From Day to Night

My New Years resolution was to blog more. So here I go! Posting photos on my blog of step by step make-up has been something I keep meaning to do but sometimes it can be hard to find the time, but not today. My husband took my oldest son out to buy some new soccer gear and when my littlest man decided he was ready for a nap I had my chance...

Since I have never been the type to roll out of bed, brush my teeth and hair and be decent enough to walk out of the door, I have taken some photos of my morning process. Oh how I wish my skin tone was even and had a natural glow, but since it doesn't I have the wonderful use of make-up to help me out.

First things first. I showered, because let's face it, my hair only lasts a day before becoming so greasy it is either wash it, or wear a hat! So here I am, clean as a whistle. No comments please...

                                                                      (after shower)
 

Next I added a small amount of mousse to my hair before blow drying it and used a gel primer on my face. Gel primers work well for my combination skin type, but there are many choices out there and it is a bit of trial and error to find the one that works best for you. Once my hair was dry I began to apply my foundation. I use a few different colors blended into one, as it is very difficult to find your exact skin tone in one perfect little bottle. Mixing allows you to achieve a closer match, especially if you tend to tan in the summer and your skin tone changes throughout the year. After foundation comes concealer. I have those dreaded blue bags under my eyes so patting on a touch of cream concealer in a peach tone helps to make the darkness disappear. My biggest concern when doing make-up has, and will always be, foundation. If your foundation isn't right, then the rest of your make-up will be off. Foundation will cause your face to become one dimensional, so, to show off natural bone structure you must shade and highlight! For the best way to find out where to place contour shading on your cheeks simply suck in your cheeks like a fish, this will cause your cheekbones to pop out. The place to shade is just below the cheekbone in the natural hollow. I use a matte bronzer for contouring. Now that you have found the spot to shade, you will want to highlight directly above that area using a illuminating cream or powder. The result will give you amazing cheekbones and more dimension to your face. Unfortunately, I have the type of hair that doesn't know if it wants to be curly or should hang straight. So half my hair tends to curl and the rest lays perfectly flat.Very annoying. First world problems. I have found that the fastest and easiest way to do my hair in the morning is to use a large curler and add some soft curls to my entire head. This helps with making my fairly thin and lifeless hair look fuller. It also looks as if I tried harder then I actually did to make it look nice. Perfect! My trick is to do the curls in layers. Taking a section of hair about two inches thick and rolling the hair in the curler horizontally rather then vertically, upwards toward the root. Hold the curler there for about ten seconds and release. This creates a more natural wave then a precise curl. Being in my late twenties I try to avoid hair styles that are too "cute". I am aiming for more sophisticated styles these days. Once I have curled all of my hair, which does not take long because my hair is ridiculously thin, I then take a wide toothed comb and gently brush through the curls. It helps to blend the curls together and come across as full and thick. Again, perfect!
 

                                (horizontal curls)                                          (defined cheekbones)

For day make-up I do not like to use too much color on my eyes. The "less is more" rule normally applies to day wear. The Naked Basics palette from Urban Decay is great for giving you a polished day look without being too bold. First I used the color W.O.S. to cover my entire eyelid (please see photo below for reference of colors) from lash line to crease. In the crease for definition I used the color Naked 2. Defining the crease in your eye will make them appear larger and more dramatic without the use of false lashes or dark colors. Perfect for day time. The eyeliner I used was a mixture of a copper and black waterproof cream liner to make a brown. Applied with an eyeliner brush directly into the base of my lashes. I finished off my eyes by applying one of my favorite mascaras... the Maybelline Great Lash waterproof black mascara. See the photo below of my lashes with a coat of mascara and the one without. Huge difference! Mascara always puts the final touch on any make-up look.
 

