Cover FX Makeup

The last couple of days at work, everyone seems to want Cover FX makeup! I’ve had the exciting experience using their different foundations on various skin conditions, so I wanted to share my findings. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to take pictures of my clients, but I didn’t think I’d be making a post like this. Cover FX is a Canadian company that is cruelty free, paraben free, so safe that it is actually recommended for people post-surgery to cover scarring and wounds.

My first client had severe rosacea. Rosacea is a skin condition that creates redness, swelling, even some blistering effect on the skin. It can affect parts of the face, the whole face, even the eyes. This client had it all. She had tried all types of facial cleansers and moisturizers to try to find a treatment, but she said that Cover FX cream foundation was the only thing that didn’t irritate her condition, and gave her coverage for the redness. It also hydrated and protected her skin, which was a huge help in keeping the condition under control.

The problem was, she was using the wrong shade. She was using a shade that was matching the redness in her skin and not what her skin colour actually was, so she was unhappy with how she was looking. She came to me looking for a different product all together, since she didn’t realize what she was doing. After I matched her properly, and made up her whole face, she really saw the difference. Her face was a uniform colour, free of redness, and matched the skin colour on her neck and chest. I taught her as well how to use a pressed powder in a slightly different colour to contour her face in the summer so she doesn’t have to keep buying different colour foundations.

My second client in search of Cover FX was also looking at the cream foundation, but her skin condition was much different. She had oily skin, and was acne prone. She had a lot of active acne but also a lot of very red scarring from acne that had healed. She was already treating the issues she was having with the proper cleansers, but wanted a foundation with a lot of coverage while her skin was healing. For her, having a cream foundation would have been contradicting what she was doing already to treat her acne. She had oily skin, which means that if she was using a heavy coverage, heavily moisturizing foundation, her skin would have suffocated and made the problem even worse.

For her, I steered her instead to first the powder foundation. I showed her how to use the powder wet with a foundation brush to get more coverage, and then how to set it with the same powder using it dry. She ultimately decided that she would go with the water based liquid foundation, which I recommended if she wanted more coverage without suffocating her skin or packing on heavy makeup that would ultimately cake up on her as the day went on. I taught her how to use the powder foundation in the same colour as the liquid to set it, and make the coverage slightly more opaque.

So there we have it. The many uses of all different types of Cover FX makeup!

Acne Skin Care

Sorry for the delay in posts, those who follow for skin care and beauty tips.  I am now working full time as a cosmetician at Shopper’s Drug Mart, and it keeps me busy. Today, kids, I want to talk about salicylic acid.

Recently, I learned a very valuable lesson about skin care, and unfortunately, it had nothing to do with my job. I was suffering from a weird breakout and it was lasting longer that usual and getting worse by the day. So it was time to do something about it.  I got myself to Sephora and purchased the Murad skin care line – and here’s where the story switches focus to salicylic acid.

Nothing against the Murad skin care line.  I use the sulphur mask quite often and I really like it. However, the rest of the line is chock full of salicylic acid, an ingredient in the majority of skin care products which are directed to clearing up acne. The result was a crazy burn all over my face. I do not blame the skin care line so much as I blame the salicylic acid in it.  When you are using 5+ products all with SA in amount of 1-2% twice or 3 times a day, what else but a burnt up face can you expect?

So, salicylic acid works by drying up the skin of excess sebum and has some anti-inflammatory properties. The problem is, it’s not a very smart substance, and doesn’t discriminate between protective sebum on the skin’s surface and excess sebum that is causing impurities in the skin.  The result is an excess drying of the skin, and an overproduction of sebum to compensate.  In small amounts and for short periods of time, it can really control acne blemishes. But over time even small amounts are going to irritate the skin and leave it unprotected, overproducing sebum, and making the problem worse. Not to mention what it will do to the rest of your skin where you don’t have blemishes. It is left completely unprotected and exposed to the elements along with a harsh acid.

Instead of using products with SA or its counterparts (peroxide is another culprit), search instead for products that use sulphur for acne care. Sulphur has been used in history to treat all kinds of skin disorders and irritations. It acts like a tiny gentle microdermabrasion, as well as reducing surface sebum on the skin, and preventing pore blockages by encouraging the skin to shed dead cells.

One of the reasons sulphur is the better choice for treating skin impurities over SA, is that it is natural. There exists sulphur hot springs which are a source for the sulphur. This means that unlike SA, sulphur is wise and works with the skin’s natural sebum balance to prevent over-drying or over-cleansing. In addition, sulphur actually creates long term benefits for the skin like moisturizing and redness reducing. It is also antibacterial, so it targets infected skin (like in blemishes) and cures the infection by killing the bacteria.

Sources of sulphur are actually few. Murad, Peter Thomas Roth, Dr Dennis Gross, Bare Minerals, Origins, and Acnomel. to name a few.

Working Girl

Just posting a line to let everyone know that I landed a job as a cosmetician at Shopper’s Drug Mart. It is the holy grail of jobs in the cosmetics industry, and I am very proud to have succeeded in landing it and kick starting my career as a makeup artist.

