Which Red Are You?

Do you ever wish you could wear red lipstick but cant ever find the right one? As a make up artist I spent years sourcing out reds, and have palettes and bags full of them. They are typically tricky to work with and can be quite challenging to wear. If you find the killer color, you can guarantee the texture doesn't work, or if you get the perfect texture and wearability the color turns after 5 minutes.

So I'm going to let you in on a little secret....

When it comes to reds the only name you need to know is Julie Hewett. (www.JulieHewett.net)

Julie is a Hollywood movie make up artist, responsible for much fabulous movie make up magic. Check out her movie credits on her website! Anyway, when Julie was making the movie Pearl Harbor, she couldn't find the perfect red lip that she wanted for Kate Beckinsdale, so she ended up making it herself. When the world at large saw the movie, everyone wanted that amazing red lip, magazines wrote about it, celebs and socialites begged for it, and every make up artist just had to have it!

So out of screaming necessity Julie had to create and release her boutique line of reds.

The Julie Hewett Noir series is the ultimate set of reds.

When you check out her website, look at the "Which Red Are You" section. She shows you each red, and explains who that color is perfect for. If you're a pro make up artist you need them all in your kit. If you're just a gal in need of the best red ever, look no further!
Pay special attention to the lip liners too. Rouge Noir is a staple in my kit.

One of my favorite things about the noir series, apart from the amazing colors, is that they wear so beautifully. They last so well and dont bleed. They also leave the lip nicely hydrated due to the camelia oil she puts in them.

I use them in my kit, I wear them myself, and when I teach pro make up artistry classes I make sure my students are well versed in them.

Julie Hewett is not sold in department stores. On the website you can check out the locations, or just order online www.juliehewett.net

Have a beautiful day!

Amazing Grace

I am a firm believer that a girl should always have fresh cut flowers, be wearing killer lingerie, have fab shoes, and a fragrance wardrobe as varied as her fashion wardrobe.

The flowers and lingerie we'll talk about in another blog post, and you already know about my shoe passion, so lets chat about fragrance...

I have a small but divine fragrance collection that works around what I'm wearing and where I'm going and is a part of all that is me.

I love a winter fragrance that is warmer, sexier and more complex. In the summer I wear a fragrance that is lighter and more simple, yet so beautiful. They are my signature scents and are ideal for many situations, from dinner a deux with the most handsome man ever, to a day of creativity on a cool photoshoot.

So much memory is attached to our sense of smell. A quick breath of freshly cut grass can jettison you off to summer when you were 6 years old, a hint of musk can take you back to being an awkward teenager. I had a cello teacher when I was young, who always smelled overwhelmingly of cut roses. I cant smell them without seeing her in her music studio.

So I keep my special perfumes for the outfits and occasions I want to associate them with, and always have a day to day fragrance that is fun, lovely and less expensive.

This season I am loving Amazing Grace by Philosophy.

I have a gorgeous, glamorous friend who keeps Amazing Grace shower gel and body lotion in the guest bathrooms in all of her homes. I can't smell it without thinking about being with her somewhere fabulous, having fun, laughing and loving life.

So it seemed like a good idea to put such great associations into my daily existance!

I love to layer my fragrances, and love having options on the combinations I may use on any given day. Maybe I want both shower gel and body lotion?

Maybe today is just a little perfumed body spritz

Or maybe I feel like giving it the works today?

There are several products within this line to choose from and build with.

Anyway, if you're not familiar with this lovely, feminine, fresh, summery scent, go check it out.

Afterall, there's something kinda fabulous about moving thru your day in a state of amazing grace...

Remedy for a broken heart...

What do you do when your heart is broken so badly that you can't even breathe?

Are you the girl who grabs a pint of Haagen Dazs, curls up with kleenex, a playlist ofbreak up songs (to add intensity to the pain) and some weepy movies?

Not me! I have a low fat, low carb, tear free remedy for the most brutal, aching pain of them all.

I head to the Temple of All Things Right, a.k.a the Jimmy Choo store.

For me the greatest love affair of them all is with Jimmy...

He doesn't lie, he doesn't cheat, he respects and adores your ankles and caresses your body into perfect posture. Oh Jimmy!

He also wants to bless you with the perfect snakeskin slingbacks.

In the 1990s I worked a lot with Melanie Sykes (one of the most staggeringly beautiful women in the world, and who had no idea she was even pretty).

Melanie would fly into L.A from London, and we would shoot all kinds of fun celebrity interviews for a TV show over there called The Big Breakfast.