            (without mascara)                                           (with mascara)                                       

 

                                                            (complete day make-up)

Now, not everyone has the time to completely redo their hair and make-up before heading out for the night. I have two baby boys, so unless my husband can entertain them while mommy locks herself in the bathroom, I am kind of out of luck for time. But I still try to get away with it sometimes anyways. There are simple ways to take your day make-up to night make-up easily. I did my own transition here to show you what you should apply and where to put it, to go from day to night in a short amount of time.

My hair has a tendency to not hold a curl for the entire day, so by the time I am home from work those nice voluminous curls from the morning have turned into a wavy mess. Instead of washing my hair all over again I pull my hair up. One of my favorite, only takes two minutes but looks great hairdo, is the classic bun. You can use a sock bun if you wish, I did not for this particular look but often do. To make the bun a little more spruced up try adding a bit of volume in the front and let your hair look a little messy and not too perfect. This gives a more edgy look rather then the pretty princess look we want to avoid. Having my hair up and out of my face is stress free and works well when the time comes to dance the night away. No sweaty bangs get stuck to my forehead, hurray!

(updo)

 

Once my hair has been pulled up and out of my face, I am ready to begin the transition to night make-up. My favorite! I love dramatic eyes and a colorful lip. Evening make-up allows me to try new looks and if for some reason it doesn't turn out the way I wanted it to, it is dark, so it becomes less noticeable. I do not normally apply any extra foundation, but I do powder my entire face and go over it with some bronzer as well. If any make-up from the day has faded I like to touch it up, such as the contouring in my cheeks. I also love to apply blush, hence the blog name, and I add a touch of color to the tops of my cheeks, taking care to not go too high toward my eyes or too close to the sides of my nose. Applying blush too close to these areas will make any contouring you have created disappear. For my eyes I took the same eyeshadow palette from Urban Decay, Naked Basics, and moved to the darker side of the shadows and chose the more dramatic tones. This palette is perfect for a sexy smokey eye. Using the darkest color Crave, I went over my pre existing eyeliner to create a thicker line, as well as added some darkness to the outer corner of my eye. In a sideways V-shape to best explain it. Once the darkest color has been applied you will want to blend it with the smokey color Faint, to avoid having any harsh lines. Blending is your best friend when it comes to a great smokey eye. Watch out for "falling", which is when the eyeshadow falls onto the area just below your eye. When you are using a dark color such as black it is very noticeable and will need to be brushed away gently to avoid making streaks of color on your skin. Tapping your brush prior to applying the shadow will stop it from making a big mess on your face. Do not blow on your brush, blowing sends saliva onto your brush which then gets put on your face...so don't spit on your face. Wise words to follow. Finish the eye off with a light color on the inner corners of your eye and a quick coat of liquid liner along your lash line to define. For more dramatic eyes, apply some black shadow on the bottom of your eye and run your mascara wand through your upper and lower lashes to spruce them up a bit. Now, onto the lips. One of my favorite parts of make-up has to be lipstick. It isn't always the most practical or easiest product to use, but it is definitely worth it in the end. Start off by making sure your lips aren't dry. If they are, apply some chapstick. Lips will look crusty and flakey if lipstick is applied over top of any dry spots, we don't want that. After your lips are smooth and prepped, grab a lip lining pencil that matches your lipstick color. Line your natural lip line, being careful not to get outside the lines. Just like back in kindergarten. Once lined, fill in your lips completely with the pencil. This trick will keep your lipstick from bleeding onto your skin and will help it last a lot longer throughout the night. Always apply your lipstick with a brush, it will help for keeping the lines straight and gives you a more polished look. If you want this lipstick to last even longer, apply a small amount of loose powder directly on top of it to set it and go over your lips once again with the same lipstick. Layers help with staying power and for great intensity (if that is the look you want), which works great for reds and deep colored lipsticks. I chose a fuchsia color today, one of my favorites. It is Covergirl Lipperfection in the color Embrace. It also has a stain built in, which makes my lips look great all night long! Less touch ups after drinking, eating or even kissing... I'm not judging. Here is my final photo, the complete night time make-up look. I would wear this to a nice dinner, a party or even a bar/club. If you find a classic look that works well for you, you have it in the bag. You can pair any outfit style or color with this types of make-up so all you need to do afterwards is narrow down what to wear. Which can sometimes take a lot longer then any make-up you do.
 

