‘I want my makeup to feel light, look glowy and sheer, and basically, just make me look like the best version of myself’.

Unless I’m doing makeup for an editorial, 90% of the time this is what I hear from the person I’m about to make up.  It’s come to be my favorite kind of makeup look to create, in large part because I love watching my clients reaction when I’m finished. Who doesn’t like to make people feel good about themselves? It may be a superficial ‘feel good’ at first, but it seeps in. I watch moods change, frown lines soften, and interactions with others become lighter and more at ease.  Makeup really is transformative, and it doesn’t need to be heavy anywhere on your face, contrary to the heavy eye and brow makeup and pancake face with highlights and lowlights and contour and strobe trend that just won’t seem to go away.

This is what I used for this light and glowing makeup on the beautiful Anna-Christina Schwartz:

Skin:

May Lindstrom Jasmine Garden Facial Mist– the scent is incredible and I use it as much for the aromatherapy for myself, as I do for my clients.

Biossance ‘The Revitalizer’ – a super light squalene moisturizer that’s good for all skin types.

Kjaer Weis Foundation – I use a fluffy eyeshadow brush to gently buff the cream into skin – the smallest amount around her nose, on her forehead, and around her eyes, patting it in with a damp beauty blender.

RMS Living Luminizer – not a surprise, I love to use this coconut oil based highlighter on the cheekbones, along the bridge of the nose, and the cupids bow.
Eyes:

I lined her eyes gently with cream shadow sticks from Ilia Beauty, in a gold/brown called ‘Age of Consent’, and a bit more heavily with ‘You Spin Me Round’ – a dark gray/black shade. I blended them in with a cotton swab so they melted into the lash line – both top and bottom.

Ilia Polka Dots and Moonbeams luminizer – I press this more dense, less emollient (than the living luminizer from RMS) highlighter into the inner corner of eyes to draw attention and make eyes dazzle even more.

I always curl the lashes at least once, focusing on getting that outer corner UP! It really makes eyes stand out. Two or three coats of a very black mascara on top, and one slight coat on the bottom lashes finishes the look.

Brows: Eco Brow in ‘Sharon’ lightly filled in her brows, and I used a cotton swab to ensure no hard edges. I brushed her brows up and held them in place with a little liquid (non-aresol) hairspray from Rahua on a spoolie brush.

Cheeks:

I usually use cream products that I swirl on the apples of the cheeks, but for this look I experimented by mixing a powder blush with a powder bronzer. For this I used ‘Blushing Rose’ and ‘Soft Terracotta’ from Dr. Hauschka and a medium sized fluffy brush.

Lips:

Gressa Skin ‘Bare’ Lip Boost over a bit of balm from R.L Linden. 

Mindy really is as cute and beautiful, smart and funny, and as much fun as you’d think she’d be. I’ve been inspired by all she’s done since we first met a few years back. Plus, just being around her has made me rethink my usual uniform of solid color black, gray, navy, and white. Her love for bold color and clothing with print, pattern and design has rubbed off on me immensely.

I don’t watch television at home, so I usually play catch up on The Mindy Project when I’m traveling by watching episodes back-to-back on the plane. Recently I was in a hotel room during a particularly long travel job, missing home and feeling downright homesick, so I decided I’d turn to the television to keep me company before bed. I casually turned it on and walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth, when I heard a familiar voice coming from the tv, and felt so overwhelmed with happiness – it was like I was sitting in Mindy’s dining room, going over the hilarious night she’d had. I actually walked back into the bedroom and smiled at the television as if I had just run into an old friend.

In the pics above we were in Mindy’s office, and it was one of those times she’d told me to go for it and make the decisions on the makeup look for the evening event she would be attending. I was particularly proud of myself for this one.

As always, the majority of products I used for the look are from the world of the green beauty market. If you’re not familiar with them, follow the links to learn more about each one.  I’ve been focused on exploring the non-toxic cosmetics industry for years now and have found the best of the best.

