Double Happiness

Helen was a breath of fresh air - relaxed (even on her wedding day!) and so fun to hang out with.  I loved how she and her friends couldn't keep a straight face for very long.  There were too many stories and clever quips floating around.  My kind of people.

She had a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony with elements of Chinese culture throughout the day to really represent the couple and the two families coming together.  I thought she looked absolutely beautiful in her lace gown.

I also had the pleasure of doing the mother of the bride and the bridesmaids' makeup.   

And speaking of makeup, I have to credit the mother of the groom (a real makeup junkie!) for urging us to try a brighter lip color at the hair and makeup trial run.  I really love how it photographed.

Mazel tov, Helen! I wish you and your husband a lifetime of double happiness.  Thank you very much to Michael Brook and his second assistant Anthony DeCarlo who took these lovely photos and even took time out from moving to send them to me!

Bobbi Brown Beauty Photography Workshop

One of the worst ideas I ever had was to try and save money by not taking any classes for a whole year, even though I am living near some of the world's top artists.   It was a kind of torture that I don't care to ever repeat!  I'm a big believer in continuing education - no matter what field you're in - and one class I'd been waiting over a year for is the Bobbi Brown The Studio Makeup Photography Workshop.  For every stunning image in a magazine or portfolio, there is a team of people behind it - planning and executing every aspect. This workshop brought makeup artists and photographers together to talk about common vocabulary, roles and responsibilities during planning and on-set, handling delicate situations, conceptualizing a shoot and assembling a team, and loads and loads of technical nitty gritty stuff.  Participants also got to network with each other and form groups that carried out actual photo shoots on day two.

 

We started out at Bobbi Brown The Studio, a gorgeous loft-like place in Montclair, NJ that is part intimate retail setting and part classroom dedicated to the study of makeup. This is also the place that those in the Professional Makeup Artist program such as myself go to buy products.  We were met by The Studio manager Kim Richards (love her!) and one of our instructors, Bobbi's brand ambassador and professional team member Gregg Hubbard.

We then took off to the site of our workshop at nearby Unique Photo, which hosts lots of similar workshops and had the perfect space for both the makeup artists and photographers to learn and collaborate.

There we met our co-instructor and photographer extraordinaire Claire Rosen  of North 7 Studio.  Not only do Claire and Gregg have GORGEOUS portfolios, they are both excellent and taking what they know (which is a lot!) and sharing it with others.

Claire and Gregg proceeded to pack our brains with all kinds of information - from different types of lighting to different types of concealing.  "You don't take a photo, you make a photo."  They talked to us about different ways to tap into our own creativity and how to channel it,  map it out, and translate it through planning. 

The photogs and makeup artists later split up to talk more in-depth about their craft.  Gregg rolled out his kit ("You guys have to be able to do this in seven minutes or less!") and let us snoop around in all his stuff - which we loved.

He demonstrated one example of a classic Bobbi Brown-style face: pretty, flushed, polished.  We were free to ask his advice on any aspects of his work and he showed us how he handles various application details such as false lash fittings and liner options. The thing about Gregg and Claire is that they are both so generous with what they are offering.  There was not a sense of "we are here to impart our knowledge unto you" but more a sense of them inspiring us, teaching us, encouraging and building us up, helping us take ourselves to the next level.  I would like to thank everyone involved who helped put this workshop together and to the participants who were such a great group of folks.  I hope to be seeing many of you again soon!

Get Glowing: Tips from an Expert

As a makeup artist, I love giving people that flawless "lit from within" glow.  But what a difference when the person sitting in my chair already has glowing skin to start with.  We all want it, but how can we get it for REAL? This was the topic of discussion at an exclusive Beauty Influencers event I recently attended with Dr. Jeanette Graf, renowned and well-respected dermatologist and former NIH fellow.   Beauty bloggers, tweeters, and vloggers (yes, that's a term!) were treated to cocktails overlooking Manhattan while learning about Dr. Graf's research, which has become quite a hot topic in the beauty world. It all started with some frequent flier patients at her dermatology office.  You know the ones - botoxed, plumped, peeled, lasered, and slathered with all of the best serums and creams - but STILL that glow eluded them.  The scientist in her decided to investigate and got busy researching and testing.  What resulted her groundbreaking premise that "our cells, and consequently our skin, can only function best when the pH balance of our bodies is at its proper level".  