  (complete night make-up)

(Urban Decay, Naked Basics Eyeshadow Palette)

Now go have fun with your own make-up. Try out a transition from day to night to make your life a whole lot easier and spend less time "getting ready" and more time having fun! Even though getting ready is pretty fun to me. Below you will find a photo of all the make-up products I used for my make-up above. Product list as follows: (from top left to right, then bottom left to right of photo)

• Make-Up Forever HD Foundation ($50, found at Sephora)
• Smashbox 15 Hour Wear Foundation ($45, found at Shoppers Beauty Bar or Sephora)
• Bodyography Gel Primer ($35, found at online stores only)
• MAC Lustre Drops, in Pink Rebel ($15, found at MAC Stores)
• MAC Cream Concealer ($22, found at MAC Stores)
• NARS Cream Stick ($45, found at Sephora and Holt Renfrew)
• Top Model Eyeliner, in Brown ($8)
• Annabelle Lipliner, in red ($5, found at drug stores)
• Maybelline Lash Stiletto liquid eyeliner, in blackest black ($10, found at drug stores)
• Mayebelline Great Lash Waterprood mascara, in very black ($5, found at drug stores)
• Covergirl Lipperfection Lipstick, in Embrace ($8, found at drug stores)
• MAC Liquid Glass Lipgloss, clear ($15, found at MAC stores)
• MAC Matte Bronzer ($40, found at MAC stores)
• MAC Mineralize Pressed Powder, in medium ($45, found at MAC stores)
• MAC Waterproof Cream Liner, in Copper and Black ($16, found at MAC stores)
• NARS Blush, in Deep Throat ($27, found at Sephora)
• Urban Decay, Naked Basics eyeshadow palette ($50, found at Sephora)



(the goods)

Thanks for reading my blog and viewing the photos in it. I apologize for the selfies, but they were somewhat necessary for this.

Every face is different and everyone has their own style so don't feel as if you need your make-up to look like mine. This blog post is to simply show you steps to help transition from day to night make-up in a time crunch. The more you do it, the easier it gets!

Cheers,

Caitlin J Make-Up Artistry

 

Local Wedding Vendor Colloboration Photo-Shoot

They`re ready! They`re ready! (Jumps up and down)

From the initial idea, to the planning, gathering of props, emailing and messaging other vendors, discussing dates and to the final product, it has been one heck of a ride.

For as long as I can remember, I have always enjoyed planning events and coming up with creative ideas. Being a make-up artist I love the chance to work on photo sets. Not only are they fun, but they are fast paced, energetic and very rewarding. To see all of your hard work portrayed in a photo is one of the most gratifying feelings.

Hayley Rae Photography, not only is she a highly talented photographer, she is also a good friend of mine and my husband. When the idea popped into my head to do a collaboration photo-shoot, she was the first person I asked to help with it. She said YES! Pardon the pun. Considering this idea came to me in the summer I knew it would have to wait a few months as both her and I are quite busy with weddings ourselves. It also gave me a great opportunity to brain storm a little more, extra time to gather props and time to get a hold of some other vendors that would be interested in contributing to the shoot. Hayley was able to help point me in the direction of some fabulous vendors. All local, all amazing. We decided on doing two themes, to cover a wider range of customers. Rustic bride and Glam bride. Both classic yet unique, just as any real Bride is. Here are some of my favorite photos from the shoot.

