Makeovers part 1!

This make-up thing is still new for me and I have been so nervous about practicing on other people besides myself!  The time finally came that I offered my services to others and so many graciously accepted!  Here are some of the looks I've done lately:

I'm so lucky to have my beautiful mom around who lets me practice on her on Sundays for church.  Without this beginning, I don't know where I would have gotten the confidence to work outside of myself.  Here she is with bright pink/purple lips and a little blue eye liner making her literally look ten years younger!

This is Rachel.  Rachel wanted a natural look that pops for her brother's wedding. I still need practice on this particular eye shape and how to make a natural look look like you aren't wearing makeup but also look like you are, but her complexion looks flawless and glowing with a great wash of blush.  Oh and fill in your eyebrows ladies, look how they just frame Rachel's naturally pretty face!

For Selena, we used natural eyeshadows and winged her eyeliner to make her already stunning eyes stand out even more!  We also used a bright red lipstick which I love on her!  Upon further examination of this photo, I see that my winged liner needs some work because I'd like it be thicker in the middle and more thin/winged at the end.  So of course I practiced on myself and then on Anna that you will see next.

For Anna, we did a similar vintage vibe as Selena.  You can see how my winged liner is thicker and improved!  It took a million tries but practice makes perfect they say.  Anna has gorgeous cheek bones and overall bone structure so it was really fun to contour and highlight to bring that out even more.  With Anna, we also remembered to take a before and after...I'll be doing that more from now on.

I have to be honest and say that Cami is my favorite makeover to date.  She typically wears little make-up and we both decided "go big or go home" to see if she could pull it off.  Can she ever!  We did a dark blue smokey eye paired with a nude lip.  Not only are her eyes piercing but look how contouring gave her perfect apple cheeks.  Come see me for a smokey eye because this technique I have down...I think... Cami also asked me how to wear a nude lip in a more every day look so I came up with the photo below.

And finally a fun fall look. I wanted to try this lipstick I received in my Ipsy bag.  Never did I think I could pull off such a dark color but it's amazing what a little practice with make-up can do.  I love the colors I used on my eyes and how I blended them to be less dramatic but of course, I can't remember what I did!  Back to the drawing board for this look I guess!

Bridesmaid make-up

In my past life as a bridesmaid, my priorities were dress, hair, shoes, and then make-up.  I would likely do my typical make-up routine of bare minerals foundation, 2-3 coats of mascara and lip gloss.  I never wore blush because I thought it aged me and I thought bronzer was only for the summer.  Boy have I come a long way!  For my friend Leslie's wedding last weekend, as the matron of honor, how I was going to do my make-up was just as important as everything else to complete my look.  

Our dresses were a pretty coral and I googled tons of ideas for make-up with a coral dress.  I decided I wanted a bright coral lip that was a darker shade than the dress to be my focal point.  After consulting with friends, I also decided to skip any coral on my cheeks to not overuse the color!  My final look included a white base for eyeshadow with gold on the outer third of the lid and bronzer in the crease. I added a black winged liner and LOTS of coats of mascara.  My friend Shelley, another bridesmaid, was nice enough to let me help her with her eye make-up as well and I did a similar look of golds and browns but made hers a little darker/smokier because we used a coral lip that wasn't as bright as mine.  So her focal point was the eyes and mine were the lips.

This is Shelley...isn't she gorgeous?!

Of course I have to add a photo of the final look.  Many of you reading also know about my dilemma for how to make my strapless dress more modest.  I am not much for boleros...they seem outdated to me...I mean there are some that work but not any that I saw in David's Bridal for my taste.  I had this great idea for adding sleeves and am so grateful for my friend, Sara, who had the sewing skills to make the magic happen!  The dress was a David's Bridal strapless gown and Sara added the whole lace top from fabric I luckily found in a matching color.

Not only was I concerned about my fashion but my little boy was the ring bearer and had to look good.  There were some pretty stressful moments for me trying to get him to be quiet or stop running or do whatever he was supposed to be doing but when showtime came he did not disappoint!  I almost couldn't believe it!  He's not even 2 years old and he made it down the aisle holding my hand, hung around for some cute wedding party photos and danced the night away at the reception with no major meltdowns...was he perfect? Of course not, he's one, but he did so good and that was a relief!  I couldn't have done it without my husband by my side all day while I did maid of honor duties and he watched Joaquin.  Shelley also helped by letting me vent and putting her hand on my shoulder when she saw I was struggling.  It's a tough age to be a ring bearer (and to be his parents) and I'd like to think I wouldn't do it again with a future child at this age, but for how well it went, I guess I can never say never.

The wedding was so beautiful.  Leslie's church is amazing and her sparkly, all lace, amazing and detailed dress made the whole thing unbelievable!  The reception was decorated beautifully with teal, coral and gold with good food and special decorating touches by the crafty bride.  The Bride is also Lebanese so we all joined in for some traditional Lebanese dancing!  It was a wonderful wedding and she married a wonderful man!

And completely unrelated...I practiced my smokey eye again but this time using purple for Jesus's birthday date and here is that photo because I didn't blog a tutorial.