30, Flirty and Fabulous!

I knew I wanted 30 to be fabulous, as with all other things I do. But so many things needed to be in place. The next few blog posts will be dedicated to the fabulosity that is 30 !

The SHOOT
I wanted to have a photoshoot of all my girlfriends who were 30.. or at least those who wanted to admit it. The plan was I would do everyone's makeup and we would capture this fab time on the roof of the Oceans 2 Resort.
I had very limited time and everyone started coming around 3pm for a 5pm shoot. At least I knew the look I was going for. I wanted just bronze and clean. Not only would this allow me to finish all 8 of us  on time but it would ensure everyone was just their most pretty without looking too busy.
I also wanted everyone to feel comfortable in their skin after. Makeup for a shoot can get pretty heavy and knowing that I would have to fight some of my friends into lashes and heavy liner, I didn't want them to have to spend the rest of the night feeling like they wanted to peel their faces off.

Products used
Black Opal foundation and Powder
Ben Nye Banana Powder
Inglot shadows
Sleek eyeshadow palette in Au Naturel
Mac brow pencil in Stud
Mac liner in Smoulder
Revlon Colorstay liner in black
Red cherry Lashes #606
Nars Taj Mahal Blush
Sleek Blush in Aruba
Mac lip pencil in Chestnut
NYX lip colours and glosses

To tell you the truth unless someone is pried from my chair I rarely want to stop applying or modifying the makeup .
So as crunch time approached we just had to drop everything and run to the roof  and got their just in time to catch the last rays of sun.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Ashika before

Danielle 

Maren practising her poses

In my 30 glasses

Danni getting her prep

Directing lol!!

Jaryd, our photographer waged war with the lights and the sun and finally lost his battle and gave up trying but the shots are as always.... fabulous!

now we're listening to the professionals

Apparently the water was cold

30 & Chillin

30 Glasses for the bday girl

Under 30 but still fabulous

OFFICIAL PHOTOS

ALL WHITE, ALL GLAM, ALL GORGEOUS

 THE IFILL SISTERS

ME AND G..!! 

Gregory and I really wanted a nice head  shot but when Jaryd suggested I jump into the pool..of course I said yes!! please note my gorgeous DIY 30 shoes !

Look out for more 30 blogposts to come !

Oh What Luck!!!

I have always heard it is better to be lucky than rich, and more and more I believe it is true. I am an avid youtube viewer. When I say avid I mean I don't go to work until I check for new videos. So you can say I am a bit obssessed . I mean between yt and twitter you feel so like everyone is your buddy  and you can chat away with people who love the same makeup I love and feel just how I feel.

Giveaways on yt happen all the time and I usually watch the  giveaway vids and seldomly enter. I always feel like " Whatever, there is no way I can win."  So I can count on one hand how many  I have entered.
Somehow I decided to enter the Gossmakeupartist January giveway.  After many "I want to win Makeup" I watched the goss winner video and nearly fainted at my iPad. When he said the winner is Moccatreat. I played the video for everyone to make sure I had heard him correctly.

You have to understand why I was so excited. It is not just the products but that of all the people in the world who entered and 236,242 yt followers I WON!! Insert Happy dance here.

Let's not forget the star factor. Watching people on yt is just like tv and honestly they are MUA superstars to me. When you see them in public you want to whip out your phone and post on your fb page ASAP.

I have watched Wayne Goss's videos forever but what I love most are his shortest, most concise  and honest reviews. When you subscribe and you see a video that's only 2 minutes ...WATCH IT!! I mean I dont have time to sit through 20 mins of footage before I get to the hot stuff. So he hits the spot for me everytime.

So let me get to the HOT STUFF . This is what I won from THE Wayne Goss aka gossmakeupartist. SUBSCRIBE people SUBSCRIBE!

 Goss's Informative Channel
Wayne Goss MUA

My Prizes

First the MAC Dazzlesphere

As my luck would have it I bought this dasslesphere over the holidays and it the one I use the most so it is almost got ...Now I have a new one . What Luck!

My First Bobbi Brown palette and my favourite of the lot. 

 Bobbi Brown Black Ruby Sparkle Eye Palette. How Pretty!!

A Sleek Case

Also My First Dior Palette

Dior 5 Coleurs in 030. When I saw this I though immediately of one of my friends and return clients Regina who loves these subtle tones.

