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

Billboards Full Of Irresistiful!

Ever since I saw my first Orville ad on the subway last mth I've been on the hunt to find the others!  The problem is the wedding campaign is the only one on the subway and the other 2 are around in billboard format...and for some reason I was NEVER seeing these billboards lol!

I got word from one of the actors on the shoot that ALL 3 billboardds were around the Danforth and Eglinton area...very East and way past anywhere I normally go (I have a thing about going East...ssshhh ;) ).  So I was waiting for an opportunity when I had a car to go search for these billboards and see them in person.

That opportunity came this Sat. after my two wedding jobs.  To be honest definitely not the most ideal day to go snapping pictures of random billboards as it was raining and even mildly hailing at one point but you gotta do what you gotta do!

So I drove all the way East into Scarborough and found these bad boys for myself!  Very cool to see your work in such a GIANT format!  Saw all 3 of them!  Took pictures of the Cheerleading campaign but then when I went to take pics of the Movie Premiere campaign the angle of the billboard was too far away to get a good pic!  Luckily, another fellow artist friend of mine told me he'd seen that very campaign all over his neighbourhood in downtown Toronto.  So I then drove back downtown and found that pic just East of Jarvis and Dundas E in a small poster format.  Funny thing is literally the next day on Dundas E. West of Jarvis I saw it also in a giant billboard format!  So it's everywhere and I've just been missing it lol!

Here's the pics...pretty cool indeed!

Novus Capta

A little over a month ago I shared w/ you the awesome and edgy video editorial from the people at Light X Hevvy titled Novus (if you missed it before def. check out the video b/c it's amazing!).  Now I'm hear to share w/ you the gorgeous stills photographer Zach Hertzman shot during the two day shoot.  They are beautiful and I love the final edits and finishes Zach put on them.  He's seriously one of my fav. young photographers to work w/ b/c he has such a great style and eye.

Hope you Enjoy!

Photographer: Zach Hertzman

Makeup & Hair: Jessica Jean Myers

Stylist: Monika Tatalovic

Model: Madison (Spot 6)

Art Direction

Here's my latest editorial for Lilogi for their Avant Garde Week that just wrapped up on Fri.  Interesting theme and definitely worth checking out on the site if you haven't already...some very cool clothes and concepts displayed last week.

My concept for the shoot was sort of a Marie Antoinette/Tim Burton mix.  We agreed to do a sort of white face but I also really wanted to do a big bouffant hairstyle that also involved my mini crimper to give it texture and make it a little more interesting.  We didn't want anything on the hair to be too perfect so I made sure to careful pull pieces out from the bouffant.

Photographer Renee Rodenkirchen

Stylist Alexandra Loeb

Makeup & Hair Jessica Jean Myers

Model Eugenia (Elmer Olsen)

Here's a couple of Behind the Scenes pics too...I haven't included any of those in awhile ;)