Hello Texas - I Love You!!!

Have I told you yet how much I love the great state of Texas, and those that live there?

Sometimes I go there for work, sometimes I go there to see friends, but every time I go there I have an absolute blast! Texans just have to be amongst the most friendly, fun loving folks to roam the earth. And I love them.

I feel a great affinity to Texan women too, because every single one of them that I either am friends with, or work with (and there are very murky lines there - they start as clients and evolve beautifully into very close friends) appears to have a mind-bending love of shoes. Just like me!

We speak the same language!

So you can imagine my total delight yesterday, when I walked into the hotel room of my brand new Texan client, who had flown in a mere hour before, and right there, smack bang in front of me, like a sign from the universe that this day was about to become completely brilliant, I saw these:


Sing angels, sing! Exquisite patent leather YSL sandals. (Hers were black, but I couldn't find black ones to show you online). I knew from that moment forward, that this was meant to be! No accidental client meets makeup artist story here - this was fate!

And of course, she was cool, funny, clever and super friendly, the way Texans always are.

After her makeup was all finished and I'd packed my brushes etc away, she took on a very conspiratorial tone, and said "I have to show you something..."

Then she opened her suitcase and a pure white light shone out, angels started singing the Hallelujah Chorus, and she pulled out these:



Ooooohhh!!! Studded Prada Slingback Peeptoe Boots. Can you feel the sheer magic of them reaching out to you??? Just looking at this picture makes my heart pound and my breath quicken!

When the pounding in my ears stopped, and I got my equilibrium back, she let me hold them. (We wear different sizes, otherwise I'd have put them on and walked around the room in them).

All I can say is, even holding this shoe, you know your mojo is overflowing.
I held them for ages.
They are perfect.
My world would be perfect if I owned them.
I instinctively know that makeup would go on better if I was wearing them.

Long live Prada, and God love Texas.

xo

C

Flirting Madly With Fall...

I am super excited about MAC's new Flirt With Fall Lash campaign!






Academy Award nominated makeup artist Christina Smith developed this line for MAC, and infused it with a little (lot!) movie magic.


Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!

There are six different lashes in the collection, but my favorite three are:

Set #44


Set #45 - these are a half set, for use on the outer segment of the eyelid, to add drama but not close the eye. Great for those with smaller eyes who feel that their eye gets lost behind a big, full lash.




And the piece de resistance, the #47's. These are the absolute most fabulous lashes!
Love, love, loving all over them!!!



We may be shooting Lea Cappelli this weekend for a magazine piece, if so, I will be using these on her to create some extra gorgeous drama-rama!

Batt 'em ladies!

xo

C

For The Ladies Who Lash....

One of my favorite tricks in makeup-land, both on clients and on myself, is using individual lashes to really enhance an eye and bring out some controlled drama.
Not every occasion calls for a full strip lash, and a strip can in fact overwhelm an eye, but individuals can really save the day.

So today I'm going to teach you how to apply them, so you have time to practice, and then get out there and rock some fabulous this weekend!

Now individual lashes can be a bit tricky at first, but don't go getting disheartened. Just practice a few times and you'll be just fine.
Some people like to hold a hand mirror under their chin with their free hand to help them see what they're doing, others (like me) can't co-ordinate that, and just lean in to the bathroom mirror and tip their chin up.

First up, you are going to do your entire eye makeup, including tons of mascara. If you are going to curl your lashes, be careful not to crimp them and have them flicking upwards. It makes it super difficult to place a false lash, and falsies are never shaped at that angle. So if curling, just get a gentle bend into the lash.



I'll be teaching you this pretty little eye makeup next week...


I use Duo Surgical Adhesive to glue false lashes. You are highly unlikely to develop a reaction to this product, whereas some of the others I'm a tad skeptical of. It goes on white and dries clear, so you know exactly when they're ready. You can buy clear lash glue or black lash glue, but I recommend this one.


Now to the lashes themselves. You can buy Ardell or Andrea individual lashes everywhere, and they are actually very inexpensive, and really good. Depending on the length of your own lashes get either short black flair or medium black flair.
These aren't actually one single lash, but instead are a group of lashes knotted together.




Now using your tweezers (mine are Tweezerman tweezers, my absolute favorite), gently lift off one lash from close to the knot. They are held onto the plastic case with a soft adhesive. If you pull from the end of the lash you'll change the shape of it.




Dip it into the glue and get the knotted end covered. Hold it for a few seconds to let it get tacky.




