Makeup Artists...In Front of the Camera!

Having just returned from the International Makeup Artist Tradeshow, I look back at the flurry of crowds, noise, amazing talent, and a tremendous variety of product. I think how IMATS has changed over the years.  I have been attending IMATS for fifteen years now, so I have seen a lot of change.           

The first year I started attending, I thought I my heart might pop right out of my chest. I was so excited to see what was offered in the makeup world, I could barely sit still in each class for fear I might miss out on the next one. I sped around from class to class, vendor to vendor, soaking up as much information as I could with ease and anticipation. There were no crowds. That's right. No crowds. Each class had plenty of empty seats, and each vendor table was easy to reach.  There weren't as many vendors either, and the makeup was predominantly geared for the film and television effects community.  It's a different IMATS today.

Because there's no license yet to become a makeup artist, anyone can come. I love beauty makeup and now there's lots of it at IMATS. It seems that everyone else loves beauty makeup too, and everyone else comes to IMATS as well.  There's literally thousands of people there, and it's a zoo. The last two times I've attended, I've left with a serious headache.  I'm not saying that it's not fun anymore, because there's more product, more talent, more education, but it is seriously more crowded, and the focus has changed. It is not just for makeup artists anymore.

Line for Kandee Johnson inside the building
(the dots in the background are people!)

The one other thing that really left an impression on me was all the internet youtube sensations.  The busiest booths were the ones that had "celebrity" YouTube makeup gurus attached, and people wanted their pictures taken with them.  Things really have turned around.  Yes, many of us makeup artists started out as actors or in a band, but then at some point we decided to wipe off our makeup, get out of the limelight, and hide behind the camera.  When I was leaving IMATS, there was a line of at least 300 people waiting to meet the famed YouTube sensation Kandee Johnson. It snaked from inside the building and winded up and down to outside the building. She wasn't teaching a class. Those people would only get to say hi and take a picture.  You can see her blog about it at www.kandeej.com. Well, IMATS made one thing pretty clear, being a makeup artist is no longer behind the scenes.  I thought I was done being in front of the camera in my twenties. Am I ready to put on my makeup and pose for the camera again? Yikes!

Line for Kandee Johnson from outside the building

Easy come...easy go...

Carly Rae Jepsen won the Canadian Idol and hit the #1 US Billboard Charts with her hit song "Call Me Maybe" along with the #1 spot in 20 other countries around the world. In the last week I got hired to do her hair and makeup two times...and released two times when her Canadian makeup artist was able to pull through with her American working Visa. Come on Carly Rae, Call Me Maybe!!
www.artofmakeup.com

Models, Heartache, and Sauvie Island

    I was on Sauvie Island Tuesday for a creative test photo shoot. I decided I'm in love with Sauvie Island. It's beautiful out there. There's houses that float on the river. For a brief moment I decided I would move there, and then I remembered I had a six year old daughter, we would have no neighbors, and we already love where we live now. Maybe I'll get a summer house on the river where I can spend all day on my boat...when I get a boat.

    Oh yeah...I'm supposed to be working. This cute, bubbly, pretend model couple are blowing bubbles just outside an immaculate airstream trailer when a breeze trails across my face and then...what's that I smell? What's that familiar smell? My stomach turns, not in a eeuuw that smell was bad kind of way, but something just punched me in the gut kind of way. I realize it's the fragrance the male model is wearing on his skin. I know exactly what it is, but I can't remember the name. "What's the name of that scent you are wearing?" I kindly ask.
    "Sandalwood."
    "Oh," my stomach twists again. Why does it have to be sandalwood in all places? Especially in my new favorite place.  Sandalwood was of course what the ex-boyfriend wore that shredded my heart into little tiny fragments and left it up to me to try to figure out how to put it all back together again. And I'm not good at puzzles.
    With technology the way that it is, and my masochistic artistic nature the way that it is, I woke up this morning thinking I'd google the smell and take just one more whiff. That's when I realized you can easily take another look or listen and fill your nostalgic needs anytime via internet, but thank God I can't look up the smell.

 www.artofmakeup.com

The Simple Life

   The other day I had a test shoot out on Sauvie Island, the outskirts of Portland where the farms are, where you can pick your own berries in the summertime, swim in the river, and get lost in the corn mazes at Halloween time. It's not even that far of a drive, so I hadn't imagined it would be much different from the city itself. I was wrong.
    When I arrived to the shoot location, I nearly passed the unmarked dirt driveway. Fortunately a truck pulled in at the same time as I did with an unnaturally handsome boy peeking out the window. "Is this where the shoot is?" I asked.
    "Yes," he answered with a dazzling smile. It was pretty evident. I followed his dusty path down the road and parked my car as the beginning of what felt like an oddly voyeuristic day began. He slammed his car door and swiftly strode into the arms of the bikini clad model that awaited him near his truck. They embraced for what seemed to be an enormous amount of time.
   "Hi!" I brightly smiled at the two of them. "Where should I set up?"  The gorgeous specimen of a male pointed to some kind of habitat. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't kept up.