On her eyes: I blended two Kjaer Weiss shadows, in ‘Divine’ + ‘Onyx’ all over her lid, and softly under her bottom lash line. I then carefully placed a bit of Alima Pure’s shadow, ‘Smoke’ – a deep blue green shimmer –  on the middle of her lid and buffed it into her lid to give her an extra pop of color when batting her lashes. I lightly lined the inside of her entire eye with black liner and coated her lashes in a ton of mascara.

On her brows: I used a mixture of brown brow gel from Eco Brow in ‘Liz’, and a brown shadow called ‘Espresso’ from W3LL people to fill in her brows and make them a little extra intense.

On her cheeks: I’m not gonna lie- I’ve had a hard time getting all-natural cheek color products to show up, and last for hours at a time on women with complexions in shades similar to Mindy. I’m not sure why this is, but it has bummed me out on numerous occasions when I thought I’d given her a really pumped up cheek, only to see photos of her from the nights’ event, looking like I’d forgotten her cheeks entirely. In this case I turned to a blend of powder cheek colors from Tarte (a not-natural, but really great color line) in ‘Tipsy’ and ‘Natural Beauty’

On her skin: I’ve tested every green beauty product foundation on her skin and have yet to find one that’s as perfect a match, and as long lasting as ones from Smashbox and Makeup Forever. Mindy also turned me onto using a foundation from Kat Von D that works really well for her complexion. I also really love using both the Secret Camouflage concealer from Laura Mercier, as well as the Bobbi Brown foundation sticks, to even out her skin on the quick. I’ve been setting her foundation with a powder foundation from W3LL People with good success in both oil control and color matching.

Finally on Miss Mindy’s lips: I used a blend of burgundy and red lip colors, including: the Aura multi use stains from Vapour Organic Beauty in ‘Lure’ and ‘Impulse’.  Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of overly glossed lips. In most cases I’ll just press a teeny bit of a gloss into the middle of the bottom lip and have my client purse her lips to add moisture and a touch of shine. For Mindy, I pressed a drop of ‘Bitten’ gloss from Vapour Organic Beauty into her pout with my ring finger and stood back to admire how gorgeous it had all come together!

For each of the next three weekends, one of you will receive all of what you see above (except for the teeny picture of me!).  At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, that’s TWELVE fantastic lip products, and all you have to do is enter to win via my Facebook page.  You’ll have 24 hours each weekend to submit your entry, and I’ll announce the winner at the end of the weekend.

In three different color families, you’ll get a tinted lip balm, a light reflective, color-packed lip shimmer, an intensely pigmented lip gloss that’s the perfect level of shine and never sticky, and a deliciously scented and lightly flavored gorgeous lip shine in an easy to apply squeeze tube.

I’ve put together these three unique packages of lip color  because I think that a lip wardrobe is something every woman should have, but I know how daunting it can be to pick out for yourselves. Each giveaway contains:

•  Red bundle consists of Red Dahlia Tinted Lip Balm, Pucker Lip Shine, Raisin Lip Shimmer and Ruby Moon Lip Gloss.
•  Pink bundle consists of Hibiscus Tinted Lip Balm, Blush Lip Shine, Rhubarb Lip Shimmer and Spring Splendor Lip Gloss.
•  Neutral bundle consists of Caramel Daisy Tinted Lip Balm, Whisper Lip Shine, Peony Lip Shimmer and Fall Foliage Lip Gloss.

Finding just the right lip color for yourself -no matter which color family you’re looking at – can be difficult, and I’m not suggesting that each of these bundles will be perfect on all women. However, one thing in which I have complete confidence is that you can create your perfect shade of lip color by mixing and matching and making your own blend of colors that makes your eyes pop, your teeth look their whitest, and your cheeks rosy. That’s what the magic of the right lip color can do for each of us.  Click here to watch some videos of lip color suggestions I’ve made to help other women find their perfect shade with Burt’s Bees!

You can check out the Lip Shade Finder that I created with Burt’s Bees to find out more about which colors will best suit you, based on your skin tone, eye, and hair color, here.

Have fun with it!

In partnering with a brand, there were three main things that were important to me:

1. That the brand maintains a commitment to using only ingredients that are safe to our bodies and the environment,
2. That the brand has a price point within the reach of the average woman,
3. That the color range be extensive and include shades to flatter women of every skin tone.

