AllCeBri's Dolled Up Contest Entry

Up The Amp, Shimmery White, & Winged Liner

Prince - Sticky Like Glue (20Ten)

Chanel - Haute Couture Fall Winter 2010 2011 - Focus on Acessories/Details

Green Scene PhotoShoot

MissCaseyB's Gaga 4 Gaga Contest

Korto Momolu

Some of you may know exactly who Korto Momolu is but for those who don't, she was a finalist on Season 5 of Project Runway. Although she did not win Project Runway, which left many fans in an uproar, including myself, she was voting fan favorite. She was also the featured designer at Runway Africa held in Minneapolis, MN at club Epic, where she showed us her amazing Fall 2010 collection. The house was packed to show our love and support of a truly talented & gifted designer!

This collection was extraordinary and very versatile, there was something for every woman of any shape, size and even height. Not to mention she had some beautiful, unique handbags and gorgeous jewelry to top it all off.

I know that with today's economy being as unstable as it is, and a lot of households are down to just 1 or half of an income. However, I would highly recommend all of us to support our sista. If you shop at Macy's, Nordstrom, Saks, or even from the Runway at TJ Maxx, save that money and get some pieces or an outfit that will truly stand out from the crowd...Korto Momolu. You will not be disappointed. And yes, I am taking heed to my own advice...I must have some of her pieces in my wardrobe, no matter how long I have to save to get them.

Swimsuit Edition

I'm going to make this short and sweet! I am so excited to share this with you. Here are three models from 3 different swimsuit shoots. The all turned out fantastic but you will see differences.

Differences in makeup, pose, location, mood etc. For each shoot, the makeup was based on the mood that the model wanted to evoke. This is very important with any look. You don't want to do a very subtle look with an edgy outfit and scene and vice-versa.

Brigieta Balsimo

Her name alone says success! She is a 18yr. old newbie model that I had the pleasure of working with last Sunday. Now because she's a new model, she still has a lot to learn about how to move and working different facial expressions and having "life" in her eyes. However, she can still bang out some pretty spectacular shots. Candid is her best and the rest can be worked with. Here are some of the photographers edits from the final look that we did. Be prepared to be totally captivated!

Photoshop Play

Okay, so I downloaded the trial version of Photoshop Lightroom3 just to see what I could do with it. Sometimes, when I do a photo shoot I'll request some unedited photos. Most of the time this is just for my personal collection, to see my work plain, no retouching. Now, I'm loving be able to play around with the saturation, hue, cropping etc.

I can add my own watermarks to the images either in text or graphic form. It's so interesting to see all the things that can be done to an image. By no means am I a pro but the more I play around with it, the more things I am figuring out about what can be done in this program, and I am loving it.

So let's get on with the photos that I put my stamp on, if you will.

A Day in the Life

It is so nice to do something that is so gratifying, that even when the day is long you can still wake up refreshed. That is exactly how I feel the morning after I've had a full photo shoot day. To be able to do what you truly love and get paid for it...feels like stealing. I mean, how is it that people actually pay other people to do what they would do for fun? What a life!

To be apart of something so amazing is a total pleasure. Each time I am called upon, whether it's a model or photographer, singer, or designer hiring me, I always bring my A-game. Even if I'm doing it for trade. The fact is, I love what I do and if I give my all each and every time, I will get that in return 100 fold.

7 Deadly Sins

As a makeup artist, direction is nice but carte blanche to do whatever I feel is better! I really like doing themed photo shoot because they can be so interesting, when all parties are giving their all!

I just wanted to share some of my favorites from this shoot.

Envy:
Gluttony:

Sloth:

New Model / Portfolio Build

So, I work with a wonderful, fun, energetic and amazing female photographer, Rebecca Sabot. We do a lot of testing together and recently we worked with a new model who wanted to get some new photos before she was to leave for Paris...2 days after the photo shoot.