Also and most shockingly, my first Sugar Pill palette in Sweet Heart. I know Sugar Pill has been a favourite for a while but after my IMATS shopping spree I had nothing left when I got to the Sugar Pill booth . So I was happy to get this one !

I am thrilled with everything.I received everything in great condition and super fast. Thanks to Goss I have a collection of fabulous items I am sure to love using.

If you have only been watching youtube for dancing babies and Machel videos,  you are missing out. There is so much to learn and so many people to connect with.  Start Subscribing! 

Working with a Celebrity

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to work with an old friend Ayesha Ibrahim. She had contacted me  about collaborating with her during the holidays to provide makeup for the promotion of her hot new clothing line. I was all in. Not only was she an old school mate but we grew up just around the corner from each other.
Ayesha now resides in Miami but came home for a working holiday and made an appearance on the Morning Barbados show and was interviewed for the Sunday Easy Magazine.

Ayesha as she appeared in the Sunday Sun 

My parents who never miss  Mornin' Barbados were thrilled to see "little Ayesha" from around the corner on television and read about her progress in the Sunday Sun. My mother had only one problem, which was that I  had not taken the time to let her know that a celebrity was at her house!!!

So after this tongue-lashing when Ayesha returned for a special N2N photoshoot I made sure to give early notice to my mother who came armed with her camera to be photographed with a celebrity!!!

Our shoot got started at the crack of dawn and this time we couldn't travel to an exotic locale. We were without a portable  light source so we got a really really long extension and had the shoot on an abandoned lot.

Ayesha was a trooper! She is smiling but what she is thinking is "Is Brian serious?"

Brian selecting the "perfect spot"

Often I am called upon to do more than look cute and paint faces. I was put in charge of holding the lights and keeping the giant umbrella steady.......

........ So much for that idea. One high wind I was on the ground with the lights!

After all the dust settled I was happy to work with Ayesha and I cant wait to see more designs from ASMI .

A fresh faced Ayesha before

Our Final Shots

This stunning dress is one of Ayesha's creations

Looking forward to the next home town celebrity I get the chance to work with.

New Year, New Face

It's still January so the year is still new and as usual I have planned to make changes. The usual, weight loss, save more la de dah de dah .
This year however with 30 looming around the corner la de dah will no longer cut it. So one by one I have been tackling the things I want to change. One big item is skin care.
You would think that someone who loves makeup and fussing over their face would spend more time taking care of their skin.
What I do spend is alot of money actually buying skincare items but I never seem to finish them. But no more. Starting now I am embarking on an EB challenge, The Empty Bottle challenge. From my undereye serums to my night resurfacing elixer I intend to actually finish a bottle of something, anything!  This doesn't only make pocket sense but often we quit using something before it even has a chance to make a marked difference in our appearance.

I am  doing seven things to improve my skin this year .

1. Keeping my fingers away from my face. Scratching, pinching and squeezing are doing nothing other than putting germs on my face and leaving unsightly scars.

2. Cleansing, toning and moisturizing twice a day. I want to work on my pores so I am currently using Clinique Pore Refining Solutions Correcting Serum before I moisturize.

3. Wearing sunscreen everyday.. ..or at least a moisturizer with a suitable SPF.
I am giving Clinique's Age Defense Moisturizer a try.

4. Using a mask once every week.
5. Exfoliating regularly. I know whenever I heard the term exfoliate before all I could see is  the old st. Ives Apricot Scrub and the scratches I made rubbing that sanding lotion onto my face. But select a gentle exfoliator. In fact an exfoliator doesn't even need to have granules in it to be effective. Chemical exfoliates have been proven to slough off dead skin cells without the harsh scrubbing action of granules.
I am currently loving Olay Regenerist Nightime Resurfacing Elixir.

 6. Taking off my makeup before bed....THOROUGHLY !!! More on what I'm using later.

7. Being consistent ! It doesn't help my cause starting, then stopping, anything.  My scale can tell you that .
Good makeup should start with good skin care and I intend to make this the year I focus on having clean, clear and healthy skin.

Holiday Looks: Merry Berry Christmas

'Tis the season for makeup and recently some of my friends and clients have been asking for red shadow. I am honestly not a fan of red shadow. It is probably the only colour in my pans that remains untouched. But the holidays are too great not to give rich berry hues a try.
First I created a simple red berry eye with a natural pink lip.