    "You can set up in here," he said. "It's not fancy, but this is where I live."  Wow, I thought. This is new. Ok.
    So that was my first impression. I wasn't too impressed I should say, but things grow on you.  As the day went on, I awkwardly watched this sexy young equally hard bodied couple pretty much makeout with each other, because that was the theme of the shoot, for about four hours straight.  They rode his motorcycle, played along the river and smeared berries on each other. I watched the sun set over the river, and I thought...you know what, if I were young, beautiful, lived on a farm on a river, and had a muscly model boyfriend, I wouldn't mind a bit about living in a tiny trailer with no belongings. Ah, the simple life!

www.artofmakeup.com

Adidas Yoga

Adidas Yoga

Believe it or not, these clothes were about 3 sizes too big and we had to bunch and clip them where you can't see in the shot. I can't believe we somehow made them look like they fit. These girls held these yoga poses for about 4 hours straight. Their legs were burning by the end of the shoot! Actually, well before the end of the shoot...but the shoot must go on!

www.artofmakeup.com

Going for Gold!

Working with all of these athletes makes me feel so out of shape! Ashton Eaton not only won the GOLD for the decathlon for this summer 2012 Olympics, but he holds the WORLD RECORDS in BOTH the Decathlon and Heptathlon events. I'm proud when my daughter spells a word or ties her shoes. Imagine how proud his mommy is! This picture is from People Magazine. I got to go work out now...

You CAN be a MOM AND DO ANYTHING!

One of the questions I get asked as a makeup artist is, "Can you manage a free-lance career and raise a child?" Well, I did, and I'm still doing it! Being free-lance often means getting last minute jobs, and it isn't always easy to spontaneously juggle child care and work, especially when you don't have family living close by, but  you know what? Somehow you figure it out.

Imagine if you were raising a baby, and training for the 2012 Summer Olympics? Well, that's what Kara Goucher did. I got to meet her (doing her hair and makeup) and her family for a Redbook Magazine photo shoot. Her baby is under two and is already sprinting down the track! His daddy is a marathon runner too. I wonder where his future lies... Check out the inspirational article about being a mom AND an Olympic athlete.

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Home » Hey London, the Moms are Calling! - Page 4

 

Hey London, the Moms are Calling! - Page 4

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Photo Credit: Ari Michaelson

Marathon mom

Kara Goucher, 34

HER HOME TEAM: Husband Adam, 37; son Colton, 22 months

Two years ago, Kara sent shock waves through the racing community when she announced she was pregnant and taking a yearlong break. The NCAA cross-country champion had been on an incredible roll, running her first half-marathon and beating British phenom Paula Radcliffe, then running her first marathon (in New York) and taking third place, and placing third again in Boston. "A lot of people were like, 'Now? Why not wait until you feel burned out?'" Kara recalls. "But Adam [also a track star] and I had been putting off having kids for years." First they were waiting until after the 2004 Olympics, then the 2008 Games. But after the IAAF World Championships in 2009, "I realized that there would always be another reason for postponing," so they took the plunge. Now Kara is back, ready to get down to business. "I was passionate about racing before my son," she says. "But he has added another layer, because I want him to see that dreams are worth having and that there are sacrifices worth making."

NOT FOR WIMPS 

"I get up around 6:30 a.m. to have breakfast and wake up Colt before leaving at 8 a.m. [A nanny watches him till Kara comes back at noon.] If it's a non-speed session, I run 90 minutes, then lift weights for an hour. If it's a speed-session day, I warm up for an hour before doing 12 to 16 one-mile runs or a steady 22-mile run. I come home and take a nap until Colt wakes up from his. We hang out until 4 p.m., when Adam takes over so I can do an easy run, about an hour, and stretch. I log 120 miles a week, running every day, twice a day. There is no weekend."

HER MOM ROLE MODEL 

"My friend Paula [Radcliffe, who famously won the 2007 ING New York City Marathon about 10 months after giving birth to the first of her two children] made me believe I could have a running career and a baby. And once Colt was born, she often talked me down from the ledge. I was so tired, I was like, What was I thinking? She told me to hang in there, that it would get better. And sure enough, at six months, I hit my stride."

THE ROAD BACK 

"It took a full year before I felt like myself again. I'd see all these celebrities who lost the weight so quickly, but I couldn't lose the last five pounds--and I run over 100 miles a week! What was even harder was getting back into the competitive mind-set. I ran when I was pregnant, but the number-one rule is to never push yourself. I had to relearn how to push through the pain."

TOUGH LOVE 

"Before Colt, I wouldn't run with Adam [who's retired from competition now]. He's faster--men just are--and he's used to leading the pack, so he's always one step in front of you. But after Colt was born, Adam ran with me day in and day out, because I needed help just getting out the door. He even pushed Colt in the jogging stroller when I didn't want to leave him. Of course, I was shouting, 'Stop one-stepping me!'"

KISS AND RUN 

"At the Olympics, my mom will take care of Colt--feed him, give him his bath, get him ready for bed--so that I can relax and sleep without the baby monitor. I'll do the fun stuff like kiss and snuggle with him, then leave. But this setup will last for only two days. I'd miss him too much."

Read more: Kara Goucher - Female Olympic Athletes Who Are Moms - Redbook