Ingrid @ Wilhelmina

Photographer Albert Manduca Model: Ingrid @ Wilhelmina Stylist: Anthony Bermudez Makeup/Hair: Jessica Rivera

Hair Brush Cleaner

 So now that I have been doing hair styling for shoots and clients, I have gotten serious about what tools I have in my hair kit. The other day I was at Sally's Beauty Supply and ran into this cool little gadget called a Brush Cleaner by Tool Structure. It's pretty much a mini leaf rake made of wire. You brush it through your brush and it collects hair, dust, and whatever might possibly be in your brush! Then you just pull it off the brush rake and your done! 

WARNING: disgusting brush photo below

Above is a photo of an old brush that has collected dust, lint, and that still has a few hairs in it. 

Here is the brush after cleaning it with the brush rake! I'd say it did a pretty darn good job!!! I'm really excited about this little gadget because I hate picking out those stubborn hairs that stay in the brush! And I want my brushes clean for my next client. And it was around $5, so definitely worth it. 

Shadow Beauty

I posted behind the scenes photos from this shoot. You couldn't tell from those photos, but it was a shadow beauty shoot where the photographer played with the shadows on the models face. Here is the outcome, which is pretty breath taking if I say so myself.

Photographer: Chad Finley 

Model: Vanessa @ NEXT  

Stylist: Beatriz Filenger

Makeup/Hair: Jessica Rivera

Eye Charm Stickers

So I don't know about you guys, but some months back I started seeing commercials about these stickers that you place on your eyelid in order to help droopy eyelids lift, to give you an eyelid. Now, I love a good gimmick, and really, this is a fantastic tool to have in my kit for clients that have droopy eyelids. 

Like most cool gadgets I find, I immediately go on Ebay to see if I can find the same product but cheaper. Usually I do and they are from China or Japan. I posted the commercial above and you get 50 for $19.99 and apparently if you "call now" you get another 50. I got 50 pairs for a total of $5.75 and that included shipping. These are "Eye Charms" on Ebay, and the photo is below.  

The stickers on clear, so you can't see them on the yellow pad, but they are there! =)

As soon as I got them, I used my husband as a model because he definitely has droopy eyelids. I was so excited to see that they work!!!!! Before and after picture below.

Many of my older clients complain about their droopy eyelids and how you can't see their lid anymore, so this sticker is going to be great. You place the sticker at the top of your eyelid, basically right under your crease. Now, I wouldn't say this sticker is extremely invisible. But it's not that noticeable either. 

Here are pictures of me wearing them after a whole day, and makeup was applied over them. Click on the photos to see actual size. 

This was taken extremely up close. You can barely notice them!

Here is a little further back. 

Looking at someones entire face, you wouldn't notice them at all. 

Now when you close your eyes, they are more noticeable, but then again, how often do you just keep your eyes closed around people? With a flash of a blink, you wouldn't notice them. And this picture is also very up close. I really recommend this for people with droopy eyelids. My husband loves them! And when I wore them out, not one person noticed them. My husband also wears them out all day and none of his friends notice it. I also like that you can put makeup over them without there being a problem. They are extremely easy to apply and lasted a whole day. 

Behind the Scenes Vanessa @ NEXT

Saturday Jan 21, 2012

I had a test shoot with photographer Chad Finley who is AMAZING at beauty, stylist Beatriz who I just met and is really fun, and the beautiful Vanessa @ NEXT. I have shot with Vanessa before, then ran into her for the World Wide Hair Tour, and then planned this shoot with her. 

We shot on Hollywood Beach which definitely attracted a lot of unwanted attention. Beatriz had to be Vanessa's body guard. One random guy came up to Vanessa and asked her if she would like to wash his feet! Are you kidding me!?

The theme of this shoot was "shadow" beauty. So Chad brought different fabrics or items to create different patterns of shadows on Vanessa's face. He showed me through the camera and they looked so beautiful. 

The weather was perfect. This is the best beach weather in South Florida. 

There's me behind Vanessa working on her ponytail! =)

Check out Beatriz and Chad's work.

I have a sneak peak edit on my Facebook page :)

Ingrid's Behind the Scenes

Here is Ingrid with Wilhelmina Miami. She was so sweet and we all had a fun time. It was just a really cool, chill shoot. Photographer was Albert Manduca and stylist Anthony Bermudez who is back from New York! You can't tell from the photos, but at one point she had on a very bright lip, Grandma lip tar to be exact. And I finally got to do a braid on a shoot! I thought a fish tail was perfect for the look, it was very Ralph Lauren. 

Makeup over an open wound?

It doesn't happen very often, but it definitely has happened where I've had a client with a bad wound that is still open, half scabbing, and it needs to be taken care of pronto because you don't want it seen in photos. 

So what do you do? You don't want to put makeup on an open wound!

