Make Love!

Happy Valentines Day!

Towards the end of last January, I volunteered in a community art project! The team collected polaroids of people's lips and then you would pick up somebody else's lips to get your portrait taken!  The portraits will then be auctioned off to raise money for First Exposures, a youth photography mentor program that provides art mentoring for underserved youth. The gallery opening & auction will take place on:

February 27th from 6-9 pm
SF Camerawork - 1011 Market St @6th, 2nd Floor

Featuring the portraits Daniel Castro took that weekend! So if you are in town and are free that evening, definitely go check out the exhibit!  :) 

The shoot took place at the Yerba Buena Gardens, and since I was working on Saturday, I could only volunteer my Sunday!  You can check out the behind the scenes video where you can catch me paint the lips of the participants before they took their polaroid! This was my set up for the day!! At first I thought "omg that many lips! I need to go out and get lipstick" so I ran to buy supplies - but it turns out I didn't really need to buy all that stuff!  Good thing I can still use it for other stuff! 

Before I started, I'd ask the participant if they want something natural, or something adventurous!! Most people opted for natural, but a few brave souls wanted something fun! Kim (Daniel's intern) suggested I did the Japanese Geisha Lips - that was certainly a fun one!

One lady asked me to draw a heart on the side of her lips so that she will be able to find her lips! Voila - there it is! EASY to spot! ;)

And then another participant was adventurous and wanted to try out the Yellow colored Lip Tar from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (the color is Traffic)!   

I was also happy to see some familiar faces - Ashley & Alana from Look Models! <3 <3 <3

It was really nice to participate in this community event! I really enjoyed it - especially the cause is for the arts, and it's local!!! While it's nice to help out for causes around the world, for me if it's possible, I prefer if it's closer to home and more immediate.  As a believer of karma, after volunteering I came home with 5 inquiries! :)  lol...

Either way - Spread the L.O.V.E.!  

Be sure to like the Make Love facebook page to find out the latest updates! 

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!!

San Francisco Engagement Makeup [Vivian & Richard]

Makeup Artist: Liz
Hair Stylist: Glam-up
Photographer: Junshien International Photographers

Congratulations to Vivian & Richard, who tied the knot June 18th, 2011! These are from their engagement photo shoot, which happened in May - rescheduled due to the rain!  Thanks again to Junshien for the referral!

I also wanted to thank Vivian, for putting up with my runny nose on the engagement shoot makeup day! :( I had caught a cold from the traveling I did, and definitely wasn't at 100% that day...! And...I felt super embarrassed when I was doing her makeup and my nose would be running, and I had to RUN to the bathroom, wash my hands, and then continue! :( I felt really bad...but I was relieved that everything turned out OK in the end!!!

On their day-of, I arrived in SF, at the Glam-Up salon to get Vivian ready, and usually I ask where they are getting ready instead of where they are getting married/having reception...and it turned out...Vivian knew my cousin's bride, Jen, who happened to have their reception on the same day at the same venue, AND they knew each other because they went to the same graduate school!! What a small world!!!!!!  Vivian told me they were going to take a photo together - I can't wait to see it - as well as the beautiful photos of Vivian & Richard's big day in Sharon Heights!!! ^o^ For now, please enjoy the beautiful photos of their engagement session, taken by Junshien International Photographers!  I loved both of their outfits! These are some of my favs, but Junshien also made a slideshow of their photos from e-session in HD on their blog! Check it out!!!

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This is my busiest summer yet...! I am not complaining and grateful to be blessed with wonderful bridal/commercial clients! The sun has been waking me up EARLY and then work work work, collapse=sleep deprivation!  Finally a day off this Sunday, I collapsed at 9:00pm last night and slept till 8:33am!  Intense deep sleep and I think I am caught up because I feel great!! :) :) :) I really need to update my portfolios/blogs/facebook, etc...!  <3  I need to charge up for my busy week ahead and 'destination wedding' in Monterey, CA! woohoo~  I am excited.  Have a great 4th everyone...! 

Published cover & 6 page spread

Model: Ryan Guzman @ Look
Makeup: Elizabeth Chang (Skyla Arts)
Photography/Hair/Wardrobe Styling: Ian Maxion

Last week was kind of a tough week...with a lot of not-so-positive things happening. Getting my second cover, and my first 6 page spread would have been something really exciting, but the magazine omitted my name in the credits, as well as the model's name.  I asked around, and apparently it happens more often than I thought - the magazines don't really care about how important receiving name credit is for makeup artists...well anyways...Rant over..!  The up-side is, the spread turned out really nice~! No matter what, I'm still very proud of my work, and our work together.  If you want to view the online issue of the magazine, you can click here! The shot of Ryan jumping in the air is pretty amazing~ I didn't select it out for my portfolio previously because I thought you can barely see his face (for my makeup/grooming purposes of my portfolio) but now I'm thinking of sticking it back in there!

