Just Shana: Zipcar love

When I used to live directly in Washington DC (I am currently in the suburbs about 15 minutes outside of the city) I didnt have a car.  I relied solely on Metro and when I needed wheels I did Zipcar!

It was definitely handy because trust me after having to maintain a car for the past few years with gas and maintenance I am dreaming of the days when all I had to do was go online or on my app reserve my car and head out.  I will be honest and say that the price has definitely gone up since I first started with Zipcar but I still welcome that in lieu of having to pay for gas and maintenance on a car any day.

So I recently signed back up with the program and then I got an email about this promo that they are doing.

Book Monday - Thursday for 4 hours and only pay for 3.  Starting June 3 and beyond.

Awwww yeah - sign me right on up!







Wanna sign up for your own Zipcar?  Here ya go, and I will share $25 in free driving with you!  Just click the little car below and lets be on our way!

Diary of an MUA: My kit for Barbados

My beauty boo Shida asked me yesterday how I packed my kit for this trip and I know if the shoe were on the other foot I would want to know the same thing.  So thank you Shida for the idea of this post.

After speaking with my mentor/advisor for this film I knew I had to pack smart.  Thankfully I have been a bit obsessive with condensing my kit lately, to the point where I can now fit my hair AND makeup kit in my Zuca backpack.

I didnt want to bring my Zuca this time though.  As most of my friends who I have traveled with know, I do NOT like to check bags, and to me flying out if the country for almost a month is no exception.

So I did some research beforehand of course.  A video from Ren helped a bit (makeupbyrenren.com) but for the most part I had to figure it out.

The cast is fairly large and varied but most are pretty young which means great skin, SCORE for me but you know as a makeup artist you still have to do the "just in case" packing.

The pictures should tell it better than I can, I show you everything laid out, then all packed up, but here are a few things to note:

•After bringing what I thought was absolutely necessary, I still overpacked

•I sacrificed clothing options so that my kit would fit in my suitcase, I will be on set most of the time, being cute is secondary

•3 bags yes, but the brown cross body bag was empty and folded in the tote for travel, once I arrived I took it out. On the flight the tote served as my personal item (you are allowed 1 carry on and 1 personal)

•I was the very first person in line to go through TSA at 4:30a when I left and indeed was asked if I had any liquids and I was honest in telling them that I had makeup remover (all liquids were in the required clear 3 oz containers), but I think my timing helped me

•When I arrived and had to go through customs I did declare the makeup, again I wanted as smooth a trip as possible, but I didnt have any issues, no money needed

•I have not used the hair kit once

•The Inglot palette and the small clear Powder Group bag are for my personal makeup items

•The 2 clear set bags -1 was a gift from Shida herself yay!  Thats the one with the handles.  The other is from The Powder Group that I got from The Makeup Show last year.  Both are awesome.

•I show the pics of my bags so that you can see what size my bag had to be to not only get on the flight without checking it and to fit in the overhead compartment.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.  :)

Diary of an MUA: International Jetsetter

This is big you all...like real big.  Or maybe just seems that way to me but either way I feel over and abundantly blessed.  Lots of vagueness here but all I can say is wish me luck!

See you soon :)

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Diary of an MUA: Player 1, Level Up

We are rolling steady in 2012, kicking our shoes off and getting comfy.  Now I pretty much suck at resolutions so I tend to stay away from them.  I did however fully intend to step out from my comfort zone this year as far as my career in makeup artistry and I am pleased to say that "so far, so good".  If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook then you are already aware of the goings on, but for those who aren't, keep reading and watch the video.  :)

Since recording this video I am happy to report that I have already completed my first gig with my agency!  This past Monday I was working on about 2 hours of sleep but I got it done and the client was pleased with my work, so much so that I was offered more work in the coming months.  So hopefully that pans out because it was a great team to work with.

I have been hustling extra hard this month and it is paying off big time.  I am so very thankful for my fiance aka "the sig", he is my biggest support right now, and none of this would be possible without him.  :)  Leaving my job back in September was one of the best things that could have happened to me, as crazy as that sounds; my health is 100% better and I am living my dream.

I will be continuing to share my experiences and there is a big one/ones to report coming soon so stay tuned for that and as always thank you for visiting my little part of cyberspace.