I’m so grateful to Burt’s Bees for turning my ideal partnership into a reality. Together we made some videos with three great beauty bloggers, to introduce you to Burt’s newest lip lines- lip glosses, and lip shines – and to better acquaint you with their already existing line of lip shimmers, as well as their tinted lip balms – including the three latest additions. In the videos I show you how to do what I do best – layer colors and textures to create signature looks.  This is a line of colors that I use on my own lips all the time now, and quite a few of them have already made their way onto the lips of my red carpet and photo shoot clients.

I really love the Lip Color Finder that the Burt’s team created – and I tested for accuracy – which is a really cool online tool that leads you through some questions to learn which colors in each of the textures will be best on you.

The video shoot was fun (but seriously exhausting. Please, have a ton of respect for models and actresses for the long hours and intense work they do. It’s definitely not as easy as it looks), but always so weird to be on the receiving end of styling, hair and makeup! Thanks to my team for making me feel great.

A special thanks to the awesome beauty blogging team, who gave their honest feedback: they loved the colors we picked for them!

Alexis Wolfer, thebeautybean.com

Amber Katz, beautybloggingjunkie.com

Jeannine Morris, beautysweetspot.com 

Here are a couple behind the scenes pics from the day we filmed:

photo: Tim Bell

This is my beautiful friend, Mini Anden.  To have a conversation with her, you’d have no idea she was born and raised in Sweden because she doesn’t have a trace of an accent. We’ve known each other for a number of years now, and I absolutely adore her. She’s really intelligent, we have the same sense of humor   (I love it when she cracks us both up while I’m doing her makeup), and she’s a great listener and advice-giver. All of that mushy stuff aside, she’s an incredible model, and at just under 6 ft tall with a body that she subjects to intense workouts including a fusion of pilates and boxing known as piloxing (she has serious abs that I’ve actually tried punching just to see how strong they are – and they kinda hurt my hand!), she’ll have a career in front of the camera for as long as she wants.

She’s also a totally natural beauty. I really prefer how she looks mostly bare-faced, unless she’s been made up for an editorial photo shoot in a magazine with really intense makeup. Her eyes are incredibly blue, in that almost unreal, is-she-wearing-colored-contacts? way.  She’s also a perfect freckle-face, with tons of cute dots all over, although the size of this photo doesn’t let you see just how intense they are.

We shot the photo above after a long day on set, after she’d taken off most of the makeup I’d put on her for the day’s shoot. As you likely know from the makeup I do, I like to accentuate the beauty that already radiates from each woman, rather than drawing her a new face on top of the one that exists. In Mini’s case, I wanted to show how just a little eye makeup and slight skin perfecting makes for a polished look.

We did a very basic touch up before putting her in front of a window, against a white wall with no fancy lighting or makeup tricks used.

The products I used were:

Toning Mist, Kahina Giving Beauty: I had Mini close her eyes, and on her freshly washed face, I generously sprayed this mist to help replenish moisture and calm her skin.

Facial Lotion, Kahina Giving Beauty: I’d already given Mini a face massage with oil earlier in the day, so for this photograph I opted to use a less dew-inducing option, while still offering great hydration.

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler:  I know many people are scared to curl lashes once they’ve been coated with mascara, but if you do it carefully, and just barely tap the curler when you’re holding it just at the root, you’ll be fine. NO TIGHT SQUEEZING here, please. You’ll take off the mascara where the metal touches your lashes and have a blank space that no amount of recoating will really help cover.

‘Cloud Nine’, Kjaer Weis Eye Shadow: This is one of those really flattering (for fair to medium complexions) champagne/ivory shades with a pearly finish that does a great job of illuminating the eye without leaving behind those horrible bits of glitter. Using this MAC brush I like to place the eyeshadow in the inner corners of the eye, in the very center of the lid, and trace a bit underneath the bottom lashes. I then use my clean finger tip to gently blend the shadow into the skin in the inner corner, and generally I’ll use this brush from Laura Mercier to buff the shadow into the lid.

