I was blessed with another beautiful bride on Saturday - Lizzie is just gorgeous inside and out.

She and Matt had a slight carnival theme to their wedding with the most amazing invites from ........ and a colour scheme of red and pink. Lizzie’s beautiful halterneck dress was hemmed just under the knee and with a netted hairpiece falling over her face she looked like a 40’s screen siren. As she is a blonde I used a gold based pink shadow on her eyes over a cool brown base so as to not have too much yellow competing with her skin and hair. I finished off her eyes with a slick of espresso coloured gel eye liner, slightly softer than black, and water resistant so fantastic for weddings and special occasions.

Lizzie’s bridesmaids Tori and Sam looked stunning in black halterneck dresses, Tori is another beautiful blond so I went with soft golds and browns on her eyes. Sam has dark hair and with a pale complexion I didn’t want to go overboard, but chocolate browns made her blue eyes stand out.

I can’t wait to see the professional photos, Jason and Aneta at WE DO have a website full of beautiful images at http://wedo.net.nz/ and no doubt Lizzie and Matt's day will have been captured wonderfully. 
Here is a peek at what the makeup looked like:

So at the beginning of this year I made a commitment to focus on building up my freelance makeup business. I've been quietly working away at building a brand for myself and working out how to move forward with marketing my skills. Where is there going to be a whole heap of brides all in one place looking for a makeup artist? A wedding show that's where. So with some help from my loved ones I set up the inaugural stand for Made Up Makeup Artists at the Wellington Wedding Show. 

It was so much fun working out a theme and style to work towards - I wanted my stand to be eye catching and fun so I sourced some gorgeous red and pink floral fabric to line my walls with, the colours perfectly matching the bride on my wedding cards. 
I decided on a garden party kind of theme so sourced some old school white wrought iron garden furniture from my Grandfather. The final touch was some battery powered fairy lights and lanterns strung across the top of my booth. 


My amazing friend Pip was on hand to help me and she came through in a big way! I've been in cosmetic sales for over six years, and yet when it came to selling myself and my skills I found it incredibly difficult. So having Pip, who I had made up earlier that morning was a life saver. 

I met some very lovely brides-to-be on Sunday, some of whom have booked in for next summer. So if you were there and are still looking for a makeup artist for your wedding day, get in quick.

And as for the next show in October, I'll be there with bells on!

I've just arrived home from the Wellington Wedding Show and am about to rest my weary head. It was great to meet and talk with so many lovely brides and grooms to be. I had some thoughts during the day that, if you are planning your wedding and are going to a wedding show, might help you through.
Firstly, set up an email account that is just for information that relates to your wedding planning. At a wedding show every booth will have a draw where you'll have to give your email address. Having a specific wedding email will keep all of the information you get sent in one place, easy to reach. Secondly with the draws - there are usually over 100 booths and that is 100 times you'll be writing out your details if you are interested in the products and services. Make up some sticker backed labels with your name, email address and phone number on them to ease the repetition.

Thirdly, come with an empty stomach. There will be cake ;)

My flatmate Sarah is in love with makeup and all things girlie. She also goes out a fair bit. Which is great for me as I have a willing model for new looks or techniques I want to try out. I read the other day about an easy technique to create a nice clean line for a smokey cat eye and Sarah was going out so we thought we'd try it out last night. 

To achieve this look you simply need to start your makeup by smoking up your eye shadow, starting at the lash line and blending up to just over the socket line. To easily blend through the crease use a light, cool toned brown or grey shadow with an eye blending brush. This will give the illusion of shade without adding too much warmth or redness to the eye area. 
Take your crease colour down under the lower lashes and line under the eye with the liner you've used on your top lashes. You don't need to be too tidy at the outer edge of your eye. Next, use a bit of eye cream on a cotton bud to clean up any fallout from under the eye. This will also prime the under eye area ready for your concealer. 
Apply your concealer under your eyes with a concealer brush. Instead of simply stopping at the outer corner of your eye, use your brush to take the concealer in a straight line from your lower lash line up to your brow blending the outer edge of the concealer into the tops of your cheekbones.
And voila, you'll have a beautifully straight clean cats eye line to your smokey eye. 
Apply your mascara and finish off the rest of your makeup. 

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of Sarah to post but stay posted for more tips and tricks. I think we're trying a full on glitter eye next!