It has been a long time since my last update! Exactly a month, in fact. I have had so much going on that it doesn't leave me enough time and room to work on my blog and my updates. As most of you already know, I am in the process of finally opening my own make-up studio, so that's where all my extra time is going. It will take a little over a month to get it up and ready and I am SUPER anxious! It has been a long time coming for me so I cannot wait till I move in and share with you. To answer all your questions, it will include everything I do now: make-up, hair styling, photography, seminars & classes. I will be teaching full make up courses starting summer and I will update you on that as well as soon as I have the details ironed out. For those of you who have appointments with me within the next month, I will still be working at my current location that you have been provided through email. Once the new location is ready, I will keep you updated on the final date and you will need to come to my new place in Sherman Oaks from then on. Again, I cannot thank you all ENOUGH for all your continuous support throughout the years. I would not be able to fulfill my dream without your conditional love and support. I hope you are all able to make it to the grand opening! Please email me if you have any further questions and I will gladly get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you <3

Now that winter is over with (well, almost)...let us glow, let us glow, let us glow! Not quite ready for the bronzy sun-kissed face, but over the matte winter look. That red carpet glow without the visible makeup. The Oscars...need I say more? They all looked FLAWLESS, but no ones makeup looked overdone. Soft shimmery eye shadows, eyeliner and voila! Mind you, they have a lot on their face, to handle all those flashing HD cameras, but their eyes were soft, subtle and sultry. Bobbi Brown Spring 2012: Brightening Nudes has some beautiful new products in order to get this look. I just bought a few of the cream shimmer eyeshadows and I absolutely love them! They are very mellow colors but really brighten the eyes because of the light shimmer. Use it by itself all over or as a base for your powder eye shadows. I have always been and will continue to obsess over their shimmer bricks; but they have this new Brightening Nudes Finishing Powder...sooo pretty! There are many many lines who are going for this same look for the new spring collection, but Bobbi takes the cake for me!

The day is almost here (although still a week away), yet the stores are already filled up with everything pink and red. So...I figured I'll present my "Valentine's" shoot a little early as well :) Also, I figured it would probably be best to get you ready for the day of, in the meantime (cosmetically). Of course, I do not suggest you draw any black or red hearts on your face (unless you are going to go all out with the queen of hearts costume, ha!). As much as us women LOVE make up...I can't say the same about guys. I have yet to meet a guy that says "I love a girl with too much make-up". So although we love to go all out and be creative, a valentine's date should be a softer, more romantic look. This photoshoot literally took 30 minutes on a random, boring day for me. Worked out pretty nice didn't it? I kept the face pale because I wanted to concentrate on the 2 bold statements on my face. No bronzer, no blush. I kept the face clean with Channel Mat
Lumiere in 40 and Mac pro longwear concealer in NW20. I set it in with Laura Mercier Foundation Powder #3. I have highlighted/contoured my face/cheekbones with the smashbox contour palette. For my eyebrows, I have used Stud brow pencil from MAC and filled them in with Smoke shadow by Bobbi Brown. For my lips, I used my new favorite pro longwear red lipliner from MAC called "Kiss Me Quickly" all over. On my eyes, all I have on is Wheat Eye Basics from Laura Mercier and some custom dramatic lashes I have made. Keep the face and eyes clean, add some fun flirty lashes, bold lips, a little bit of blushes and you are good to go! Soft, romantic, beautiful & sexy. Hope you all have a wonderful time! Whether you are single or in a relationship, make the best of every situation! <3