Black Eyeliner, Vapour Organic Beauty:  Just a light smudge of an eyeliner swiped and pressed into the under side of the outer edge of the top lashes, and then wiggled in between the lashes, and maybe even just a teeny bit smudged on top of the outer edge of the upper lash can do a lot to emphasize the eye without making it look made up.  Depending on the shape and color of your eye, you might find your eye looks best with the entire inner rim lightly darkened, but for most almond shaped eyes, accentuating the outer upper lash line is just enough.  You can try this look with a brown, gray, taupe, or even purple or navy liner to see which you like best.  Different colors will accentuate your eye color ; for me a dark purple liner will not so much read as ‘she’s wearing purple!’, but will simply make the green of my hazel eyes pop.

Very Black, Lash Blast Mascara by Covergirl: I love dark black lashes, even if it’s just a light coating. As I’ve said countless times, this mascara is super black (whereas so many others are more of a light black, almost gray), and can be layered for a more intense look. If you read my blog because you’re looking for only ‘green’ beauty recommendations, I apologize – this isn’t one of them!

Concealer, Mineral Fusion: I like these concealer duos because similarly to the much acclaimed Laura Mercier secret camoflauge duos, you can blend different amounts of the two colors together to get the exact shade you need for the specific part of your face on which you’re laying the product. Under your eye, for example, you’ll want to use a high concentration of a peach/orange concealer to combat the purple – trust me, it totally works. I’ve used straight orange pigment to cover super dark circles under the eyes of women with very deep complexions with great success. Then you blend the more skin-colored shade over top and pat with your ring finger to create a seamless cover on the skin.

On most faces I concentrate on coverage under the inner 1/3 of the eye (never put concealer under the outer 1/3 of the eye unless you want to accentuate your fine lines and wrinkles!), underneath, and around the outer edges of the nostrils, and on any spots or redness/discoloration you may have, but only if you ensure you’ve blended both the color and texture into your skin so that you’re not just highlighting the spot.  For small blemishes, using a really tiny brush like this with a concealer that matches your skin exactly can be helpful.

Bone Beige, MAC sculpting powder: I often swirl this underneath and on to cheekbones as a sculpting powder and I like it, as well, as a non-shimmering bronzer. On Mini, I lightly underlined her cheekbones with Bone Beige using this contour brush.

Freja, Luminous Shimmer Blush, by Alima Pure: I’m usually against products with particles of glimmer, but in this case, they’re really very small, and the color and glimmer combine nicely to give a very-barely-there-pink to the apple of the cheek.

Honey Lip Balm, Burts Bees: Mini put this on herself, as per usual. Ever since I can remember, I’ve seen Mini with this little yellow tube in her pocket, purse, or hand. I can honestly say, it does her lips right, and I’ve never seen them chapped!

Just for fun, here are two shots of Mini that I love that really show how transformative a little makeup/hair/styling can be. Note her dark eyebrows in the first one. They look incredible for this photo, but would look shocking if you ran into her at the grocery store looking like that.

One last endearing thing I’ll leave you with about Mini is that she and her husband, Taber, have a house full of dogs. Mini tweets pictures of them in various positions that make me laugh and laugh. I took an immediate liking to Gus, the skinniest, long-nosed munchkin in the center of the first photo; i think it’s because we resemble one another.

Thank you, Mini, my love!!!

Over the past few months, you may have seen this lovely English actress in all the fashion magazines as the new face in the Dolce & Gabbana ads(she nudged out the beautiful Scarlett Johansson), and pretty soon you’ll see her on the silver screen opposite Warren Beatty.  Felicity is a dream to work with. Not only is she really as sweet and funny as you’d hope she’d be, she also has a cool, defined style, yet she’ll let me play with her makeup a little bit to keep each red carpet look interesting.

This is one of those looks that works on many women, regardless of your age, skin tone, and comfort level when it comes to doing your own makeup: play up your eyes with a little smudgy liner, swipe on tons of mascara, (experiment with false lashes if you dare) and keep the rest of the face looking like you’ve just had some good exercise…or a little too much red wine: ever so slightly flushed in the cheeks. Not everyone will look right in a pink check and lip, but a similar pale shade to complement your skin tone  (could be a minimal bronzer on the cheek and a tawny lipstick if your skin tone is deeper) which shouldn’t be too hard to find.

