Halloween

This client was the Ringmaster of the Circus in her Halloween group.

My co-worker and his boyfriend went as "Flaming Homosexuals", love it right? I don't know how my Halloween post slipped my mind but better late than never!

Back to Reality With New Makeup

New York was amazing, I seriously can't get enough of that city. Even though Hurricane Irene put a slight damper on our trip, we still made the best of a stormy situation. The two days we were "stormed" in we watched several movies, had late night dance parties, ate way too much takeout, drank way too much vodka, and had some much needed bonding/relaxation time. It was so good to see Leah, Subreen and I missed her so much. Coming back to Charlotte and getting back into the swing of things was difficult. I loved having public transportation right outside my door and always having something different to do. I'm truly ready to move and I refuse to let anything get in the way of that. NYC 2012! At the moment, I have my sights set on transferring to the 5th Ave. or Soho locations. Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip:

Subway riding.

Search and Destroy in St. Marks.

Just like last year, Times Square tourist photo!

Beauty Bar in Union Square. Buy a $10 Martini and get a manicure!

Hot & sweaty in the Times Square Sephora.

Spent, but still looking fab.

Playing with light.

The sun came out on our last day.

♥

Our last day Subreen and I had a late flight so we made sure to do some serious shopping before we left. Sephora, H&M, and Inglot got the bulk of my money but I left with some awesome purchases. I got this palette from Inglot that I custom created. All the shadows including the pan came out to about $45.

The last time I was in NYC, I told myself that I was going to make a palette and I'm so happy I was able to do that in store. The pigments are fantastic! They also have US shipping now which they didn't have before so anyone interested should check it out! Another line that I love that we don't carry at our location is Illamasqua.I bought these two items:

Blush: Tweak  Lipgloss: Intense Lipgloss in Hermetic

The blush is a reddish pink (matte) and the lipgloss is a rich burgundy plum. Those two have been my staple items over the past few weeks. I'm ready for Fall so that I can wear a dark lip on a daily basis.

New Hair & Bright Lips

Fresh faced and feeling good.

Anyone who knows me well knows that when I have short hair, I enjoy with getting it cut, and pretty often at that. I love different variations of the pixie and mohawk. I love volume, and I love the low maintenance of it, especially in the summer. I love being able to have it messy and unruly on the top while being slick and chic on the sides. 

I do have to rave about my new favorite lipgloss- I have it in on in the photo above! While browsing through Target with my mom and sister in the cosmetics section for an absurd amount of time, I came across this lipgloss that caught my eye. I work at Sephora and I still always find myself browsing through drugstore makeup. I have a soft spot for pink lipglosses/lipsticks, I have to make myself not buy them because I have WAY too many as it is. It's Revlon's Colorburst lipgloss in Hot Pink (go figure).

Hot Pink is the first color on the left. 

This lipgloss is just. freaking. awesome. I have tried so many different lipgloss and I had this one for about three hours on busy Saturday and wasn't able to touch it up until I took my break and I still had a subtle shimmer on my lips! The Revlon Colorburst gloss is moisturizing, and the color you see in the tube is the same color payoff you'll get on your lips. Complete lip gloss love.

*The lipgloss runs at about $6.75*

Spark-tacular!

I've never been a nail savvy girl. I tend to keep it simple only really polishing my nails for special occasions, dates, etc. However, I do have an obsession with filing my nails. I will stand (hiding really) in corners of the store for minutes at a time and file my nails. I keep the Diamancel nail file in my brush bag and it beats any other file I've used. The most current animation in the store is all about nails: nail glitters, nail art pens, nails stickers, really cute stuff. I had to force myself to polish my nails the other day and I ended up using one of Sephora by OPI newest Top Coat Spark-tacular. 

I LOVELOVELOVE this polish, it's chunky and medium sized multi-colored glitter and it's amazing! It's very similar to the high end Deborah Lipmann nail polish Happy Birthday but ours is $9.50 and Deborah's is $16. The only downside is that I tend to be rough on my nails and I did three coats of Spark-tacular along with a regular top coat and just in daily activities it's started to chip at the tips of my nails. I would definitely suggest using it mostly as a top coat to prolong the wear of the glitter.

At least it looked good for a few days!

New Years Look

I had a client come in today (I feel terrible for forgetting her name because she was so sweet) who wanted a dramatic eye incorporating pink, gold, and black for New Years.  These are some of my favorite colors to use together and I was really able to have fun.

I used mostly MAKE UP FOR EVER products: Star Powders 951 & 922 and Diamond Shadow 307  as well as Urban Decay's Woodstock as the base. She left very happy with the look at that made my day.

Have a safe and happy New Year!

