Everyday Heroes - Chatelaine Shoot

About a mth and a half ago I mentioned that I did a little shoot for Chatelaine magazine.  Well the new issue is out so I thought I'd share w/ you the pic from that day.

It was actually a really cool and inspiring shoot to work on b/c I got the chance to meet some truly exceptional women who do exceptional things to help the ppl around them.

It was also a really cool shoot b/c I got to work w/ a new photographer - Caitlin Cronenberg - a real up-and-comer and a totally cool girl and Sian Melton, who was the one that introduced me to Caitlin in the first place.

Going Left to Right:

Deborah (wasn't there but in the picture frame) - She opened The Olive Branch for Children, to help the most vulnerable people in rural communities around the world.  Projects include setting up medical clinics, organizing HIV testing and opening kindergartens in remote villages.

Janette - After her daughter died of a rare cancer last year she started Gilllie Beans Fund in her honour.  They've already raised over $26 000.

Sharon - She started Soup Sisters - a foundation that serves over 8000 bowls of homemade soup to women and children in shelters across the country.

Lia - A woman who lives everyday to the fullest.  Was once a homeless teen, now a successful sales executive.  She founded Up with Women to help homeless women and children rebuild their lives.

Emma - A lawyer that created a student-run program to address conflicts in schools that's reduced suspension rates by up to 82%.

Miriam - The oldest of the ladies at 92 but definitely still full of spirit.  Miriam is a holocaust survivor who walks 5 km for Breast Cancer every year, prepares meals for the homeless for Toronto's Out of the Cold program, marches in the Pride Parade and bakes and sells challah bread every week on behalf of a charity that feeds underprivileged children and seniors.

Everyday Heroes Indeed!

Love Good Days - Shoot for Chatelaine, Gifts in the Mail and Cocktails w/ a Friend!

Yesterday was a particularly good day (beside 1 job being cancelled)...why you ask?  Well I started my morning off at a shoot for Chatelaine Magazine.  The photographer is the incredibly young and talented Caitlin Cronenberg.  First time I ever worked w/ her or for the mag so anytime I get to make new connections is a totally cool thing!  How did I get this hook up you ask?  Well my good friend Sian Melton (photographer/makeup artist/all around cool chick) was doing the makeup/hair for this shoot and since it was a group shot she needed a little extra help and she invited me to come along and partake in the fun.  It was totally laid back and it was actually a group shot for the Women of the Year section in Chatelaine coming out in Oct.  Really great experience b/c I got to work w/ a bunch of awesome, real women that do amazing things for their organization, city and country.  So inspiring and always fun to work w/ ppl that don't normally get "dolled up" b/c they appreciate it that much more.

So that filled up the morning and it went so great that we were all wrapped and good to go before 2 pm!  Got home (b/c as mentioned above my 2nd job was cancelled urrggh) and to my surprise there was a nice little package for me in the mail.  I LOVE getting packages in the mail!  I unwrapped it immediately to find the most beautiful cosmetic bag I think (actually I know) I've ever owned!  A couple of wks ago I was contacted by Yolanda about reviewing one of her BEAUTIFUL handmade cosmetic pouches.  The site is called This Magpie's Nest and she has a variety of gorgeous makeup pouches to choose between.  Many feature old style photographs on the front w/ old postcards on the back.  Really unique and eye catching!  I chose the Mrs. Wright...Wishing You Were Here!  As mentioned above it's handmade and measures 5X7 (very roomy), it has a zippered pouch and the postcard  is printed on Muslin.  The inside is lined w/ red fabric and I have to say it's all REALLY well made!  Not flimsy or cheap at all!  In fact I CAN'T BELIEVE she's selling these pouches for the LOW LOW price of $15/each...seriously I've seen things like this in stores for like $35 and up!  Also I just want to mention how beautifully it all came wrapped and packaged...seriously it would make a perfect gift for anyone!  It was wrapped in red tissue paper w/ twine wrapped around it and a Magpie's Nest tag.  I noticed the package smelled so good and on further inspection when I opened the pouch I realized there was some lavender inside...what a nice touch!

The Front

The Back

Inside

Btw she is offering a 20% discount to any of my readers that mention this post when they are ordering...that means these beautiful pouches would be only $12/each...seriously that's INSANE!!!