As you know, I use a mixture of ‘green’ and mainstream products on most of my clients. As I’ve said before, I think it’s about limiting your overall exposure to certain ingredients, and if you have a specific black eyeliner that you adore that smudges just perfectly and stays put all night, then by all means, don’t feel badly about using it.

In all honesty, I don’t remember exactly which products I used on Felicity in each of these lovely images. I do know, however, exactly how I could create them using 100% good-for-you cosmetics. I love that the ‘green’ beauty products industry has come this far!

1. Dr. Hauschka Rose Day Cream Light: For this look, a more matte complexion than what I normally like is in order. I skipped the face oil massage I usually do, and spot moisturized very lightly where needed.
2. I love a smudgy black eye. Vapour Organic Beauty makes a deep black liner that smudges well and can be layered for intensity. I use a small blending brush to smudge the liner around, and into the lash line.  In the first photo I wet what’s called an ‘eyeliner push brush’ – a row of flat edged bristles that allows the creation of a sharp line – and dipped it into Alima Pure  Satin Matte mineral pigment eyeliner and pressed it along the outer edge of Felicity’s top lashes, creating a slight upturned cat eye.
3. In the final photo I used a soft fluffy brush to sweep a sheer, reflective taupe shadow called ‘magnetic’ from Kjaer Weis, under her bottom lashes.
4. In all photos, of varying degree, I swirled one of the following onto the very top of her cheek: RMS lip2cheek in ‘Smile’, Kjaer Weis cheek cream in ‘Blossoming’, and set it with one of the following: Dr. Haushka blush in Natural Pastels, Rouge Powder Duo or Korres blush in #16 Pink/Rose. . I swept the face with a large soft brush to blend the cheek color seamlessly.
5. Felicity being a fan of a neutral or pale pink lip makes this part super simple. I love that she knows I’ll ask her if she’s exfoliated her lips when I arrive to do her makeup, and generally beats me to the punch, showing me the washcloth she’s been gently rubbing against her mouth. For the natural look she likes, try using ‘Caramel’ or ‘Strawberry’ Lip Shimmer, or ‘Honeysuckle’ tinted lip balm, both from Burts Bees, the new fuchsia lip shine from RMS Beauty in ‘Sublime’, or the Tinted Lip Conditioner from Ilia in ‘Nobody’s Baby’.
6. I’m not usually a fan of a powdered face, but this look asks for a little powder in the t-zone. I like each of the three from Jurlique; they have different scents associated with different skin types, but with how minimally I tend to use them, I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference in performance.

In general, my favorite part of any look is the lashes. It’s fun to layer on the mascara or really play up the drama with a strip of falsies, or with a few individual clusters spaced along the outer edge of the top lid. Send me your photos via my Facebook page of how you do this type of look on yourself. I can’t wait to see!

Thank you, lovely Felicity, for wearing my art work so well.

I remember when I first met NYC-based makeup artist, Rose Marie Swift, the brain and heart behind  RMS Beauty. It was at an intimate talk put on by the Environmental Working Group, geared towards makeup artists,  to educate us about their skin deep database (a site that rates cosmetics for safety based on their ingredients, and is truly wonderful, groundbreaking…and should be used as just one tool with which to determine the safety of the products you use).

I sat as close as I could to Rose Marie so I could hear everything she said. I was really impressed by all she added to the conversation, and by the really to-the-point, smart questions she asked. Of course I went home and read up on her online, and soon after, went to a party (I can’t remember if it was the launch of her line?) she hosted at which I got to play with all the fun little coconut-oil based, rich and creamy, densely pigmented pots of color. I was hooked, and since then, have turned many of my clients and my friends on to them.

RMS recently launched two new colors that I LOVE. The day I got them I used the gold on Christy Turlington’s eyes, and have been having fun experimenting with the truly unique and beautiful gray/dark brown/blackish cream eyeshadow pictured on the left. It’s great for a smudgy, unstructured smokey eye. I also love the purple and brown eyeshadows that have a great reflective quality. With all of these you can choose to use your finger or a brush to apply, and Rose Marie assures me – a serious germs-in-my-makeup-ophobe that due to the absence of water, and the coconut oil base, and with the presence of vitamin E and other essential oils, bacteria is unlikely to grow within the product. I still choose to use super clean fingers (and often a super clean brush) for application, but I see others using fingers straight into the container.