 

 For this particular photo-shoot we had a videography team capturing all of the behind the scenes footage to show just how much goes into a shoot like this. Lucky Ones Media is an up and coming local videography team specializing in weddings, but not limited to. They also dabble in promotional videos, and music videos as well. Make sure you contact them for your future wedding. Not only is your wedding photographer important for your big day but I do not know how many times I have heard women that have just been married say... `I wish I had my wedding on film`. Don`t be that person. I can not tell you enough how happy you will be to have those memories captured for a lifetime to enjoy. Lucky Ones Media can do just that for you! Many of their wedding videos I have seen have brought me to tears, and I do not even know the couple in the video...shows just how great they are. Very personable, with an artistic flair, can`t beat that!

Please view the video here. I am so happy with how it turned out, the hard work they put into filming and editing really paid off.

A Bride isn`t complete without her accessories! First off, we had a gorgeous bouquet donated to us from Carly of Blooming Aisle Floral Design. Her and I had discussed the theme and color palette and I just simply let her come up with something that showed off her own style. I was blown away with the outcome. Not only was this bouquet perfect for our shoot, it was at top notch quality, the flowers were fresh and smelt amazing, the intricate placement of each flower was immaculate and the overall bouquet was stunning. I would highly recommend anyone getting married to use Blooming Aisle as your florist. From bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces and floral décor, she does it all!
Here are a few photos that show off this amazing bouquet I speak of...




 See! I don`t lie. Just simply beautiful.

Next up for accessories we have Davie & Chiyo, who supplied a handmade earring and necklace set. As well as, a custom clutch. They were more then happy to help us out with the photo-shoot when I contacted them. I got a chance to meet them in person and check out their cute little studio in downtown Vancouver. They have become quite a popular business for handmade accessories. Just recently they have launched a Lifestyle Line of items. They can customize your order too. If you are in need of an idea for your Bridesmaids, they will make the clutches in the almost every color you can imagine, which would be a perfect accent to their dresses for the wedding. I wish I had of known about this for my wedding! You can shop for all of their items on the website or Etsy. Take a look at the items they leant out for our collaboration shoot below.

 

 For every wedding you need decor. No decor is like a cake without icing. A ring without a diamond. Chips without dip. Ok, I may be a tad hungry, but you get the idea. Spotlight Event Planning + Design was with us to help with details. Paige (owner and head planner and designer) helped bring the shoot to life. I had many ideas running through my head and Paige was able to make it a reality. She had so many great ideas herself. From small touches such as mason jar candle holders to a silver candelabra with hanging diamonds, she had all bases covered. The rustic portion of the shoot included items such as a vintage vanity and luggage (borrowed from my in laws, thanks guys), a burlap runner, DIY lamp with shade and matching seat cushion, wooden crate, a handmade fabric flower bouquet (which I spent endless hours making myself...endless hours), romance novels and of course the classic pearl necklace. The glam portion of the shoot included a handmade custom silk organza table linen, hurricane vases with crystals and candles, rhinestone encrusted champagne glasses, a candelabra, wooden letters to spell `LOVE` and two wooden ladders. Both painted white to fit the style better. The ladders were also borrowed from my father in law and he is happy to have gotten them back painted a nice white compared to what shape he gave them to me in. Our location for the shoot was Port Moody in the Ambleside area and also Buntzen Lake. While taking photos at Buntzen, there was a wedding going on. Many were confused as to why there were TWO brides... luckily ours wasn`t actually getting married or that may have been a disaster.










And last but definitely not least... our amazing model Kelsey! Not only is she gorgeous she is a dream to work with. Always up for anything. Never complains. Such a natural and a total sweetheart. Kelsey and I have worked together once in the past for a Fashion Island photo-shoot and I was so happy when she was able to help out with our collaboration shoot. She is a talented model with a lot of potential. I hope all the best for her career as a model. I also look forward to any future jobs we get to work together on.

Thanks for taking some time out of your day to read my blog and view the video and photos that came from our collaboration photo-shoot. I can`t thank the vendors who contributed enough. I am always thinking of the next thing, the next job, the next idea. If you or anyone you know is ever interested in taking part in something like this in the future please send me a message, I would love to hear what you have to offer or contribute. I appreciate all the support from everyone and I can`t wait to do this all again in the future!

