Ashley & Sebastian

I got such a lovely surprise in my inbox this morning. GORGEOUS images of a GORGEOUS bride from late last year from one of my favorite wedding photographers - Joseph Mark!

I like him so much, I hired him to shoot my own weddings pics back in 2008.

CHIHULY glass in the background! Ahh - I die. And really loving the undone looking side swept updo she chose!

Purple shoes!

Ashley wanted a soft smokey eye, and a romantic toussled updo.

She is so happy! You cannot look at these ceremony pictures and not smile.

Not only does this pic give a nice view of some strategic cheekbone contouring and brows, but how sweet are their expressions???

Could she be any cuter?

Congratulations Ashley and Sebastian! What a lovely couple!

Alisia & Brian - sneak peak!

Was so thrilled to open my inbox today and have a sneak preview of Alisia and Brian's wedding video from only 3 days ago! Wow Lynn Films, you're on top of it!

This was such a beautiful wedding, with a beautiful couple and family. Shanna and I had a great time working this one and it's so wonderful to see how it all came together!

The dip mid-exit, oh be still my heart! Definitely my favorite moment!

 
Brian + Alisia from Lynn Films on Vimeo.

Lauren

 Boy did Lauren have a head of HAIR! Big, poofy, naturally curly hair. She could give Merida from Brave a run for her money! She wanted an updo, so I just smoothed out her natural curls and pinned it up in a low updo that shows off all her God-given texture. I loved the way it turned out!

Congratulations Lauren!

Blair

I am long overdue in posting photos from Blair's wedding! LONG overdue. But at last here they are!

Blair was one of my most favorite brides of all time. She's gorgeous and has one of those personalities where you feel like you've known her your entire life. She makes everyone comfortable, she's laid back and most of all she is hilarious.

  With her handsome HUSBAND!

Love this shot. 

Blair's personality, captured. 

With the bridal party! Blair's wedding was the THIRD time I've had the pleasure of working with this group of friends. Here's a blast from the past...

Ashley's wedding in 2010! See Blair on the far left? And that's Sarah to Ashley's left.

And this one is from Sarah's wedding! Sarah's not oin this pic but there's Ashley on the left and Blair int he middle. Blair actually sent me this pic because she opted to only get their hair done at Sarah's wedding, but not makeup. And apparently she regretted it. I think she still looks beautiful, how could she not? But yes, you can definitely see the difference professional makeup makes in the pictures!

We'll close with this shot of a newly married Blair. Congrats! Pretty sure there's at least two single bridesmaids left so hopefully I'll be seeing this group again!

Tutorial! Fixing broken makeup

The broken compact. Sigh. It's happened to all of us.

If you have one of these in your house, it might happen a little more frequently. This kid loves to reach into my makeup drawer while I'm putting on my makeup and see what goodies he can find. Usually he's content to brush his hair with a bronzer brush, but sometimes before I can stop it form happening - a compact hits the tile floor.

This is the reason mommy can't have nice things.

So this weekend I was organizing and purging my bathroom, which turned into a HUGE project resulting in 3 big grocery sacks of toiletries and cosmetics in the dumpster. But I figured this was a great time to "fix" my broken makeup.

Here's an example - my Essence shimmer powder. Busted to bits. I would have repurchased this, but it is now nowhere to be found. Sigh. Just when I thought I had found a suitable replacement for the long discontinued Revlon Skinlights.

So thank goodness this is actually fixable! All you need is a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

 Step 1: Drizzle rubbing alcohol all over the broken makeup.This would be easier with an eye dropper, but I was lazy and my bottle of alcohol was almost empty anyways so it wasn't going to come out too fast.

This is just the right amount rubbing alcohol. It's not spilling over the edges... I'd actually say it's about 1/3 of the depth of the compact. All the bits are sitting in a shallow puddle of alcohol.

 Step 2. Take your finger and start mushing. This is messy, it just is. Just start squishing the powder into the alcohol until it makes a muddy mess. If you're anal, you can use a bit of saran wrap and a butter knife to get it compacted really flat and smooth - but I'm lazy :)

 Here's what my compact looks like now that it's all squished and soggy.

 I went ahead and fixed a few more broken items too while I was at it. These are all in the soggy squished state now. This leads us to the third and final step - let the makeup dry for a few hours or overnight.

This photo was taken probably 5 hours later. As you can see, the makeup is all dry now. It doesn't look exactly like it used to. The surface is bumpy, not smooth, and it has a strange "muddy" finish.

However, I promise the new look does not affect the way the product functions AT ALL. It still goes on looking exactly the same as it used to.

I hope this little tutorial saved you a few bucks replacing broken makeup!

Tropical Styled Photoshoot with Christina Truelove and Bride Associates

I had a fun opportunity last week to do hair and makeup for a model at the Bride Associates Dallas Bridal Show booth. It was so much fun to work with Chelsey Dane of Bride Associates and Photographer Christina Truelove!

The Bride Associates booth had a tropical coral and navy theme this year, so their model needed a beachy, yet polished look. When it comes to a beach wedding, you can't go wrong with bronze smokey eyes and coral lips and cheeks!

 While beachy waves blowing in the breeze is always a good option for an outdoor wedding, I thought this gown deserved something just a little more polished.

I opted to put Becca's loose waves into a very unstructured "undone" looking updo, complete with a tiny fishbone braid (it's on the left side so you can't really see it here sadly!) and a coral flower

Becca, our gorgeous model, is going to be a gorgeous bride on her wedding day in just a few short weeks! Congrats to Becca, and thanks for the opportunity to work with you Chelsey and Christina! I had a blast!

Ashley & Sebastian - Sneak Peak!

Shanna and I had such an awesome wedding this weekend, working with the fabulous Joseph Mark Photography! I have a special place in my heart for Joe and Stephanie... they were actually MY wedding photographers too!

Ashley is a stunning bride, no question about that! I also thinks she has an uncanny resemblance to Kimberly Williams - the "Father of the Bride" bride!

This one captures her personality so perfectly. 

More pictures to come - but couldn't resist sharing Joe's sneak peak! Congratulations Ashley and Sebastian!