want ideas for bridal hair and makeup? check out persis’ wedding!

November 26, 2011
Bridal
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persis and jack are one of the most kind-hearted and easy-going couples i’ve had the opportunity to work with. i first met them for a coffee to discuss the different makeup looks and hairstyles persis had in mind; i was to create three different looks for her throughout the day. for many chinese weddings, the bride changes into several outfits through the day and like to have different makeup and hair looks to go along with it.

persis was so calm throughout the day and jack so considerate of everyone around. it was truly a pleasure to be able to accompany them throughout the entire day; everyone had a blast.

here are some photos captured by photographer vivek bhattacharyya –  http://www.vivekbhattacharyya.com:

getting ready for the ceremony (updo and natural makeup):

makeup for sister and mom:

makeup for bridesmaids:

at the church:

makeup for made of honour:

look change –  hair extensions added for half updo & grey tones added for makeup: (this photo taken by me)


(this photo taken by me):

(this photo taken by me)

evening look: side updo & smokey eyes: (this photo taken by me)

congratulations to jack and persis!!

try icy eyes and warm lips with the shu uemura WKW holiday collection

November 8, 2011
Behind the Scenes, reviews
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for a photo shoot with photographer teddy chau, i was creating a makeup look using the shu uemura wkw holiday collection burning in water palette on model effie tsorovas. the colours are so vibrant and are so well captured in photos. here is a behind-the-scenes shot / sneak peak at the look:

the collection is so beautiful; from the packaging, to the colours.

holographic image taken during the creation of wong kar wai’s short film “mask”.

drowning in flame palette. so lovely for creating soft, natural, romantic looks.

the perfect accent to a holiday look. jeweled love partial lashes. a must-try!

burning in water palette. for eyes that make a statement.

the beautiful premium lashes – dance in glitter.

such pretty nail polishes! i shall do a post on these soon. i’m wearing these colours as we speak.

i wanted to create a wearable look using the burning in water palette. sometimes we’re afraid to use bold colours, but give icy eyes a try this winter season:

warm up the edges with brown eyeshadow to make the look very wearable. i’m also using the shu uemura ultimate natural mascara which keeps lashes curled. for my brows, hard formula in seal brown for brows that stay put.

rather than a bold red (i used the wkw rouge luster on effie), try the wkw  pink flush for a softer look:

it’s an extremely moisturizing lipstick. i’m absolutely in love with this lipstick.

how to get rid of those fine lines and “de-puff” your eyes using shu uemura red:juvenus eye treatments

November 6, 2011
reviews
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if you answer yes to either one of the following questions, then you’ll want to read this post:

  1. take your finger and lift your cheek area, right under your eye, do you see thin lines? or do you see very fine lines when you smile?
  2. do you wake up some mornings with puffy and dark under eyes?
if you answered yes to question#1, then you better start acting now. it’s the first signs of aging and it’s what i’m experiencing right now. to prevent these fine lines from becoming wrinkles (which is when the second layer of your skin begins to loose it’s elasticity), i’m using the red:juvenus line-reducing eye essence in the morning and in the evening following my regular skin care regime. the red:juvenus line is designed to aid in the first signs of aging. the line is enriched with anti-oxidant ingredients (pomegranate, red currents and tomato extract).
if you answered yes to question#2, shu uemura has come out with a new product to instantly get rid of those puffy, tired eyes. it was inspired by the shiatsu massage technique which encourages circulation and flow. bringing circulation back to the eye area will decongest and take away the puffiness. i’m using the shu uemura red:juvenus roll-away instant eye fatigue. it contains guarana fruit extract which instantly reduces dark circles. use this product in combination with the line-reducing eye essence and carry it in your purse and have it handy when your eyes are feeling tired at work. there’s a trick to using this new product: using the cool silver ball to press on the pressure points around the eye area:
give these products a try, your skin will thank you!
want more tips on skin care? message me if you have any requests.

lili and dave’s wedding

October 17, 2011
Bridal
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bride lili found me through a forum and after her trial, i got to meet her amazing bridesmaids, jen and maddy. besides being able to beautify such great people, i got to make three new friends. we are all still in touch through facebook – i love what i do!

lili was a simple bride; she wanted to look fresh with rosy lips and nothing too dramatic for her eyes. so i used the shu uemura sunset gold palette and painting liner in brown.

jen is a full out shu uemura fan! she came telling me that she had prepped her skin with the complete shu uemura red:juvenus line (great choice – i use the emulsion as well).

maddy wanted something smokey for her eyes, but not too overdone. their bridesmaids dresses were a rich royal blue, so i chose some blue tones from the shu uemura color atelier eyeshadows and i use the the shu uemura drawing pencil in me blue.

GCL Photography was there to capture beautiful shots of the special day:

Some photos that I snapped:

lili – evening look

maddy


Photos sent courtesy of jen:


jieun and george’s wedding – lovely shu uemura bride

October 15, 2011
Bridal, Video
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lovely bride, jieun, came to me requesting to make her eyes appear bigger for her wedding. a common request for monolid eyes. she was such a sweet and cute bride to work with! and it just so happens that she’s a huge shu uemura fan. using some shu uemura matte black eyeshadow and some black painting liner, we were able to achieve the makeup look that she was looking for. she also requested rosy, pink lips with gradations of a deeper pink from the inside of the lips fading out to soft pink to the outer parts of her lips. such an angelic look. i used the shu uemura sunset gold palette (eyeshadows and pink blush) – my go-to bridal palette – to complete the look. for the skin i used shu uemura face architect smoothing foundation in light honey. 

here is a video created by Studio910.ca that captured the beautiful day. what fantastic work they did on creating the video:

go bronze with shu uemura color atelier!

