Search This Blog

Monday, July 29, 2013

Boudoir Session/ Wreck the Dress Session Recap

Hey Beauties,
I've had a crazy weekend with a boudoir session on Saturday, and a wreck the dress on Sunday.
I love shooting boudoir sessions especially at The Winchester Manor over in New Market.  They have a beautiful little cottage just perfect for boudoir.  The girls over at *Caught You On Camera and I always have a wonderful time making shots look effortlessly gorgeous but with the upmost effort. You know those looks that say "oh I just woke up this way" are the hardest to create, you don't want perfect makeup but more of an undone "done" look.  It is crazy and I know our clients always think wow it really isn't easy being a Victoria Secret Model. Lots of "arch your back", "suck in your tummy", "stick out your booty" now do all of that at the same time without looking like you are straining or over thinking it all.  It really is so much fun though and the images get more and more gorgeous as the shoot progresses.  It is like the girls find their sexy about 15 minutes into the shoot. They get all the gitters out and just start working what their momma gave em!

*www.caughtyouoncamera.com for more info on Caught You on Camera
I took this with my camera phone at the shoot!
Our client is giving these sexy pictures as a surprise gift to her hubby. 
On Sunday, I went out to a farm in Somerville to do a "Wreck the Dress" session with *Connie Wise Photography.  I did the makeup at Anna's wedding and after the wedding she asked me to do the makeup for her "Wreck the Dress" shoot.  She told me it was going to be on a farm and I had no idea what I was really in for but I really loved it out there.  It was like a petting zoo full of animals like snakes, raccoons, gerbils, and of course horses.  The owners of the farm were so awesome, it was like hanging out on an episode of Duck Dynasty.  I had a ton of fun and I really want to go back there, I even pitched the idea of hosting photo shoots in their barn area because it is so awesome and perfect for the rustic themed shoots.
http://www.conniewisephotography.com/ for more info on Connie Wise Photography 

They were trying to get the horse to move but she was just too stubborn

Anna pulled her dress up because she was so hot,
we were waiting on the horses to move.

Holding my little snake friend 
I've got a busy week a head so you can keep up with my via facebook .

Monday, July 22, 2013

Morning After Skincare and Makeup

Morning after skincare and makeup


Hey Beauties,
Recently I went to a Girl's Night In with some friends.  We had a great time, the wine was flowing, and the night went on with lots of laughs and tons of great conversations.  I was having such a great time I accidentally stayed out a little passed my bed time, OK a lot passed my bed time.  I got in about 12:45A.M.  Maybe you are thinking that is early by your standards but I have a three year old so I have to get my rest otherwise I'm not so cheerful in the morning. The next morning I awoke to all kinds of mayhem and had to get myself together in a jiffy. I have my go-to products that really make those mornings when you didn't quite get enough sleep more bare-able.  Here is what helps me after too many glasses of wine and not enough sleep. 

Let me tell you about this Kiehl's Eye De-Puffer, it is absolutely great and it is only $20 which is completely reasonable for a product this great. It has a cooling feeling and it is fortified with caffeine and Hibiscus Extract. Go get YOU some. <3

As I have talked about before Simple Skincare is one of my favorite lines of drugstore skincare. It isn't overly scented or fragranced only has a couple of ingredients and doesn't break me out.  It is great skincare for a really great price. If you are trying to focus on anti-age I would try Michael Todd Organic Skincare. 

When I'm tired it really shows in my eyes the most so I use this Bobbi Brown Corrector to really hide dark circles.  This works to correct the color of your dark circles instead of just using concealer to cover it up.  You can use the most heavy duty concealer to cover dark circles and it won't work but a tiny bit of corrector will.  I put just a little concealer over it to really get full coverage.  I like to even everything out with my Bare Minerals Ready Foundation.  Ready Foundation is quick and easy and provides medium coverage.  If you are feeling tired you should always perk up your skin with blush and bronzer it helps you to look more rested and youthful, in any situation always remember blush! Define your eyes with Jordana Fabuliner, it is super simple with lots of control unlike liquid liner.  Finish off your lips with a Revlon Lip Butter, I like the color Watermelon.  It is so pretty and really adds so much to the face.  

What are your favorite products for the morning after a LOOONNGGG Night? 

<3 Amanda  

Friday, July 19, 2013

Good Skin Day Makeup Part 2

Good Skin Day Makeup



Hey Beauties,
Yesterday, I posted about Good Skin Day makeup for the face.  You don't want to cover your skin up completely but you do want to compliment it by adding a few extra products on your lips, cheeks, and eyes.  You don't have to use all of these to have a complete and put together look but here are some ideas of products that I would use on myself or on a client.  

