Happy Holidays! ! ! {2011 in Review}

Scrapbooking design generated with Smilebox

Happy Holidays everyone! ;)

I remembered a fun tool to make cards, and while I reviewing the smilebox (the only thing that's annoying is the ad, but it won't go away unless you pay their membership fee!!), a cute little tool to make online digital cards to send to friends/family/etc! Of course I couldn't fit every event in, but it's still fun to plug it in and take a moment to remember, and be grateful for all the opportunities I was given with wonderful clients, whether it be fashion editorials/video/film/news/catalogue/bridal/special events/makeup lessons!! 

I saw that they had a scrapbook and I thought to myself...why not!!! I've never done it before, but then again, 2011 has been a year of a lot of firsts!  Some notable ones for me..

- First time in NYC/NY Fashion Week!

- First time being published on StyleMePretty - California

- First time filming a 'real' makeup tutorial

- First time producing a bridal editorial (this one is not released yet!) 

- First time published for makeup/hair/photography in the Siren's editorial!

- First time getting props for a shoot, and buying the wardrobe (the picnic kids shoot in the park!)

- First time having/training assistant(s)! 

- First time doing 2 wedding gigs in a day (Even though I get multiple inquiries on the same date, usually the times end up conflicting and I am unable to accommodate 2 parties)
- First time winning the staff-voted RAW (un-photoshopped) Facebook photo contest! or any contest, really~ ;)

- First time having a public portfolio review (ohh nerve-racking! but worth it for the experience!)

- First time doing a full-on 80s makeup on my husband for his company's Xmas party!  

And here's the iPhone photo again for laughs~ ;) I could barely contain my laughter~ my husband, however, was fully in character for every photo.  He showed me an image of Rob Smith from The Cure, and demanded lipstick/powder and everything! He went through my jewelry box and found a random earring, and he asked me if I had any chunky necklaces to complete the outfit! Some of his colleagues barely recognized him but were 100% entertained and pleased with his look! It was a lot of fun! Bringing laughter/joy to people with makeup lol~!  I made my hair as big as I could tolerate it - I'm usually not a big hair person but it was fun to tease it out and have frizzy hair with lots of hair spray!!!

I want to take an opportunity to thank everyone for their support for my blog and commenting! I really appreciate the interaction! Have a safe & wonderful Holiday season everyone!!!

May 2012 be even better than 2011!!!  <3 <3 <3

Beauty shot with Leila* & Rummy

Photography: Rummy Makmur
Makeup: Liz (Skyla Arts)
Model (& Hair Styling): Leila*

We set up this shoot months and months ago and we finally got to do it yesterday (which happens to be my husband's birthday!~ oops on my part! sorry!!) Leisha is super super experienced~ and I've been anticipating working with her for forever! In the end I selected this one to print in my portfolio and asked Rummy to edit it for me first! So..there will be more photos to come! I love Leisha's eyes~! I also decided to use individual lashes instead of strip lash this time since Leisha already has beautiful long lashes to give the eyes a little extra UUMPH!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Behind the Scenes (?)

I am here to disclose my humble studio space for makeup. This space in my humble apartment is supposed to be the "dining room" but we never eat there anyway so I converted it into a makeup station! It looks kind of crowded, because there's a lot of stuff in the background but I assure you as a client, you can sit back and relax on the black chair~ =) While it looks like there's 3 different lights going on, the combination works for me, and I also have great natural lighting in the living room to double-check foundation color. Plus, since it's my place, I sanitize the table and clean it - but I cannot say the same for on-location tables where sometimes I need to lay my stuff on! I always come back and freak out and clean the bottoms of my stuff. You can see my small travel case and the plastic containers that I use to carry and organize my stuff! Makeup artists usually have their own unique way of organizing that works for them - and this has been working for me so far - but I might need to get a suitcase or something to help me. So anyway, here it is! ^__^