High School Dance Collection 2010

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Make-up by Marci De Leon

Hair by Melissa Smith

Direction & Photography by Byron Kirkland

Sisters

Leandra

Bree

Today sisters, Leandra and Bree, came to me to help get them camera ready for their friend's wedding. Leandra was in the bridal party, so we did a bit of a heavier eye and added strip lashes. Bree was going to the wedding as a guest, and wanted to keep her look a bit more simple, so we kept her lashes natural and gave her a soft glossy lip.

Clean Slate

Pricilla / Before

After

Mallory / Before

After

I wanted to share a couple of examples of how to decide which direction to take when applying make-up. Each of these ladies, both so beautiful, have such unique features from each other. This is the perfect way to show how individual color pallets can accent each person differently.

Lets start with the skin. Pricilla has olive skin that needs a warmer pop of color. You can create this contour by adding bronzer along the hairline and under the cheekbone and putting a pink blush on the cheek up to the hair line. Mallory has light, pink undertones. With her we wanted to blend the discoloration of the skin and soften all the red. You can achieve this by first finding the right match of foundation to the lightest part of the face, usually the jaw line. After applying a good concealer, it's time to bring some life to her face. With Mallory's red hair and blue eyes, I wanted to stay in the peach family with her blush.

For their eyes. Pricilla has smaller eyes that I really wanted to bring out. We went with a smoky eye with less eyeshadow so her eye's wouldn't completely disappear. After adding a heavier strip lash, she got the sparkle we were going for. For Mallory, she has these big, blue eyes that I wanted to bring out. I used a pallet of teal greens in her liner and shadow to add interest without overdoing it. The brown liner worked well in tying in the drama of the lashes and colors.

For both of the girls lips, we stayed with the pink, modest tones. They each have a more dramatic eye, so I thought it best to keep it simple. You don't want the eyes and lips to fight each other. Usually it's best to pick one to accent and build from there so you stay balanced without overdoing it.

Warmth and Beauty

Fall is officially upon us and there is no greater feeling than the cool change of weather and the beautiful change of seasons. When I think of fall I think of warmth, family, and love. Smells of home baked breads, beautifully lit candle light and a crackling fire in the fireplace. Fall is the perfect time of year for a quiet, relaxing, yummy pumpkin peel facial. You'll not only receive all of the benefits of the exfoliating, renewing treatment, you'll also get lost in the warmth and spice of the pumpkin sent of the peel. Let me take you away from your day to day taking care of everyone else, and create an escape to a calm warm place just for you! Happy Holidays!

Homecoming Make-Up

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

Throw A Party!

Need an excuse to have a ladies night? Would you like a free service? Than throw a party of your choice. I'll have a cocktail and a brow wax please! Get all your girlfriends together and enjoy getting the treatments you were going to get anyway, in the comforts of your own home! It's up to you how you want to combine treatments. You can do a spray tan party, a waxing or skin care party or combine all 3 services in one!

Have a pre-teen or teen that needs some make-up guidance? Do you need a couple make-up tips too? Throw a make over party and get your daughter's friends together for a professional make-up lesson! Or simply throw a make over party for her, while my hair stylist friend accompanies me, and we'll get everyone dolled up for a night out! This would be a great birthday idea!

Talk to me about pricing, free hosting incentives and lets book something fantastic!

Prom...A Night To Remember

Last weekend I had the opportunity to do some make up on some very sweet, young girls for their prom. Prom is such a big deal for girls their age and you really want to look and feel your best. Each girl had their own unique personality and their own idea of what they wanted their end result to look like, so I tried to bring that out the best I could in their make up. With each client it's so important to consider their age, the event and the dress and tying it all in together. Thank you to Rachel, Camille and Mallory for letting me be a part of your special night! Hair by Melissa

Instant Facelift

Here is a before and after of a recent eyebrow shaping I did. It's remarkable what a difference clean, shaped brows can make on a face. It really opens and lifts the eyes and frames the whole face. With this particular client, I not only waxed the unwanted hair, but I also used a brow powder to fill in her eyebrows. I'd say about 85% of my clients need to fill in their brows and they never knew it. Not many of us have enough hair to completely fill in each bald or sparse spot on the brow. With a good matching brown, and a small angled brush, all you have to do is lightly "color" in your brows. It's important that you don't buy any powder that has red undertones. Even if it matches your hair color!!! This looks pink against your skin. I'd recommend getting a good, professional wax every 4 weeks to maintain your beautiful, clean brows!

Bridal Collection 2010

Bridal make-up by Marci De Leon

Hair by Melissa Smith

Photography by Glenn Singley

Enhance Your Natural Beauty

This is Wendy. She is one of my dearest, oldest friends. She has such a gorgeous, beautiful complexion, as you can see in her before picture. I really wanted to enhance her natural glow, rather than cover it up. With african american skin, it's easy to mismatch the foundation to the skin and end up with an ashy look. And it's important to note that color shows up very differently on darker skin. For example, on Wendy I was able to do a very vibrant, pink blush that on someone like me would be too bright. On Wendy, however, it's the perfect shade of subtle pink. I also used a lot of gold pigment on her cheekbones, brow line and top of her nose to give her skin a glow and create dimension. On caucasian skin, I would have used a bronzer to achieve this. And finally, I really wanted to bring out and enlarge her beautiful eyes. They felt as though they were lost. So, I curled and coated her natural lash and added a full, thick strip lash. She's ready for her night out with the girls!