Then, one fateful evening, we had arrived on the set of a TV show called Ally McBeal to interview Calista Flockhart. Melanie stepped out of the car and into a pair of 4 1/2 inch high, soft pink slingbacks with white feathers along the sides.

The world stood still for a moment (or 10!), my eyes filled with tears, I could hear the blood pounding in my ears, I couldn't breathe! Melanie looked at me with complete understanding and breathed two magical words that would become forever intwined with my life. Jimmy Choo.

I couldn't find any pictures of the pink slingbacks, but I'm sure you can feel the magic in these.

Girls all over the globe were having the same visceral reaction to Jimmy's as I did. Within months of that evening you couldn't open a magazine without seeing celebrities, models, and the divinely well heeled pictured in Jimmy's. In fact in celebrity-land Jimmy Choo went hand in hand with breathing. BTW, these are not my thighs...

The quest for Jimmys became a fabulous obsession. Glossy magazine ads for his shoes were observed with reverence. Tamara Mellon (the genius behind the brand) made her way to the top of my "most admired" list. As Google caught its stride and opened up instant online gratification to the world, sites featuring Jimmys were at the top of my favorites list, and I found this new delicious way to erase a bad day - google Jimmys!

Aaahhh!

Every girl needs a goal, and I made a new pair of Jimmys my goal. (I may have forgotten to mention here that a pair of Jimmys costs somewhere between the monthly payment on a high end car, and a mortgage payment. But lets not get caught up in trivia...)

When I did eventually get my first pair of Jimmys they sat in their beautiful lavender box on my nightstand for a week. They were the first thing I'd see in the morning and the last thing I'd see at night. And it just so happened that I was nursing a broken heart at the time.

I'd be in the depths of sheer heartache misery, then I would open that lavender box, and the room would be filled with a pure white light, and the angels would sing.

And sisters, I had found the cure. Well, if not the actual cure, at least a beautiful distraction.

Even if a new pair of Jimmys is not in the budget, the stresses of life do tend to melt away as you walk through the doors of the Jimmy Choo store. I get an extra dose of happy just looking at pictures of them!

So next time your heart is in pieces, put down the comfort food and try making the pilgramage. If there's no Jimmy Choo store in your town, and you dont have a Nordstrom, theres always our dear friend Google.

Remember ladies, you can't choose who you fall in love with, but you can choose your shoes!

Love affairs come and go, love itself can be fleeting, but a pair of Jimmy Choos is forever!

Drag Strip Girl Designs

I am just loving all over my new Drag Strip Girl Tshirt!

The cut is really fabulous, form fitting without being too snug, and the fabric is just gorgeous. Its all about quality and cool design.

I love it so much that I wore it on camera yesterday for a behind the scenes interview in a rockumentary that was shooting during the music video & photoshoot I was working on. (I'll be writing about that one soon!)

Anytime I can combine racing and make up (especially when there's great music involved), I'm a happy girl!

You can check these cool T's out at http://www.dragstripgirldesigns.com/

Love it! Love it! Love it!

Make Up Forever

Time to talk about more of the products I love!


Back in the mid 90's Make Up Forever sent me an assortment of products to play with and use on the various celebs who's make up I was doing for the Oscars, Independent Spirit Awards, DGAs etc. From that moment forward I fell in love with the line.


Make Up Forever is a professional make up line that isn't available in too many places. It was one of the first lines to be designed by an artist for artists to use. The products have vastly more pigment than regular department store products, which translates into make up with staying power.

It photographs beautifully, and wears amazingly. I not only use it in my kit, but also have many of the products in my personal make up collection too.

Today I want to introduce you to a couple of indispensables that my kit would not be complete without.





First up, the Sculpting Kit.


This comes in a variety of shades, but I mostly use shade 2. The paler color is used to highlight, I mostly use it on the upper cheekbone, and the darker shade is to contour. It doesn't go on heavily and it has a beautiful texture, so you can really blend and work it and not see it sitting on the surface of the skin.



In the 80's contouring was a big deal, and was hideously overdone to the point where we shied away from it for a long time.



Now with this product you can safely go back to contouring, really bring up the bone structure and fabulous features, without anyone knowing.



I use this product on virtually everyone who gets in my make up chair. I love it on photoshoots as it lights like a dream, but I also use it for events and appearances where the client will be interacting with other people - you cant see it, just the gorgeous results.





Next up, I swear by Sens Eyes.