We did 2 looks for her, the 1st was a very natural, bohemian-style look. Keeping the makeup very clean, simple and natural looking. I used matte eyeshadow and a very soft shimmer under the brow. The hair was kept just as simple with 2 braids and a side-swept bang. We were lucky enough to be able to use the photographers neighbors car for that look. The shots came out perfectly!

For the 2nd look, we were forced inside by the darkness and the drizzling rain. However, that did not damper the shoot at all. The makeup was amped up a bit but not over the top. On her lids I used "Shimmer Time" pigment by MAC and on the lower lashline I used a vibrant purple from the "Original" Sleek Makeup palette. I did her hair up in a wild ponytail and she ROCKED it!

I am certain this gorgeous, tall, 18 year old newbie model will blossom beautifully and have a great career.

DI'onna Paris

It is always amazing when you have the perfect combination, right mua, great photographer, inspiring model, = breath taking images! I'm mentoring my niece, who is working toward being a very successful model. She is 16yrs old and is a total natural. Not to mention the fact that she is absolutely stunning. As with anything, the more photo shoots she has the better she will get. What comes natural to her is knowing how to work her face, knowing how and when to "smeyes" and she photographs well from all angles...front, left & ride sides.That is a rare ability. This young stunner is definitely on her way. She's tough, she's eager, she's open to learning and she's gorgeous! She will soon be in very high demand amongst photographers and modeling agencies. I am so prould of her and excited to see and help her make her dreams come to fruition.

Be on the look out...this face and name will soon be buzzing in every household and on every television station!
Check her out:
Model Mayhem
DI'onna Paris

I heart Vicki Secret

Okay, so if you don't know this by now, Victoria's Secret has an amazing makeup line. I mean this stuff is really worth more than the price of it. The eyeshadows are nicely pigmented and do not crease. They always come out with fantastic, Limited Edition collections, that in my opinion are must haves! The newest collection is a safari theme, with quad palettes that are stunning! As I always expect from Victoria's Secret, these colors are smooth and vibrant. Not to mention, the packaging is so cute!

Another Victoria's Secret product that I've recently tried is the eyeshadow primer. Fabulous! I absolutely love it and you get NO creasing at all...not even the slightest little bit. And you get that same result no matter what eyeshadow brand is used over it.

I promise you, I can go on and on about Victoria's Secret makeup but I'll just end it with this...try it and you will love it!

Double Take

One of the things that I really love about being a makeup artist, is being able to create beauty on top of beauty. Sometimes, I have photo shoot that I am asked to do more than one look, on the same model(s). It's not very realistic to think that you will have the time to remove everything that was done for the first look just to recreate something different. So what do you do you may ask...you build on top of it.

It is obviously very easy to build onto a natural or neutral look but I love when I can truly show my skill by building on top of color. Taking one look and creating something completely different. That is a challenge that I am always up for.

The main thing that I try no to do too heavily is blush. Because this is directly on the face, when I am doing a double look I don't put the first blush on too strong. Typically I like to change everything from the eyeshadow to the lips. Make something that you would never know that something else is under it.

Photo Shoot Wisdom

So, I had a photo shoot on Sunday with an amateur photographer & model but I did not find that out until about an hour into the shoot. Well, it wasn't so bad but the photographer shot uninspiring images for much, much to long. Now although he is an amateur photographer, his images look really good. He just needs to learn more about flattering poses for different models, which is not totally his responsibility. Secondly, the model was the totally uninspiring image that he was shooting. She is also a newbie model, so she doesn't quite know how to pose herself. Every pose that she was put into, she stayed in for 3-5 frames. However, she looked absolutely fantastic! I mean the looks were clean and simple but the 2nd look was very elegant and she was stunning.

It wasn't a complete disaster because the photographer was asking me advice and my professional opinion. I've done so, so many photo shoots with so many amazing photographers and models, as well as with some not so amazing photographers and models. My goal with any shoot that I do is to get fabulous images for all involved!

Although I was not blown away at this shoot, we did get some pretty good images. That's the bottom line! I will definitely work with that photographer again!