So after that my day was complete w/ a nice trip to one of my fav. drink spots in Yorkville - The Avenue.  Sipped some white wine and chatted it up w/ a friend!  Great end to my great day!

Enchantment

You may remember a couple of mths ago me sharing some behind the scenes photos from an awesome beauty shoot I did w/ the amazing Sian Melton and Vienna (our gorgeous model).  Well I can finally show you guys the final product!  I think they look really gorgeous and have this beautiful light and airy other world sort of feel to them.

The story was actually picked up by this new magazine called Veux.  Overall, considering it's the magazine's premier issue it looks really good and will hopefully only get better from here on.  The pics looks good in the magazine but I have to be honest I hate when magazines try to fit more than one pic on one page b/c it just takes away from the impact of the pic but that's just my personal opinion.  Plus they cut out most of the makeup credits which doesn't really make sense considering it's a beauty story.  I mean yes cut out the repeats but to cut out almost all of them isn't cool.  On a positive note my name is spelled right...and we all know that has been a prob in the past ;)

Anyway, here are the finished pics...I'm including my favs. from the shoot not necessarily the pics featured in the editorial  just an FYI.

FYI I went to Pikto today w/ Adamo de Pax to print some pics for my portfolio and they all look gorgeous!  I may be old school but I still LOVE seeing my pics printed...so much better than just seeing them on the computer screen IMO.  I might do a little video showing you guys the layout of my portfolio and flip through it for you if you think that might be something that would interest you.

Beauty & Braids

Today I got the chance to do a little beauty creative w/ photographer Sian Melton in my apt.!  Do you know how nice it is to not have to lug my kit around and just wait for ppl to come to me.  Her and I had been talking about shooting a Beauty story for a long while now but she had been super busy, I've been busy, the model we wanted was busy and then there was the issue of where to shoot it b/c she's in Oakville and doesn't have a proper studio out there.

So about two wks ago now I approached her again w/ the idea of a creative and I offered up my apt. as the shooting space to lure her in lol.  Apparently, my amazing apt. is the perfect place to shoot a small beauty creative b/c it has lots of natural light, blank walls and high ceilings.  Sian then approached Vienna, the model we wanted to use before and she was totally game so it was set and I was super excited!

I've had this one concept in my head for a beauty story literally since I was in Paris and bought these amazing magazines.  There was this one article about this one runway show and I just loved the Hair & Makeup so I was dying to create something w/ a similar feel but of course put my own spin on it.  I'm just so happy I finally got to shoot it b/c these concepts sort of have expiration dates and of course they lose their appeal after awhile.  Sometimes it's hard to get a photographer to agree to a beauty story when it's not even their concept to start but Sian is totally laid back and loved the concept so that was great.

I wanted to do something w/ a very ethereal feel to it so I can't wait to see want Sian is going to do in post b/c  it will look totally different then the pics she took today...which were already pretty cool!  I wanted the makeup to be mostly underneath the eyes and blended and faded out but I also still wanted it to have a bit of a messy feel if that makes sense.  For the hair I wanted to do an awesome braid story again but this time I wanted to crimp the hair first which I did w/ a really tiny crimper.  Time consuming but SO WORTH IT b/c it just gave the hair this amazing texture and gave so much volume and bulk to the braids.

I know I already have a braid story and I do love that one but it's getting a bit old so I wanted to update it w/ something new.  Plus that was in black and white so not the most useful to me and the makeup was super clean in it and being that I now have some new amazing clean beauty the story is not that useful in my book even though I still think it's really pretty.  Sometimes it's hard to get rid of a story even though you still love it b/c it's either a little stale or you just have a better story that represents a similar concept.

So I'm just giving you a taste of some of the looks...you'll have to wait and see for the real things ;)

After the crimping everything else went really quick...even after the 1st look was done all the changes were fast!  What a great team!

 Sian & Vienna doing their thing!

Headmistress SS11 Campaign Pics

So the Headmistress SS11 Campaign pics have finally been released and I'm so excited to finally share them w/ you b/c they look SO GOOD!  I saw some of the pics awhile ago but finally seeing them up on the website is just so exciting b/c I'm positive Jillian (the creator) is going to get a lot of attention and publicity for this collection b/c it's so cool and pretty!  Yeah again to Sian Melton for her wonderful photographic talents!

