Monday, September 30, 2013

Softlips Giveaway Winner!

CONGRATS!

Amber Andrews

You won the Softlips Prize Pack Giveaway!

Thanks for all that entered this was a super successful giveaway w/ over 500 entries!  Can't wait to bring more exciting giveaways your way in the future!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Softlips Lip Moisturizing Giveaway!

 It's a Monday...and what better way to start of the week than to have a GIVEAWAY!!! Softlips Canada has been nice enough to sponsor an AWESOME giveaway for my readers! YEAH!

It's the perfect time too!  As Fall/Winter approaches and temperatures drop I personally notice not only in myself but in my clients too a huge increase in dry, chapped lips.  Those colder temperatures and dry air are awful for our poor sensitive lips.  Thankfully Softlips is looking after us w/ their lip moisturizers available in a whole range of flavours!

Their newest one is Watermelon which couldn't be more perfect for me b/c besides Coconut (which they also have) Watermelon is my absolute favourite flavour for lip products or body products in general...it's also my fav flavour for Jelly Belly Jellybeans ;)

I've been using these lips moisturizers for the past few days and they are great.  Not greasy or sticking but still moisturizing...they only smell nice they don't actually taste like watermelon which is good b/c I know w/ some flavoured glosses the prob is you end up licking your lips all the time which in turn dries them out more. They also have SPF 20 which even though it's getting colder it's still important to product your lips against harmful UV rays...esp. important if you're doing outdoor snow sports like skiing or snowboarding where the sun actually reflects off the snow...and if you do any sort of Winter sports you know how much they dry out your lips!  They are also infused w/ Vitamin E and they are Cruelty and Gluten Free - YEAH!

If Watermelon isn't your think no worries they have a HUGE variety of flavours...definitely something for everyone!  And beyond the lip moisturizers which go on smooth and colour free they also have glosses and tinted lip moisturizers for those wanting a little more pizazz!

So now onto the GIVEAWAY!  This is an AWESOME prize pack w/ SO MUCH STUFF!  Literally it's like a lifetime supply of lip moisturizers!



One Lucky Reader will get ALL OF THIS! OPEN TO CANADIANS ONLY!


  • 1 Watermelon Double
  • 1 Cool Cherry Double
  • 1 French Vanilla Double
  • 1 Coconut Cream Double
  • 1 Ravishing Raspberry Double
  • 1 Strawberry Sherbet Double
  • 1 Honeydew Melon Double
  • 1 Organic Pomegranate
  • 1 Organic Acai Berry
  • 1 Organic Peppermint
  • 1 Cosmetic Case
  • 1 Purse Mirror

So EASY to Enter and you can ENTER EVERYDAY by Tweeting about the Giveaway for more chances to WIN!  FYI sometimes the Rafflecopter Widget takes a few seconds to load so please be patient.

OPEN TO CANADIANS ONLY!


Thursday, September 19, 2013

Wedding Same Day Edit Videos!

I've mentioned before the trend of SDE videos (same day edit videos) is becoming very popular w/ brides on their weddings.  A lot of brides will have videographers filming the events of the morning for both groom and bride as well as the ceremony and photos after or before the ceremony.  This video is then edited and usually shown during the reception for the guests.  I think it's a great way for the guests to sort of be let in on the excitement of the morning and to see parts of the wedding they might not have had access to before.  I'm also so impressed and surprised w/ the quality of work these videographers can do in such a short amount of time!

I love when brides share w/ me their SDE videos!  It's a great way for me to see how the makeup and hair looked throughout the day and video doesn't hide anything so it's also a great way to show off my work...b/c I always stand behind my work ;)  Can't wait to add these to my site w/ my other videos!

I actually have two SDE videos to share w/ you guys in this post!  The funny thing is they are both two of my Filipino brides from August (no they don't know each other and it's two different videographer companies)! I don't know why and I'm definitely not complaining but I've just happened to become pretty popular w/ Filipino brides lol!  I love it and they've actually been some of my nicest and friendliest brides!

First up is Genalyn & Edgar who got married on Aug 23/13.  I actually did Genalyn's friend's wedding last year - Rose.  Genalyn also hired the same videgoraphers Rose had hired!  It was great seeing Rose again this year esp. since she was VERY pregnant...always super exciting to find out one of my past clients is expecting :)

The next video was actually introduced to me by surprise!  One of my associates Judy messaged me to let me know she saw me in a bride's SDE video lol!  She sent me a link and sure enough there I was!  This was for a wedding I did on Aug 10/13...very early morning 5 am - 10 am...and I have to say I was pretty darn impressed w/ myself when I saw the video and how well the hair and makeup held up throughout the day!

This video is courtesy of Green, Pink & Yellow Productions.  Sonny & Sharmaine were such an adorable couple...this was one of the rare occasions I actually got to meet the groom b/c he came to the trial!  For this video you have to go to the link to watch it b/c of their privacy settings.