You Can Never Be Too Rich or Too Fit

The beauty we focus on is not limited to the beauty of the face and of the makeup.  As women, we are preprogramed from birth to focus on our body types.  If you know me, you know I am a fitness enthusiast, exercise junkie, and have a black belt in karate-do which I would not have been able to get if I wasn’t focused on being physically fit.  So when I chanced upon this article on Marie Claire, I was surprised to find that it rang true for my life.

Extreme Exercise is a habit among fitness enthusiasts where they just can’t stop the exercise madness.  They are overcome with a feeling of anxiety when they can’t work out, and even reorganize their day to day lives around their exercise routines.  Some even go so far as to cancel plans with friends, isolate themselves, just so they don’t have to miss a work out.  

Not only is extreme exercise a disassociative habit, it also leaves the body exhausted, prone to injury, and has the complete opposite effect that is desired when working out. 

The article states that the one for sure warning sign to tell if your workout habits have become extreme is if you feel anxious when you are not working out. 

It’s a good read for any fitness enthusiast, and interesting even if you are nowhere near the edge of extreme.  The information gave a lot of validation for things that I had been experiencing in the past, and for the changes I had made to my life and exercise goals.

B.B. Cream and all the Glory

 

This, is Revoln’s PhotoReady BB cream.  I’ve been using it every day for 26 days as of today, and I have to say, I am in love.  Revlon is one of the very few drugstore brands of beauty products that is cruelty free, and so I am of course an advocate to begin with.  But now I am fully confident.

Let me start by addressing a question – What is BB Cream?  It’s all the rage in North America right now, but it started out AGES ago in east and southeast Asia and the Orient.  Essentially, it is an al-in-one product providing moisturizer, sunblock, primer, and is even tinted to give a light coverage foundation finish.  It is so versatile that it can be worn alone, with powder, under foundation, and over other moisturizers.  Some brands now are also including ingredients to give their BBs an extra boost, such as skin clearing properties.  As I spend a lot of time in Japan, I was aware of the BB craze a long time before it hit North America, but in the Orient the bad thing is, their BBs are loaded with skin whitening products, which is rather counter productive of the entire BB concept.  So I never tried them.  

Revlon is the first brand that I have come across to have a cream with a shade light enough for my skin, and I was very excited.  They are calling it a Skin Perfector – “A lightweight, multi-benefit Beauty Balm that combines skincare, makeup, and sunscreen into one step.” (says the Revlon website) It does it’s job.  I was suffering a moderate breakout when I first started using the product, and didn’t want to be putting heavy foundations on my face that were just going to further add to the problem.  The BB stayed on my face all day, and at the end of the day, was easy to completely wash off.  There was nothing sinking into my skin, there was no melting, no moving.  Despite the fact that it was acting just like a foundation would, my breakout cleared up perfectly well. The BB also did a good job covering my redness and the colouration of some of the activity that was going on with my face, just like a light foundation.  

I’ve been using the BB over a moisturizer with spf 15 in it, so combined with the BB’s spf 30, that’s equaling a wonderfully no-pore-clogging spf 45 that I’m putting on my face. 

So I’m a believer.  At least in Revlon.

Erasing Brows

Most of you probably remember me when I finally took the plunge and bleached my eyebrows away.

This was a step I took after only trying just about every other method there is out there (guided by my Theatrical Makeup Techniques teacher), to no avail.  Recently though, an article on Beautylish came to my attention:

Erase Those Eyebrows: Brow Covering 101 

Let me pop in a little disclaimer here:  This brow covering method will not work for everyone, with any colour brow, and takes a lot of practice to perfect.  Having done it though, I can vouch for it and say that it is safe, it does not cause any damage to the brow, and it is easy to remove with just a little soap and water.  Another method that is similar and works better, is to use skin putty and spirit gum instead of a glue stick and concealer.

Finally, is one goth trend catching on in the mainstream?

Vert Closet Fashion Shoot

 

On Sunday, I was invited to be key makeup artist on the set of Barbara Owen‘s shoot for her fashion line, Vert Closet.  I had the pleasure of working with two pro models, and two other beautiful ladies who offered to model for the shoot. 

Vert Closet is the concept that everything can be recycled and upcycled.  A window dressing can be turned into a skirt, a shower curtain into a raincoat.  Barb and her team even went so far as to turn placemats into handbags.  The creativity was endless.

Barb gave me little direction when I arrived on set, and purposely gave me no background about what I was getting into.  She specified that she wanted someone who would be quick to come up with an innovative look for her models and designs, and she definitely found it in me. At this point, I can’t say exactly what I did for her, but I can say that everyone loved it, and it was called “THE” look for the shoot. 

I’m happy to say that Barb and I will be working together again for Vert Closet.  A very successful first fashion shoot for me.  More to come.

