So for this collection, I only picked up a few things. Nothing really made me excited except for the lipsticks (which are all cremesheen finishes). I am not a big fan of MSFs, but everyone and their mom wants Stereo Rose MSF, so I'm on the wait list for one at my local PRO store. I guess I really just want to see what all this hype is about. I currently own 3 MSFs (shimpange, gold deposit, + pink porcelain) and I barely use them. I think I have used pink porcelain the most out of the three. Let's see if I can get my hands on a Stereo Rose =]
So I originally didn't want to pick up anything from this collection, but then I saw Temptalia's post of the pigments from this collection and I gave in. I swear I have no self control when it comes to pigments. =*(
I made a teaser video of the makeup organization items from my MUA PRO SHOP. I tried my best to find items that would work for makeup storage. This is an ongoing inventory check. Each item featured in the video will have between 5-12 pieces of each item. The items that sell out will get reordered. There is no guarantee that the items in this video will be part of the PRO SHOP in the future.
Any comments about the items would be greatly appreciated! Let me know what you think. Let me know if you would even consider buying some of these. I found a bunch of items that I will probably use for my own makeup room.
I also made another channel a while back named "BlushinArtisanMakeup" on youtube. The video above is the first video, but I will have more coming. Each item in the PRO SHOP will eventually have a short video for a product demo. My goal is to feature the items in the store and show different uses for each item and maybe throw in some makeup artist's tips on how I use everything. There will also be some videos that contain COUPON/DISCOUNT CODES for the PRO SHOP! So if you think you might shop, I would say subscribe to get your discount codes and be the first to know about sales and monthly specials!
So I had sooooooo much fun at IMATS. There are definately some things I will have to change for next year.
go BOTH days - Saturday for shopping and Sunday for classes
leave the boyfriend at home (maybe...lol)
I was only able to attend on Saturday because the boyfriend came with me and he had work Sunday night. We drove down Friday morning with some friends and stayed at the Sheraton (connected to the convention center). Once we got into Pasadena, everyone took a nap but me. I think I was too excited to sleep. After we woke up, 3 of us went to pick up food from Roscoe's Chicken N Waffles. NOM NOM NOM...
Nothing else after dinner. We had to go to bed! My plan was to get there right when regestration opened (8:00 am) and that was a fail. Luckily we stayed at the Sheraton so I wasn't as nervous because we didn't have to drive. We ended up leaving the room at 8:45ish am. The boys were still sleeping while Jenny and I went to IMATS.
When we first got there, the line was NUTS! We tried to walk in with just the ticket (even though I knew we needed wrist bands) but they stopped us...lol. We then asked somewhere if we still had to wait in the huge line if we had our tickets shipped (I WAS HOLDING THEM IN MY HAND!), the worker said yes. So Jenny and I got to the back of the line...which was a journey (people said it was a 2 hour line!). Luckily another worker was going down the line screaming "tickets!" Then we followed him to two girls by the front of the line and they were trading the tickets for wristbands! SCORE! IT IS A MUST TO PAY THE EXTRA $10 TO GET THE TICKETS SHIPPED TO YOU. That 2 hours + line was for picking up will call tickets! Crazy...
Here's some footage from my vlog channel (blushingvlogs):
Gosh, I spent a lot of money this weekend. Although I must say I spendt less than I expected (so I guess thats good?). My 2 favorite purchases this weekend would be all 7 of my OCC liptars and my ZUCA Pro Artist Case! I like the lip tars enough to buy even more! And I bought extra inserts for my ZUCA. Now I can use it as a carry-on for short weekend trips with the standard packing pouches (mesh pouches for clothes).
I’m so excited for IMATS! I will be leaving first thing tomorrow (Friday) morning! I can’t tell you how excited I am. All I have been thinking about is which classes to attend and how am I going to fit shopping in between the classes. I will only be at IMATS on Saturday and will fly back to the bay Sunday morning.
While in SoCal, I plan on visiting my makeup school too. They recently changed locations and I wanted to check it out. I also wanted to get some info on their eyelash extension course, but I’m not sure if I really want to pay for it. Since the economy isn’t too hot right now, I sometimes wonder if it is a good idea (the course isn’t cheap). Another thing I want to do on my short trip down south is to track down the Gobi truck (am I spelling that right?)! There is one up here called Mogo, but I haven’t had the chance to track down this truck yet. If you don’t know what this is…its basically a taco truck but instead of traditional meats and fillings, they use Korean BBQ for the meats. YUM!
But the main focus of this trip is IMATS! My poor bank account is in trouble this weekend! I wanted to share some products that I have been eyeing for a while now, but decided to wait for IMATS to purchase them (why not…I gets discounts here!). I will just list the booth/brand and what products I will be checking out. Anything in bold means I will definitely be purchasing. I am just going down the exhibitor list from the IMATS site, so the vendors will be listed in alphabetical order.
So I tried Fresh's Sugar Lip Treatment about a year ago. My sister bought this product and I tried hers one day and fell in love. Before using this, I swore by Burt's Bees Wax. I still like Burt's, but I have moved onto something better.
I think Sugar moisturizes my lips really well. It leaves it soft and helps my chap lips. The one I picked up also has SPF15 which makes this a good everyday use lip product. The only con about this product is that it feels a bit "greasy." I over looked that at first because of the amazing results on my lips.
