And now for something completely different...

Tis the season for red lipsticks, and while my favorite one is still my NARS Jungle Red, a very close second has shown up. There's sort of a story in how I acquired the products, so I had better tell that first...

My boyfriend was doing some work for magazine, and they were doing a review on 29 Cosmetics and it's creator, Lydia Mondavi, of Mondavi Winery fame. It was named after highway 29 that runs through the heart of the great Napa Valley, so it was off to Napa with a car full of gear, trudging around though vineyards, and cramping up my arms holding a reflector while we waited for the sun to come into just the right position. Anything to get the shot, right?


Anyway, after all my dedicated photo assisting, and my boyfriend's charming witticisms, we were taken back to the house by Lydia herself, and her husband Robert Mondavi, Jr. After given more wine to drink then we should have before needing to drive home, they gifted us with six fresh chicken eggs, a mason jar of honey comb, four bottles of their private label winery MEDUSA, a chunk of catnip, and the promise to send us assorted cosmetics. I received three eyeshadow quads of good color coordination, but the real star was the three lipsticks.

They all three have witty names, "Smokin' Cab", "Sinful Zin", and my favorite "Call me a Cab". They have a beautiful rich color, a surprisingly light and moisturizing texture, enriched with grapeseed extract and a sunscreen and they still stayed on! Thirteen shades are available, plus the rest of the fairly extensive line exclusively from Neiman Marcus. Everything in the line contains that grapeseed extract. This is a beautiful thing because grapeseed, like wine, is very high in anti-oxidants. Just in case we have some newcomers, anti-oxidants help combat free-radical damage, which along with sun damage are the two more preventable forms of aging.

"Call me a Cab" is my favorite 'true' red, and at $24 each, they're very reasonably priced for a luxury cosmetics brand thats going to help me from aging prematurely. They also make a fantastic lip scrub ("First Crush"), and moisturizing lip treatment as well ("Hint of Honey"). Read about the rest of the line at www.29cosmetics.com and available exclusively from Nieman Marcus

Sidebar Madness

I added some linkie goodness to the sidebar. Every cosmetic company that I have used and love...or desperately want to try! Go forth and surf.

Mineral Makeup Hatred Explained

I'm probably about to alienate many of my readers, but I mentioned in my previous post that I have a blind, unadulterated hatred of mineral makeups. This is of course my personal opinion, but after being at work all day, where I am forced to swirl, tap, and buff my life away, I feel this hatred is justified. There are several different reasons for this, the first of which is simply this:

Do you see what that says? So pure you can sleep in it. That's great. So, you've been wearing your makeup all day, and now you have a fine layer of sebum, dirt, and carcinogens on your skin from having even gone outside, and they are telling you it's fine to go to sleep with all those free radicals bouncing around? Hello premature aging!

Secondly they are messy. Loose minerals are more pure, this is true. But they get everywhere. I come home from work everyday covered in every sort of powder you can imagine, and then this stuff came out and made it a million times worse. I don't care what line you work for, the dress code in cosmetics is "cosmetic black". You can't carry the stuff with you or it gets all around the inside of your purse, not to mention the brush gets destroyed.

There are brands that have created "pressed" mineral powders. Chances are they've had to add binding agents to make them stay pressed. Not to mention all the interesting chemical colors they need to add to have anything like a decent shade range. There are liquid mineral makeups too! At that point why bother? They've added god-knows-what to those too. You've just defeated the entire purpose of a mineral makeup.

So your mom wears it. So does your cousin. And your best friend. And your grandma. And your mom's co-worker's transvestite nephew. So because it works for them, it's going to work for you? Maybe they don't have large pores and you do. Maybe they don't have fine lines that you do. Maybe they are blind and don't realize that mineral makeup makes both of the above mentioned flaws look worse. But seriously, the old adage applies here: If everyone you knew commited suicide by jumping off a bridge would you do it too?

