Bridal Make-up – Lori: May 25, 2012

Last week, I posted some pictures of future bride, Lori.  She was the one happily smiling away after getting her hair (by Lindsay) and make-up (by me) trial done.  Well two days later was her wedding – a beautiful Friday that had the sun shining and the first really warm temperatures of the season in the Greater Chicagoland Area.

I wasn’t sure how many people I was going to be working on that day.  I only knew for certain that I would be doing Lori’s make-up.  Upon arriving at Salon Trisse, I found out I would be doing Lori’s make-up along with five bridesmaids, the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom.

The ladies at Salon Trisse were already hard at work...

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Allison perfecting an updo

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Lindsay working the curls

One Of the Reasons I LOVE What I Do For a Living

I spend a lot of time with brides doing their make-up.  I've been incredibly lucky to have worked on some lovely women who graciously allow and trust me to be a part of their special day.

These women are usually under a lot of pressure with last minute details by the time they see me.  There is occasionally some drama, but I've never had to deal with any "Bridezillas".

Then I meet someone like Lori...

Lori doesn't live here.  In fact, she lives about a 13 hour drive away.  I know this because I lived in a small suburb of Philadelphia named Reading and made the long drive back and forth to Northwest Indiana many times.  Not only has she had to coordinate a wedding from over 700 miles away, her fiancee's family is all from the Philadelphia area.  She's had to coordinate their arrivals and hotel accommodations and travel.

And they're all driving.

Yet, she was upbeat and an incredible amount of fun.  I got her in my chair after Salon Trisse stylist Lindsay Vrane did an incredible up-do (and I promise to have great pictures of it on the big day) and she basically gave me carte blanche to design her make-up.  That can be a lot of pressure on both of us because the bride gives up an incredible amount of trust to let that happen.

When I was done, she loved it and I was beyond excited.  But that isn't what this post is about.

Lori is less than two days away from her wedding and was so relaxed and fun, the test pictures I take to make sure the bride is photo ready turned out like this:

Test Drive - Dove Nourishing Oil Care – Leave in Smoothing Cream

A couple of months ago I started scanning freebie web  sites looking for samples of goodies.  They don’t always have products that I’d want, but I get a lot of hair/skin/body care samples to examine.  I figured it was about time to start telling you about the products I take for a test drive.  The first one I tried out was Dove Nourishing Oil Care – Leave-in Smoothing Cream. 

My hair is incredibly fine so all it takes is a dash of humidity and I’m a mess.  Since I spend a lot of time with steamers and/or franticly applying makeup in small spaces, I’m a mess most of the time.  The unfortunate thing is that a lot of products weigh my hair down, so I’m stuck with "frizzies" or greasy-looking hair.

The Debut – Jaycee: May 12, 2012

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Happy 18th Birthday Jaycee!

One of the things about doing make-up is that I get to experience a lot of different types of events.  On May 12, 2012, I experienced my first Philippine Debut.  It is a coming-of-age party celebrated on (or near) the young woman’s eighteenth birthday.  It is a party where the celebrant has a court of 18 people – 9 men and 9 women – with a uniform outfit and a gorgeous gown for the birthday girl.  The party structure is very similar to a wedding with the court performing traditional dances for the guests.

The birthday girl is Jaycee, a lovely young woman who picked out a yellow gown for herself that was breathtaking.  Her court wore tuxedos and bright and flirty coral dresses.  Jaycee wanted her make-up simple and elegant so she was camera ready and not overdone.

Now if you’re counting, we had Jaycee, her 9 court members, mom of the celebrant and several aunts who wanted hair and make-up in about 4 hours’ time.  The stylists that joined me are independent stylist, Dana Espinoza and Salon Trisse stylists, Allison Perkins and Lindsay Vrane.

Side note:  Allison does my hair and I LOVE it.  She is a master at matching the perfect shade for your skin tone.  You should definitely check out Salon Trisse and all the stylists there.

Bridal Make-up – Christy: May 5, 2012

I spent the morning of Cinco de Mayo at Salon Trisse doing the make-up for a gorgeous bride named Christy.  When we did her trial the previous Thursday, she let me know she wanted to do a smoky eye but more charcoal than brown.  I started pulling out the things I would need and then she told me about her dress.

It was ivory and had lavender beading.

Someone with such style and flair deserved better than a regular old smoky eye in blacks and grays!  She has beautiful brown eyes and lovely skin, so I knew she could pull off a deep purple.  Also, she needed extra long lashes.  While she got her hair done, I pulled out all the tools.

When we were finished, she looked flawless…

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Make-up: Gretchen Wilson
Stylist: Chaunah Macewicz

Free Samples from Target

On occasion, you’ll see me post about free samples of make-up, skincare and/or haircare on my Facebook page.  Back in March, I posted a link to Target’s Sample Spot where they were giving away a Sample Bag “full of goodies”.

I’m usually pretty skeptical about these things.  I’m not saying that I haven’t gotten a lot of sample/freebies from the links, but it usually isn’t a lot of product and when it comes to skincare, you need to use it for at least a week before you can see if it is going to make any changes to your skin.

Imagine my surprise when I opened my mailbox and found a heavy little box (about the size of a box of checks).  What was inside was this…

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Bridal Make-up – Natacia: April 29, 2012

The last you heard from me, I had done a bridal make-up trial for gorgeous bride, Natacia.  She didn’t want a natural look.  She wanted something that popped and made her stand out.

As I said before, I love a bride that takes a chance.

I always take pictures of my brides after their trial so they can see what they look like on camera.  After some reflection and a slight hair-color change, she decided she wanted more dramatic liner coupled with a bright color on her lids without any shading.  She sent me a couple of pictures.  One is of Angelina Jolie, so I can’t post it since I don’t know where it came from.  The other was of the type of eyeliner she was looking for.

I did her eyes and some concealer before she had her hair done.  In fact, that’s the way I did all of the lovely ladies.  Once hair was done, I sprayed her foundation and finished off her face with contouring and lips.