BRIDAL MAKEOVER USING VORTEX BRUSH COLLECTION

Hi y'all

I'm back with another bridal makeover with a specific focus of the Vortex Brush Collection by Makeup by Ren Ren & Sedona Lace.

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NEW BEAUTY COLUMN

Well its only April and the year is consistently changing for the beauty business.  I am happy to say that I have been able to provide weekly beauty articles to one of the national newspapers - Trinidad NEWSDAY and you can check this out every Tuesday.


The first article is below.

Click here.

MAKEUP TRANSFORMATION TIME

Hi Folks!

So I'm back to quickly show off a couple pics of a bride and bridal party that was done yesterday. These ladies were a lot of fun, let me tell you, and kept the long hours very entertaining for both myself and my other Makeup Artist - Dalia Denny....even their uncle got in on the act of entertainment lol.

Anyhoo, here are the final pics of the wonderful ladies, and to Nekeisha, many happy blessings on your union with your now husband!!!

The makeup used was a combo of airbrush & conventional as serious acne coverage was required.  We just wanted to create glowing, flowing skin and of course, airbrush is the go to thing for that wish to come thru!

My photography skills are kinda decent (smile) but if you want to see some of the individual makeovers, go to my website : www.dixieannjohn.com 

Signing Out!

DAJ

Why are some Women afraid of Makeup? A question that tugs at the heart

This question came to me as I went to do a demo at a business place during the recently concluded credit union week.

I met an older woman there approx in her 50s and she was very critical of makeup and what it stood for and stated that she didn't need it nor like it. Let me quote one of her statements: "it's like mud".

I thought that her stance was kind of harsh. I must be honest, I started to get hot under the collar over her comments but my more rational side (yes I have that :)) quickly came to the fore and told me that ‘there is more in the mortar than the pestle’ here.

I engaged her with more enthusiasm because I wanted to find out the real reason for her apparent dislike and she said that she does lots of research and was convinced it's neither good nor needed.

Now that piqued my interest.  I asked her what was her skin care routine and she noted that it consists of just toner and moisturizer.  A simple and honest assessment of her skin would be that it doesn't appear to be well taken care of as it looks ruddy and heavily shadowed with dark circles and marks although she swears differently. 

I then asked her about her makeup experiences in the past and came to realize that they were few and far between and the overall results damaged her impressions of makeup on the whole. 

It made me wonder what did makeup actually do to her, that she could carry such a conviction for so many years and not want to try again? So this leads me to the subject of my topic. I had this on my mind for a while and I have realised that a lot of women of different ages tend to think this way. 

Can women really verbalize this and answer my question?  I am not sure but I’ve noted previous articles before where its been stated that makeup application and purchases have can be arguably tied to the clients’ emotions.  I can see the authors’ point as the clients want the tool – makeup – to make them look beautiful.  This now assumes that the clients are not.  Incessant product marketing is also to blame for this as well…

As a makeup artist, I don’t agree with that sentiment at all.  In fact, I have seen and worked on myriads of women of all colors and I can categorically say beauty comes in all forms.  To me, makeup is just a tool to pinpoint and enhance the face.  That’s it.

Unfortunately, there are those that like it too much...I have seen abuse of makeup application on some faces where I can actually take a spatula and scrape it off.  I have had a friend like that and she actually said that she never even felt the breeze on her face (lol!).

This type of woman tends to feel comfortable with this amount and may be saying to the outer world 'I have something to hide' or 'I don't want to show my true face to everyone'.  

Conversely, there are women like the one I noted in the introduction, who just may have been given very bad advice, had disastrous results and decided ‘to hell with it’.  

In the first case, that may be harder to solve because it goes past makeup application and goes to self image and confidence issues.  That takes time and willingness on the client’s part to see the natural face as beautiful.

Whereas the minimalist is much easier to guide as I can always tailor a makeup application that she can accept without much challenge.

Is there any easy way to deal with people like these?  No, but for each one that I meet, I try to explain what I do and why and try to compromise so that the client always feel involved and comfortable.  If you want to try and experiment with it, I would suggest just a couple tips for now:

Tip 1:

Start slowly and use one product at a time.  If you feel comfortable with just lip gloss and mascara, then just use that.  If you want to go to something else, like lip stick, use a shade that is close to your colouring so it won’t be dramatic or uncomfortable. Plus the lip gloss will tone down the colour further if you’ve made a mistake in your purchase.

