Save The Date!

A story.

A very true, unsettling story.

Now this happens to be a tricky subject in any line of work, 

but it is found especially in the Beauty Industry.

SAVE THE DATE! Booked! Confirmed! I'm so excited!

What a fantastic opportunity! 

Oh!... You want to book me for this date as well?.. I'm sorry, I'm already holding that date 

for another client. But damn!.. That would have been an amazing shoot as well...

............... Oh well! They asked me to reserve those days for them, and I told them I would! 

So I'm sorry, I'm going to have to pass up this job. 

Now, you have this tight feeling in your stomach.  It always seems to happen this way right?

Two or more, amazing jobs come at you at once! Asking to book you for the same day(s),

but you had already told the first client/company you would hold it for them,

and you are a person of your word! So, you sadly reject the other incredible offer. 

Your mind starts running. Did I make the right decision?

Should I have taken the other job over this one?

No, no.. stick to your word!

SAVE THAT DATE!

A week passes

What?!... You're canceling/moving/dropping the shoot all together?! 

But.. but I saved those days for you like you asked, LIKE YOU TOLD ME TO!

Shit. Ssshhhiiiiiitttt!

I have to get back to that other job I turned down for you!! 

Hey, hey! I am available now! I would love to wor-....

Oh. You booked somebody else.

No, it's fine! Really.. I completely understand. 

Fuck.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Being in this sort of situation sucks, to say the least. You had two or more incredible offers,

you wind up with none.

You start to blame yourself, the company/client that fucked you over, the world,

the universe, why me, WHY?!!!!

But what can you do about it? Nothing.

I really do always hate to be the one to say it:

You have to learn from it.

I decided to ask a couple professionals in different categories of the Beauty Industry:

(Photographers, hairstylists, makeup artists, stylists)

How they would handle this situation and what to do in the future to try and avoid another

case of this at all costs. 

This was their overwhelming response.

TAKE A DEPOSIT

Never trust anybody who asks you to hold a date without a firm confirmation,

and a small to half deposit. 

Even if it's a friend or family! Don't just trust words, trust money.

People in this industry flake or cancel or reschedule ALL THE FREAKIN TIME,

on a dime! 

They really don't take into consideration everyone else they are essentially screwing over,

they think, What's the big deal? We had to move it!

But of course, on your end you feel betrayed, worried about money,

and you may have even turned down another job for this one! 

You could lash back saying those exact things. How dare you!

Do you know what I rejected to save this date?! You can't do this! How unfair!

But honey, it really does nothin' for nobody. 

At least, taking some sort of a deposit to hold your spot for those days (or that day)

will make you feel a little more at ease if anything goes array.

You got some sort of compensation right?

It may not make you feel better about losing out on another fabulous job,

but it's a whole lot better then ending up with jack shit. 

What are your thoughts on this situation?

Has this ever happened to you or a friend?

How do you handle it?

Because believe me, you are not alone.

Shooting Daze: With Lacey Claire

Behind The Scenes from a very recent shoot with Lacey Claire (@thelaceyclaire) from the most recent (and last) season of America's Next Top Model.  

Hair by Sylvia Stankowski (@sjshairdesign) - Styling @brando.fshnstylist

To say the least, shooting with Lacey was a delight, and not just because of her kick ass modeling skill. At only 18, Lacey exudes a mature confidence and down to earth attitude. No wonder my parents absolutely loved her on ATTM and asked TOLD me to tell her that they thought she should have won and that she was their favorite!  At hearing this, Lacey laughed and told me to tell them she sincerely was thankful. 

First Look of the day

Starting out the day with a glowing complexion, 

soft pink blush and lips, and a super soft brown smokey eye. 

- Used a mix of both the RCMA Foundation Palette and 

L'Oreal Telescopic Lumi Foundation for Lacey's skin. 

- For Concealer I used MACs Studio Conceal and Correct Palette in Light, 

setting with Ben Nye's Cameo Loose Powder.

A touch of Anastasia Beverly Hills Starlight Illuminator down the center 

of the face and on the cheek bones. 

A.B.H. Contour Kit for contouring and bronzing. 

Benefit Sugarbomb Blush for a soft flush of pink to the apples. 

- Brows are Anastasia Beverly Hills Duo Powder in Soft Brown, combed out with Clear Brow Gel.

 I've been really into natural, combed out brows lately. 

I find it more "real" and beautiful then those sharply shaped out drawn in lookin' brows.

On the Eyes, Anastasia Beverly Hills New Single Fall Eyeshadows in Lace, Chocolate Crumble, Belize, ad Fudge as the liner. 