As you may remember we did a whole 60's girls in the country theme and everything just works so well together - location, models, head pieces, makeup & hair...it just works!  Hope this is a big hit for Jillian...I have a feeling it will be...apparently some of her pieces have even been picked up by Anthropologie...that's BIG!  Plus she now has two lines - the traditonal Headmistress line and the higher end Love by Headmistress line - both Gorgeous!

 The bouffants turned out so good!

 I LOVE the lip colour, eyelashes and her stare in this pic!

 This is the one featured in Flare Magazine :)



My Work in Flare Magazine!

So I just found out last night from the very talented Sian Melton - photographer extraodinaire that one of the campaign pics we worked on for Headmistress Accessories is featured in Flare Magazine!...pg 28 if you want to check it out ;)  It's just a small pic and obviously I'm not credited for it or anything but it's still pretty cool to see something I worked on featured in Flare Magazine...who knows in a few years maybe I'll actually see my name in print somewhere in the magazine!
You may remember back in late Sept. me writing about the Mad Men inspired shoot I did out in Stratford...it's from that shoot!  Jillian Wood the creator of Headmistress is very talented and she's getting a lot of press for her work so I really think this is only the beginning for this collection.  The pics from it are fab and I really think they are going to get a lot of press which is totally cool.  I really hope to work on the next campaign w/ her b/c I really like her stuff and love what's she doing for indie designers in the city!

Here's a cheesy webcam pic of me holding the magazine...sorry it's not the best quality but it is just a webcam pic lol.

Also here's a couple of Behind the Scenes pics from the shoot that I don't think I showed before!

See the New Year is already off to a good start!  Btw finished my New Wedding Site...just waiting for the Domain transfer to go live and then I'll share it w/ you guys!  It looks SO MUCH BETTER than the old one...I'm really happy w/ it...esp. since as you all know I'm such a computer idiot lol!

Mad Men Goes Country

So yesterday I had the pleasure of working w/ photographer Sian Melton and Headmistress creator Jillian Wood on Jillian's Spring 11 Campaign for Headmistress Accessories .  You may remember I've mentioned and used Jillian's awesome accessories a couple of times in the past few mths on various editorials I've worked on.   Her stuff is hand crafted, gorgeous and is awesome enough to make a statement but not so over the top that you look like a fool...just really really cool!

I was so excited when Sian and Jillian approached me about this project b/c I really believe in and dig what Jillian is doing and I've been a fan for awhile.  In past shoots Sian has done the photography as well as the makeup & hair...b/c she's super talented like that.  But this time she wanted to just focus on the photographic end of things so that's where I came in. 

The theme was Women of Mad Men Go Country...how awesome is that theme!  I'm a huge Mad Men fan so Sian didn't have to do much more then mention the show and I was on board lol!  I think Sian and I have spent at least a couple of conversations now idolizing the amazingness that is Joan's chichis lol...plus I just love the style.  Sometimes I wish we put that much effort into how we looked nowadays...I mean the women really cared about how they looked back then...they wore lipstick and got their hair done...they looked hot!  Makes me wish I was around then...minus the whole a woman's place is the home thing of course lol!

So anway, we couldn't have asked for a better day!  I mean everything fell into place.  Sian drove us out to Stratford to shoot...minus a few detours we got there in good time ;).  We had some great models from Spot 6 - Emily and Saira.  The Makekup & Hair Gods were looking down on me :) (Btw did I mention how amazing I'm getting at extended liner...use to be my serious weakness!).  The weather was GORGEOUS!  Plus we got to use Jillian's mom's HOT 1965 Red Mustang Convertible as our prop! 

So basically, my Makeup & Hair inspiration was a 60's vibe which works so great w/ all the beautiful turbans and head scarves/wraps Jillian is designing for the Spring Collection.  I wanted to keep the eyes softer in colour w/ the main focus being on the lips.  I kept the brows full, used shimmery nudes on the eyes and did a nice extended black liner on both girls w/ really full, flirty, flared lashes to top it off.  I wanted the lips to be bold w/ full strong lipstick.  I believe more women should really embrace the power of a great lipstick like they did back then...nowadays everyone just wears gloss and a great lipstick can immediately take your look from being casual to being done up...trust me I know!  I played w/ a variety of pinks on the girls.  It's for Spring so I didn't want to go full on w/ the reds plus I wanted them to remain fresh and playful.  