Tip 2:

If you don’t want to use foundation all over but just want a little colour, then take a pea size of your cream or liquid foundation and mix with your moisturizer and apply it on your face.  This works well as it will thin out the foundation and you will have made your own tinted moisturizer!

Tip 3:

If you want to try your hand at foundation, then just take a pea size of it and apply only where needs coverage.  I changed my own routine to doing just that and its so much better and it allows the skin to breathe.  I then apply a light dusting of powder all over and blot during the day for shine.

These situations make it even more imperative for potential clients to use good judgment and go to makeup professionals, that are good at their craft, for advice because there are those that sadly are not knowledgeable and can ultimately give makeup a bad 'rap' by giving the wrong information.  Thus continuing the cycle....

If you want to post your own experiences/comments, feel free to do so.  I would love to hear from you.

BTW - In the end, the woman and I were quite friendly afterward and she was willing to hear what I had to say about makeup and its application.  To me, I saw that as a triumph, yaay!

DAJ

TOBAGO BRIDAL PARTY

Hi Ya Peeps!

So as you know, I tweeted that I would've been going to Tobago to do makeup for an entire bridal party.  I must say I was excited for months...The day finally arrived, yesterday and I arranged with the wedding coordinator to ensure that all arrangements were put in place for both myself and my cousin (Assistant MUA).

The call time for tobago was 9am, so in order to get there by that time, we had to be up by 4am to leave home at 5:20am.  That's what happens when you live in South, planning and arranging takes a couple hours before.  We arrived on time at the airport to check in for 7:10am as our flight was timed at 8:15am.  

The flight was great, I must say although 20mins, I saw portions of Trinidad and the sea by Tobago and the views were breathtaking....I am so sorry that I couldn't take out pics.

When we arrived, our driver was not there as yet so I had to call the coordinator to locate his whereabouts.  After about 20mins again, he finally arrived.  I was informed that the entire party would be located at Stonhaven Villas - which of course were Queen Latifa stayed and other celebrity musicians for Jazz Festivals in Tobago.

I took out pics for that though (of course!), see below.  The bridal party were loads of fun, I must say.  They had us cracking up with their escapades in Tobago but as we had more to do than we catered for I only have some of their before & afters available.  However, I made sure to take pics of the bride (duh!)

Their skin was also affected by the sun as there was mild sunburns around their bodies and their skin had some marks from previous scarring, so we had a lot of coverage to do.  We used a combination of TEMPTUPRO, OCC Cosmetics and Black Opal to match skin tones.

After we made sure that everyone was completed by the end of the call time which was 4pm, we were packed up and ready to go back to the airport to check in our luggage.  Our return flight was timed for 5:10pm.  This was where things starting getting haywire.  Scratch that, that's where there was no coordination.

I had to call the the coordinator a couple times to find out when our driver was coming to pick us up and by then we started to get very concerned as to what time we would actually reach the airport.  Would you believe that everyone left the villa and we were still waiting for our transport at 4:30pm?  Ridiculous and up to now, no contact from the coordinator who after the last conversation, suddenly couldn't be reached.

Anyway, by divine order, the driver finally arrived and thank God, knew some back roads to get us to the airport with 15mins to spare to flight time.  The airport officials were able to board us and luggage and we sprinted (sorta) to the plane.  Long and short of this rant is that we made it back starving as we got no food since breakfast.

Anyway, I still have good memories from this trip, I will just learn to place greater insistence on particular things like providing food for the Makeup Team and knowing who the driver is and our pickup times.  This is definitely something I can do again, local & international...I am putting it out there to the universe and you know what they say, "the universe is a friendly universe"....

So with that I am signing out, and btw - enjoy the pics below!

HEALTH & BEAUTY TRADE SHOW 2010

Hi Guys!

I seem to be getting a bit more regular at this blogging bit (somewhat) cause here I am again. 

I apologise for being late with this post but I will give a run-down of what I experienced at the last Health & Beauty Trade Show 2010 held at Crowne Plaza between May 01 to 03, however, I was only able to attend one day - the opening and can talk about that.  To tell you the truth, I have always seen it advertised and noted the fact that airbrushing was also noted in the list of activities but for some reason was never inclined to go.

I can usually be found at bridal expos, so when I was invited to attend by international hairstylist - Mr. Clem Lue Yat to do makeup for his model, my interest was piqued to see what was offered and guage the crowds/audience's reactions.