And finally. FINALLY. You're getting married. And you want to look natural in your wedding photographs, so you want a mineral makeup.

Can someone please just kill me now?

Minerals reflect off the flashes or strobes when they fire. Your face will be a different color then your body, and take on a bizarre ghostly sheen. There's one for the wedding album. Stay away from anything with a high mica content whatever the brand, people! That "healthy glow" makes your skin look clammy and zombie-like in photos.

So what is it good for then? Well if you have rosecea or acne it's good. And there is actually a clinical reason for this. Mineral makeups do contain Zinc Oxide which is an excellent anti-inflammatory. That means it takes the red out of your rosecea or acne. It calms it down so it's not as inflamed or infected. And I suppose minerals makeups are good for moms or other women who have zero time, and want to feel like they are wearing makeup and getting coverage. Honestly to get the coverage you have to pack it on fairly heavy, and people don't like to feel like they are wearing a mask. Back to square one again.

So those are the reasons I hate mineral makeups. It is just my opinion, of course. But really folks at the end of the day mineral makeups are just dirt in a jar and I don't care if the rest of the world disagrees with me.

The Infamous "Kit"

In this town that I live in that wants to be hot shit and isn't, (read: I live in neither Manhattan nor LA) the aspiring artists all ask each other, "What's in YOUR kit?" It's like those horrible Capital One credit card ads that used to be on TV all the time.

Well, what IS in your kit? What should and definately should NOT be in your kit? How should it be put together? What kind of case should you use? I know many people who want to have multiple train cases for their kit. For people who do this, I'm so glad that you have an army of servants and infinite amounts of space, both in your home to store everything, but also on the sets your working on. The most practical thing I've seen is a large soft suitcase on wheels. Everything inside is separated in clear vinyl bags which are labeled in Sharpie and thrown away when they get yucky.

No, this is not what I have. I personally have a three section metal Stanley toolbox on wheels, which I had purchased as a roll-about during cosmetology school before dropping out. And I am considering very seriously the vinyl bag option instead of the weird drawer divider things I picked up at the office store. I'm tired of all my lip and eye pencils taking up the same section, and the lip-glosses spilling over into it.

But nobody really cares about the case. What are the things you would absolutely never go on set without? These are my top items.

1) MD Skincare Alpha/Beta Daily Face Peel. ($75)
Um. Not makeup. I know. But before you even think of matching them for a foundation, you've got to know that their skin is smooth and clean. This does both in two simple very effective steps. Even the best foundations will look cakey and gross over uneven, rough, dry, patchy skin.

2) Dr Perricone's Face Finishing Moisturizer. ($55)
Excellent all-purpose moisturizer. Unlike most Perricone products, does not smell like fish.

3) Lorac AquaPrime. ($30)
You know I had a male model tell me once that he didn't drink or eat for two days before a shoot to make his muscles stand out more? That's great man, but at twenty-four years old your wrinkles now look like the Grand Canyon instead of a creek bed. This primer contains Hyaluronic Acid which helps bind moisture to the skin, and can dramatically decrease the appearance of lines if the cause is extreme dryness. Still need spackle?

4) Smashbox Photofinish Foundation Primer (To Go Version in squeeze tube, $15.50)
Contains dimethicone and silicone to help fill in fine lines and pores. Helps keep face from eating makeup, or vice-versa, i.e. makes makeup stay on longer.

5) Smashbox Anti-Shine. ($27)
A godsend for the chronically shiny. And it's a simple thing to dab a bit onto a sponge, run up to someone, blot them, and dash away. Careful: a little goes a long way, especially on deep-toned skin. It's clear.... mostly.

6) Smashbox Browtech Wax ($20)
I don't care what product you prefer to use to structure, fill in, or reshape someone's eyebrows; this will make whatever that is go on smoother, stick better, and be absolutely waterproof. If you rub them, they will still smudge, but if you get a bucket of water dropped over your head the eyebrows will still be in place. To create brows which were nonexistent stipple wax on first, and then press brow powder or appropriate eyeshadow over top.

