Mylene: Cut, Color, Highlights, Brows

Since I've been in beauty school, I get request for hair services from my boyfriend's family whenever I go visit him in Quebec.  On my last visit, his aunt requested a haircut, color retouch, and highlights.  She requested a trim on the sides and the back, but wanted to try out side swept bangs to look more youthful and to get rid of the middle part.  She also requested more prominent highlights.  While the color was processing, I cleaned up her brows with tweezers.  The entire process took 4.5 hours.

Here are some before pictures:

After:

We mixed three different colors for the color service to get the desired deep reddy violet brown.  Funny thing is, her English is limited as is my French so I didn't realize she wanted only to touch up her roots at first.  What I ended up doing was coloring her entire head and we ran out of her usual color formula, so we used a violet on the sections from the occipital bone down.  On her fringe, I used a freehand technique for the highlights because I thought softer highlights would be more flattering.  I really wanted to style her hair after rinsing out the bleach but her hair has been heavily processed in the past (entire head of hair bleached) and we did a lot more processing today, so I let her hair air dry.  

Also, I'm very sensitive to smell.  Whenever I do a haircolor or perm service, I can taste the chemicals in my throat hours after the service.  Seeing as I didn't have any masks with me, I wrapped one of my boyfriend's shirts around my face as I did the color services.

Taking a food break while color was processing.
No worries--my gloves were clean.

If I had time, I would have liked to do a makeover as well, but Mylene had to get to work.  But it was a lot of fun!  Things would have been a little easier if I had access to a proper shampoo bowl.  All in all, I can't wait to do some more color and highlights!

I know a lot of you guys color your own hair at home (something I personally haven't done yet).  What are your tips and tricks when you do so?  I'd love to know!

My First Fashion Show

Hello lovelies!

I'm terribly terribly behind in blogging as always.  I don't know if I'll ever catch up!  Anyways, I did makeup for some lovely ladies at an event called RAW a couple weeks ago.  RAW is an event that takes place in a handful of cities across the country.  It is held each month, and is sponsored by local businesses to promote local artists.  The event was held inside a huge club on Folsom, where I'm told a lot of gay clubs are.  One of my classmates is friends with the owner of Le Petit Hat Company, and recommended me to her to do makeup and hair for this event.  I brought somebody else along to do hair, as I wasn't sure if I could do 3 makeovers and updos in the time alloted.  It was definitely a great experience, and I wish I had taken a lot more pictures at the event.

2nd floor at the event.

One of the artists showcasing her clothes and teaching her models how to
walk the runway.

Tovah's booth

Aren't these the cutest hats?

The 3 girls I did makeup for: Kerry, Tovah, and Maggie

I was pretty damn nervous the entire time I was doing the makeup, especially for Tovah, who is the owner of the company.  I really wanted to make a good impression, but as a result I spent about an hour on each girl's makeup which is really too much time.  Another girl in the green room was doing makeup on many more girls and she was cranking them out much more quickly.  I think I did an okay job on the makeup, but I wish I had done better.  I wanted other people to be wowed and stop the girls in their tracks about the makeup.  That combined with the pressure to do well, and wanting to keep the makeup fairly wearable just drove me nuts and my anxiety level went up up up.  I think what I took away most from this event is that I have to be more confident in myself, and I have to really speed up my application time.

In other news, being a full time student, working part time, and doing makeup gigs every now and then is really draining me.  I'm at the point where I can't really drop anything because I need school for my license, my job to pay for school and my kit, and the makeup gigs for experience.  If you girls have any suggestions, please please please let me know!

Makeover: Strut My Way

Here's another look that I practiced on a fellow classmate for last Thursday's RAWartist event in San Francisco.  I was knew I wouldn't have a whole lot of time to do the makeup so I opted for something that I hoped would be relatively quick.

Face:
-Maybelline Fit Me Foundation
-Laura Mercier Setting Powder
-Tarte Bronzer in Park Ave Princess
-Nail art rhinestones
-No 7 Illuminating Lotion

Eyes:
-Benefit Creaseless Shadow/Liner in Strut
-Inglot AMC Gel Liner in 77
-Milani Liquifeye liner in Black

Lips:
-Inglot Lipstick in #264

Funny thing is, I didn't end up using this look either.  I guess it's one of those times where there is only so much preparation you can do.

Comments? Constructive criticism?  I'd love to hear it :)

Makeover: Animal prints out of control

The pictures are finally in!  I thought there would be a head shot of each dancer, but the photographer was covering the entire event so I only have bits and pieces here and there.  I had an hour to do the animal prints on 4 boys and quickly apply some lashes on the girl.  I suppose it was a bit more like face painting but it was so much fun!

Here are some pictures from my camera:

And here's the video of the performance once again if you haven't seen it:



Hope you guys enjoyed this!

FOTD: Punk Prom

On Saturday night, I did some makeup for some dancers at DNA Lounge in San Francisco.  I'll have more of that in another post.  But the theme of the party was Punk Prom.  I googled some images for punk style but I didn't really seem to have anything to fit in that category.  Plus I was running late and freaking out about the whole event so this is what I quickly slapped on my face while trying to make something work with my glasses.  I had intended to put on some black and purple lipstick but I was really pressing for time.  These pictures were taken after the event, as you can see from my shiny T-zone and deflated hair.