I can't tell you how many people ask me, "How do you do a cat eye?"  JUST DRAW A STRAIGHT LINE...not! Simple, but not that simple. Not when your line needs to lift your eye and swing up at the right time and right direction...geometry all over again, who woulda thunk it? ;) In this case, lets leave out the ruler and use the shape of your eye as the guidance. I have made a simple flow chart of the easiest way to line a cat eye. I always prefer a gel liner over anything for cat eyes because you have more control over it than a liquid and pencil does not glide on so easily. In the first photo, you will notice I just drew a line up and out away from the eye. How high or low do you go? use the line of the bottom of your eye and continue to go up and away in that same direction. How far out you take it is up to you (they are all considered cat-eye, short or long). I suggest you don't start out too far out, start short and add on if you need to. Drawing this line will be your guidance. From that line, bring in the top of the cat eye look down to where your pupil is and line thinly down to your tear duct. Now, fill in the gap between the two lines. 3rd photo: the perfect cat-eye! UNLESS, you want it to be more dramatic. In this case, it is very easy just to add on by making it longer and bringing it in like you would in picture number 2. You can make it as thin or as thick as you'd like. Simple right? Well, practice makes perfect! Hope this helps :)

The closer I am getting to 30, the more I am freaking out about wrinkles. Still 2.5 years away, but still, it's scary! I am starting to be super aware of every facial movement I make; am I the only one? I don't know if it's paranoia or considered normal. In any case, as you all know, I am all about good skin! This includes but not limited to: acne, age spots, sun spots, pores, and of course the scary word, wrinkles! We use anti-wrinkle creams, treatments, masks and everything we "hear" helps prevent and reduce wrinkles. But you can use all the treatments in the world, the only thing that will prevent or reduce it is botox right? or NOT! So I noticed for a while now when I sleep at night, my face gets squished against the pillow because I sleep on my face (this is when paranoia clicks in)  and I try and control it by sleeping on my back and such but it's only a matter of time and I am on my stomach again. Sooo....I started putting tape underneath my eyes to the corner of where crow's feet begin (yes I know, call me crazy -_- ). Was this helpful? Yes! Because my cheeks and eyes can't squish together even if they tried *proud face*. Now here is the problem with THAT: the delicate area needs to always stay soft and it's horrible to pull it off! I recently discovered "Skinlite: Wrinkle Care ETE Gel Patches" and my life is complete. It has a soft gel formula that is gentle for your undereyes, it has a cooling effect which reduces puffiness, keeps the area soft and moisturized and increases elasticity. There is a lot of eye masks such as these on the market that cost $$, sometimes $$$; but those are just masks you put on for about 20-30 minutes. The genius thing about these is that you can actually leave it on all night and it is completely harmless. In addition, it prevents your eyes from wrinkling because you sleep on your face for approx. 8 hours, which is too long for your eyes to be in that condition. Just like you shouldn't squint in the sun and you shouldn't lean your hand on your face/cheeks, same idea! PREVENTION is the key word here. If you are unfortunately passed the prevention stage, you can reduce the appearance of the existing fine lines and wrinkles. Best part? $5.50 for a 12pk. Seriously. Naimie's Beauty Center in North Hollywood. You can't go wrong. Why blog about this? I have discovered something amazing and I know my fellow paranoid friends would love it too :)

Seriously, one of the sweetest girls I've met! Adorable, humble, smart & beautiful with the most gorgeous smile! It was such a pleasure working with her...I have made a new friend :) . Gayana's Sweet 16 is coming up, so she wanted some professional shots to capture the time. Nare was able to put together the perfect outfit for her! Girly, cute & fun for a 16 year old. Lara C Kay gave her big curls that stayed up all day...thank you Lara! As for her make up, we did two looks, but we only changed her lipstick and added some dramatic lashes (custom made by me) to play up the look. For her foundation, of course I used my favorite ERA Classified. For her eyes, I used MAC shadows: Carbon, Wedge, Cork & Brule. Eyeliner is the Black Gel from Bobbi Brown. Eyebrows have been filled in very little with Bobbi Brown Smoke shadow. Her cheeks are contoured with my favorite Smashbox Contour palette. Blush is Style by MAC. Lipstick for the first look is Russian Red and Red lipliner from Mac (a lot of Mac this time around!). The lipstick for the second look is my ultimate favorite Morange by Mac with a little bit of Soul lip gloss by Illamasqua. Hope you all liked the look! Please feel free to leave questions, comments or feedback. Thank you! :)

Here are my top 10 picks for 2011 favorites! Share your favorites & thoughts!

