From Day To Night Workshop

A couple of wks ago I had the pleasure of doing the makeup and hair for Award Winning Wedding Photographer Lisa Mark's first workshop.  You may remember we worked together in the Fall on that beautiful styled shoot on the cliff that showcased the changing of the leaves. She put this workshop together to help newer photographers see and learn some of her tricks and techniques for lighting wedding shots during the day and night.

I thought this would also be a fun opportunity for me to do what I wanted with a "bride" (since normally I obviously have to do what they want lol).  The couple for the day was real life couple Andrea & Billy and they were really lovely and great sports b/c it was a REALLY long day and I'm sure tiring to be modeling for Lisa + 10 students for both the Day & Night Portion of the workshop (they agreed to do the whole day after the original night time couple cancelled).  It also was a great opportunity for them as Lisa was booked on their real wedding day so I guess getting these pictures is kind of like the next best thing lol!

For the day look I wanted to work w/ pinks and grays on the eyes.  I wanted to keep it soft and glowy b/c I knew I was going to go a lot more dramatic for the night portion.  The cooler tones worked beautiful w/ Andrea's pale skin and dark hair. Airbrush foundation was used to create her flawless complexion.  For the hair I wanted it loose w/ curls pulled to one side.  I never met Andrea before but I knew from the pics I saw she was going to need extensions to get the fullness and length I wanted.  And can I just say without meeting her I did an amazing job choosing the colour for the extensions lol!  They were a PERFECT match!  I got a couple of nice pics from Lisa and one of the other photographers at the shoot Johanne Guignard (who probably took my fav beauty shots that day).

For the night look I wanted something  much more dramatic as I knew the lighting was going to be very dark.  I think Andrea was a little scared at first by the intensity but once the lights went down in the studio she realized it all made sense...which is something I'm constantly trying to explain to clients when it comes to a more intense look at the reception lol!  I went w/ a sophisticated side updo. Bold grey/black smokey eye and a deep berry red lip.  I personally believe in dark lighting and w/ the right features/skin tone there is no reason a person can't rock both a bold lip and intense eye.  It's definitely not a look for the shy or meek but it's personally something I wear on the regular when going out.

So overall some nice additions for my website!

Photographer - Lisa Mark Photography

Photographer - Lisa Mark Photography

Photographer - Johanne Guignard

Photographer - Johanne Guignard

Photographer - Johanne Guignard

Photographer - Johanne Guignard

Photographer - Johanne Guignard

Little Behind The Scenes Action 

Photographer - Johanne Guignard

Fall Flashback - Wedding Creative

I just realized I never shared with you guys the pics I did from a wedding creative shoot I did back in the Fall with Lisa Mark Photography.  Don't know how I missed that one b/c the pictures are gorgeous and the location was seriously stunning!

I had known about Lisa's wedding work for awhile now and had even assisted a few weddings where she was the photographer so this past Summer when I realized we'd be working together on a wedding I was super excited.  From that wedding I took it upon myself to introduce myself and let her know if she had and wedding creative shoots in the future I'd be more than game to do makeup and/or hair.

So when Lisa contacted me saying she was planning a Fall Wedding Creative I was more than excited to be a part of it.  I actually only did the makeup for the shoot which was actually a nice treat b/c it's so rare when I'm working that I only have to do makeup.

For the shoot Lisa used a former bride of hers - Stephanie who was a delight to work with.  Lisa also created the most amazing tulle skirt for the shoot which went so well with the magical, romantic feel of the shoot.

For the makeup I actually got to do a bit more intense look than a lot of my brides will let me do and you know what - it looked gorgeous!  I really wish I could convince more clients to do this level of makeup.  It wasn't insane by any means but it did have a bit of drama but still looked gorgeous in real life and was intense enough that it looked awesome in pics too!  I airbrushed her face for the foundation and I'm not going to lie the more I do airbrush and since I got my new Temptu airbrush compressor the more I'm loving it!  For the makeup I wanted to do something that had a sort of Fall feel to go w/ the season and the scenery - we were shooting on cliffs and in forests and highlighting the changing of the leaves in the Fall.  Therefore I wanted to do browns, golds and bronze types colours on the eyes, bronzed/rose cheeks and a deeper nude/peach sort of lip.

The weather that day was amazing!  We were a bit worried about rain but it held out and it was cool of course - it was Fall after all but not freezing so that was good for both crew and model...I'm not gonna lie I'm not a happy makeup artist when I'm cold on set outside lol.  The leaves were just changing and it all turned out beautifully!  As you can see from the gorgeous pics below!

Seriously how stunning is this location!

Gotta love a nice action shot ;)

After The Rain

It's seems like forever since I've posted some creative work I've done on here so I'm so excited to share w/ you a new beauty story I did back in Jan that is currently featured in Tantalum Magazine! It's really cool too b/c there is a lot of really good work featured in the magazine...always nice to be surrounded by other awesome artists and work!  Also awesome is that the magazine is available in online and in print!

For this look I really wanted to work w/ the idea of wet or glistening skin and wet strands of hair in the face.  I'm not going to lie it's not as easy as it looks to make it work and in fact in the beg. of the shoot I thought we were going to have to scrap the whole concept b/c it just wasn't meshing the way we (as a team) had envisioned.  It finally started to come together though when we realized it looked better if the hair was wet but being blown over the face gently using a bit of fan action versus being placed and stuck to the face.

It's always important to remember to not be afraid to make mistakes or try new things out as artists...sometimes what you originally had in mind isn't going to work but sometimes something even better comes out of it!