I’ve been wearing RMS cheek colors in modest and smile for quite some time and I love them. A creamy cheek color or highlighter on a well-moisturized face is my favorite look. I’m not big on glitter, and I’ve not been disappointed by any of these shades, as even the shimmery ones have small enough particles of what makes them shimmer, that you really don’t see them, you just see a luminous effect.

One last thing: I’m always a fan of a cream cheek and eye. Cream products are easy to apply and kind of fool-proof if you blend well (remember: no hard edges!). Plus they allow healthy skin to continue to glow. It’s my go-to for women of color, in particular, as I’m often disappointed by powder products that can look chalky and not as intensely pigmented as they do in the package, once applied to dark skin tones.

The only drawback to cream products that I’ve found is that on most people, the color will fade more quickly than you may like. I’ve found this to be very true for pretty much all cream cosmetics that go the natural ingredient route. The good thing about RMS Beauty is that it’s actually super good for your skin, so reapplying during the day adds hydration and glow to your face and will never look cakey or dry.

RMS beauty just launched on QVC. I’m so happy for Rose Marie for all of her success. She’s a clearinghouse of knowledge about all things in the ‘green’ beauty world. I’m anxiously awaiting a new lip color that’s in the works. It’s super good.

WHAT’S IN THOSE LITTLE POTS?
Minerals that make the color, the best organic coconut oil, organic cocoa butter, organic shea butter, organic bees wax, organic jojoba oil, organic castor seed oil, organic argan oil, sunflower oil, propolis, non-GMO vitamin E, organic rosemary extract, Centella, organic vanilla

Checkout her faq section and scroll down to the question about preservatives to educate yourself about the options she uses, and how and where to store your RMS for best results. While you’re on her site, spend some time reading everything she’s written – it’s all really informative.

WHY GLASS CONTAINERS?
They’re fully recyclable and it’s important to RMS to avoid plastic packaging which she says has been shown to leach into the products they encase.

WILL THEY MAKE ME BREAK OUT?
It’s not likely, but those of us with super sensitive skin never know about these things. I have incredibly sensitive, acne prone skin, as do so many of my clients, and I’ve never had a breakout from an RMS cheek or eye color, nor have I heard from any of my friends or clients that they have. It’s generally synthetic oils that make faces break out, and luckily this product contains organic virgin coconut oil that has antibacterial properties to protect skin, jojoba oil that’s most like skin’s natural oil, and the organic argan oil and cocoa butter are unlikely to cause an outbreak. That’s saying a lot.

note: the candle is just a cute addition to the photo, and not a part of RMS Beauty packaging. I figured you knew that, but thought I should include a disclaimer, just in case.

I couldn’t be more excited to share this article from Vogue.com:  Makeup Artist Katey Denno’s Guide to Going Green for Spring

I really believe in the brands I recommend in the article, and have actually had the pleasure of getting to know some of the people behind the different product lines, as I always want to know the story-behind-the-story of how they got their start, and what keeps them going.

A HUGE thank you goes to the beautiful and brilliant Catherine Piercy, Beauty Editor at Vogue.

Thanks to photographer Jason Brownrigg for snapping these shots while I was working last week, and to the lovely model McKenzie Raley for sharing the photo with me.

I’ve loved Brazilian model Natalia Costa since I first met her almost 5 years ago on what’s called a ‘test shoot’. For those unfamiliar: a test shoot is when a hair / makeup / photographer / model get together with the hope that they can create images that they’ll be proud to put in their portfolios.

Generally this is not the case, because often one or more of the parties are usually still really new to their craft and when one element is off, whether it’s hair, makeup, modeling, photography – it makes for ‘it’s almost good, but not quite’ pictures. This wasn’t the case with my test shoot with Natalia, despite all of us variables being really new to the industry.