The Vitamin A Debate

Yes – So I’ve been away long enough that my browser no longer remembered “wordpress” when I started typing the address.  If you want a thorough breakdown of my absence from the blogosphere, you can read all the details on Superman Disposition.

For now, I would like to talk about Vitamin A.

So, I had always been misinformed about Vit A due to various medications and acne cures, and things like this.  Vit A makes you go crazy, Vit A is toxic, and so on. It wasn’t until I read “Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox” by Dr. Kate Rheaume-Bleue that the truth about the misunderstood vitamin came to light.

Retinol is the scientific name for Vit A. It aids in vision, night blindness, skin, immune system fighting infections, bones and teeth, optimal production of antibodies and white blood cells, maintaining healthy skin (barrier for foreign bacteria), healthy lining of the respiratory system.  Wow. Bet you didn’t know it was responsible for so many aspects of your overall health.

Skin is one of the first things to show if a Vit A deficiency is present.  Other factors in determining if there is a deficiency are:

• increased risk of infections and illness
• dry itchy skin
• hair loss or thinning
• poor night vision
• changed in the respiratory tract such as asthma
• liver damage
• headaches

Anemia is probably the best sign of a deficiency, and yet it is mainly is only corrected with a iron supplement, and Vit A is overlooked.  It should be corrected with both iron and Vit A combination.  Vit A is shown to increase hemoglobin (red blood cell) production – which is essentially the underlying cause of anemia, is low hemoglobin.  Treating the anemia from both angles has the best chance of overcoming it.

Toxicity

Vit A is fat soluble and is required for the body to use protein sources.  Fat soluble nutrients have the potential to accumulate in the body.  Usually accumulation is only happening with supplements and not intake by food.  When you are getting nutrients by eating them, it is a natural way, and the body understands that they must be used.

Fat soluble nutrients require the presence of the other fat soluble nutrients that work with it as a team. Vit A needs Vit D, as they work together to build and strengthen.  With a combination such as Vit A and Vit D, the need for calcium is completely eradicated.  Vit D does exactly the same thing as calcium, but in a safer way.  Calcium doesn’t really know where to go in the body if taken as a supplement, which is the most common way. It is why people get clogged arteries and calcium deposits, ect.  There is nothing else telling the calcium supplement where to go – where as Vit A and Vit D are both a fat soluble team, and they work together to get to the right places.

So there you have it – a scraping off the top of the great Vitamin A debate. If you want to get more information, I suggest reading “Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox” by Dr. Kate Rheaume-Bleue before doing any other research.  It is important to go into the topic with some background information so you can decide what to look for, as there is a lot of conflicting and incorrect information out there.

I bring you Nickie Fish

 

The creation of Nickie Fish began with a face chart on paper, and from there, I began to transform the actual Nickie.  I started by laying out the contours of her face, much like I would have done if I was making her up to shoot her in b/w.  In this case though, I used greens and yellows.

 

I used white shimmery eyeshadow and a piece of fishnet sock to create fish scales over all the contoured parts.

 

I brought in green eyeshadow and blended it back into the contours of her temple and cheeks. I used yellow eyeshadow as a highlight, and created blue liquid liner to add to the brightness of her eyes.  The white swoosh was done with a cream eyeshadow.

 

I carried the green and yellow contour down her neck.  The gills on her cheek were created with red liner and a base of green eyeshadow.  I finished her off with white false lashes and glued sequins on her forehead to made 3D scales.

 

And here’s the finished look!  I made her lips a bright pink to compliment the other bright colours I used in her eyes, and glued on some half-pearls to make bubbles.  I also added some little gems under her white swoosh eyebrows and on the sides of her nose to create balance.

The Wedding Portfolio

August has been my month to get to work on a makeup portfolio, as now I have the tools and knowledge to begin freelancing. I am on the inside for a rather large wedding next year, where if successful in securing the position, I will be doing 5 faces….twice. Traditional Chinese, and then Traditional Western.

A few weeks ago, I was lucky to round up some friends to do a practice bridal run.  Each girl came in a different style of dress wanting a different style of makeup.

Model: Tegan Makeup: P.S. Jevanael

Tegan came to me with a deep purple/black fishnet overlay dress, and a darker theme.  I gave her a pink/purple/black intense look with a dark pink lip and smokey black liner.

Model: Sarah Makeup: P.S. Jevanael

Sarah was wearing a light light beige dress with a ruffly bottom, and a very sweet looking demeanor.  I did her makeup very naturally with browns, a pink-brown in her crease, to match her pink lip.  I drew in her eyebrows in a very natural easy arch with a soft colour to match her hair.

 

Model: Nicole Makeup: P.S. Jevanael

Nickie donned a red and white dress with sparkly white gems on the trims.  She had specific direction for me, more white than red.  I asked her, “Like a geisha?”  and she was instantly sold!  I packed on a shimmery white to her lid and added a splash of red in the outer corners.  A bright red lip and sparkly white gem on her cheek finished her striking look.  I also accentuated her brows and a mole on her cheek.

 

I also turned Nickie into a fish previously.  I will be posting her transformation.