She decided to write the book Stop Aging, Start Living (which I am really enjoying BTW) about this and detail exactly what people can put in their bodies to get their cells and skin on the fast track to glow central, while slowing down the things that make us age.  She challenged us to give her program a try and promised us we'd see immediate results.  I like the sound of that!

Most people experienced a complete life change in terms of skin glow, energy, healthful feeling, and brighter eyes in two weeks.  We were all given a set of pH testing strips (high school science class flashback) and were told not to get depressed if we had a low score because hers was quite low the first time she tested.  The goal is to get a reading between 7 and 7.5 and I rang in with a 5.5.  This is lower than the bad case cited in her book. Yikes.  [Note: The next day I grabbed a neighbor who has been looking radiant these days.  Everyone, including me, thinks she looks fantastic. She has reduced stress in her life and and only eats healthy stuff.  I forced her to put a pH strip in her mouth and it was a perfect 7.0! Maybe there's something to this...] 

Dr. Graf then outlined the three main things we need to do right now to try this. 

1.  Buy some greens powder which is sold in health food stores (her favorite brand is Greens First) and mix it with a scoop or two of fiber.  Yeah, it may look and taste nasty but it's the antioxident  power equivalent of TEN servings of fruits and vegetables.  So pretend you're on a  Beauty Survivor show, mix it with some 100% fruit juice, and down the hatch!

2.  Start taking mineral supplements with lots of calcium. We need it big time! Did you know that because of commercial fertilizers and acid rain, the veggies we eat today have up to 75% less minerals than they did 50 years ago? Even things like table salt have had all the minerals processed out of them (so you gotta use sea salt).  When she brought up salt I raised my hand to ask about my beloved sugar.  We all know it's bad, but why?  Alas, it is one of the big acid-producing age accelerators - especially refined sugars.  I was afraid she'd say that :(  Better to stick with raw honey (the kind that you scoop out) or alternative sweeteners like stevia, agave, fruits.  Even splenda and raw sugar is better than refined.

3.  Start taking probiotics - 5 billion colony-forming units per day to be specific (she prefers the refrigerated kind).  Wow, that sounds a lot but we actually need a lot of good bacteria in our gut to keep our immunity up.  Did you know skin issues like psoriasis (I have this myself), dermatitis, and acne are immune-related skin disorders?  These good bacteria also help keep the bad ones and yeast from producing too much acid in your stomach.There goes your pH reading if they do!

As for overall eating she had a lot of tips and the book is chock full of them too.  Think cave man and eat more like our early ancestors did: leafy greens, fruit, seeds, and roots, with occasional wild game (organic meat for us modern hominids). Eat real food, not from a package.  Eat organic food - remember those higher mineral contents.  Colorful food is good, beige food is bad.  Dr. Graf left us feeling inspired and I actually felt like this is doable.  And as I mentioned, I like the immediate results.  In the coming weeks I'm going to report about this.  Does anyone want to try it with me?  She also gave us a great swag bag full of products she uses in her dermatology practice.  Of course I will report back on those too.

As you can imagine, this was stylish crowd and  I had a great time putting faces to names I had already been following on-line. Hello The Informed Makeup Maven and twitter juggernaut  This That Beauty .  I was also introduced to new artists -hey Vintage Soul Beauty- and some young mavens of the video world.  

Chloe Beauty NYC and her BFF kept me completely entertained while we waited for Dr. Graf to inscribe our books.  And Musings of a City Girl told me about her surprising 25,000 YouTube followers who check in regularly to learn different makeup looks.  

These ladies were as smart as they are beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them.  Good luck to all!  Thank you to Gorgeous on the Go's PR Goddess Genevieve Santos for rounding us all up. And most of all, merci beaucoup Dr. Graf!