1.Smashbox Contour Palette - All my clients know I cannot complete a look without this fantastic palette! Works for almost every skintone!

2.Bobbi Brown Black Gel Eyeliner - This has to be in my top 10 every year because I just cannot live (ok maybe just work) without this eyeliner. Best gel on the market guarenteed!

3.Smashbox Anti-Shine - New discovery in my kit & I praise it! I am super shiny in the t-zone. If this can help me...it can help anyone! Long lasting matte-finish face.

4.Bobbi Brown Beige Shimmer Brick - I have used many different shimmer highlighters & I keep going back to this one. It has just the right amount of shimmer. Also, its beautiful used as eyeshadow.

5.Make Up Forever HD Primer - I've gone through so many different types of primers in the past few years. THIS, tops it. Long lasting flawless face AND it smells good! :)

6.Laura Mercier Eye Basics in "Wheat" - This is more for personal use although I use it on clients sometimes for the brow bone n such. Forget the days of using concealer on our eyelids to even out your skin tone. Behold the amazing "concealer" for your eyelid, without the creasing. The no make up, make up. It comes in various colors for your skintone.

7.Illamasqua Blushes - Move away Nars! Illamasqua has kicked you off the shelf. The consistencies, the textures, the COLORS! Amazing. I have an obsession with this line, starting with the phenomenal blushes. Check out their lipglosses too!

8.Too Faced Shadow Primer - I have been tossing up this and Urban Decay, but if I HAD to pick one, it would probably be this. Always, always, always use a primer.

9.Urban Decay Naked Palette - My obsession & everyone else's too I am sure! This was a hot palette consistently sold out throughout the year until Naked 2 came in. I don't know which one I love more.

10.Smashbox Eye Beam Double-Ended Highlighter: Last, but not least! I lovee this pencil for personal use. One side is a matte nude color and the other end is a pearly color. The nude one is used right underneath the brows, inner rim of the eye. The highlighter is used in the inner corner of the eye. Such an amazing pencil!

Every time I do a new shoot, I think to myself "THIS is one of my favorites by far!" But seriously, THIS is one of my favorites by far, haha! I love to create looks that are over-the-top, but not so much where you can't wear the look out. Tatev has the perfect face for this look; her big green eyes, the blonde hair and the facial structure fitted the image perfectly (and of course she was able to pull it off so well!) Lara C Kay did an AMAZING job on both her hair and Nare's as well and exactly how we imagined it to be. Thank you Lara! I wanted to list the products I used for any of you who want to re-create the look. If I am missing anything, feel free to ask away! (I blank out sometimes :/ ) So, for her face, of course I used my favorite foundation ERA Classified in both Y3 and Y5 and the Laura Mercier concealer in SC-2 for her under eyes. I have set in her make up with MakeUpForever HD loose powder. Her eyebrows are filled in with a Blonde pencil by LeFemme and filled in with Cork by MAC. The fun part, EYES!: The base eyeshadow I used is YDK from Urban Decay and Carbon and Wedge in the crease by MAC. I have used a goldish glitter by MakeUpForever on top of the base color. Unfortunately, they do not label their products with names and in this case, nor a number. But all their glitters are beautiful! Just make sure you use a seal. Bobbi Brown black gel liner was used to line the upper lashline and to smudge out the corners. Her top lashes are #48 (Beauty Mark, Glendale) and the bottom lashes are from Naimie's...unfortunately, I do not know the number, but they have only one of this kind if you skim through their lashes. I added crystal studs to the end of the bottom lashes to add flare to the "circus" theme. Her inner bottom line is penciled in with a white eyeliner from MakeUpForerver. As for her cheeks, I have contoured it with the Smashbox Contour palette and Illamasqua blushes in both Kiss and Sin. I have lined her lips with Vino by Mac and used 2 different shades of lipsticks to give it some dimension. The outter corners are Gareth Pugh and Russian Red on the inside, both by MAC. I THINK that's about it...what a long list! lol. Let me know what your thoughts are on the look. Hope you enjoyed it <3