I've had to do a lot of thinking about my growing business. Because it will be encompassing 3 different facets (Bridal, Fashion/Commercial, Skincare), I'll most likely split it into 3 so that there's more focus.  It's just a matter of.. there's only one of me, and so many things to do before I'm happy with the way Skyla Arts is organized! Ahh...!  I'm currently working on 1/3~ anyhow - hope everyone had a nice weekend and enjoy the photos! 

Candace & Jason, Nestldown/Los Gatos Wedding August 2010

Candace & Jason, August 9th 2010

Makeup for Bride & Bride's mother: Elizabeth Chang (Skyla Arts)

Hair for Bride & Bridal Party: Caroyln (Swirls N' Curls)

Photography: FC Wong Photography *All photos on this blog is courtesy of FC Wong Photography!

Venue: Nestldown

I had the pleasure to work with Candace! It seems like forever but it's only been a few months! ^^" I did makeup for Candace & her beautiful Mommy (they look so alike! ^^) and Candace also hired me to stay 4 extra hours for touch-ups. It was so nice of Candace to invite me to the ceremony since there were some extra seats in the back, and it was really sweet to watch the beautiful ceremony.  

At the beginning of the day, I did something uber embarrassing! I always leave home and get there earlier than expected and sometimes earlier than the bride or even the staff member that was supposed to put a block to prevent guests and unsuspecting vendors (like ME!!!) from going down the wrong path! Even though I followed the instructions given to me by Brooke the coordinator, without any other cars parked, I thought I had to go further down the winding tree path, and turned out to be just GRASS so I had to back up in a curve and scratched my car against some trees! :( poor car..  Anyways - it was pretty embarrassing! I believe they were Candace's baby cousins watching me get stuck there!  ^^|| Oops!  The good news is I arrived earlier and budgeted enough time because they were fixing the high way and so there was only 1 lane! Phew~ but everything went smoothly and on-time! :D 

It's a really beautiful venue - kind of a hidden piece of eden in Los Gatos! The Bridal Cottage is where I set up to do the makeup! Candace has very sensitive skin but very very beautiful skin! As Carolyn (hair stylist) said: "Aren't we lucky? She has perfect hair and perfect skin!" ;)  After the trial, Candace & I actually had a meeting in San Francisco to discuss some feedback Candace had on the makeup, and she wanted more 'glow' on her skin, so she opened up her laptop, and showed me some photos she found...and I was like: "I KNOW THESE PEOPLE" and she was like: "Whaaat? Really??"  It turns out, she found some photos of my teacher Kelly's work~ I knew the models on the photos during my internship at Ra Beauty Core learning from my teacher Kelly.  I had GOOSEBUMPS, and suddenly felt emotional because I missed my teacher, and that Candace had unknowingly connected us just by our makeup style.  I think it was pretty amazing...and touching at the same time!  The "glow"/dewy look is very popular in Korean makeup and so I guess it was very logical to google Korean salons! What a small world! :)

I was waiting for Candace to send me some photos, but right after their wedding, Candace & Jason went on an extended honeymoon trip to Asia, and decided to relocate from San Francisco to Singapore!!!  Yay!!  I haven't heard from Candace recently, but they must be busy settling in, and exploring the exciting world of SE Asia!! :D  So for now, I will have to share the facebook photo gallery sized photos that Candace generously shared with me, and also some that I grabbed from the photographer's blog!  Enjoy the photos, and read a side-story on the bottom! :) 

I wanted to share that Candace's mommy is not used to wearing makeup, but she also had beautiful gorgeous skin like Candace (it's genetics!!! ^^) and was peacefully enjoying her application here, until she realized the photo was being taken!!! At that point (her reaction was priceless and adorable!!!) she told the photographer: "No no no please don't take a photo of me!!!!!!!!" and Candance was on the side getting her hair done: "It's OK mom! Don't worry!"  After she saw herself, she thought it was really dramatic, like the Chinese Opera makeup! And I assured her she looked great~  My favorite photo is the b/w above - it looked like a really heart felt moment~~~ and those are usually my favorite photos from weddings! 

Men, Men, Men! Ian Maxion x Skyla Arts

Models: Ryan Guzman @ Look (left), Thad @ City Models (right)
Makeup: Elizabeth Chang (Skyla Arts)
Photography/Hair/Wardrobe Styling: Ian Maxion

I hope you are thinking finally some hot men for a change from hot women?? :) Oh...I am still so backed up with my blog posts...You are probably tired of hearing me say this, but I feel a bit stressed out when I see other photographers or makeup artists keeping their blogs very up to date and current!  I don't know how the bloggers do it (especially the beauty bloggers!  That's a lot of images to organize!! I guess you need to be uber-organized on your computer, and right now my desktop is just CHAOS! My husband saw it and his jaw dropped because if his desktop looked like that, he would freak!)  Anyways!

