Photo-friendly products !

One thing i always do when i buy a new product is multiply test it out before deciding to include it in my professional makeup kit.
For studio-photography makeup or any sort of makeup that includes flash photography (editorial / event / bridal) there are certain makeup products that can turn your work into an epic-fail episode. Foundations with high SPF, certain mineral powders, concealers & foundations that have light-reflective ingredients, overapplied shimmer bronzers and glitter powders, all that can make the skin appear ashy, masky white or -in the case of shimmer/glitter products- exaggerate fine lines and pores or produce a "sweaty" look.
But the trickiest products i have ever come across are the silica loose powders like the Make Up For Ever "HD" powder. Transluscent-invisible, colorless, talc free (100% silica), when this powder hit the market some years ago it revolutionized the no-powder "natural" makeup look.
And it's absolutely true. For daytime or for tv camera work it does wonders (especially with the demanding HD equipment and formats where the makeup needs to be "almost not there")

BUT !!!! for flash photography it can be disastreous! Invisible as it is, it's very easily overapplied...and then disaster hits!

Here's me without flash

and with flash
scarry huh??

When i first bought the MUFE "HD" powder ,back in 2008, and took my test pictures i was horrified by the outcome!!! Mostly because noone had told me "becareful with flash photography"!!! I only use these type of powders on day-makeup or makeup for tv / film.

New Hair color !

I want to start off by saying that this dark brown colour in the picture is acctually my natural hair colour!
For the past 4 years my hair was ranging from medium blond to light brown with blond highlights. I hadn't been to a salon for ages, so a couple of days before new years eve i decided i wanted to go "Victoria Beckham blond".
So i went to the salon and showed the hairdresser a picture of Victoria Beckham having this beautiful medium ashy blond base with platinum blond thick highlights in the front.
2 and 1/2 hours later my hair couldnt be more far from what i had requested : in the back my hair was a burnt-orange colour and in the front it was a banana-yellow with stripes of greenish white!!!! I just couldn't believe i paid 120 euros to look like lion-king!
After a week of not-knowing-what-to-do-with-my-hair-color [i tried to come up with color combinations in clothing and makeup that would match the hair color-but no foundation color-eyeshadow-blush-clothing combo would fit in] i decided to go back to naturals and start from the scratch.
Since my hair had already been through a rough process of bleaching and color lifting i wanted the least damaging hair dye i could find in the market. Though i highly advise AGAINST do-it-yourself methods when it comes to dramatic hair-color changes i had no intention of paying another 40-50 euros in a salon since i knew that i wanted dark hair. So i went to my local drugstore and bought the "KORRES" hair color kit in shade 4N-Chestnut (N=natural shades) which is ammonia-free and enriched with active plants extracts. I went home, followed the instructions and...couldn't be more happy with the results!!! All this cheapy looking orange mess was gone and my hair was a uniformly rich brown color. Over the past week i have been washing my hair every other day and was surprised to see that the color didnt alter or fade. The kit also included a hair balsam to massage onto hair after washing out the dye that made my hair super shiny.

New Year's Eve classic party look

This is a classic party look for a new year's eve gathering.

It will best suit outfits in black, white, black & white and any shade of grey. It's easy and always impressive due to the juicy red lips.

Products used:

FACE:
-Radiant matt finish (primer)
-Kryolan TV paintstick foundation
-Bobbi Brown creamy concealer
-Kryolan loose powder

EYES:
-Kryolan dayrise e/s
-Mac dazzlelight e/s
-Kryolan charcoal e/s
-Kryolan black e/s
-Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner
-Kryolan glitter gel
-Mac reflects pearl (shimmer)
-Kiko ultra tech mascara
-Stila brow set

CHEEKS:
-Kryolan flamingo blush
-Kryolan Glamour Glow highlighters (in Pale tan & Bronze agais)

LIPS:
-Lancome red lipliner
-Kryolan #102 lipstick
-Kryolan Highgloss in Catwalk

Holiday make-up tips

Christmas is definitely the most glamorous time of the year! Everywhere you look there's shiny stuff hanging on trees, doors, balkonies even across city streets! It's more than obvious that shine is the key element of the season!