Face:
-Laura Mercier Hydrating Face Primer
-Eve Pearl Dual HD Foundation in Light
-Laura Mercier Setting Powder
-NARS Laguna Bronzer
-Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Natural Beauty

Eyes:
-UDPP
-Chanel Illusion D'ombre eyeshadow in Mirifique
-MAC Pro Longwear eyeshadow in Make Your Mark
-Lancome eyeshadow in After Dusk (D/C)
-Too Faced eyeshadow in Heaven
-Sugarpill Loose eyeshadow in Asylum
-Stila eyeliner in Silver Dollar
-Inglot AMC Gel Liner in 77
-L'oreal Waterproof Carbon Black Mascara

I'd really love to upload pictures from the event but I want to wait until I get my hands on the professional pictures.  Meanwhile, here is a clip of the performance.  You can't see the makeup too well but you can enjoy the video.  I think you guys will love it :)

Dark Cut Crease Makeup: My first hair/fashion show

I got thrown into doing makeup for a hair show that one of night senior cosmetology class was putting on.  They had planned this fantastic hair show to showcase hair, as well as some fashion and makeup, but some of their models and makeup artists backed out at the very last minute.  My teacher asked me to fill in the night before.  I had work during the evening, so I ended up only being available for a little over an hour.

Prior to the show, I tried contacting somebody about what kind of makeup I was to do because I could only bring so much with me.  Since I didn't get a reply, I just threw some more colorful eyeshadows in my kit and ran out the door.

I was very lucky.  There were a few familiar faces on site.  The stylist that snagged me was a girl that worked at the lab during my class hours, and her model was one of my classmates!  Both are wonderful, easy going people, and the model (Taneil) used to model professionally so she was very easy to work with.

The stylist, Tasha, wanted dark makeup for Taneil.  She left me a lot of freedom with the makeup, but asked for black lipstick and dark, but not goth, eye makeup to contrast her pure white dress.  Tasha watched me as I applied the makeup, and was thrilled with it.  That took enormous pressure off my chest, as then I would not have to go back and make adjustments.  Also, I was very grateful that none of the other stylists knew who I was and asked me to do makeup on their models, because it allowed me to allocate my full hour of time to Taneil. When everyone knows you do makeup and everyone wants their makeup done, it gets very chaotic....

I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was rushing to get to work on time!  If/When I get copies of the professional pictures, I'll post those too!

  

Yes, that is indeed a dress made of coffee filters that Tasha made.  Crazy, huh?  I had to leave before I could see the finished look all put together.  Here are some pictures from Tasha's phone though.

 Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I wish I had been able to stay for the whole thing!  I don't know if I'll be able to do another one of these again :(

Makeover: Amphitrite

Yesterday, I spent about 4 hours doing hair and makeup for one of my coworkers, Emma.  She was going to a party as Amphitrite, known in Greek mythology as Poseidon's wife and Goddess of the oceans.  Emma has beautiful loonngg hair, very goddess and princess-like.  In that sense, at least, the hair part was easy.  I used a flat iron to create loose, flowing curls.  I teased her hair a bit in the crown for some volume and pinned up some of her hair for volume.  Her bangs were also pinned up and out of the way into a soft bump to keep her forehead free for a seashell-adorned tiara.

For the makeup, I had originally planned to give her very dramatic, midnight blue smokey eyes with bold, false lashes.  The problem is, her dress was very simple, and by overdoing it on both the makeup and hair, the details would be top heavy.  I instead kept the eyemakeup somewhat simple.  The colors are shimmery, sheer, but extended out so that it seems a bit more dramatic.  I lined her top waterline with black, and used a navy gel liner on her top lashline.  I glued on a full set of lashes before adorning some ocean blue rhinestones on her lids.  I also drew some scales on her temple/forehead, neck, shoulder, and leg.  I finished with some lipstick and lipgloss.

And after all that....I whipped out my camera only to find that I had left the memory card in my computer.  So here is a picture from Emma's iphone:

Eyes:
-Benefit Taupe-Aztec Creaseless Cream Shadow (LE)
-Inglot eyeshadows (A silvery taupe, midnight blue, and a matte cream)
-Milani Liquifeye Liner
-L'oreal HIP Midnight Blue Gel Liner
-Full Sized Falsies from Ebay

Face:
-NARS e/s in Night Sun for highlight.

Lips:
-CoverGirl LipPerfection l/s in Heavenly
-MUA lipgloss

Scales:
-Too Faced Shadow Insurance
-BFTE e/s in Jaded
-Spellbound e/s in Lagoon
-ELF liquid liner

I really wish my camera was functioning!  I would have LOVED to capture the details better!  This is my first time doing something like this and I had a blast.  Emma is already naturally beautiful with really good skin and hair to work with so she rocked the makeup.

I hope you guys enjoyed this look and that you all had safe, but fun, Halloween parties!