For the makeup I wanted the skin to being dewey and glistening and I used a lot of baby oil gel, clear lip gloss and MAC strobe cream for that.  The problem when doing any sort of "wet" look though is the up keep...it looks awesome but only for about 5 mins so you gotta work quick to get that shot lol!  I also wanted to get back into using some colour w/ Spring (hopefully) around the corner lol!  A lot of the products used were from Yaby Cosmetics, Face Atelier, OCC and MUFE...great shoot to pull out my flash palette and OCC pigments!

After The Rain

Photographer Ruo Bing Li

Model Julee (Elite)

Pink Martini Spring/Summer Lookbook

Back in late Summer I had the chance to work w/ an amazing team on the Pink Martini Spring/Summer 2014 lookbook!  I knew the day of the shoot we created some really gorgeous pics but I had no idea how awesome they would turn out!  I've literally been waiting months to be able to show some of these pics to you so I'm so glad I finally get the chance to do so.

This may be surprising to some...I know it is to me when I look at the pics but these were actually shot in Hamilton, ON...I love the bohemian, traveler vibe we were able to get w/ this shoot and although my knowledge of Hamilton before this shoot was limited I was very surprised to see just how well it worked for the theme.  Plus the people and stores in the city were so inviting and helpful w/ letting us shoot...coffee shops, clothing stores, fruit markets...none of them had a problem w/ us stopping in and taking some pics...yeah that definitely would not be happening in Toronto lol!

As anyone can tell from the pics the shooting conditions were perfect - warm & sunny but not too hot.  Plus I have to say I've worked on a lot of lookbooks and the clothes in this collection were outstanding!  They looked great in person and fit even better!  I think there was one dress that had to be clipped...literally that's it!  That's almost unheard of for any sort of lookbook or catalog shoot!

The clothes are available online at numerous stores including some of my personal fave - Modcloth and Ruche plus numerous stores around Canada and USA.

As you can see from the makeup and hair I was going for a very soft and pretty look.  Not trying to hard - just soft neutrals on the eyes, flushed/glowy cheek and a soft glossed lip.  For the hair I wanted loose curls...again I wanted it all to look effortless and natural to go w/ the "traveler theme" of the shoot.  Really hope I get to work w/ everyone again on another project!

Special thanks goes out to the entire team on this shoot:

Photographer - Eleanor Dobbins

Model - Kelleth Cuthbert (Sutherland)

Creative Director - Salvina Lauricella

I know it's a lot of pics (and this isn't even all of them...I just couldn't decide on my favs)

No idea how I'll pick just a couple for my site lol!

A Long Way From Home - MEGA Man Editorial

So I just got my hands on the final editorial spread for MEGA Man magazine (Philippines) featuring my photographer friend and resident photographer/judge on Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 1 Todd Anthony Tyler. Before he became a photographer he was actually a model for several years which I think has definitely influenced his work and shooting style. It was so fun to get to work w/ Todd on a shoot as it had been such a long time...although this one was slightly different as he was the model and not the photographer lol!

It was a little chaotic to get this whole thing even planned and executed as we had to get it done during Todd's last visit to Canada in Sept. which also happened to coincide w/ TIFF and NYCFW...yeah...not the easiest time to do an editorial or source wardrobe let me tell you!  But it all came together in the end and I think it looks amazing and Todd totally captured that rugged, Canadian outdoors look we were going for...very different from the Philippines obviously...which was also another reason Todd wanted to shoot this in Canada.

Once Todd explained the concept to me and everything he was looking for I knew I had the perfect photographer for him.  I'm so glad Zach Hertzman (who I've worked w/ on a number of occasions) was able to shoot this story b/c his style was exactly what Todd was going for and he's so great on-location and w/ natural light!

The location for the shoot was actually Todd's sisters farm and land (and we also did a mini detour to a horse farm at the end of the shoot)...what's funny is Todd was location scouting and asking his family before the shoot for ideas and no one thought to suggest the farm (which he had never seen prior) b/c they thought it was too run down or "not pretty" enough...it's funny how ppl not in fashion don't always understand how we actually WANT those run down, dirty locations b/c they have character lol!

As far as my part in this whole editorial is concerned...I'm not going to lie...it was pretty easy.  It's male grooming and Todd has great skin so just cleaned it up a bit (covered some of those under eye circles) and styled the hair.  The thing w/ a shoot like this is to not make him too "clean" or "pretty".  I wanted him to look a bit rugged and dirty so I actually went to my friends at Blur Makeup Room  and picked up some Reel Dirt to work on to his hands and face to give him that slightly dirty, rugged look.

So here's the editorial!  I've also slipped in a couple behind the scenes shots from the day!  I actually have a bunch of pics that didn't make it into the editorial...there are so many great pics from this shoot!

His sister has mini horses...how cute are they!  Btw I know you can't tell but it was COLD outside...esp. considering it was the middle of Sept!!!

Zach doing his thing...Todd doing his

Me literally "getting my hands dirty" w/ the Reel Dirt

Gail

Back in late Summer/early Fall I got a visit from my long time photographer friend Todd Anthony Tyler.  It was great to see him again esp. since he had just wrapped filming the first season of Asia's Next Top Model where he is head photographer and judge for the competition!  He was here visiting some family and came to the city one day to do a very casual shoot.

The shoot was very basic and simple...in fact it was shot on my back deck, in my patio doorway and even on my roof!  The whole concept was just Asian beauty.  The idea is that Todd might at some point put together a book w/ a collection of his work showcasing all different types of Asian beauty since there are so many and it's such a diverse concept across the continent of Asia.

We were lucky enough to get two models that day and here are the pics from the shoot w/ Gail from Spot 6.  Very simple and clean except for a very dark lip.  One of the pics was even featured in an article Todd had published in an Asian photography magazine :)

Photographers just LOVE their B&W ;)

For a new model Gail is really great at connecting w/ the camera!