One last shout out:
Hayley Rae Photography
Lucky Ones Media
Blooming Aisle Floral Design
Davie & Chiyo
Spotlight Event Planning + Design
Caitlin J Make-Up Artistry

Cheers,

Caitlin J

Boudoir Photo-Shoot

 

I was asked by a friend for a favour... this favour just happened to be doing some boudoir photos for her. Doing her make-up and styling her hair. My answer...OF COURSE! When and where?

Ok, I am not a photographer. A make-up artist yes, professional photographer no. That doesn't mean I don't like to snap some shots of my own every once in a while. I was luckily able to borrow a camera from another friend to do these photos (which was very much appreciated). All throughout high school I excelled in Photography. Awards, A+'s, Competitions etc. Photography was the reason I got into make-up to tell you the truth. From photography, to videography I gradually opened my mind to make-up artistry. What a great choice. Now I have the knowledge and background in each of these fields. I put make-up first, but I still love the art of photography and I am sure one day once my children are older I will dabble in more photography ventures and invest in a fancy camera of my own. I dream. No harm. Right now I am more then happy doing small side jobs for good friends such as this one.

For this boudoir shoot I obviously had a gorgeous model to work with. We were granted use of her close girlfriends condo in Port Moody for the photos, which ended up being the perfect location. Thank you sunshine for coming out that day, your beautiful light made for some great shots!

With a sexy, smoky eye and voluminous curls in her hair we were ready to take some photos.
It didn't hurt that we were all very comfortable with one another, which really helps to get amazing shots. Having a relaxed model is the best!

Here are some of my favorites from the photo-shoot... some of these photos have been edited for discretionary purposes.

 

 

 

 

Can you say gorgeous?! I look forward to all of the projects I get to do and be apart of in the future. There is only up from here :)

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 





 





Transformation of a Wedding Dress

A wedding dress can mean many different things to a woman...

A symbol of purity, grace and love. A gown can represent her personality. A dress that will allow her to feel her very best on one of the most important days or her life. A chance to feel like Cinderella for the day. A little girls dream come true.

For me, the dress symbolized something else. Creativity.

My wedding dress was not my first choice. Actually, it was the first wedding dress I had ever tried on but thought I wanted something different, so back on the hanger it went. After numerous dresses and stores later I came back to the original dress and fell in love. In this case I guess it wasn't love at first sight...but love at second glance.

I wouldn't class it as over the top or simple. Nor would I class it as ultra glamorous or modern. My dress would fall into the classic yet spruced up category (yes, I made this category up, just go with it).

 

Ya ya, pretty dress. Truth is, I knew I always planned on "trashing" my dress from the get go. Don't get me wrong, I loved my wedding dress but I also wanted to utilize it to the fullest. As a generous wedding gift to myself and my husband, a friend of ours gave us a photo session. A "trash the dress" photo session of course. Hayley Rae Photography came with us to Derby Reach in Langley, which runs along the Fraser River. This is the location where the magic happened...

 

I have never and will never regret what I did to my dress. These photos are more meaningful to me then the dress ever was. Some think I am crazy, others understand the artistic side in me can not go unheard. The dress was diamond white (this is the whitest white you can get a wedding dress) and I was able to turn it a slight yellow down the front from laying flat in the mud. No harm, just a little discoloration. To tell you the truth, I didn't even have my dress professionally cleaned afterwards. The cleaning process went a little like this: I hung my dress in the shower, sprayed it with some spot cleaner, waited, scrubbed it with a scrub brush you wash pots with, then rinsed it off with water. Good as new...sort of. The only issue I had was the ground in dirt underneath the train, I still took this cleaning as a win and called it a day.

 

You would think at this point I would be satisfied with the use I got out of my wedding dress.

 

Wrong!