I even credit those pictures of her as being part of the reason my agency signed me. I don’t ‘think it’s possible for a bad photograph to be taken of this woman. I chose her to make this, my first how-to video for my blog, both because I love the way she looks – particularly because she has the perfect large, almond shaped eyes for a makeup instructional film- and because I love her for who she is. I also think it’s super adorable that towards the end of the video, her alluring accent has her saying that she was “cheesed” instead of “teased” about her eyes.

There are countless ways to accomplish a smokey eye. I’m sure I’ll post a number of other techniques in the future, so that you can pick the one that works the best for your eye shape and your ability to work with shadows/liners/brushes/your fingers. A smokey eye can come in any color, density, and a multitude of shapes.

This one was created with:

• Eyelash curler: Shu uemura
• Shadows: Chanel quad, Mac Carbon (a medium black that’s easily blendable for that smokey look)
• Mascara: Covergirl lash blast, the orange tube, in very black
• Eyeliner: Georgio Armani, black (the formula is creamy and blendable, which is important for this look)

And I used these brushes:

• MAC #239 Eye shader brush to build up the base light color all over the lid.
• MAC #219 to draw the shape with the dark shadow.
• Smashbox  Definer Brush# 15, which is a little fluffier and more dense than the MAC 219 brush, which will help diffuse the edges of the shape you’ve drawn with the dark color, and to pack on more dark color where needed,
• Smashbox Crease Brush #10, which is really fluffy and airy and blends out the edges of the shape you’ve drawn perfectly,
• Smashbox Double-Ended Smudger Brush #20 used to blend the eyeliner down into the lash line and ever so softly upwards onto the lower part of the lid so that there are no harsh edges.

Special thanks to videographer, Jason Brownrigg & to Sandbox Studios.

I love being introduced to someone for the first time. Whether it’s the new client I’m working with, the model who’ll be posing for the pictures, or the celebrity I’m getting ready so she can look her best as she walks the red carpet, I delight in every part of it.  I love the feeling of the unknown, of the: wow! anything-can-happen-here.

A first meeting presents a world of opportunities for all of us: we get to choose which parts of our personality we want to show that day, and we get to work on bettering our listening, connecting, and sharing skills. Plus, the sky’s the limit on what amazing new things Mr. or Ms. New-To-Us is going to bring into our lives.

As a makeup artist in the fashion and beauty industry in New York City,  I meet at least 1 if not 25 new people a week at work. It’s a lot to keep organized in the address book of my mind. However, out of all of these 1st time meetings, It’s pretty much a sure thing that at some point, whoever sits in – or hangs around – my makeup chair is going to ask me something about moisturizer, lipstick, or how to best curl their eyelashes. By the time we’ve known each other for a little while (often this happens within the first 30 minutes of meeting) we begin mixing in other topics – from love, old hurts, nutrition, yoga… The list of things I’ll yap about is endless.

This blog is like all of that for me. I imagine you as a new person in my makeup chair, ready to let me help you look and feel your best, both through the stuff I’m going to put on your face (or in this case, write about putting on your face), and through the way I’m going to relate to you, and the information I’m going to share with you.

I have many ideas about how this blog will go over time, but I’m not tied to any of them. I’m just open to possibilities and excited to be here. I’ll be telling you about everything from my day-to-day work as a makeup artist, complete with how-to photos and videos, as well as products I’ve found, researched the heck out of and believe in, and in addition, information about ways to keep yourself feeling good physically and emotionally. Finally, because I still have a lot of social worker left in me (my prior career), I’ll be sure to include posts about ways we can all be more actively involved in affecting change in our communities, and highlighting how people I know and admire are making a difference in their worlds.

I’m also very much in to living a healthy lifestyle, so I’ll be incorporating non-toxic beauty products and  things of that ‘green’ nature, in posts whenever I can.  I feel like there’s a real push in the collective consciousness towards this and I’m super stoked to be following on the path of the short list of other makeup artists and skin care experts who are pioneers in this realm.

Thank you for reading my first post. I hope you’ll read more.

I don’t know where I first heard this saying, but I really love it:

Every best friend was once a stranger.

Welcome to my life, my new friend!