Products used:
Face 
Black Opal foundation Suede Mocha
Ben Nye Banana powder (I am having a love affair with this one ..more info coming soon)
Mac Blush in Sweet as Cocoa
Eyes 
Mac Brow pencil in Stud
MUFE Flash Colour in red (any red shadow base will do)
Ben Nye Shadow in Red Hot ( matte red)
Sleek Makeup Palette in sunset (I used the matte black as the outer corner,rust on the lid and the champagne colour on the brow bone )
Red cherry LAshes #47
Lips 
Mac lip pencil in Chestnut
Mac lipstick in Modesty

Inspired by Lisa Eldrige's Matchy Make up tutorial, I followed up this look by amping up the cheeks and lips with some hot berry hues.

Cheeks
Bobbi Brown Cream Blush in Red Berry
Lips
Mac lipstick in Port Red
Mac Lipglass in Purple Rage

I may very well stop scowling at the red in my kit and give these hot reds a try in the future. Take a look around your makeup bag and give some of those unloved shadows a shot. Maybe you will be as happy with the results as I am.

From Drab to Fab

I wanted for a long time to have a makeup workshop, but just because you feel like talking doesn't mean people feel like listening. And seriously, I am always talking. For years though, my friends have been asking me tons of questions about makeup.
"What foundation should I buy?"
"Where should I buy eyeshadow?"
 "How do I use an eyelash curler?"
 I finally found the right location and the right time and held my first workshop.

 I had a blast and judging from the laughter and the tears of everyone there, they had a blast too.

I tried to cover all the things I remembered I wanted to know.

What people wanted was to have the world of makeup boiled down to simple, easy to understand steps  and of course with solutions for our climate and items that can be found in our market.
Well I had a major challenge. Almost my entire kit came from "over 'n away" and you know why . Not only is availability a problem but  as a mere consumer I don't understand the challenges which face the average retailer. I cannot see how a product which is sold for US$1 can be brought to Barbados and retailed here for BDS$9-$12 .I also don't understand how something bought for US$3 retail is sold here for BDS$25. So as a makeup lover who must beautify on a budget, I choose to purchase elsewhere.

So for the most part I offered information about where my favourite items could be purchased online, how they could be sourced through makeup suppliers in Barbados and where in Barbados you could find a cheaper alternative to those makeup must-haves. We also covered makeup application techniques, selecting  foundation and a slew of tips and tricks from how to get your eyeshadow to last, to how to keep lipstick off your teeth.

 Explaining some of the basics with hands on hips like the school teacher I am :-)

Showing how to apply powder using the brush or cosmetic sponges 

Look people are actually taking notes!!!!!!!!!! lookah me !!!!!!!!!!

Model Sade After

I honestly felt "fussy". The oohs and aaaaahs that come after someone finally understands something were gratifying and knowing that I could help persons to make informed purchases was great.

And of course I had giveaways. Each person received a gift bag with discount vouchers from N2N  and Platinum Touch, an eyeshadow pallette and at the end thanks to an idea from the O2B2 tour Barbados, we had giveaways of 30 different makeup products from Black Opal lip colours and mineralize shadows, to MAC pigments, vouchers for makeup from Beauty Essentials and lots of mascaras, glosses and shadows to supplement the gift bags.

"Heyy that's my ticket I won!!"

 Mother and Daughter eyeing their winnings

Finally a basket of goods with things women actually want !!!!

Our grand prizes were  my favourite makeup DVD the Basics of Beauty by Mr. Sam Fine and a Royal & Langnickel 12 piece brush roll.

The lucky winners

I want to thank everyone who contributed to the class's massive success. At one point I had one room full of clients and in the other a room full of workers, sorting gift bags, helping with refreshment and just being there to support.

Special thanks to
Gregory Broomes
Alexis Gonsalves
Allison Whittaker
Sherry Bradshaw
Ann Clarke (Assistant MUA :-)
Lorreto Duffy-Mayers
Anita Holder

Contributors
Platinum Touch
Beauty Essentials
Black Opal Cosmetics

Anyone who knows me knows  I can be a bit greedy.. so next time there will be more ...... More giveways .. More fun..... More Fabulousness and More  Next2Natural.