I had never heard of New Skin: Liquid Bandage until Makeup Artist Kim Greene blogged about it. I immediately bought it because I had worked with a male model with a bad wound and sure enough, after I bought it, I worked with a female model who had a very large gash on her leg. So I immediately took out my new skin and gave the scab one coat, let it dry, then a second coat, let it dry, and then put foundation over it. This stuff is amazing! It dries quickly and puts a clear film on top of the wound so that putting makeup on it won't give you an infection of any kind. This eliminated any photoshopping for the photographer. 

But this is also great to have in your house! So definitely check it out. 

Sprays 101

I get a lot of questions about makeup sprays and a lot of confusion comes with it. I could do a post entirely on my own, but why when Enkore did a fantastic job at making a two parter explaining sprays!

So to end in my own personal words, I get asked the most about setting sprays. The confusion is that makeup companies title finishing sprays as "setting" sprays. So as Enkore shows you, a setting spray is great for spraying your face after you have completed your makeup because after you have powdered, it can look, well.... very powdered and like you have makeup on. When you spray a setting spray, it expands the makeup on your face to give you a more natural, skin like makeup look. This does not keep your makeup in place, only a finishing spray does that. So if you use MAC fix+ for example, you will need another spray if you are looking to seal in your makeup for the rest of the day. My favorite finishing sprays are by Model in a Bottle and Urban Decay, BUT, they are labeled as setting sprays. Confusing, I know. But you can test them out for yourself like Enkore, and you will see that Model in a Bottle and Urban Decay's (they have 3 different types of finishing sprays) finishing sprays aka setting spray as they are called on the bottle, seal your makeup into place. 

I have heard many people use and say MAC fix+ is great to keep your makeup lasting all day long but I'm here to tell you (and Enkore lol) that it does not. Hope this helps!

Sugarpill Burning Heart Palette

I finally got my hands on a Sugarpill palette!!! This is the burning heart palette and I love it! Crazy good pigmentation, blends like a dream, LARGE eye shadows, and colors that are hard to find with good pigmentation, like yellow. Oh, and I got barely any fallout when I was playing with them below.

This was me playing with the palette. 

Photo (swatches) by Temptalia.

Flamepoint, Buttercupcake, Love+, Poison Plum

The palette has a large mirror and is magnetic so it will stay closed very well. The palette itself is made of sturdy cardboard. I'll be doing a beauty story with this palette on a model so keep on the look out!

Bridal Trial: Jan 15, 2012

(click on photo if you want to see it larger)

Here is my beautiful bridal client Danielle. She has great skin with no marks or signs of acne, her only problem was that she had very dry skin, so I took extra steps in prepping her face with skin care. I started with her hair by curling it, adding in her extensions, and then curling the extensions after putting it in a side ponytail. Then it was on to makeup! She got to wear it out for her bridal shower.

Products Used: 

Face preparation for Dry Skin:

Embryolisse lotion micellaire

Embryolisse lait creme concentre

Embryolisse balm secours
Clarins Instant Smooth
Lush lip scrub
Aquaphor lip repair

Face:

Dinair airbrush foundation in Golden Olive

Make Up For Ever Loose Powder (medium)
Make Up For Ever HD concealer in 325

Eyes:


Naked Palette
MAC NW25 eyeliner
MAC smolder eyeliner
L'Oreal Waterproof mascara
E.L.F. natural lashes
Yaby shadow (eyebrows)

Contour/Highlight:


Smashbox Suntan Matte Bronzer
Smashbox Baked Stardust
Tarte amazon blush in blissful

Lips:


No7 lipliner in Natural
MAC shy girl
L'Oreal peach lipgloss 

1 Photographer, 1 Stylist, 2 Models

These past two days I shot with photographer Zach Ramsey and stylist Obe Santos. The first day we shot with model Zaina @ NEXT. Obe told her she looked like Rihanna and she did not like that lol I guess she's tired of hearing that. 

All of the outfits were black and silver so I decided to give her a cool, wet, futuristic silver eye. 

Zaina is from Germany, she had a really cool accent and was very sweet. 

I had been working all day, so after this shoot, I went home and went into a sleep coma lol

Then, I had to wake up at 10am and do it again with Zach and Obe.

A photo of Nicole with minimal makeup and after I got my hands on her below.

Our model the next day was the beautiful Nicole. She is only 17 and has to be the best face I ever painted. She has the most amazing bone structure and beautiful eyes! Nicole is a plus size model and I was just blown away by her unique beauty. 

It was a long two days but worth it. After the shoot, I went to pick up my son and got tricked into blow drying and straightening my mom's hair! It never ends lol

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Oh and if you haven't heard, Brush Guards are now being sold at WalMart!!!!!!!!!!! This is amazing. I buy them all the time for new brushes and hate paying so little and adding shipping and handling to it.