Let me say that I was pleased to see the number of booths that were there, probably over forty (40) booths (if I am off in the numbers, forgive me).  There were skin lines, cosmetic lines, hair products and spas to name a couple.  As such, there was a lot of information available but the times I was on the floor, the crowd fluctuated ranging from very busy to few attendees.  I think that from a supplier of services perspective, if I were to offer classes in airbrush makeup, this would be a great vehicle to advertise but if I were looking for clients, I would focus on bridal expos.  Some pics are below.

I finally perched at Clem's booth, of course you know that he will attract attention as he is not only considered a 'master weaver' but he was one of the few actually styling a lovel model's extremely long hair in front of the patrons.  He was kind enough to let me set up and advertise my airbrush skills and pass out cards (thanks Clem!).  I did her makeup to suit her face and overall look which was slightly smokey in the entire crease and everything was airbrushed except her blush and lips.

Her foundation was OCC Skin foundation and setting powder was from my trusty Graftobian Powder Foundation Palettes.  The eyebrows were done with TEMPTUPRO AIRBROWS Kit - which I must say is very, very nice....quite blendable.  The eyeshadow colors used was DINAIR AIRBRUSH EYESHADOW in Gold & Blue and also blendable without clogging.  A great feature of the Dinair Line of airbrush makeup.

Her skin was bronzed with LUMINESSAIR Matte Bronzer around the perimeter of her face to create a glowy effect and blush was an orange tint from SACHA COSMETICS.  The final look is below.

Some really cool items on the activity list for the opening were the Hairstylist & Makeup Artist Competitions.  What I was told was that students from YTEPP compete in this competition every year, and let me tell you, from the little I did see of the Hairstyles, these students are INCREDIBLY talented.  Unfortunately, cause of my duties, I was unable to stay and view the Makeup Artist competition but if the first one was anything to use as comparison, I am certain, they would be just as great!

So after all that rambling, yes I had a good time, met some great people and would suggest that you go, to get some excellent savings as a regular citizen.  The question remains, would there be benefits as a service provider? Well there were a lot of them there so it would appear to work in their advantage but I personally prefer bridal expos.  I would only consider if I want to advertise classes, but considering the budget that will be involved in that, I am sure there is another way to advertise them.  Again, only my personal opinion!

DAJ signing out!

MY FIRST PRODUCT REVIEW - LUMINESSAIR BRONZERS

Hi guys!

Well I've finally gotten a chance to do my first product review off of products that I purchased recently.  The products that I am reviewing today is from the brand LuminessAir which specialises in airbrush makeup.

I was searching high and low for a bronzer that could contour and give that earthy glow to the face from light to medium skin tones and I looked at LuminessAir for a while.   I should tell you though that when I first started to do airbrush makeup, I bought this brand but it didn't give (at the time, not sure if it changed) proper coverage that was also of a matte texture.

However, after their recent revamping, I decided to give them another try and I purchased the items in the pic below.

The bottles provide approximately 0.55fl oz of product which is water based and contain shimmers and highlights which are great for effects on both the face and body.  The second one to the right, is a gold highlighter which I have used as both a face highlighter and as an eyeshadow.  They both go through the airbrush without any clogging and when dried, the finishes were beautiful and blended really well.  They didn't run or crack when I passed my hand over it.

I haven't used the bronzer shimmer as yet (on the left) on clients, only on me, as I am still sorta picky as to choosing where to use it.  The colors are very intense with a lot of shine and if not applied slowly and evenly, can be a bit jarring.  So I would probably use it on a bride that is having an outdoor wedding where the sunlight would play with the skin as opposed to an indoor wedding - where my choice of makeup application would be more of a more matte nature and the lighting would not be natural. 

A really great place for me to use both would be an upcoming pageant called Ms. Elegant Mom in Cascadia Hotel, Trinidad which is happening next weekend.  So the lighting would definitely be to my advantage for my contestant.

The second set of bronzers, in the pic below, are matte in texture when they dry and I LOVE these.  The finish is beautiful and very easy to control and layer so I don't ever have to worry about creating that 'drag queen' effect.  They are the same colour even though the flash of the camera may make it look different.

Overall, I feel comfortable with the improvements and I would easily recommend these to anyone who wants to create a bronzed airbrush look that is either sun-kissed or softly contoured.