Rimmel Mascara (since she had such long lashes, falsies were unnecessary) 

The lip is a combination of Kosas Cosmetics lipstick in Undone and RoseWater. 

Right in the beginning!!

Bumped up this look for a little more glamorous feel.

Added some Plum Smoke eyeshadow to smoke out the eye. Also added 

some Soft Gold eyeshadow to the tear duct, making the eyes seem brighter.  

I added some ABH Lip Gloss in Metallic Rose to the lips. 

Becca Cosmetics Moonstone highlight for a wonderful glow. 

I absolutely LOVED the darker lip looks we did! 

This one in particular made me think of her as a Modern Day Snow White.

Lip is Kosas Cosmetics lipstick in Fringe. 

The entire day was full of chic outfits and countless hair/makeup changes.

Working on a shoot like this one reminds me of why I love my job in the first place. 

Syncing with other creative individuals to make an editorial story. 

I just love it! And I cannot wait to see the final outcome.  

:)

MORE BEHIND THE SCENES!

Shooting Daze: Grungey Fall Vibes

Behind the scenes MAKEUP BREAKDOWN of the recent beauty shoot I did with Photographer Jenn Collins, Model Bridget Satterlee, and Hair Stylist Marissa Cydya. 

Sorry about the blurriness, taken from my Iphone,
behind the scenes.

On the eyes, to give the appearance of a white-gold shimmer, I used Giorgio Armani cream eyeshadow in Pearl.
Lip here is MAC Lip Liner in Chicory with a hint of Rose Salve Lip Balm on top.
Subtle glow on the skin is Anastasia Beverly Hills Starlight Illuminator. 

The face was all cream products except for the highlight.  

Skin is RCMA Foundation Palette, but I only used it mostly for covering up any little imperfections here and there, and the cooler tones (grey tones) for a slight cream contour.  Bridget had amazing freckles, and I wanted them to show through.
On the eyes ||  Charlotte Tilbury Film Star On The Go bronze cream eyeshadow, with LORAC eyeshadow in Topaz on top
and Gold next to the tear duct.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel was all these brows needed! They were already pretty filled in and shapely. I personally love a more natural brow.
The lip was two MAC lip liners, Subculture first and Nude right in the center.
Chaos Makeup highlight in Mynxi to add a little more of a dewy glow to the face. 

Amping up the grunge on the last look! 
Making the eyes darker by adding some more shadows from the LORAC Pro Mega Palette in Opal, Merlot and Espresso.
Topping it off with a small amount of Boscia Beauty Oil to give that wet effect.
Added another Chaos Makeup highlight in Fawn (gold) to the skin.
The lip was a mixture of MAC lip liners in Nightmoth and Burgundy.
Added a drop of Boscia Beauty Oil to the center of the lips as well. 

         

Behind The Scenes: Makeup in Progress

Selfie on set! :)

City Hues

Editorial Lookbook for LabNo25

Photographer: Jon Shoer

Model: Hannah Kirkelie

Stylist: Michael Briales

MUA/H: Hayley Kassel

We Found Someone Cheaper

Words that no freelancer ever wants to hear, especially when you thought you were hired in the first place. This statement in particular makes you think, HARD.  Am I charging to much?... Are they just really cheap people?... Should I have just taken the job and not tried to negotiate?...
All in all, did I do something wrong?

Very recently, I had this exact situation happen. I won't bash the company that did it or give exact numbers or names, but I feel it's something a lot of freelancers go through at some point, and I do not think it is okay.

I was hired. I was hired for what seemed to be a great job, commercial/ad, full day of work, and the pay at the time was just about what I pay fore rent, so I was ecstatic. Before sending this job through my agency, I wanted to make sure I had all the details, clear and concise, so I could make my own Invoice to send them.  This is where things took a turn.

The entire time I had been communicating with this company, I was under the impression it was one model for the full day. That's how I gave my initial rate in the first place, thinking that it was a full day (8 hour) commercial shoot, at a location that was VERY far away, with one model. The woman I had been in contact with, emailed back stating that it was actually 4-6 models.. and that's when I got a horrible feeling in my gut.

Not really sure what to do, or where that number even came from, I replied that from the start of talking with her, I had thought it was only one model and that now knowing it was 4-6, if we could discuss/negotiate my rate for the day. You know? To see if their was any wiggle room in their budget.

