Back to School Intro: Beauty School No Drop Out(Grease Fan)

Hey Divas!

I decided it was time to make some more changes in my life and started school.  Instead of going for my Masters Degree, I decided to follow my passion.  Great decision for my career and life.  I dropped out of the IT world a while back due to conflicts with my true passion in life.  I have also been presented some opportunities as a makeup artist, but they wanted someone licensed.  All of these led me to Michigan College of Beauty for an Esthetics license.  Also I love great looking skin and showing people how to get and keep great looking skin.

So please join me on my journey from Makeup Artist to Makeup Artist/Licensed Esthetician.  I will be writing about my experience in beauty school for the next 5 months.  If you have any questions I will answer them also.

New Kit Products to start off 2015

Happy New Year Divas!

Revamping my kit and set up for 2015.  I ordered new products from TPG(The Powder Group) Store and renewed my membership. First time ordering from the TPG Store and I couldn't be happier.  Below are some products I picked up to up my kit game.

I love my MUFE brush holder so I decided to get the Monda Studio one also.  They look almost the same and are great for small spaces and repacking my brushes and kit.

Next I purchased the Three Custom Color Light and Medium Clarifier Pencils.  They are great multi-taskers for lining the lower inner rim of the eye for a natural look, reshaping lips and defining the brows among other uses. I have great things about these pencils from many makeup artist I admire.

Also picked up Cinema Secrets Brush Cleaner.  I first tried it at IMATS Toronto a few years back and it worked great.  I have been using Parian Spirit but thought I would give it a try.

The last two items are items I have wanted for a while but never purchase.  I have heard great things about Alcone Make-Off wipes.  I was sent the wrong ones but after realizing this TPG rectified the error quickly. Great customer service and wonderful people!  I also wanted the Twissor for my kit and picked up one.  That was a big mistake.  I should have ordered 2-3.  This is a great little product.

I also received some products due to a special they were running.  They include Eve Pearl Dual Salmon Concealer which I have loved since I was a part of her team for IMATS Toronto a few years back.  I also received Shadow Shields, Jao Refresher/Sanitizer, and 3 Pencil Me In pencils in Amethyst, Black Velvet and Char-khol.  I can't wait to try these products!

Stay tuned for reviews....   

Product Review: LUSH Lip Scrubs.... Edible, natural and worth the purchase!

My lips tend to be more dry, chapped and flakier during the winter.  I love to have a product that I can carry every day and easy to use.  I have found many products through the years that work great on the dry part but not the flaking and chapped parts.  I walked into Lush one day and found the perfect product.

Lush has some of the best lip scrubs that work great for any age.  I love that it is edible.  Many scrubs I have tried have to be rinsed, or taken off.  If you get a little of the Lush lip scrub in your mouth it will not hurt you.  Lush products are also handmade with fresh ingredients.

I originally loved Sweet Lips lip scrub.  It was discontinued and I had to purchase a new one. I wish they would bring it back.  It had the perfect chocolate taste and my lips felt smooth after using it.    I picked up the Popcorn lip scrub recently and love the sweet and salty flavor.  It also does not have any dyes and is vegan.

For the holidays Lush came out with Santa's Lip Scrub.  It has a cola flavor and has miniature hearts in it.   The flavor is not bad and thank goodness the hearts are only at the top of the jar.  The hearts really don't assist with exfoliating the lips.  They seem more like a cute decoration.  The texture is a bit softer and the I need more of the Santa's scrub for my winter chapped lips compared to Lush regular line of lip scrubs.  Also there are dyes in the Santa's scrub which does cause a small amount of red staining.

Overall I prefer the Sweet Lips and Popcorn Lip Scrubs compared to Santa's Lip Scrub.  The texture is more grainy and definitely smooths my lips better.  I will definitely go back for the Popcorn Lip Scrub once I am out of this one!

xoxox
BCB

Product Review: The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter

The Body Shop has always had great products.  One of the products that I have continued using is the Camomile Eye Makeup Remover.  Recently they have come out with new products to the Camomile line.  I decided to try the Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter.  It is great for removing makeup from the full face, but I mainly purchased it for the eye area.

I was low on my personal kit eye makeup remover and decided I would branch out from my normal ones.  I love the Camomile Eye Makeup Remover but wanted to try something in a solid form.  The Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter is made with Community Trade Camomile and can be used on all skin types.

The Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter is an indulgent make-up remover for the whole face.  Developed to gently and efficiently melt away make-up and impurities, and removes all types of makeup.  It leaves the skin feeling clean, refreshed and pampered.  It also works great for sensitive skin and contact lens wearers.  

I used a small dab on my eyes and it removed my mascara with ease and with no eye irritation.  You still want to use a facial cleanser to fully clean your face after using this makeup remover.  The Seaweed Deep Cleansing Facial Wash is a great cleanser to use after this product for combination oily skin people like me.    

