The Perfect Face of Summer

Do you ever find that when the weather warms up your foundation starts to look cakey and overdone?

Now that summer is here it's time to change up your make up wardrobe. This is the time of the year when we really want our skin to look fresh and dewy, clean and healthy. Traditional foundations start to sweat and melt, and really don't look good after an hour or so at a picnic in the park. (or any other outdoor pursuit!)

I'm sure you're all being beaten half to death with sales pitches for tinted moisturizers right now. In theory I think they're great, but in reality I find they don't give enough coverage, so skin looks blotchy, they move unevenly on the skin as the day wears on, leaving you looking patchy, your other color products don't want to stay on them, and if you are anywhere near a combination skin or slightly oily skin your skin winds up looking gooey.

Hardly what I'd call fabulous...

One of the best kept secrets out there is a magic potion for summer skin.
It's a product by Make Up Forever called Face and Body.




Face and Body gives gorgeous coverage and keeps the skin looking even and beautiful, without looking made-up or overdone. It is very sheer, but has a divine texture which makes everyone's complexion look amazing.
It doesn't require much in the way of powder, so you stay very fresh faced. Blush and eye shadow both hold to it beautifully too.

This is the only foundation that you will ever hear me tell you to apply with your finger tips and not a foundation brush. You take a very small amount and gently move it in small circles, rather than just wiping it over the surface. (when you buy this product have them show you how to apply it).

For years Face and Body has been a pro make up artist product, I've used it on endless beach shoots, celebrity appearances, sports television as well as fashion work. Its the foundation that I recommend to all my clients, and that I wear myself all summer long.

Make Up Forever isn't sold in most department stores.
You can find it nationwide at Sephora, at the Make Up Forever Studio store in NYC,
Nigel Emporium in North Hollywood, the Skin and Make Up Institute in Phoenix.
You can also check their website for more locations www.makeupforever.com

Love it! Love it! Love it!

Loving that Wild Fig!

I love scented candles.

I always have them burning in my home, in the make up room, and often have them burning in the studio on photoshoots. I never take a bath without candles burning, and in fact, the first step in my morning ritual is lighting a beautiful candle before I start my skincare and make up routine.

Candles are such rich symbols of mood and sensuality, they are calming, soothing and relaxing.

My favorite at the moment is Trish McEvoy's Wild Fig Candle



The fragrance is divine, subtle without being overwhelming. Not too sweet, but fresh and clean.

I have the large candles at home, and keep the small one in my make up kit for the days that the make up room needs a little lovin.

Trish's candles are soy, so they burn clean and last a long time. They are so fragrant that you can actually just leave a new candle opened and unlit in a room for the first couple of weeks, and the room will smell gorgeous!

She has a few different fragrances as well as the Wild Fig, the most popular of which would have to be the Blackberry and Vanilla. (I burn that one all winter long!)

I buy mine at Nieman Marcus. Renee Howley, the Trish specialist at the Nieman's here in Scottsdale turned me on to them. They make lovely gifts, are fab to burn at dinner parties and soirees, and are just my favorite thing right now!

Nieman's ships, so if you are not near a Trish location call Renee at the Trish McEvoy counter at Nieman Marcus in Scottsdale AZ (480) 990-2100 and get her to send one out to you.
If you are in the greater Phoenix area go see Renee and get your make up done while you smell the candles.

Ooohh! Life is good!

Divine Hair Treatment

If you're anything like me, summertime can be quite tricky on your hair.

My hair is long and thick, and tends to dry out very easily. Beach vacations, pool time, boating, and all our summer pursuits just make it worse.

I have a favorite product/hair lifeline for you! I absolutely swear by Ojon.




Every other week (more frequently if needed) I use the Restorative Treatment at night. You scoop out a small amount of the paste, rub it between your hands until it liquifies, and massage it into the hair and scalp, then use the little tribal comb to pull it through evenly.
I throw a towel over my pillow and sleep in it, then rinse it out in the morning and follow up with their Hydrating Shampoo & Conditioner.


Without fail my hair regains its shine and luster!

Check them out at www.Ojon.com

Have a beautiful day!

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!