October 14, 2011
Beauty, reviews
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i just love experimenting with makeup. why? because it’s so interesting how different colours and different makeup looks makes the same face look so different. janice wu is my favorite model – i’ve used her all throughout the shu uemura beauty make-up art competition; she looked so different with each look! photographer, mark darren, and i got together again with janice and transformed her into a bronze goddess. this time, i had my hairstylists, danny mak, on board for hair. it was an amazing team.

using a shu uemura customizable palette, i put together a quad of pressed eyeshadows to create the look; it’s so convenient to mix and match the eyeshadows.

here’s the look that i created:

products used:

face architect smoothing fluid foundation in medium beige. this foundation is amazing! i use this on myself during the cooler months. it doesn’t look like foundation when it’s on the skin – totally melts in. when zooming in on the photos, mark darren noticed right away that i had used a different foundation on janice’s skin. the nobara cream stick foundation, on the other hand, is amazing for matte, high coverage, the face architect smoothing foundation is great for creating that healthy glowing skin.

*favorite tool: shu uemura natural 18 goat brush this brush applies foundation like no other brush does. it’s dense and soft so it glides on streak-free, filling all pores and fine lines. the synthetic brush 14 is great too because it’s easy to clean, but i prefer using it with the nobara cream stick foundation; i find it works better in blending the thicker foundations.

shu uemura painting liner in brown for a natural look, i blended the painting liner into the lashline to create an illusion of denser lashes. it resists water really well, so it stays put even in the upper inner rim.

shu uemura color atelier pressed eyeshadows i used:

base colour: ME medium brown 856    *ME = metallic

crease colour: ME medium brown 885

eyeline: M dark brown 895     *M = matte

accent: G bronze (inner corner and lower lashline)    *G = glitter

shu uemura glow on blush in medium peach 561 (matte) a universally pretty colour blush for any skintone.

agatha & conor’s wedding

October 12, 2011
Bridal
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it’s been a crazy wedding season this year! i’m finally going to do some posts about the wonderful wedding celebrations that i had the honour to be a part of.

agatha and conor got married in lovely and quaint port perry. it was such a picture perfect location with all the perfect touches. agatha’s gown was so, so gorgeous – it complemented her perfectly. to top it all off, she had amazing bridesmaids. i had such a fun time doing all of their makeup.

a big thank you to stacey for providing me some of the photos of memorable moments she captured throughout the day.


announcing… the shu uemura holiday collection by wong kar wai!

October 6, 2011
Beauty
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so here it is! me announcing the shu uemura holiday collection by wong car wai; also a preview for my how-to video for my creation of a holiday glam look. the holiday how-to video will be out soon, so check back!

going colourful with shu uemura colour atelier eyeshadows!

October 2, 2011
Beauty, reviews
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i met beautiful ellen d. during a wedding booking that i had this summer. she was one of the bridesmaids and when i learned that she had done modelling before, i just had to ask her to be a model for a photoshoot with me and photographer mark darren.

i wanted to try something colourful using shu uemura colour atelier eyeshadows. i was inspired by the colours found in the shu uemura mini khaki lashes: blues, greens and oranges. ellen has great features for a strong bold winged eye and she rocked this photoshoot! mark directed and captured the perfect gaze that jumps right out of the photo.

products used:

shu uemura nobara cream cover stick foudation – i love using this foundation for photoshoots. it’s high coverage and buildable without the heavy cakiness. because it’s a cream consistency, it glides on smoothly.

shu uemura painting liner in blue – i’ve used other gel liners before, but i must say that this one is my favourite because it doesn’t dry too quickly, so i can draw a smooth clean line and adjust it until it’s perfect. it’s creamy and not “watery” like some gel liners that don’t allow enough control when drawing a wing.

shu uemura colour atelier pressed eyeshadows – i used these colours:

base colour: matte beige 813

crease colour: ME 471 and P Green 595 *ME = metallic

lower lid colour: ME 686 (blue)

accent  outer colour: M 260 (oragne ) *M= matte

accent inner corner: G silver *G = glitter

browbone: M 907 (matte white)

shu uemura glow on blush M561 – i think a lot of people get scared off by shu uemura bright colours, but honestly, once it’s on the skin, it melts in and looks so natural. brides always ask me which blush i used on them and the glow ons are my go-tos.

shu uemura rouge unlimited crème matte – a nice nude beige colour that goes nicely with the bold dramatic eyes

shu uemura mini khaki false eyelashes

my how-to videos for shu uemura coming soon!

September 20, 2011
Behind the Scenes
2 Comments

it was definitely a whirlwind weekend for me! i had a wedding booking saturday morning then off i was to the airport to head to montreal to meet the shu uemura team. it was a fully packed day of filming on sunday at the st-hubert studio in montreal.

i arrived on set and was greeted by the awesome swoo team who did an amazing job filming the live shu uemura beauty makeup art competition in toronto. i was them prepped by isabelle randez and jasmine bouchard from l’oréal for shu uemura. they did an amazing job organizing the entire process, from preparing script to organizing products to launch. next, the mic was on and we were ready to role.

it was such a great experience doing all the how-to videos for the cool products that will soon be released! the holiday and spring collections offer some super unique items; i can’t wait until they come out!

the videos will be released very soon! in a couple of weeks i believe. be sure to visit www.shuuemura-usa.com to see the new collections that are soon to be featured and the shu uemura fan page on facebook where my videos will be posted! so excited!

i had a weekend filled with makeup, great people and i got to speak french (those who know me know how obsessed i am with french)! what more could i ask for?

Jasmine Bouchard – Interactive Marketing Specialist shu uemura

Geoffroy and Maxime from swoo

Isabelle Randez – Communications l’Oréal, Maxime, Geoffroy, model Gabrielle, me, Jasmine