as my team, and man - we were an AWESOME TEAM that evening! The models were prepared, and we were all excited to make some magic.  While we stuck on schedule (to the clock!!! woohoo!!! Go team), I also had the pleasure to share some personal stories with Jordan, and we all enjoyed listening to Morgan's 2 month adventure in Milan!  Her stories showed her courage and determination, living alone in Milan, was really inspiring to hear.  Persistence and Perseverance - what better qualities can you have if you really want to succeed in something?  

Special thanks to amazing Audre VanBroers, who introduced me to London Retouch, whom I hired to post-process the image for us! If you go onto the website, you can also see the other Beauty story I did with Audre VanBroers, another thing I am uber proud of!

Oh yes, did I mention - Tereza from London Retouch also decided to use our image as her banner image!!! SF represent!! Of course, thanks to Stars Model Management & Scout Model & Talent Agency to trusting me once more with their  beautiful and talented SF Beauty models I've had the pleasure to work with!

Lastly...I'll probably be blogging a lot more once October rolls around... but for now, I've been working on my "new" website: http://elizabethchangmakeup.com [It's just a face lift from my former fashion/commercial portfolio website]

You can click there to check out some of my new work that...I just haven't been able to blog about!

My journey continues...!

Has it only been 8 months since this entry?  Unbelievable...!

I have so many posts to write, but somehow this is the only one I want to write today.  As you may or may not know, I just celebrated Skyla Arts' 2 year anniversary. If you look at the beginning of my blog, you will notice the first post is June 30th 2009 - that's when I first started building my portfolio - every photo you see on the blog was done between June 2009-today. I used to have a tag line on my website along the lines of "Providing 100% client satisfaction since 2009" and I was advised by a photographer to remove that line because the last thing you want is for your clients to think you are NEW or GREEN. I talked about this when I was taking private 1-1 classes with 2 amazing hair dressers earlier this year...and the one in Taipei said to me: "I hear you say they think you are like a little kitten, shinny and new? hahahaha" It was also super funny because I am born year of the Tiger - I prefer to be a Tiger over a Kitten any day! :P 

I was throwing out images from my print book (11x14) - okay not throwing, but basically updating it and I felt like time really flied by...where did the time go? Did I really do this photo in Feb of 2010?! That's 1.5ish years from today - what the hell?!?!  Never did I think that I would be training assistants this year - in March, Erika+Melissa approached me at the same time.   I remembered what it was like for me when I first started, and I am forever grateful for the people who helped me along one step at a time.  But...when I first started I never ever got to experience these shoots or assist like this.  I certainly tried contacting artists, but they didn't write back, but every where I went, I brought my book with me, anyone who had years on me (photographer, hair and makeup artists, wardrobe stylists) I would ask for their feedback.  

Anyways...to make a long story short, on Sunday, my assistant Erika Taniguchi flew solo on a job!  I was so proud to see her bring her kit on set, pack it neatly and cleanly, show up right on time despite the marathon going on in San Francisco, be prepared to take over my post so I can rush home for gig#2.  I made sure she had everything, and I took off knowing she will rock it!!  I met Erika at the Tommy Hilfiger gig Fall 2010,  where she was an assistant, she didn't assist me, but that was my first time ever having an assistant, and at the time... I had no idea what to do with an assistant because I never had one.  It really wasn't that big of a deal but afterwards when they approached me, I thought about what I would have liked to do if I were an assistant (when I first started out), and I tried to do it with that mindset in mind!  I still assist if someone gave me the opportunity and I was free that day...! I assisted artist Lena Chavez last fall, and she told me after 10 years, she still assists, and I find that incredibly inspiring and I completely agree with her, and I hope that I will have more opportunities to assist as well!   

The clients on Sunday (where Erika took over, flew solo!!) had nothing but great things to say about her professionalism and skills, and I can't feel happier hearing this! ! ! *wipe tear* lol j/k~ lol definitely some happy tears.  Because Erika does not have a makeup and hair portfolio *yet* as she has a graphic design background and her port is awesome there,  we all took a risk of sorts - since it's her first time flying solo on a job (without a portfolio), client hiring her for the first time on a job, and me leaving her allll alone for the first time on a paid job~ I felt like I needed to push her a little bit to build her confidence. There are some things you need to figure out all by yourself and  and I think it all worked out in the end!! One big happy story woohoo!!!! *HIGH FIVE* I can definitely relate though......... after leaving my brief assistance-ship or internship of 3 weeks July 2009... I felt really scared to be out there all by myself in Los Angeles, going to strange places, meeting strange people (also known as networking lol...) this is probably more entertaining for people who have been doing it for 10 years but...these past 2 years felt like an eternity. I can't believe it's only been 2 years!! what the hell!  lol....!?!?!?!?!?

Okay okay...I blabbed enough for today...some new work to come next post, I promise!