You get 2.7 ounces in the twist top tin.  It does have a slight fragrance and is more transparent in color.   

Check out The Body Shop website for further information on the product and others from the line.  

Product Review: Bdellium Tools Bold Lip Brush #542

I have been in search of really good lip brushes for a while.  I started with disposable lip brushes but moved up to e.l.f. concealer brushes.  Those were not the standard I wanted for my kit so the search continued.  I wanted lip brushes that I could line with, angle for unique lip looks and to blend multiple colors.  I have found this with the Bdellium Tools Bold Lip Brush #542.  

Bdellium Tools Bold Lip Brush #542 is a wide, firm-bristled tip brush that helps to define all the contours of the lip with ease and precision.  It works well with all lip formulas and is made with all synthetic fibers.

As a makeup artist and makeup lover, I look for tools that work great for my clients and myself.  This a great product for a personal or professional kit.  I used the 542 brush recently to create and add more dimension to my lips with two colors and a liner.  Applying the two lipsticks directly would not allow me to create the ombre affect I wanted.  Using this brush allowed me to blend out the liner slightly with a darker color after applying a lighter color in the middle of my lips.  

The shape of the brush allows for precision application with ease.  The design and size of the brush is just right and a comfortable fit.... the way it feels in your hand as you apply the products is wonderful.  I love the smooth wooden handle and the firmness of the bristles.  In other words I love this brush and it does what I need it to do!       

Check out Bdelliumtools.com for this and other great products.

BCB LLC

Getting Ready and Staying Ready

As I dive further into my career as a Full-time Freelance Makeup Artist, I am learning how to be a better business person.  We plan for what we want in life.  We schedule months... sometimes a year in advance for events we deem important. That vacation in Hawaii you are going to next month was planned 6 months ago.  The bride you are doing makeup on next weekend scheduled her wedding date and put a deposit on the hall a year to two years in advance.  We as Makeup Artist, Hair and Fashion Stylist, etc. should be doing the same thing.

I am going to the Artist Summit in October this year and some things are being paid off now that if I had planned better earlier would have been paid off sooner.  I could be sitting back and not worrying what I need to do next.  I have learned from this and other experiences(TMS Chicago), that I still have a ways to go in running my business.  I have taken business and accounting classes in college, but have learned to run my MUA business better in the past 2 years. When we took vacations as kids, the hotel, Disney World tickets were paid for 3-6 months.  My parents most likely just put food and emergency money aside the last few months before the trips.

Tripit App I am using to track my MUA events

Now with the changes in technology we have new options.  There are various apps on the mobile phones to track your trips. You can sent up special savings accounts for your trips so that the money is available.  We have to stop making excuses for why we can not achieve our dreams.  If you can plan a family trip 6 months in advance then you can plan to attend The Makeup Shows, IMATS, The Artist Summit, classes, etc.  My 2014 events, I plan to have payments made 3-6 months in advance.  Things happen in life that prevent us from from doing what we want, but we can plan ahead for those events.  When we make planning ahead a habit then we are ahead of the game.

App also allows you to add your confirmations in.

So if we go to our favorite coffee places, restaurants, etc. less and put those funds in a special account for classes, and shows then we can "live the dream"!  With the advances in Technology and all the options out there, we can make our dreams come true if we just  "get ready and stay ready".

BCB LLC

Monday Makeup Must Have: Inglot Cosmetics Eye Shadows

MAC Cosmetics use to be my go to brand for most of my personal kit especially eye shadows but the quality change made me look for new products when I started to upgrade my professional kit.  As I grew and learned more as a professional artist, I also learned more about the products other Makeup Artists were using.  MAC eyeshadows were not as pigmented as they were during the Frank & Frank years.

Inglot Cosmetics started over 25 years ago by Wojtek Inglot,  a chemist and businessman with the goal to create higher quality products at reasonable prices and with the best possible ingredients.  He achieved that and more with this brand.

Inglot shadows are one of the best pigmented brands on the market.  They last over 8 hours with very little to no creasing.  Summer time my lids are greasier than normal so I tend to crease a little.  They are great for photo shoots and fashion shows.  The colors blend nicely and stay in place.  The price is great if you are a professional makeup artist or just looking for a few shades for your personal kit.  

The Freedom system and Z-Palettes are great ways of storing the shadows. The Freedom System has slots specific to the size of the shadows and is magnetized.  They also connect to each other which is great for stacking them in your kit. Also you can stack the shadow palette with the blush palette, etc.  

The Z-Palette give you the option for different products of different shapes in one palette. They also come in various designs and sizes.  Both palettes provide a see through top so you know what colors you have in the palettes.  

BCBLLC