Wishing both these couples all the best and I can't wait to see their pics from the wedding day!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Nina - Lavender & Lace


So I already shared w/ you a taste of Nina's wedding a few wks back when I posted her SDE (same day edit) video from her wedding back in June.  I just received some pics and let me tell you they do not disappoint at all!  If I was excited about the video and how great everything looked I'm even more pumped now after getting the pics b/c seriously it was all so gorgeous!  There are so many amazing pics I don't even know how I'm going to cut it down to 3 or 4 that I want to show on my site!

I loved Nina's whole wedding concept and theme - Lavender and Lace...it's basically my "imaginary wedding" theme lol...yes I'm actually admitting that.  And she did such a gorgeous job conceptualizing the whole idea and bringing it to life.

The pics I'm sharing w/ you are mostly from the morning of  her wedding at her parent's house in Newmarket where she got ready w/ the girls and I don't think I've ever seen so many great morning of shots...seriously I don't know how Nina will ever make a decision about choosing her pics!

Great job by her photographer Shelley K and if you want to see a full picture of the wedding theme and concept be sure to check out Shelley's blog b/c it's gorgeous!  I already told Nina that her wedding is "Style Me Pretty" material and trust me that's not a phrase I throw around lightly!

So here's some pics from Nina's gorgeous wedding...thanks again Ashley for your wonderful work on the bridesmaid's hair (as usual).

So many great Behind the Scenes pics of me working lol!  I look so concentrated on her updo lol!






I love this pic...the hair looks amazing and I don't look quite as "angry" as I normally do when I work lol!


I don't normally care about the flowers too much but I will say that Nina had gorgeous flowers throughout her whole wedding...you could definitely tell it was an area she put a lot of thought into!


Seriously how do I decide what to put on my site when they are all so gorgeous!



What a great shot of all the girls!






Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Amira - Elegant Egyptian Bride

So I'm continuing on my beautiful bridal countdown for the week w/ another amazing bride of mine - Amira. I did Amira's wedding back in June and it was actually one of those rare bookings where I only did the bride's hair and makeup...I don't actually do 1 person bookings that much anymore just b/c I'm too busy.

But I'm so happy I had the chance to work w/ Amira and meet all her friends and family b/c they were really a delight to be around and so happy and excited on the day.  Amira is normally a pretty natural girl but unlike a lot of my brides she actually really wanted to do something a little more dramatic and sophisticated.  Her point of view was if I don't do something like this for my wedding then when will I?  Which I think is a very valid idea and of course even w/ making things a little more "dramatic" I think I was style able to maintain my usual "Jessica style" of keeping the bride true to herself and making her look "like her on her best day" and not someone completely different.

For Amira's makeup I actually did airbrush foundation...which I've been doing A LOT more of this season then seasons past.  I also created a beautiful grey/black smokey eye.  Luminous, glowing skin and a berry lip.  For the hair I did a really gorgeous and smooth side up...you can't really see from the pictures unfortunately but it was actually quite intricate and detailed..unfortunately dark hair doesn't show off the detail as easily as blonde hair does...but it still looks great!

Thank you Amira and Reem Eissa for doing such a beautiful job capturing this beautiful couple!

Hair finishing touches!

I always do eyes before the face...esp. when I'm doing a more dramatic eye














I love when I see pics later in the night and still see everything looking top notch and beautiful!  Plus there were a lot of happy tears from her and everything stayed perfectly!

Monday, September 9, 2013

Nathalie - Sleek & Sophisticated

As the crazy, busy wedding season starts to calm down a bit (Did a record breaking 17 weddings in August!), I finally have a chance to relax and catch up on something...including blogging more ;).  This is the time of year that brides start to send me pics from their weddings this past Summer.  As anyone who follows this blog knows there is almost nothing that excites me more than getting pics from brides after their weddings!  Because of this I've decided for the next week (hopefully every day time permitting) to share w/ you some of the wedding pics I've gotten from several of my lovely brides!


I want to kick things off w/ my bride Nathalie who I worked w/ on July 6/13.  This was a VERY popular day for brides (you don't even know how many requests I had to turn away for this day)!  In fact Nathalie was my second wedding that day and the I had actually booked my first wedding that day a year in advance!

Nathalie is a gorgeous woman, seriously, model quality...and beyond nice too!  So when I met her at the trial several mths before the wedding I knew her wedding was going to be nothing less than amazing!  Nathalie wanted to do something sleek, sophisticated and polished and I'm IN LOVE w/ the hair and makeup look I was able to create for her that day.  She has gorgeous, thick, full long hair that worked so beautifully in the clean and beautiful bun.  I so rarely get to do looks like that so it was super exciting for me esp. since Nathalie has such awesome hair.  For her makeup look we decided to go w/ a very clean eye w/ a very soft wing and punch things up w/ a nice bold lip that really makes a statement and in  my opinion totally completed the glam and sophisticated look she was after.

Thank you so much Nathalie and Silverlight Photography for sharing these pics w/ me.  And also thank you Jen for helping me out that day...you were amazing as usual ;)

So clean and beautiful...not going to lie sometimes I even impress myself ;)


Jen and I hard at work!

Finishing touches on the lip!

What a beautiful group!





This actually made me laugh as I've never gotten a pic of my "notes"...after a trial I always write notes on the bride to bring on the wedding...to anyone but me these probably make no sense and look like some kind of code speak