This photo shoot happened middle of September, and to my pleasant surprise I saw Ryan at the Tommy Hilfiger event! Did you spot him? It was nice to see familiar faces like Ryan and Allie and meet many new people as well.  Thad is shooting a Hyundai commercial today and I'm excited for him!!!  He is going to sell lots of cars for Hyundai!!!! This is my first time working with the talented Ian Maxion upon referral by Janet Mariscal.  Ian has a great eye for creative direction, and I was so impressed at how organized Ian was with the clothes! Compared to the state of my closet, um...let's not talk about how messy my closet is right now~! lol.  Ian was going for the "Mad Men" look for Ryan, and the "Risky Business" for Thad, but since I was told my my 3 of my mentors that I need to EDIT EDIT EDIT for my portfolio, I selected my absolute absolute favorite photos to post for my portfolio and blog.  They say to me: "Take that out. You don't need that." or "Perhaps one image from the shoot...since you don't want to post repeated looks!"  Since this is my BLOG, I can post a few more photos! ;)

It was my first time working with everyone, and I am happy that I was a part of this great photo shoot.  The part that made me most nervous was the roof top shoots because I had to climb up there! The ladder that I was climbing was So Scary and I was wearing sandals!   @o@ I was like @o@ How am I gonna get down?? But I was fine..just like "PHEW" when I got back down! hahaha.  The versatility of Ryan and Thad's performance blew me away!  I've seen their portfolios, but it's nothing like watching them perform and do what they are really really good at. It's really easy to think that all models have to do is get their body to look great/work out and maybe study some poses from magazines and just stand there.  To be at Ryan and Thad's level, you really got to bring it each time. Ian is really great at giving directions, but when Ian puts the clothes and accessories on Ryan and Thad, they know what to do with it. I hope I'm making sense !  But it takes a lot of practice and perseverance, and not being afraid to try different things and communicate with the photographer to get these shots, and to help the shoot run so smoothly. So!  Enjoy the photos!  I really loved the results and was really happy to be a part of the shoot with such a talented team!!!!

Underwater Photoshoot / Sneak Peak & behind the scenes fun!

Photography: Chad Riley (Chad Riley Photography)
Makeup : Liz Chang (Skyla Arts)
Styling : Katie Quinn (Q the Stylist)
Model: Allie @ Look Models
Photography Assistant: Antonio Fernando

Super excited to blog about this! This was certainly one of the harder shoots I've worked on - because of it being under water and all! =P  Even though the makeup items I used are 'waterproof' but it doesn't mean the force of the water will not wash the makeup out! Plus being in the water, everything looks 'blue/green' and pale in the water so I had to adjust accordingly.  The first look is the beige/sequins outfit~ I couldn't believe the waxy lipstick washed off!  I was super stressed because I wanted to fix it ASAP! My star makeup brands for this shoot that saved the day are: Yaby Cosmetics, Makeup Forever, and Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics! Woot ! The other challenge I had was doing the makeup while she was still in the water because it will take too much effort to come in and out of the water, and the model needs to conserve her energy and be as comfortable as she can be for such a physically demanding photo shoot!  If I knew how to swim, I might have been of better help, but unfortunately being in the water is one of my phobias, so it was very inspirational to me to see Allie move in the water with challenging outfits!!!!

If you think Allie looks very familiar, you're not hallucinating (j/k)! She is the beautiful face you see at every Sephora right now at the Skincare section!! Front and Center of every sephora!  Her face, features, and the way she moves her body under water - it was VERY amazing to watch! Katie (the stylist) and I were just above water admiring her movements from and I was in awe at what I was witnessing.  Allie was also one of the models for the Tommy Hilfiger show that I worked on! It was so nice to see her again there!

 Some Behind the Scenes Fun:

My set up right by the pool!  It was kind of cool because I get to work in natural light! My director's chair, my kit.

My little SMA (sanitary maintenance area)! Hand sanitizer(with Lavender essential oil! love!), visine, saline solution (for the bleach in the pool), MUFE eye seal, brushes in the black tube (covered before the model arrives), makeup remover, MUFE Mist & Fix. Remains covered before model arrives.

Everything that will touch the model - disposables, sponges, palettes. lash curlers

Chad: "Allie! Dive! It'll be cool"

Allie: "Do I have to???!!"

*Allie preparing to dive with that huge dress!*

Dived! She looks so pretty! ^^

Look at her go! :)

And last but not least! An iphone capture of the epic dive! :)

More images to come!  All in all I was super thrilled to be a part of this shoot, and meeting Chad, Allie, Katie and Antonio!  Katie and I even ate the SAME breakfast! (Oatmeal and a banana!) Freaky~ ! haha~ I hope to work with all of them again!