ESQIDO Lashes

So anyone that wears false lashes on the regular knows that Mink Lashes are the more luxurious and high end option compared to commonly found synthetic lashes so when ESQIDO false eyelashes asked me to try out some of their lashes I of course jumped at the opportunity!

Esqido were kind enough to send me two pairs of lashes:  Lashlorette and Voila Lash.  For the purposes of this review though I'm only going to talk about Lashlorette.

Voila Lash is a beautiful lash but it's VERY FULL and long...I can only imagine wearing this style for a club night or perhaps New Years Eve sort of thing...definitely not your "Go to dinner" or "Nice night out" lashes...at least on my eyes (just a bit to overwhelming to look natural.

Lashlorette on the other hand was a perfect "Night Out" lash.  Perfect amount of volume and length to add drama and definition to the eye w/out looking like a drag queen or just "too much".  As I've found w/ other mink lashes in the past Esqido lashes have a great curve to them and fall nicely on to the lash line making them very easy to apply.  And they are very light weight once on.

The great thing about mink lashes vs. synthetic is yes while they are more expensive w/ proper care you can get up to 25 uses from them.  So they are an investment but if you're spending $5-7 on a pair of synthetic Quo lashes from Shoppers that you only wear once if you wear these even for half the amount of times they say they'll actually work out to be cheaper.  And don't worry animal lovers all the mink is responsibly sourced during a natural molting/shedding cycle and they are sterilized and hypoallergenic.

One of the great things about Esqido's site is they offer a Lash Guide which asks several questions about your eyes, the occasion and your lash applying expertise to help suggest the best lash for you!

For my business purposes I do personally wish the bands on the lashes were clear not black and that they had shorter options (even the least voluminous option is still quite long).  My clients tend to be VERY natural people so even though I know how to rock a set of lashes like Lashlorette when I go out I think a lot of them would find something like that still WAY too dramatic for them.

Also when choosing a lash you have to look at the person's natural eye shape.  I personally don't have a lot of lid space therefore something like Voila Lash just sort of overwhelms my eye but someone w/ huge eyes and lots of lid space before the brow could totally pull of something like this.

Although I didn't try them out knowing my personal style and my clients I think Unforgettable and Little Black Lash would be great options!  I personally prefer the types where they enhance the eye but the average person might not even know they are fake.

They also have a PRO Makeup Artist Program so definitely something for the MUAs out there to check out!

All the pics are showing the Lashlorette Style...as you can see on my eyes they are very full and quite dramatic.  They pretty much reach my eyebrows...This is why I think anything bigger or fuller might just be a bit of overkill on my eyes.

Champagne is my Life

So I did the cover for Drink Magazine today. This is for their second issue. When Todd first told me about the shoot all he said was doing guy makeup for a cover. I got momentarily excited...ooohh maybe hot male model :)... I rarely get to work w/ those!

Unfortunately, that was not the case. The cover "model" was actually the owner of Muse Nightclub...a very funny Asian guy probably in his late 30s or early 40s...you never know how old Asians are lol. But one thing was for sure he definitely was not the male model I was hoping for lol! Whatever it ended up being a fun enough shoot and he had really good energy and was very playful w/ the camera which totally worked for the concept so I actually think it will be a kind of funny cover. The whole concept was him shooting Pierre Jouet Champagne up into the air and biting on the cork like he pulled the cork out w/ his mouth and the champagne was exploding. A little messy and it took some practice w/ cheap champagne but I think we actually got some pretty funny, cool shots! Btw what's w/ me ALWAYS working around champagne?!? We have the Nils' shoot, the Moet events and now this Drink Magazine cover...so weird!

Also I got a couple of couples of DestinAsian Magazine from Todd today. It's actually not that bad in person. I can live w/ it so that's kind of nice.

Moet & Chandon

My years of bartending and cocktailing in Toronto have allowed me to become a bit of a champagne snob w/ particular tastes. To me Dom Perignon is the most overrated. I've never liked it! Veuve is probably my fav. I like Cristal Rose over Cristal. Pierre Jouet and Bollinger are pretty good too. So as you can see I love champagne ( you know cuz I'm classy like that ;) lol)! So when I was approached to work some events for Moet & Chandon I thought sure cool...maybe I'll get to have some champagne (unfortunately this has not been the case lol).