Another thing I was excited about w/ this shoot was the hair...it really allowed me a chance to play w/ some different techniques and styles.  Last Christmas I asked for this book about Vintage Hairstyling and let me just tell you this book is amazing!  It gives a step by step guide to tons of amazing vintage hairstyles and it REALLY helped at the shoot!  The first hair look I did was to go w/ the turbans and head wraps.  I set the hair to get some nice curl to it and I basically did a mock bob on the girls so that the hair just peeked out the turbans and curled under.  The second hair look I did involved doing a giant bouffant through the top and a curled ponytail to keep in fresh and young in the back...it looked amazing w/ the headbands and hair scarves. 

So here's some pics from the day...can't wait to show you the real stuff but you're going to have to wait awhile on that one :(

Sian giving some amazing commentary for posing lol! 

We wanted Happy, Light & Carefree!

I'm Beautiful but I still know what's under the hood!

Let's Have Lunch in the back of our Car!

Let's Pic Flowers, Skip and Laugh!

Fixing the Bouffant

I need more Height!

IMATS Toronto

So this weekend is IMATS Toronto. For those that don't know IMATS stands for International Makeup Artist Trade Show. Very excited! This is the one time of year that I really try to stock up on all the kit necessities that I need, plus some fun extras I've been drooling over b/c of the amazing deals offered. At first I was a bit worried about the vendors list but it's really come together now and I'm really excited to check things out and spend WAY too much money as per usual lol. Plus there's also tons of cool workshops and seminars for ppl to check out.

I won't have much time for the workshops or seminars b/c I'll be helping out Liz Yu at the Yaby booth this year w/ fellow blogger/MUA/friend Ashley Readings. So make sure if you're coming to the show to say hi b/c I love meeting others in the industry...esp. those who might actually be reading my blog lol.

It's so weird b/c last yr IMATS happened less than a wk before I left for Shanghai so it was pretty crazy and surreal for me for a number of reasons lol. It has officially been just over a year since I moved to Shanghai and then came back to Toronto. Crazy how much can happen in a year and how much things can change!

Portfolio Printing

So yesterday I met up w/ the wonderful and talented Sian Melton in Toronto's beautiful Distillery District to print pics for my portfolio. First off what a perfect and gorgeous day yesterday. We started w/ some yummy lunch at Cafe Uno...my treat for her taking the time to help a computer reject like me print stuff. Great to catch up and gossip ;) w/ other artists about work, life and all that jazz.

Got my pics printed...lots of double pagers so it ended up being like 18 new pages for my book. On a positive note they look fabulous and on a negative note I NEED a bigger portfolio lol...not really that negative but I don't have the money right now to get one from House of Portfolios like I want :(

If you're in Toronto I highly recommend Pikto for your printing needs. You can rent a computer station for an hr to print your pics and make sure they are sized right and all that (if your pic order is over $25 the hr is free..reg $15/hr for station 1). See when I first started I was naive and I was getting 9X12 which I could actually print from the downstairs computers which were easy to use. Now I know better and I'm printing the professional size pics 11X14 but unfortunately the easy to use computers don't offer that size...damn them! So it's either bribe my computer savy friends w/ lunch and have them help me or pay almost $20/print to have pikto do it...btw if you print it yourself using the computers upstairs it's $4.75/print AND you get the pics that day...can't beat that!

Unfortunately for Sian she saved her pics wrong on her CD so she couldn't print yesterday...this sucks for her but actually works out better for me. I have like 3 editorials that I'm getting in pdf format next wk so I can just go w/ her again and she can help me again (maybe this time I can actually learn how to do it on my own so I don't need to harass my overly generous friends lol). Now the big problem is where the hell am I going to fit them in my book!?! Right now I have 40 pgs but I think in the next portfolio I'm going to move it up to 60 pgs...or I could start separating my Beauty from Editorial work...we'll see.

Next on my to do list - meet w/ agencies and get a new business card (kind of waiting on this one till I know about the agency thing so I could put them on the card ;) )

P.S. Someone commented about Todd wearing the same pants for all the shoots lol! Trust me this is an on-going joke between he and I regarding his "uniform". Just so everyone knows he has several camouflage cargo pants...it's not the same pair lol. As many of you may have noticed he really likes to get on the ground a lot when he shoots so you know he has to keep it practical and comfortable.