You can get these products at http://www.lumcos.com/.  The purchase was easy and if you sign up for the club subscriptions, there are discounts which make it a little easier to afford (they are kinda pricey)!

Until next time, I am signing off until my next review - Graftobian Powder Foundation Palettes!

DAJ Out!

MS POINT FORTIN BOROUGH PAGEANT

Hi folks!

Well I have been really busy yesterday and today as I was sponsoring makeup for the Ms. Point Fortin Borough Pageant and with my bride (see previous post).  There were 8 contestants and I used OCC makeup to see how it would hold up with heat and expected sweating.

Overall the effects were pretty but the sweating did take a toll on them as I tweeted last night (which by the way I finished at 11:45pm).  I also had to do the host (Yolandra John) & outgoing queen (also current Jaycees Queen - both lovely girls). 

There was a lot of touching up, which I don't like to do considering the benefits of airbrush makeup overall.  Definitely going to TemptuPro again for that.

I took some pics (couldn't get everybody) and they were in their costumes and these show how pretty stage makeup could be without the obviousness of it.

Enjoy!

THE TRANSFORMATION OF A BRIDE

Here's a quick view of my bride today - La Toya, really pretty but her skin is somewhat marred with scars on the skin but overall her skin tone was even for the makeup.

I attached both her before & afters together as I thought it was such a transformation and forgive the before and my amateur photography overall, we were rushing and the flash affected her eyes :D

Guess what?  I finally used the aireyeshadows along with the aireyeshadows along with the usual regime of the foundation and everything was really beautiful.  This makeup is truly transformational along with the contouring capabilities of it.

Please enjoy!

DAJ Out!

REVIEW OF TEMPTUPRO, LUMINESSAIR & GRAFTOBIAN HAULS

Hi guys!

Well I am going to review later in the week my separate hauls that I was so anxiously waiting on and the products are from TemptuPro, LuminessAir & Graftobian.

I have taken out pics and stripe tests to see what they really look like so I will also be using these as my references.  Exciting!  Review Time!

Look out for it and I hope that this can actually help a makeup enthusiast or artist out there make better choices.

So until then, laterz!

THE SECOND MUSLIM BEAUTY

As I promised, my second beauty of a muslim bride is Farah and her final pic is here.

Her makeup was of course airbrush based along with some conventional selections.  If there is ever a time that the makeup must stay put is whenever I come into contact with muslim brides and their beautiful hijabs.  The amount of movement that will occur to put them on, with conventional makeup will ultimately streak and leave 'footprints' on the garments.

That's why, to me, its even more imperative to ensure that the makeup is resistant to movement and the airbrush will always be the best choice.

BELOW LISTS WHAT WAS USED:

FACE:

• OCC Cosmetics in the Y Collection - Y3 and Y2 as the higlight shade
• OCC Cosmetics Blush in Hush
• Eyebrows by MAC in Spiked and clear gel

EYES:

• Gold & Bronze Eyeshadows from Coastal Scents on entire eyelid and crease
• Warm Brown Eyeshadow under the lower lashes
• MAC Paint Pot in Indianwood
• Revlon Liquid Eyeliner in Black
• Black Loreal Mascara

LIPS:

• Lauren Hutton Lip Pencil (as I write this I can't remember the shade name but it was definitely a rose tinted color)
• Lip Sealer by Mehron

As I mentioned before, I reduced any use of powder so there wouldn't be any mishaps, hope you guys like it!

DAJ Out!

JAYCEES CARNIVAL QUEEN SHOW 2K10 - THE LADIES!

As from my previous post, I indicated that I would be the Makeup Artist for this event and this wouldn't mean anything unless I show some pics right?!

Well I will upload them tomorrow if I am not too tired just to show off my new camera and that I used a water based version of the airbrush makeup - TEMPTUPRO.

Time to sleep now!

CARNIVAL UPDATE 2K10

Folkses!

This is just an info blast as I like to term it - I will be in Ariapita Avenue but I am trying to arrange for a bigger place that would be appropriate and even easier to get.

My start time is between 3:15 to 3:30 am and I will be finishing at 11:30 am and there will be some tight time limitations but the times I sent is meant to be a guide for everyone and to create some order.

I hope that it sticks like that but as you know things could get a little chaotic....after all its Carnival so a little chaos is good.

So stay tuned to 'this channel' for more info.

DAJ signing out!