First of all focus on the eyes, by adding a little shadow on lid and some definition in your crease you can really add a lot to your look. I like the Sonia Kashuk, Eye Coutour Palette for pigmented neutral eye shadows.  Put eyeliner just at the base of the lashes to give lashes a fuller, thicker look.  Lastly, you should coat your lashes in a couple of coats of mascara. I love Revlon Grow Luscious, it gives such a nice natural look. 

Moving on to the cheeks I like to put a peachy pink blush to the apples of the cheek moving it upwards.  If you smile while doing this your blush may fall lower on your face than you intended when you are not smiling so I try not to smile while applying blush. When I'm doing a more natural look I don't do a full contour I usually just use bronzer to warm up my face I use bronzer only on the outer parameter of the face so that my inner face looks brighter and by doing this you also add dimension without contouring. I may or may not highlight sometimes my concealer does this for me and I don't need an extra product but I really love the Physicians Formula highlighting products, they have a large color range.  
Finally top off your look with lips, I can't tell you enough how much I love Revlon Lip Butters.  They are super hydrating, and very build-able with the pigmentation.  You can really go from a sheer wash of color to a full on color with these.  They also come in a full range of colors so you are bound to find a color that suits you and if you are looking for a nice red, try Red Velvet or Candy Apple.     

This gives your Good Skin an extra boost.  Remember that if you'd like to keep it more natural you certainly don't have to use all the products recommended and always shop your own collection first before buying a new product.  Not sure about using a highlighter and don't want to invest in one just yet? Use a champaign colored eye shadow with a blush or small brush and swipe a little on the tops of the cheek bones.

<3 Amanda 


Thursday, July 18, 2013

Good Skin Day Makeup

Good Skin Day Makeup

On a "good skin day" makeup *Face*

good skin day

Hello Beauties,
On a good skin day, which is actually pretty often in the summer time I really like to let my skin show through, putting off a more radiant glow rather than a matte face.  This is a perfect combination of "good day skin".  The Garnier BB cream in COMBINATION to OILY is really great and like a completely different product to the original.  I really wasn't a fan of the original so when this one came out I was skeptical but it really is good stuff and dries down to more of a satin finish which is so nice for summer.  I bought mine at Wal-Mart because they sell the Medium to Dark shade and a Deep tone. Also as always if you try it and you decide it is not for you, you can take it back for a refund.  I have never had a problem returning makeup at any of the stores I recommend so don't waste your money on products that don't work for you.

Now the Mac Pro Longwear Concealer is great, it will NOT crease, apparently it is made with non-creasing technology? Anyway I like it, it is perfect for under the eyes, you can replace your eye primer with this stuff, and you can use it to cover blemishes.  You really don't need much at all, less than a pump will cover everything perfectly.  Try it out, you will probably fall in love! 

For me I don't set this with powder, I will spray a little setting spray like Urban Decay's All Nighter, or NYX Dewy Setting Spray and it stays all day without moving.  If you HAVE to powder then I advise only powdering your T-Zone that way you still have that natural skin appearance instead of a matte, powdery look. 

Come back tomorrow to see what I recommend for eyes, lips and cheeks to compliment your "good skin makeup". 

<3 Amanda 

Bits and Bobs
1. RIP Talia Joy, you were truly an awesome person to watch on YouTube and I will miss you
2. Lots of new business for Beauty Faces MUA :) 
3. My website will be launching very soon, FINALLY.
4. I have nearly read the entire Maskcara Blog
5.  My BFF is nearly due to have her baby!!! I can't wait :) 