-Shine on Skin
Radiant skin is a "must" for holiday looks. In order to achieve and keep a radiant complexion you need to do 2 things (besides drinking enough water!) : exfoliate and hydrate.
With exfoliating, old tired skin comes off and new fresh skin comes into the surface. It's best to exfoliate once or twice a week, especially if you're using makeup on a daily basis. (if you want to take it one step further, after exfoliating use a hydrating or deep cleansing mask-according to your needs. You will get better results from your mask on a freshly exfoliated skin)
You should never forget to moisturize your face daily, espicially after washing your face and before applying makeup. A good moisturized complexion will hold up better against harsh weather conditions and premature aging. A moisturizer will bring back lost hydration on to the skinand will also help with a smoother makeup application. (For further skin care , before applying your moisturizer you can use a serum-vitamin C, multivitamin, elastin etc...-according to your skin's needs.)
[Consult your dermatologist, pharmacist or skin expert to get the right products that meet with your skintype]

-Shine on Eyes
I always say to people: If you don't know what to use for a holiday look, just use Glitter!!!
Do your usual makeup style and then
- dab on some glitter (mixed with a glitter gel) in the center of your main lid
-apply a stroke of glitter eyeliner in the upper or lower lashline
-(for the brave ones) apply a pair of glitter eyelashes or eyelashes that have small rhinestones glued in the lashline

-Shine on Cheeks
Powder Highlighters: choose a shimmer highlighter (pressed or loose) and lihtly dust it on your cheekbones-this will instantly bring light on to your face. If you're having a hard time choosing a highlighting colour go for a golden toned one. It's universal,never out-dated and always gorgeous!
Liquid Highlighter: You can use a liquid highlighter either mixed in with your foundation (for a more all over shine) or after your foundation application and before powdering, dabbed upon certain areas (cheekbones, outer eye area, browbone, bridge of the nose, cubid's bow etc)

-Shine on Lips
Gloss Gloss Gloss!!!!!
For a more longlasting lipcolour fill in your lips with a lipliner, powder them lightly, dust off the excess, apply the lipstick of your choice, blot it gently in a piece of paper and then apply a top coat of clear gloss or coloured gloss. (for better results lipliner, lipstick and lipgloss should fall into the same colour range). Festive lipcolours are deep reds, deep pinks and golden tones.

-Shine on Body
If you're wearing a dress that leaves upper body parts bare (cleavage, arms, back etc) it's a great idea to dust on some shimmer product for a holiday party!! Prefer loose powders that have refined shimmer particles over powders that contain bigger grained glitter. It's more classy and elegant. Go for colours that are close to your skintone.

BLUE - day and night

I absolutely love blue! Most women are afraid of wearing a blue look because they think they will look tacky/trashy/too much and so on... They are RIGHT! i consider blue to be one of the hardest colours to choose for a makeup look, because one wrong move and you're back in the tacky '80's. Still ,if done properly,it's the one colour that can look amazingly gorgeous on almost everyone and the one colour that is always an eye-catcher!

MY TIPS ARE:

1. for daytime choose a more muted tone of blue -more like a greyish blue : not as vibrant but still blue!

2. for a night out fade your main lid blue eyeshadow in the outer V and the crease and above, with colours like light grey, baby-blue grey, charcoal or black . Keep a clean shape and blend blend blend!

3. on the lips and cheeks go for soft colours like light pink, peachy pink, pinkish brown or beige brown -a nude lip is always a safe choice for matching lips to a bold eye makeup.

why i created a blog

Well, as i explained earlier making a video requires time...Lots of it! and since beeing a professional mua / painter /english teacher /civil engineer student (finally getting my diploma this year) sometimes there is not enough time in the day for me. (i love the rush-my "hubbie" doesn't though!). But i hate not interracting with people -i love my subscribers- and twitter just won't work for me. So the best thing i could think of was a blog. Interractive, informative and instant - just what i need for the "in between videos" periods!!
Hope you all like it!!

making videos is a tough job!

A lot of people ask me why i don't post videos more often.
Don't get me wrong...I love my youtube channel and every single one of my videos. BUT making a video is a process that requires a huuuge amount of time:

1. you have to record the actual video footage . I need to have good lighting, which in my house translates as day light which means i have to move the furniture to get the table in front of the balkonydoor to get the laptop and all the stuff i need on top to start recording!! And since i am not a native english speaker, bloopers and brain-freeze moments are my thing!!!!

2. you have to edit the footage. It takes over an hour of editing to fit all the things you want into a 10-minute video, not to mention adding subtitles and annotiations!

3. you have to take pictures. In my makeup tutorials, i always take pics of the look i created the minute that i finish recording the video. I take 30 to 40 pics for each look.

4. you have to come down to 3 pics. Having to pick the correct 2 pics out of 40 is a total pain!


5. you have to publish the video. I'm using Windows Movie Maker to turn the footage+pics+subtitles+music into a video format which can take up to half an hour!


6. you have to upload the video. This step can also take from 30 mins to an hour to complete. I'm always crossing my fingers that youtube isn't going to block my video due to copyrighted music-because if that's the case i have to change the music and do all the publishing and uploading again!


STILL there is no more joy and satisfaction that i get when my video is finally up and even better when my beloved subscribers love it!