7) Shiseido Mascara Base. ($22)
Best mascara primer ever. Prevents any mascara no matter how crappy from flaking, smudging, etc. This is one of those things where I have one for me, and one for my kit.

8) Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler. ($18)
This is should be a no-brainer. Although to be honest, I do like the Sephora eyelash curler just as well.... ($16)

9) MakeUp ForEver Mist and Fix ($27)
Does exactly what it says. You mist it on, and it freezes everything in place without feeling like you just blasted your face with AquaNet. And you can apply makeup right over top of it if you need to! Common to use this at various stages to prevent certain things from creasing (like concealer, ugh).

10) Shiseido Cotton. ($8)
Best cotton ever. Excellent for makeup removers and toners.

11) Duo Eyelash Adhesive. ($6?)
Industry Standard.

12) MakeUp ForEver lashes. ($14-ish)
But throw away the glue. It's horrible. See (11.


I could keep going, but everything else is of lesser importance. Good shopping list, no? And now what you've all be waiting for: What should never ever be in a kit that is used for anything that requires your model to be seen in anything other pure darkness: Mineral Makeup. Of any kind. Liquid, pressed, loose, I don't care. My hatred of mineral makeup knows no bounds. However, I think that is a subject for another post.

I want to take a minute...

Now that I have your attention, I'd like to introduce you to a newly founded cosmetic line. It's owned by an friend of mine who was once on the national artistry team for Christian Dior. He's a rock and roll loving man, and as such wants to help promote cosmetics that rock, and the women who wear them.

Meet AMP Cosmetics.

His eye shadows and blushes are large, highly pigmented, finely milled, and come in really fun brightly colored shades. His lipsticks are also highly pigmented, and creamy. He also offers a really nice Pro discount, so contact him through his website for more details.

I had better explain this now.

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Experimentation

What's life without a little experimentation, eh? Originally, we had a shoot planned for today. Although I sometimes didn't like how the model had behaved, she did have the look for something I wanted to try out very badly. I had been looking forward to this simply because of the shape of her cheekbones. Strange, I know. I often pay my clients strange compliments of this nature, like "You have the most lovely eyebrows." I'm a makeup artist. I often need to focus on a small part of a person's face for longer periods of time. You begin to appreciate the small intricacies of what makes an individual unique. Anyway, I digress.

The model in question has taken ill (most likely with the same thing I had several weeks ago when we originally had to reschedule the shoot) so I was convinced to do an experiment of a different kind. Today, I was handed an old Bronica medium format camera, and a light meter. After an explanation of f-stops and shutter speed, I was turned loose in a historic old graveyard. At first I was hesitant. When asked why I wasn't shooting, I replied "I don't... really see anything. There's nothing terribly interesting here." This earned me a disappointed frown from my would-be teacher.

I pocketed the light meter, hefted the Bronica in my left hand and went to have a closer look at things. I did in fact find several things to take photos of. Whether they are in focus, or completely under/over-exposed is another matter entirely.

Important lesson for today? Look more closely at everything before making any judgment. And learn to be flexible.

So we begin...

The first post on something like this is always hard to compose. Honestly I put this together several days ago, and have not posted anything, simply because I did not know where to begin. I suppose the easiest thing to do, would simply be to jump right in.

So, I have a shoot tomorrow, with a model I have worked with before on several different occasions. She was the first person of which I had a photo of makeup that I had done that I could use to start my portfolio. As I already have an excellent photo of her, originally I wasn't in a huge hurry to work with her again. Since I started thinking about it though, I came up with a bunch of things I want to try on her. If anything, I'm going to use her as a measuring stick to see how much I have improved since I started doing print work. Three operas, two independent films, and innumerable photo shoots later, she was still "my first". And honestly, that does count for kind of a lot.

That, and I have a bunch of new NARS Multiples I want to use on her. I'm like a little kid with new toys.