Now with your eye mostly closed, place the lash right at the lashline. Not up on the eyeliner and not on the lashes, but instead place it where a new lash would grow. The idea here is to make it look like they're your own.

I don't place them so that they're pointing straight out, but instead angle them slightly to the outer corner of the eye. This widens your eyes and makes them look more sultry and mysterious.
(and we all want sultry and mysterious...!)



Your first lash should be your outer-most lash. Now you are going to place 2 or 3 more along the lashline, not too close together, just far enough apart that the outer corners of each lash slightly cross one another. This creates some depth and makes your lashes look thicker and sexier.

While you're doing this, you keep the eye you're working on looking downwards, or if you're super talented, closed. If you are batting your eyelids around the lashes will start heading off in all kinds of different directions and will start twisting sideways etc.
(I told you it was tricky, but once you've got it down its like riding a bike - you don't even think about the mechanics of it, you just do it)



I place the back of my tweezers underneath to level the lashes and keep them inline with the natural lashes.



It takes a few miutes for the lashes to dry, so sit there with your eyes closed and zen out or something.

Once they have dried they look like fab-u-lashes that you grew yourself.



This tutorial was shot during a teen photoshoot, so I couldn't do a hardcore lash fabulous, we had to look somewhat natural. But I use individuals all the time, so will post pics of some rocking thick ones sometime soon so you can see how they look too.

All these images were shot by the fabulous Kelly Cappelli on location at my home away from home, Studio 5, on a photoshoot with our beautiful model Monica.

Oooh! Lovin Me Some Deep, Dark Lips!

I have to say, I am just loving all over one of the new lipsticks from Urban Decay!

The fall collection has three shades, Naked (been there, done that, but it is pretty), Oil Slick (very goth, black glossy lip - um, not so much) and oh yeah sister - the object of my affection, Confession!








Now we're talking! Its a fabulous grapey, deep wine slice of fabulous. I'm loving it with a soft, yet defined eye, tons of lashes and a pale cheek.
In fact, I may just shoot a tutorial with it so you can see.

Sometimes its nice to take a breather from a smokey eye, and send all the focus to your lips. A word of warning though, if you have thin lips, this is not a great choice for you. Even if you mute it down to a stain, a color this deep and robust can make your mouth look like a mean, thin slash.

On the upside though, the blue base is going to make your teeth look whiter than white...

This shade looks more intimidating than it really is. It's actually quite a soft glossy lip rather than a full lipstick and reminds me a bit of the Clinique gloss Black Honey.


My other favorite from Urban Decay is Vinyl. Not new, but still gorgeous.

I love deep, grape colored lips in the fall....

A quick note about their formulations: They have Vitamins A, C and E. They also have Hyluronic spheres which prevent dehydration and have a creme caramel scent.


The packaging is kinda fun too.

Hellooooo Halle!!!

Can I even tell you how fabulous it is to wake up and find you have something in common with the absolutely spectacular Ms Halle Berry???

She is arguably one of the most divine creatures to ever prowl the surface of the planet, and she has all that talent, the darling baby and the hot man to make the perfect picture complete!

Given the choice I would love to wake up and find that miraculously overnight I had aquired legs like hers, but unfortunately, no matter how many times I check, my own are still attached to my torso. Ho hum...

So anyway, I was all kinds of excited to see this picture of Halle and the gorgeousness that is her beautiful baby Nahla. Because if you look at her neckline, it would appear that she is wearing the Circle Of Peace pendant necklace from d lynan designs. The same one that I am wearing this very minute, and tend to wear every single day!





See, this is the necklace. Its a killer cool peace sign, with a guitar neck as the center bar.
I love it!
Its quite heavy sterling silver - not plated. It hangs just below the collar bone, I think the chain is somewhere around 20 inches. The detail on every aspect of the piece is just delicious, from the inventive clasp, to the chain, to the actual pendant itself itself. Even the reverse side of the pendant has a fabulous design!

The d lynan designs Artistic Soul collection is very edgy, rock n roll cool. It reminds me of Chrome Hearts, (which I always associate with the coolest musicians I've ever worked with, and ever known).
I'm sure rockers are grabbing these right now, as well as the Hollywood crowd, plenty of whom already have them.
So when you see one of these around the neck of some celebrity in InStyle magazine, or up on the big screen at a sold out concert, don't go forgetting just who it was who told you about them first!





Here are two more from the collection....



They look great layered, either together or with other pieces.