Both at home and in my kit this one is a must. It will dissolve and remove any make up, including really stubborn waterproof eye make up, and it doesn't leave a slimy film on the skin, so you can reapply make up straight over it.
I use it on a Q tip to lift off stained red lipstick, or do any mini repairs that are needed.
As the label suggests, its super gentle, so even the most sensitive eyes and skin do brilliantly with it.
If you're doing waterproof mascara this summer while you're having fun in the sun/surf/pool etc, this is what you want to be removing it with.

If you want to get all the technical jargon, ingredients etc on these products (and some of it is really quite fascinating) check them out at http://www.makeupforever.com/

You can buy Make Up Forever at Sephora.
In NYC its worth making the trip to their studio store, where you'll find a far more extensive range of products, especially on the pro side.
In LA I make my pilgramage to the incredible Nigel Emporium in North Hollywood, where movies and TV shows stock up on the good stuff, and check out their selection of Make Up Forever pro products.
In the Phoenix area the Skin & Make Up Institute carries Make Up Forever too.

Keep following this blog, and I will introduce you to many more products from this very fabulous line!

Have a gorgeous day...

Attention Race Fans.... Prelude to the Dream

Its funny how life works. A couple of years ago I booked a last minute make up job that I nearly didn't take, but that dropped me into one of the great love affairs of my life. (racing!)

It was a photoshoot at a race track, with a couple of race car drivers. Being that I'm all about high heels, a killer hairdo and some wicked lipgloss, I had approximately zero interest in it, had never heard of any of the people I met that day, had never been around racing and had no plans to ever be around racing. So I was not prepared for the crazy excitement that would follow!

All I can say is if you've never been to actually see a race live, there is just nothing like it!I've always loved huge rock concerts, and the closest parallel I can give you is that moment at a concert when the lights go down, the crowd goes wild, the drums start pounding, the guitars come peeling out, and your heart is beating so hard it might burst. Thats just the beginning when its a day at the races.

Since then I've been many times, and to several different types of motor racing. You could say I've become bit of an addict...

Anyway, last year a racer that I've done photoshoots with invited me to a super cool event in Rossdale Ohio at the Eldora race track. The track is owned by a guy called Tony Stewart who drives in Nascar, and is supposed to be quite a character.

Tony holds a charity event each year at his track, and the part I got to go to was called The Prelude to The Dream. Basically a bunch of Nascar drivers and a couple of NHRA drivers racing cars called Dirt Late Models.

When we arrived Tony was driving this big earthmover thing around the track, getting it ready for the race. I thought it was quite charming really, as he could easily have had someone else do it for him.

Thousands of fans show up to cheer on their favorite drivers. I'd never watched Nascar, so had no clue who any of these dudes were, apart from Jeff Gordon.

I was told that day that hanging out with Jeff Gordon is as huge as hanging out with Elvis. All day I kept wondering if that would be fat Elvis or Blue Hawaii?

(Actually I'd heard of Earnhardt too, but as far as I know he wasn't there). You could say it was a great introduction to Late Model racing. This event was dirty and dusty, loud as hell, wild, crazy, terrifying and exciting all in one! Before I knew it I was completely hooked.

Jeff Gordon in his pit Prelude to the Dream 2008

Kasey Kahne in his pit Prelude to the Dream 2008



Ryan Newman was a really cool guy

I think this guy is Matt Kenseth?

One of the car owners had a daughter there that day who wanted to tool around with my camera. Consequently I have all these photos of her favorite drivers. There were lots of other pictures too, but I couldn't post them all.

Prelude to the Dream is on again this year on June 3rd, and you can watch it on HBO pay per view. Check it out at www.HBO.com/events/prelude

I am just dying that I wont be there!

Maybe the moral of this silly little story is to always be open to opportunities that come your way - you never know what fun and exciting things are right around the corner!

Sometimes the new things that you dont think you'll like are the best things ever...

Adam Lambert Necklace, American Idol

Everybody out there in internet-land has been buzzing about the killer necklace that Adam Lambert wore in the finals on American Idol last week. The world at large wants to know who designed it and where you can get them.


Well guess what??? It is a handmade piece, designed and made by one of my very best friends!!!


The Adam Lambert necklace was designed and made by Michelle Mirkovich of Divinity Jewelry





Michelle designs custom pieces for musicians all over the world, and we regulare folk can get out hands on them too! Lets check out the Adam piece again...







If you would like to check out Michelle's cool rock n roll pieces, go to http://www.divinityjewelry.com

I'm going to do a little feature on Michelle in the next couple of weeks, so keep checking in!

I hope you're all having a fabulous Memorial Weekend!