good skin day

Monday, July 15, 2013

Sunday Reading

Hey Beauties,
I spent all day Sunday reading a new blog that I am absolutely in LOVE with it is called MaskCara. To say that she is a blogger genius is maybe an understatement.  She has a great way of really sucking you in because she is just so darn relatable.  I feel like we could be best friends which is probably why I have been so hooked on her blog.  She wrote something that I thought rang so true with me the way she goes about buying new products which is EXACTLY the way I do it.  She said that when she hears about a new product she researches it thoroughly, reads reviews, and then goes to Sephora to test it out, then gets a sample to take home then tries it as long as a sample will last and then if she really feels like she can't live without it then she will return back to the store to buy it.  This is my process,  I have never been able to buy anything expensive haphazardly ever.  I get buyers remorse almost instantly if I just throw money away on a product that I'm not sure about.  Do you go through this same process? I thought I was the only girl in Sephora ever asking for a sample and reading a million reviews.  When you finally do buy the product and then maybe it isn't what you want, do you return the item? I always do if it isn't exactly what I was looking for even after all the trying.  The way I see it products are expensive and if it isn't exactly the perfect thing for me then I'm wasting the money I could have spent on something better suited for me.  My absolute favorite thing is to find collection sets or pallets because if it has one item that I know I want and then you get to try out a lot of different other products for the price you would pay for the one product you wanted.  QVC often has special values that are so nice because of all the products you get to try,  you don't have to tune into the demo all you have to do is jump on their website and order...kinda nice eh?

Anyway after reading all day yesterday I find myself wanting so many different and new products that I had never really looked into before.  After hearing such amazing things about Stila's In the Light Palette it is definitely jumping to the front of my list of products to test out.  It looks perfect for bridal so that is a big bonus.

check out Maskcara at www.maskcara.com it really is worth the read!

<3 Amanda

Monday, July 8, 2013

Streak FREE Nails

streakfree nails
Hello Beauties, 
How was your weekend? Mine was lovely and very relaxing. I picked up a few of those eyeliners from the Ulta sale.  While I generally enjoy Ulta their employees are sometimes hard to handle, they are a little on the gruff side, have you experienced that at Ulta? Anyway I like my eyeliners so I'm happy about that.  

On with today's post, I was recently reading MakeupbyTiffanyD's blog and she wrote about how to achieve streak free nails with those lighter color nail polishes.  I find that even the best white, pale pink, and lavender nail polishes always get streaky and no matter how many coats you put it just never looks completely opaque even with a base coat.  MakeupbyTiffanyD suggested putting one coat of your light color nail polish then one coat of a Matte Top coat wait a few seconds and apply a second coat of polish and finish with a fast dry, high shine top coat.  The matte coat seems to keep the streaks away without effecting the high shine.  I tried it out and it works so wonderfully,  you can use whatever matte top coat you choose.  If you want to try it out with a cheap option try NYC Matte Me Crazy,  it works just as well as the Essie brand and it is only $1.72.  I love the way this looks, you would never know they weren't done professionally. 

Do you have any nail tips/tricks that make your DIY manicure easier? 

To see the full blog post over on MakeupbyTiffanyD go here: 

Have a Beautyful Day! 

Friday, July 5, 2013

Happy Independence Day + Setting Goals

4th of July
Hello Beauties,

I hope you all had a beautyful 4TH! It was very rainy and not all that nice in general here in Alabama. We still managed a lot of relaxing, doing as little as possible, and having a great time with our family.  I originally had a whole makeup and outfit look planned out that I was going to post a picture of on facebook but because of the rain I decided not to go with it. I do plan a makeup haul soon, and I'm counting down the days until my new hair extensions get here, I ordered from glamtimehair.com, they are shipping from the UK so they take a little while to get to me but I had the time to wait.  I'm sure you will be hearing a lot about these in future posts, I hope it is good things!

Also on the 4th my husband and I set a few personal goals or just goals in general, how we want the next six months until the end of the year to go.  Last year he was working toward a career change and you know it happened last November and I remember mine was to incorporate harder workouts into my daily routine and I started and completed P90X.  This year we decided to do the same sort of thing as we were having breakfast we were discussing where we would like to be by the end of the year, my husband is studying for a big IT certification and he's hoping to take the test by the end of the year.  It is a big test that takes six hours to complete so it is a big undertaking but he hopes to be ready by November.  Then he asked me what my goal was and I thought about about it for .5 of a second and said I would love for Beauty Faces to become full time, build it into my career because it what I really love and it provides me with the flexibility to be with my daughter.  I absolutely love working with my clients, I feel honored when they have chosen me to be apart of their wedding or for a photography session.  It is such a special feeling when you are with the bride moments before she walks down the aisle and she's so happy to be starting a new life with the man she loves.  I love being there for all of that, and if I could enjoy that moment for the next 20 years I would be more than happy to do so.  Therefore,  my goal is to work harder, gain more clients, and build my business up even more.  This summer has been amazing so far and I just want to keep up the momentum.  I know if we work hard enough our goals will become reality.

Do you set goals on the 4th? What are some of your goals you have set for yourself?

Have a Beautyful Day!