Pro Team 2010

Hmmm, how can I properly sum up Sephora's Pro Team tryouts? How about, intense, stressful, rewarding, emotional, ridiculous, honest?  I loved that I was able to go to NYC just a week later, for free but I was still unsure of what the audition process would consist of.  I will say that after the 1st day I was feeling fairly confident about progressing to the 3rd and final round in Vegas. However, the look for the 2nd day blew my mind. Just describing the look (which was essentially like a mask, very editorial and gaga-esque) to my cast members was exhausting. I wish I had a photo to post but I wasn't impressed with my final product and I wasn't even able to finish. I left that day feeling overwhelmed and disappointed, I knew that it would test me but I didn't think I would leave fighting back tears. I was lucky to meet some girls who gave some insightful words about not letting this audition make or break me, even current Pro Team members struggled with the look. If I tryout next year I can only hope for the best.

After Encore and Pro Team, I'm determined to step out of my comfort zone when it comes to makeup. I feel like that is the only way to grow and learn as an artist. Look forward to some new looks in the future!

Big City, Bright Lights

I'm officially a Color Expert! I can't fully put into words how amazing New York City was. I learned so many different makeup techniques at Color Encore and I'm so excited to share them with my castmates. I know at times, I have a love/hate relationship with Sephora but they offer a lot of opportunities to grow within the company. I think I fell in love with New York this week- it's a different feeling since I grew up in Queens and moved to Charlotte when I was thirteen, my family didn't venture into the city that often. Now that I'm in my early 20's that's all I want to do! The diversity there is wonderful and I couldn't help but notice the copious amounts of good looking men of all ethnicities, delicious! Moving doesn't unnerve me as much anymore and I think my family is family coming around to the idea of it and that makes me happy. Pro Team tryouts are next Thursday and I'm nervously looking forward to that. I know it's going to be an intense two days but I refuse to be anything else but optimistic. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip: 

Home

After weeks of restless sleep and many conversation with my lovely friends who live in New York, I've decided that I'm moving back next year around August/September. I've been in Charlotte for about twelve years and I would always say "I don't see myself living in New York again but I definitely love visiting!" But then, I kept thinking why not? Why wouldn't I want to live in New York? It's a massive city that never sleeps, there is always something to do, diversity is abundant and I think that's what I need in my life right now. I do love Charlotte but I feel like I'm growing tired of it, tired of seeing the same people, going to the same places. When I briefly talked to my mom about it her exact words were "People move from New York to the Charlotte" and I responded "Yes, when they're older and have families. I'm 24, single, and I don't have anything holding me back". I agree that many people from up North do move to Charlotte, the last guy I dated was from Buffalo but the majority of these people have spent most of their life in New York. My family and I moved to Charlotte from Rosedale, Queens when I was thirteen and my sister was six, I never got a chance to truly explore the city. I know I would love it.

Now, as great as this sounds I know the transition isn't gong to be all rainbows and sunshine. Saving for the move has to happen NOW. Since I know I'm still going to be employed at Sephora I would have to interview with several stores up there in order to transfer. Would it be necessary to bring my car? I couldn't imagine being without my Honda but that all depends on the area as well. Cost of living is higher so I would be getting paid more but will I be able to afford an apartment with roommate(s) along with school loans and other bills? I can only hope that I can. One thing that keeps me excited is that I wouldn't be up there alone. Marvin, one of my best friends from high school lives there (and if things work out, we'll be roommates), LaZelle and Leah all people from my Southpark store that have/will be relocating to the city. This is probably one of the biggest decisions I've made in my adult life so far, let's hope it's a good one!

A Career Epiphany

I've been doing a lot of thinking the past few months about which direction I want to take in my career. After Graduation this past December, I didn't have any luck in the photography field so I decided to expand my options elsewhere and look at secretarial like work. After having a few interviews (and by few I mean two) I took a good look where I was at and it just dawned on me. Should I pursue a career as a freelance makeup artist??? Of course, this probably strikes many people as a surprise because even though I've worked at Sephora almost three years I've never considered myself a makeup artist, only a photographer. I'm thinking makeup artist is something that I will in time add to my resume. I still have so much to learn!

At the end of July, I'll be going to Color Encore in New York where I'll become a Color Expert and learn advance techniques about makeup, color, application, etc. I'm beyond excited, I haven't been to New York since 2002 and I was born and raised in Rosedale, Queens and I miss the big city. Once I've completed Encore, in July 2011 I will audition for the Sephora Pro Time and if I get chosen I will work as a traveling makeup artist.

Working my first runway event this weekend sealed the deal for me. I worked on professional models and I got to meet Tim Gunn! I contained my composure, remained professional but I was shaking with nervousness, it was great. Photography is always going to be a part of my life and I will continue to do work, but doing makeup on the side can come in handy for those shoots as well. I posted a photo from the event courtesy of Brian Treffeisen Photography!