T&T Beauty Travels - Chicago!

WARNING!!!  THIS POST IS TEXT AND PIC HEAVY!!!

For my Twitter friends you already know I was in Chicago a week and some change ago for my bread and butter job.  In no way did I expect to be doing a post about it but we are die hard beauty lovers right?  So someway, somehow we end up finding something worth writing about. 

One day a co-worker of mine and I ventured to the drug store around the corner from our hotel and on the way out I notice this colorful vehicle of some sort...well lo and behold it has beautiful pictures of women of different shades and skintones rocking gorgeous lip color by Maybelline!  We were on our way to the office so I had no time to investigate further but yall know I hit up Google as soon as I sat in my chair right?  Come to find out it was the Maybelline New York Color Sensational Tour!  I made sure to jot down the info and to my surprise the next day O! Oprah Magazine was partnering with Maybelline to bring Oprah's lead makeup artist Ross Burton for a demo.  I made plans to be front and what?  Center.

The next morning I was one of the first few people to venture into the "tour bus".  Now yall know I could NOT leave out with zero makeup on so I had to end up taking my lipgloss off so I could get my lipscription (isnt that cute).  I wanted the lip that we see on Jessica White in the ads but I went with a slightly different color (sorry no pics, I thought I took some but the camera mustve ate them).  I made my co-worker come out of her slumber to get her lipscription as well and she loved her color.  This of course convinced her to come back with me to meet Mr. Burton. 

After lunch we came back to see it was PACKED!  Now yall know what Chicago's nickname is as well as I do so to see all of us out there braving that wind over some makeup was a sight indeed!  In a surprising turn of events my co-worker Vicki ended up getting picked for the demo because her birthday was coming up!  So she and the other birthday girl made their way up on stage.  Enough of my chatter, see Ross Burton in action...

Vicki's makeup vice was she kept it simple (nothing wrong with that) she stickes to powder and lipstick only, so she wanted something a bit more dramatic but not too much

He actually did her dark lip first, then did the nude lip.  Her beauty vice is blush, the more of it the better.  Ross wanted to show her that if she does her blush FIRST then play up her eyes she wont over apply the color to her cheeks.  She loved her dramatic lip and her nude lip (she leans more toward the nude look on a regular basis)

Vicki's finished look!

Thanks Ross!

Now of course I kept raising my hand to ask questions for yall but so did everyone else!  LOL  Ross did disclose that he did NOT go to a formal makeup school, he said he didnt have the money anyway.  He got his training the same way a lot of our favorite artists did, behind a counter at Macys!  He said if you box yourself into only being able to do one skin tone or ethnicity then you probably wont go too far.  I also asked him how he avoids becoming stagnant in the work he does on a regular basis with Ms. Winfrey, he joked that he wants to keep his job so he cant reveal any secrets, but that dont be fooled by what we see.  Oprah loves books, and charity, etc. but she also LOVES makeup!  She may come to him and say ok today lets do the eyes this way or use this lip color but that she will speak up if she doesnt like something.  When he makes an attempt to sway her in a new direction he kinda picks up the new product, say its lipstick, and he opens it and twirls it around in front of her slowly LOL Sometimes she's with it and sometimes she gives him the :sideeye and asks him if he's crazy.  HA!

I really enjoyed meeting him, VERY down to earth guy.  It was like sharing beauty tips with an old friend and I have no doubt that everyone took away something valuable.  I think that Oprah is lucky to have him on her team.  I also, got a chance to get a full view of Maybelline's beauty arsenal and will definitely be trying out the full range of products soon so stay tuned.  In our goodie bags we got the issue of Oprah magazine with the Jay Z interview and a coupon for Maybelline products.  Also, for getting the lipscription we got a full-sized Color Sensational Lipstick in Are You Red-dy.  I WILL be doing a look with that color, its gorgeous.  See you all soon!

California dreamin', California LOVE!

My apologies dear readers for not updating more often. My brain is consumed with thoughts of a warmer climate, racking up air miles and expanding my cosmetic artistry knowledge at The Makeup Show LA!

I cant wait to soak up the info, peruse the products and just have an overall good time in LA. I will be taking lots and lots of pics and hopefully updating while I am there so hang in there with me. The best is yet to come!