Take It Or Leave It?

With all of the many skincare products out there, it can be a bit overwhelming. Deciding what your skin needs and creating an individual skincare regimen can be frustrating and costly. If you can't find time or money in your budget to book a professional facial, feel free to write me and ask me any questions you have. I'd be happy to give you a brief online consultation and give you some great recommendations for how to achieve a better complexion. Just leave me a comment and if you'd like, leave your email address as well. With just a few changes and a couple of professional tips, younger, brighter skin can be yours!

Top 3 Reasons to Fake It

We all know that a tan can do many great things for the way we look and feel. It makes us look healthier, slimmer, and more confident. But how we achieve that golden tan is up to us. Do we bake in the hot sun? Or do we spray tan? Here are a few reasons to choose to fake it this summer....

1.) Skin cancer is running rampant in men and women around the world. The cause of skin cancer? Sun bathing and tanning beds. Although we may be doing it here and there and we don't think we are over doing it, we are all affected differently by the sun and it can show up at different times in our lives.

2.) Early signs of aging. Why speed up the aging process? We are constantly battling with our skin. We bake in the sun and break down our collagen and elastin, then we go home and gobb on eye cream to rid our wrinkles. Bottom line, you are kidding yourself if you think there is a miracle cream to balance the damage you're doing to your skin when you tan in the sun.

3.) Skin discoloration....lack of a better word, age spots!!! As an esthetician, I'd say this is one of the most common concerns among women. They complain of blotchy, brown or white spots on their face, chest, arms and hands. This, along with wrinkles is the hardest thing to reverse. I've worked with women doing microdermabrasions, chemical peels, & bleaching creams to try and reverse these spots and let me tell you, it's a process and it's costly!

These affects of the sun may showing up later in life, when the damage was actually done in our childhood or teen years. So it's extremely important to sunscreen and avoid tanning! Now a days, with spray tan that's so quick, natural looking, and most importantly, safe, why would you spend all of those hours cooking yourself under the suns harmful rays?

Glamour

This is Katie. Melissa and I, yet again, did her hair and make-up for High School Winter Formal this year. I've done her make-up for all of her High School dances and it's so sad that this years prom will be the last one! Katie is fun, flirty and sexy and now that she's a senior she wanted to go all out. She was wearing a short, red dress so I decided to go for it. We did smokey eyes and a hot red lip. She looked glamorous without looking trashy. Mission accomplished! You're beautiful Katie!

Before and After

This is my adorable friend and client, Ana. She was going to a wedding reception and asked me to do her hair and make-up. For her hair, I simply flat ironed and curled it. She always going big, with her natural curl, so I thought I'd try something new a more sleek on her. I loved the way it came out. For her make-up, I wanted her to look like she just got back from a refreshing trip to the spa. I wanted to wake her up a bit. Using the right concealer is key here. Also, adding some color to her face and really contouring her gorgeous cheekbones. She was a blast to work on and, as always, I think she looks gorgeous!

This is my sister-in-law, Katie. She was going out to a nice Christmas Party with her hubbie. I did both her hair and make-up. Katie has so much hair, so I wanted to really just curl it and tease it and give it some life. When hair is so long and heavy, this can often be tricky as it falls out so quickly. The best way to avoid that is by pinning the curls to let them cool, spray them like crazy and back comb not only the roots, but he curls themselves. For her make-up I wanted to make her beautiful blue eyes pop. I did this by enhancing her brows and doing long, dark lashes. I wanted to open her eyes and make them appear larger, so I didn't do much with the lower lash line. Katie doesn't usually wear a whole lot of make-up, so I wanted to keep her feeling comfortable by simply using a light glossy lip that she could easily retouch through out the night by herself.

Fresh Faced

This is Ashley. Melissa and I did her hair and make-up for High School Prom last year. She's so beautiful and sweet and I wanted her make-up to capture that. This clean, fresh look was achieved by first starting with her brows. I waxed and shaped them a couple of days before prom. This is a great tip for anyone with a big even to go to. If you get waxed too close to the event, your make-up won't stick in those areas. Next, I really focused on creating her flawless complexion and glowing skin. I added flecks of gold on the cheekbones and inner corners of the eye. I finished with a pink, shimmery lip and there you have it, she looks young and vibrant!

I DO

Here are two gorgeous brides who happen to also be related to me. My sister, Jamie, was married in Salt Lake City, Utah a year ago this weekend! Her wedding day, although freezing cold and snowing, was so beautiful. Jamie has such a natural beauty about her that made doing her make-up super easy. I wanted to really give her flawless, glowing skin. I also wanted to bring out her favorite quality about herself, which is her gorgeous blue/green eyes. So on her I did a bit of a heavier, longer lash. Her hair is done by my best friend, Melissa Smith. She is such a talent.

The second bride, Hayley, is my sister-in-law. She got married here in Los Angeles a year and a half ago. Hayley, also is such a natural beauty. On her, I used half lashes to really lift the corners of her eyes. It ended up looking soft, natural and helped awaken her eyes and accentuate her smile.