Anyway, this has probably been one of the more "interesting" jobs of done esp. since I'm doing it in Shanghai. I was referred by another makeup artist b/c she was going back to Australia for the holidays. I guess they were looking for a makeup artist b/c of the fine detail involved in the work but in truth this job has nothing to do w/ makeup which I guess is why I find it weird to be doing it in Shanghai but I'm cool w/ whatever pays the bills you know (and it pays well :) ).

So basically I was hired on by the very nice ppl at Jetlag Productions to go to nightclubs in Shanghai and personalize Moet bottles w/ crystals. I have my own booth where I sit and ppl come and watch me while I personalize these bottles w/ their names. The secret is basically it's all a show b/c it takes FOREVER to do one bottle by hand so a lot of times they prepare the bottles in advance using these stick on crystal stickers (ssshhh don't tell anyone ;) lol). But yes I do personally put crystals on a few bottles. I've done a few events thus far and I guess the most interesting one was on New Years Eve at Muse. The DJ that night was AMAZING! If I wasn't working I can tell you I would have danced the night away! I wasn't too upset though b/c I'm use to working on New Years Eve b/c of bartending. I mean I'd rather make money then spend it...plus I negotiated a higher rate b/c it was New Years Eve ;) yeah for me! Hopefully the ppl at Jetlag will hire me on to do more events...and maybe some of them might even involve me doing makeup lol!

Here's a few more pics of me at work!

I'm concentrating very hard here!

A fan watches on lol!

View From The Bund

So last wk I told you about Nils the crazy German. Well anyway, after the shoot we actually kept in contact and have now become friends. Great guy, very funny and I really enjoy hanging out w/ him. I don't actually have a lot of friends in Shanghai yet which can get a bit lonely so it's really nice to meet someone new that you actually want to hang out w/. I find I often meet ppl who are perfectly fine and okay to hang out w/ once in awhile but I wouldn't actually call them "friends" more acquaintances which can get pretty lonely here in Shanghai!

So the day after the shoot Nils actually accompanied me on some errands and I followed him all the way to Pudong to pick up his new tailored blazers (very cheap to have stuff made here). Apparently they weren't done right but I think they look great...Nils is very fashionable being from Europe and all lol! After the Pudong excursion we found ourselves having a few drinks on The Bund at a bar called The Captain I think? Nils thought they had a happy hour there but unfortunately it was Fri. and it only ran Mon-Thurs :(

Shanghai is famous for its drink specials and happy hours! As a girl I can find a bar/club w/ a ladies' night and drink free almost any night of the wk...it's crazy! Also many places offer 2 for 1 Happy Hour drinks or a lot of clubs have drink specials 100 RMB all you can drink all night long (this includes Vodka Red Bull)! Side Note: 100 RMB = $17 Can approx or $15 US. Think about it all you can drink for under $20...now you know why many ppl come to Shanghai to work and leave Shanghai alcoholics lol!

Anyway back to The Bund. For those of you that don't know The Bund is a big tourist area in Shanghai. It is on the Puxi side of Shanghai right on the Huangpu River and overlooks the Pudong side of Shanghai. It has many amazing old historical buildings and a really great nightlife and club scene where a lot of the more "posh" clubs are located.

Nils actually hates all the tourist bullshit and believes that you can only truly appreciate a city and it's culture by really immersing yourself in it. For Nils that has meant partying in the city for the past 2.5 yrs lol! Unfortunately, all of his fav. bars are now being taken over by Western guys which of course puts a little crimp in his game lol. Being that Nils hates all the tourist stuff I thought it was nice that he was willing to "suck it up" for me.

Below is a pic of us on The Bund w/ the Pudong side of Shanghai in the background. You can see the Pearl Tower in the background. Personally, I think it's gaudy but whatever. Btw Nils will probably kill me for posting this pic b/c he doesn't look good in it...I swear he is cute he's just incredibly unphotogenic...we're working on this lol!

This one shows more of the Shanghai skyline