August 20, 2010
[ Be Naked ]
Posted by Roxy
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Be naked!! The celebrities are doing it & we seem to follow their trends and fads closely!
I don’t mean running around bare naked literally – This is a makeup page after all. I mean, put makeup on, just don’t let it look like you have any on.

Not long ago our Aussie stars Lisa McCune, Joanne Griggs & Ricki Lee Coulter, went makeup free for a magazine shoot and they looked absolutely beautiful even without makuep! Recently, Teri Hatcher from Desperate Housewives took some candid snaps of herself out of the shower with no makeup. What shall us mere mortals do? Unless you are blessed with blemish free skin, and no eye bags then you need to read on!

As Spring approaches, a fresh glowing skin beckons.
Firstly, prep your face by gently exfoliating a few times week, followed by a moisturising mask. This will help eliminate all that flakey skin that was accumulated from the heaters and hot showers over winter & replenish some hydration back into your skin.
Secondly, spoil yourself with a new foundation – one that is light in texture & allows your skin’s natural beauty to shine through! If you’re a sun lover, bare in mind to choose a shade that is slightly darker for when your skin warms up in tone and one that contains SPF protection.

My favourite is Chanel’s Teint Innocence – a silky finish that makes your skin glow with radiance. It is also a great foundation to try if it’s your first as it is very light in texture and you can build up the coverage as you see fit. A close second place goes to Dior’s Diorskin Nude which contains mineralized water that hydrates & works on the skin to boosts radiance even when the foundation has been removed (both for normal to dry skin types).

Below are a few for all skin types normal, dry or oily:
Mecca’s new skin-loving range Chantecaille has a tinted moisturiser Just Skin which has plant extracts to nuture your skin and gives an airbrushed complexion.
Clinique Almost Makeup has texture of a moisturiser but gives coverage like a foundation.
Lancome’s Colour Ideal contains pigments which adapts to your skin’s tone to give you the perfect skin colour match.

For oily skin types I recommend MAC’s  Mineralized Skin Finish Natural, a power foundation to be used  alone for a matifying result. Another great one for oily skin is Shiseido’s Sheer Matifying Compact itcontains super oil-absorbing powders that gives a really matte finish.

Leaving you with a few extra tips:
Apply a light layer of foundation with a foundation brush evenly on your skin so it doesn’t looked caked on. Make sure you conceal any blemishes and hide dark circles with an appropriate concealer. Add a few lashings of mascara on your lashes and finish off with a yummy-coloured lipgloss – melon is very popular at the moment! More on what’s in for lippies next time!

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August 11, 2010
[ Going to the Circus ]
Posted by Roxy
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Bored in my makeup kit were my bright coloured eyeshadows. With all the natural makeup I have been doing recently for films, it has been a while since the wonderful colours got to come out to play.

My clients were two lovely ladies attending a dress up party with a theme based on the Circus. They went all out and hired costumes & wigs and the only thing left was for someone like me to make their faces look the part. Both of these ladies seldom put makeup on, so after I was done applying the bright colours and fake eyelashes they had a bit of a shock but loved what I did. Thanks to technology, one of the ladies immediately took pictures of herself using her phone and sent sms around to her friends who couldn’t recognise her at all!

It doesn’t always have to be a photoshoot or filmshoot that stands as a successful job for me. Sometimes it’s just about having ordinary people that are grateful & appreciative of my work. Just to see their faces gleam with joy at their makeup really made the rest of my day!

Here’s a picture of the two lovely ladies. Apologies for the poor picture quality – it was only taken from my phone camera.

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May 31, 2010
[ Autumn Brides ]
Posted by Roxy
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It’s been a full-on month of Bridal work with brides-to-be booking trials with me every weekend to be married later in the year!

Earlier this month I did a shoot with Eclektic Photography & Jenny Sun Photography for Pretty In White bridal wear in Malaysia. The dresses & fascinators that Meg & Emma wore were absolutely divine and the Autumn surroundings provided a beautiful backdrop for the images.

There were so many photos taken that it was difficult for me to choose just a handful to share with you but do check them out in the Bridal section & enjoy!

Here’s one of Meg, lazing around on a white bench over a floor of autumn leaves.

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May 23, 2010
[ Would you like some Pimples? ]
Posted by Roxy
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Recently, I worked on an instructional DVD for a prescribed anti-acne cream. The talents that I worked on had really good skin so it was my task to put pimples on them to show that after using the cream, their skin will improve.

It is not often that I am to make someone look uglier than they actually are. After some careful placement of my special effect products – scar wax, coloured cream, vaseline & some latex the effect was quite realistic. Unfortunately, due to the medical rights, I can not show you the video or the actual product but here is a picture taken from my iPhone of one of the talents with pimples added to her clear-skinned face.

Skin Tip:

For the rest of us…. Pimples are unevitable. To keep skin as clear of them as possible, I highly recommend that you wash your face morning & night then apply moisturiser afterwards. Something I learnt from my days of being a trainer for a skincare company many years back is that people are scared to put moisturiser on thinking that it will make their skin greasy. Is this you? The catch-22 is that if you don’t apply moisturiser, your skin cries out in dehydration and will produce excess oil to combat for that dryness. So it is essential to apply a moisturiser (have I said that already?) even if it is just a light lotion. Besides the cleaning routine it is also very important to maintain a healthy diet with lots of water, fruit and vegetables! Have great skin from inside to out!

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May 17, 2010
[ HOTmilk ]
Posted by Roxy
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Among the vast array of people I encounter within this industry, there is a group that sometimes get over-looked as the most beautiful women in our society. These are pregnant women! I am grateful to be working along side Hannah Millward – founder of Bump Models. A place where pregnant ladies can flaunt their bodies just like Runway models do.

I was assigned to be Head Makeup-Artist at a shoot for HOTmilk Lingerie. You would never have thought the need of pregnant women to feel sexy in their lingerie or under-garments but it is important. Just look at the glowing faces of these marvelous women and you can tell how uplifted they are in their outfits!

On the shoot, I had a wonderful assistant – Kaori, who together, we worked wonders on the mums-to-be. We did a makeup & hair in a speedy time of ten minutes as that particular model had to dash off to another shoot! One of the models there was even due to give birth the very next day! These women are inspirational with how hard-working they are even though they are carrying another life inside!

Check out the rest of my Advertorial Portfolio here.

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May 5, 2010
[ DuPont Stoneware Commercial is on TV ]
Posted by Roxy
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I am happy to announce that the commercial I did Makeup for is now on Australian TV!

Whilst on the job, I have heard the dialogue rehearsed over a 100 times. Needless to sa,y it was embedded in my memory.

Having breakfast on the couch with The Morning Show on Channel 7 in the background, my ears literally sent a lightbulb ‘Ding!‘ telling me those familiar words were heard. I look at the TV screen and could not believe my eyes! The long-awaited commercial was finally on air!

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