Whenever I apply makeup, I start with prepping the lips first. By the time the rest of my makeup is done, my lips are primed and the chap lips are gone. With Sugar, I would take a tissue to blot the access. Since its a bit greasy, forgetting this step would make my lip products slide off my lips (depending on what products I use) and it wouldn't last as long.
But a few months ago, I found my holy grail lip treatment product. I found Korres Lip Butter. I heard about it through youtube a while back, but never tried it. After constantly hearing about it, I finally picked up this Lip Saver Roll (to the left).
To my surprise, I liked it better than Fresh's Sugar. It doesn't feel as greasy. I still blot my lips before applying my lipstick/gloss, but it isn't as bad (greasy) as Sugar. It feels like the product absorbs into my lips like butter! It takes care of the chap lips and lasts a long time (I usually wear only-no other makeup products- lip butter during the week). With Sugar, I would have to reapply very frequently. With Korres Lip Butter, I rarely need to apply more. It doesn't wear off that quickly.
The only con would be that its in a jar. I carry a retractable lip brush with my lip butter at all times, but its still not as convenient as Sugar's tube form. But if you don't mind this packaging, I would definitely try out Korres Lip Butter. I use it in my kit now for prepping lips and I love it. I don't think I will change this anytime soon (unless you think there's something better out there - then please tell me in the comments).
This topic seems to come up quite often in the makeup community. I have seen some pretty strong opinions on the subject and wanted to share my two cents.
I attended Westmore Academy for Cosmetic Arts in Burbank, CA. It was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot. I can confidently say that it was a good investment for me and it made me a better makeup artist. Now with that being said, I don't think one needs to attend makeup school to become a makeup artist.
Don't get me wrong, school could be that extra bit of training needed to fine tune some makeup skills or learn the basics (which I needed). The reason I decided to attend was that I didn't have a variety of makeup experience. I am the type of girl that wears very little makeup. I would say 90% of the time I go out with absolutely no makeup on at all. So for me, I wanted to learn the basics (especially foundation, skin matching, etc...). I also found the business lectures/discussions very helpful. The instructors were makeup artists actually working in the field (movies, photoshoots, runway, music videos, etc...) so they gave us lots of tips on how to market yourself, contracts, agencies, and lots more.
Now for someone who has experience (applies makeup regulary on themselves or anyone else), I think they could easily become a makeup artist without going to school. There are so many self taught makeup artists on youtube (and in general) and they are amazing. I look up to many of them because of their makeup skills.
Makeup artisty isn't something that can be taught in a classroom and the individual instantly becomes a makeup artist. It takes work and practice. Some people have natural talent and that will get them far. For others, school might be needed to give them some new techniques and inspiration. In any case, I think it is really up to the individual to decide if its right for them. I don't think it is necessary. But its a nice extra to have if you have the extra money. I won't lie; school was pretty expensive so it was an investment for me.
Let me know your thoughts on this subject in the comments below. And feel free to ask questions if you have any. =)
I tried this product a few times and I think I have a set opinion on this product. The first time I used this product, I didn't think it was too bad. I did notice that the pump would pump out too much product and I had to adjust the pressure used on the pump. It did seem a bit thick and very opaque. This product seems like it would work well if you had any discoloration on your lids. When I first used this primer, I only had makeup on for half a day before removing my makeup and since the color was very neutral, I didn't check to see if it creased or I didn't notice any creasing.
The next time I used this primer, I didn't seem to like it as much. I used a tiny bit, but it still seemed to be very thick and opaque. It made the area around my eyes look very pale and pasty. I usually don't wear foundation, so it was a problem. I was only playing around with makeup this time, so I didn't get to test it for creasing.
Now I just used this again the other day for work and it was horrible. Luckily I just wore neutral colors on my lids because when I checked at home, my shadow creased! And it was bad. I should have known since this primer is creamier. After the other problems, along with creasing, I will have to pass on this product.
Some things to keep in mind:
I have very oily skin
I have extremely oily lids
I have issues with any type of makeup staying on my eyes (especially liner)
I would say to try out this product if you have dry skin and have a light complexion. It might not crease if you have dry skin.
Has anyone else tried this product? Please tell me what you think of it in the comments if you have.
there are 4 chances to enter: #1 youtube #2 blog (on this post) #3 Facebook page #4 twitter @makeupbykat
you may enter only once for each method listed above (up to 4 entries total per person) duplicates will be disqualified all together =)
must be 18+ years old or with parental permission to enter giveaway. only open to US subscribers...sorry. i can only ship within the US right now.
***check back often to find out the official end date of the giveaway. the winner will have only one week to claim the prizes before i hold another giveaway. to make this easier, bookmark this blog page or favorite the youtube video above.***
#1 youtube rules: you must be subscribed to my youtube channel http://youtube.com/user/blushingartisan (click the subscribe button - its free) and leave a comment on the giveaway video with the names of 5 MAC pigments or glitters
#2 blog page rules: you must be a follower on this blog (click the link to the right) and leave a comment on this specific blog post with the names of 5 MAC pigments or glitters
mentioned in the video- MAC fluidline - blacktrack MAC fluidline - dipdown Benefit dr. feelgood (sample) NYX lipstick - topaz NYX lipstick - raisin MAC pigment samples (5)