...and no, that's not me. If I had legs like that I wouldn't be writing this blog, I'd be off standing somewhere, looking all leg-u-licious, so that people could look at them...

As a side note I have to say I was really taken with the packaging too. Very innovative and exciting! I love well thought out presentation of a really fabulous product.

If you'd like to see more of the d lynan designs Artistic Soul Collection, you can find it at www.dlynan.com and then you can join me, and Halle, and Cam, and Jen, and Anne etc etc...
(notice how I put myself right up in there with them???) and own one of these too.

Oh, and a percentage from the sale of each Circle of Peace Necklace goes to the charity
In A Perfect World check them out at www.iapw.org


xo

C

Voicing All Over It...

Well this was more fun than you could shake a stick at!

Last week I had to go to Illuma Studios to record some voice overs. (Those of you who have done voice overs etc might want to go file your nails or something, for the rest of you, its a kinda cool little behind the scenes deal...)

Illuma is a full service television studio. They shoot TV programs, commercials etc in there. They also have a completely fabulous makeup room.
I hadn't been in the audio room there before, so it was fun getting to scope it out.

Behind me you can see the recording engineer, Jeff Ocheltree. He is sitting at the sound board, and that big window infront of him actually looks into the studio itself. That way the engineer can be watching the goings on on set while twirling all those fun dials.



The pinot colored squares behind my mike are tiles made of this absorbant stuff that stops my voice from bouncing off the walls. It feels really odd & porous. (I probably shouldn't have been touching it, but couldn't help myself.)




If I'd known there'd be pictures involved I would have done something about the hairdo...

Kelly Capelli and I had client meetings to go to immediately after this, so she came along with her camera and sat in, and we were able to head out afterwards together. And going anywhere with Kelly is always great fun!

I think this studio only does voice/speaking-type audio. I dont think they record music there. Could be wrong though...
There were big headphones for me to put on, but in all honesty, I find the sound of my own voice nauseating and would have been way too distracted.

I didn't get my script until it was time to record it. Like most scripts it was being re-edited and re-written right up til the last minute. There wasn't even time for a read through before we started tracking it.

I absolutely love doing things like this, but I don't get to do them very often. I have an unusual accent, and that gets in the way of most voice opportunities. I don't sound like other Kiwis, don't sound like a Brit, don't sound American. I just kinda sound like me. Which, for the most part precludes me from lots of advertising, and which also means lots of people dont necessarily understand me that well. Especially if I'm speaking fast. (so I mess with people at every opportunity!)




Anyway, here is Jeff hard at work. He has all kinds of cool stuff at his fingertips, and that screen that he's looking at shows the audio patterns as I'm speaking. The green lines are my voice. Its cool watching him at work. His hands are flying all over that board doing things, and he's not even looking at them.





I only read through the script about four times, then picked up key phrases and said them a few different ways, so that the client had some options. The whole thing was very quick.
I had my back to him, and couldn't see if Jeff was paying attention or not, so I threw in some naughty words here and there just to keep him on his toes! haha! (of course he had to edit them out later).





Oh wow! Naughtier than I had originally thought...!
It was pretty cool watching the playback on the screen, and seeing the patterns that voices make when they're just speaking.

Oh, and the t-shirt? I told you I'd end up wearing it a hundred times over!
I just love it. I got it from Elusive Cowgirl and it says: "Love Comes Without Warning". Its got what looks like a tattoo heart on it and some bling too.
No doubt you'll see it again soon - I've been wearing it to death.

I've got some cool stuff to tell you about this week, so make sure you keep checking in.

Hope you're having a gorgeous day,

xo

C

Breezy In The Caribbean

Here we are again, its Friday, and I'm working tonite, so wont be out doing anything fabulous. Furthermore, here in sunny Phoenix its 113 degrees. The air smells like it is burnt, opening the door is like stepping into a furnace, the air conditioning in my car can't cope, and right now the arctic circle sounds really, really enticing.

So I decided to look through some travel magazines at pictures of places that I'd rather be this very minute, and I'm torn between St Thomas and St John.



This is St Thomas - doesn't it look lovely?


A couple of pages on I found this picture of delectability. And I think it might just be what I would order right now, if I were on a beach in St Thomas....



The Caribbean Bay Breeze

1 oz Bacardi
1/2 oz Malibu Rum

Pour them over a glass of ice, then top off with 1/2 pineapple juice and 1/2 cranberry juice

I bet its super refreshing. It even comes with a sword!

Have a safe and fun Friday night,

xo

C