And let me make this very clear, my email was not hostile in any shape or form. I did not demand more money, I just wanted to see if there was any chance of NEGOTIATION on the matter.
But, clearly, they did not like this.
They responded about 15 minutes later saying unfortunately that they would no longer be needing my services for that shoot day...... Now at this point, my heart sank along with my already upside down stomach.  Wait? What?! WHAT?!!!  <------ my mind
Completely in shock, I emailed back as fast as I could, stating that "I'm sorry for any confusion, all I wanted to know is if there was any wiggle room." But NOT that I wanted out of the actual job at hand.

To my dismay, and the whole point of this blog post, all they replied back was "We have found someone cheaper.  This person will do it for less then the initial rate we were going to pay you."   And that was that.

End of the back and forth conversation that I had only started in the first place to get all the shoots details so I could send them my invoice.  Now, this is usually the time where people say Fuck'em! You don't need them! They don't deserve you! and on and on and on 
But, when you were fully counting on a job to bring in most of your rent/bills/utilities/food, and it gets ripped away, those little angry statements are the last thing on your mind.  And this brings us back to the beginning thoughts of:
"I just shouldn't have said anything.."    "What am I going to do now?"
"Should I send them a seriously angry email stating how wrong they are?!!!!!..... no, never.."

Then again, there are other ways of looking at this kind of shitty situation as well. This is where my parents wise words and thoughts chime in.
"Would you have taken this job in the first place, had you known the amount of models and the pay they were willing to give?"
"What can you take from this? What have you learned?"

I am still bitter about the situation. I also find myself being angry with the artist who would take a job like that, for much less then they should. This is what I hear about everyday.
Don't worry, if you don't take the job, someone else will do it, and a lot of the time, for free.
The talk that it's getting harder and harder to get the rate you deserve because clients/companies now have caught on that there will ALWAYS be an artist who will do the job for next to nothing.

How do we fix this? Do we plunge our rates to try and fit in?
Or do we stand our ground!... and maybe not get hired for jobs because of it.
I've seen in it done both ways, but the frustration with the artists stays that same.

LORAC Pro Mega Palette 2

When this baby arrived at my door step, I couldn't contain my happiness!  The first one, LORAC Pro Mega Palette, is still one of my favorite go-to palettes for any occasion, so I just knew the second one would have to be as good or even better! Well... you know what?

I was completely correct!! The pigmentation of these shadows is incredible, and the fact that there is little to NO fallout makes me love them even more.  I have come to find that super pigmented, bright shadows from various makeup brands tend to have extreme fallout, which really rubs me the wrong way. When I see a shadow reacts that way to a brush or even a finger, I tend to stop using those shadows/palettes and they get forever left behind.. 

But not with these shadows from LORAC! Another thing I found very intriguing about this particular palette was the softness of each shadow.  When I did my swatches of each color on my arm, some went on sooo smooth it was almost like a cream in powder form. I love it!

These swatches were taken inside, under a ring light, with no flash. No Primer was used prior to putting them on, just swatched on plain skin. 

The first two rows of the palette are all super matte shadows, giving such a great color range from all earth tones, cool greys and purples, and some yummy mauves as well. 

Absolutely PERFECT for Fall and Winter!! 

The last 2 rows in the Palette are all Metallic, Shimmery, Highlight colors! LORAC really hit the nail on the head for these shadows.  They give such a great range from all the super light highlight colors that everyone looks for for that brow highlight, inner tear duct highlight, or maybe even a pop in the middle of the lid for that glow! Then the shadows get into the Penny Metal Colors, which as we all know, are the staples of any Fall or Winter look. 

Matte Brown Fall Eyes : Drugstore Makeup Tutorial

When it comes to DrugStore Makeup Looks, sometimes finding the right

palette, shadow, powder, etc., can be infuriating.  

Number one, it sucks that you just have to guess; guess the right color lipstick, foundation, texture.......ahhhhhhggggggg!  Like I said, it's frustrating. 

But, when you find products that actually give you proper pigmentation, and 

work beautifully, it's like striking cheap gold!

I loved all of these products for this Warm Fall Look!

Products Used:

Nivea MEN Post Shave Balm

L'Oreal Lumi Foundation

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer

RIMMEL Stay Matte Powder

RIMMEL Natural Bronzer

Milani Berry Amore Blush

Pixi Beauty Summer Glow Palette

CoverGirl Coffee Shop Palette

NewYork Color Cosmetics Grey/Black 

Liquid Liner

Ardell Lashes in Wispies

L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara

A.B.H. Brow Wiz in Taupe

WetnWild Chestnut Lip Liner

NYX Violet Ray Lipstick

Check out the actually Tutorial on my YouTube Channel!!!

Matte Brown Fall Eyes