 

Next up, my creative juices continued to flow. With the idea to get a bunch of wedding industry vendors together to collaborate a mock bridal photo shoot, the dress would be needed once again. This time a model wore my dress for a "rustic" bridal portion of the shoot. I took off the rhinestones on the front and replaced them with a burlap sash with silver embellishments. With the help, once again from the very talented Hayley Rae Photography, we achieved our goal and created gorgeous shots!

 

 

 

 

Two months of planning was well worth it!

 

Ok, this dress has seen more things in life then many others have, but there was just one item left on its bucket list.

 

Halloween...it has to be one of my favorite holidays. Being a make-up artist I am allowed to come up with costumes that are a little out of the ordinary and have the ability to do my own make-up for it. Sugar skulls seem to have taken over Pinterest lately, thus inspiring my costume this year. If you have never heard of a sugar skull picture a skeleton with pretty colors and designs. The fact that I was able to incorporate rhinestones into my costume made me very excited. Originally, I had decided to wear a black lace dress for my costume, one I have sitting in my closet, because I am a firm believer that you can use what you have and create it into something different. Is this classed as recycling?

I have high hopes. The idea then popped into my head, bride and groom. I always like doing couples costumes so this way my husband could be apart of the fun too. Perfect, one more use for the my wedding dress, score! This time, I did it. I cut up my wedding dress. Yes, cut it! No going back. The train I once had that was repeatedly stepped on at my wedding was chopped off. Surprisingly I wish I had of done it on my wedding day. The dress was so much lighter and would have made dancing much easier to do. Keeping the back long, I cut the front of the dress short. Up to just above my knees. I added some hand made fabric flowers (a chore in itself) and black spiders. With a sash, a necklace, earrings, lace stockings and a feather hat, my costume came together perfectly. I had a girl ask me "how much did you pay for your dress?" My answer was, "you don't want to know"...

 

 

 

We got many compliments on our costumes, so it made me thankful that the cutting of my dress wasn't for nothing.

 

I will continue to change this dress into different things down the road, and as long as it fits me I will find some reason to put it on again and again. Who else can say that they have used their wedding dress four times?! Don't take me as someone who doesn't value my marriage because my husband means everything to me. Rather, take me as someone that loves their marriage so much that I can not bear to leave my dress just sitting in my closet collecting dust. I am reminded of my wedding day every time I get to put that dress on, I get to relive that feeling of having it zipped up over and over again. No, that feeling does not fade...

 

$900 for a wedding dress, $250 for alterations, $50 for new dress accessories, four different ways to get use of our your gown...priceless.





What Have I Been Up To...?

After a busy wedding season I thought I would share why I have been blog MIA lately...

First off, I just want to thank everyone for all of the referrals. I get excited to meet new people and share my skills with them. Making up a Bride on her wedding day is one of the most gratifying feelings. To see her radiate on her special day, to be apart of the festivities that come with "getting ready" in the morning before the wedding and to hear all the wonderful stories shared about the bride and her groom. Priceless.

I had the pleasure of working with many Brides, Bridesmaids, Mothers of the Brides, Mothers of the Grooms, Emcee's, Grandmothers, Grads, and Models this summer.

Here are a few photos of the people I got to meet and make over, enjoy!

With every wedding I had book, I also had a photo-shoot booked as well. From headshots, to fashion shoots, to family photos. I love giving someone that extra bit of confidence to allow their best features to shine in the photos. You spend good money on photos that you will be able to keep forever, and I only have a small part in the process but I know my tiny touch helps a lot! "Look good, feel good", it is so true.

A shout out to other vendors that were involved with many of the events I was apart of this summer include:
Crystal Marie Sing Photography
Carla Elaine Photography
Fashion Island Clothing

I look forward to everyone I will get to work with in the future!

2014 bookings have been coming in already and it looks like it is going to be another amazing year.

Thanks for reading,

Caitlin J

ps. Please contact me via email, caitlinjmakeup@gmail.com or check out my website for more information, photos and pricing.