Why you should hire professional hair and makeup on wedding day

So I know there are alot of girls out there that assume, "I do my own hair and makeup everyday so ill do my own for my wedding." But I am about to tell you why you should HIRE a PROFESSIONAL. After working with many brides and photographers who will agree with me, it makes such a huge difference to hire someone who gets paid to make you look beautiful. Im about to give you the list:
1.) Hiring a hairstylist will ensure that your hair looks perfect from all angles! If you are doing your own it is hard to see what everyone else sees. A hairstylist will ensure that the three dimentional masterpiece they are getting paid to create looks perfect. We will make sure it is balanced, full, and flattering to your face shape and every other angle.
 2.) A makeup artist knows how to enhance your best features. We can camoflauge a big nose or an enhanced jaw, or even that untimely zit that decided to show up without slamming on 3 pounds of concealer. We know how to highlight and contour. We know how to make you picture perfect.
3.) A hairstylist knows what to do with your specific hair type. We deal with thin and thick hair everyday. We can make your thin hair look full and your crazy thick hair look proportionate. Its what we went to school for and what we get paid for, to be good at it.
4.) A makeup artist can style specific for the photographs. Your every day makeup is just that, for every day. A professional can highlight and accentuate based on even the time of day and lighting outside to make you look perfect.
5.) When it comes to hair and makeup, products are key! Hair stylists and makeup artists use products specifically that photograph well and last ALL DAY.
6.) This is a day that you cannot relive. These are pictures that you cannot retake. It is the day you have dreamed of since you were a little girl, you want the fairytale, hire the women with the magic wands that get paid to help make that happen.
7.) You deserve to be pampered on your wedding day! It is one day that you are allowed to get exactly what you want and it is about nobody else. Take the stress free way out and hire someone to make you feel beautiful.

current DRUGSTORE favs!

ok so, I wish that I could say that everything in drugstores is worthy of using and having credibility, but that is not the case. However, there are some gems that can be found in your neighborhood CVS. These are my current favorites I get at drugstores that as a makeup artist and hairdresser, I use in my professional life...
my current false lash of choice is the ELF natural false lash. You can get these bad boys for a dollar and the look every bit as natural as their ardell $5 counterparts. Each individual pair comes with its own mini tube of CLEAR glue (huge advantage). I have been putting these on all my brides lately and they really hold up!

 The next favorite on my list is ELF lipstain. I mean, fabulous! I put these on brides and pageant girls under their lipstick and they never have to reapply. It also helps to keep the lipstick from having an ugly fade like your lips are a hot chapped mess. these are very lightweight, very pigmented, and very cheap, weighing in at $1.

My job as a special event hairstylist was much harder until I discovered this little gem. This is some of the best dry shampoo I have ever used, and costs about $6. It doesnt leave a funky white residue, and gives a great boost at the root for added volume, and helps hold a tease.

 



This new foundation stick by Mabelline is wonderful! It has an anti shine core to it so you keep a matte finish all day, and it also photographs well, no flashback:) coming in around $10 it gives alot of bang for the buck. It is also great for travel because it is mess free and quick and easy to apply.

 



 

 

This one is probably my favorite drugstore purchase right now. The Urban Decay palletes are so popular right now, and I love and have both of them. Mine are also considered a business investment. Alot of consumers dont want to spend $50 on eyeshadow, so I have a fantastic solution. The NYX Nude on Nude pallete. You get the same amount of eyeshadow, in almost identical shades, along with 10 lip colors for $25! these shadows are a little more chalky than the naked pallete, but that just means you have to do a little more blending, nothing major.

 

 

And last but not least for this week, This fabulous concealer! Age Rewind concealer by Mabelline is so amazing! It is designed to disquise the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. It does not settle, but lays smoothly on top of skin and gives great coverage, especially for dark circles. Love!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thats all for now, but I will be doing a once a month drugstore blog to keep you up to date with products that are great, and products you should skip. Enjoy and Share!

xoxo Tori

all about the BROWS

My life was changed when I was taught the art of eyebrows. No seriously, I have never been more confident with the finished product of my daily makeup. It is something so small that can make the biggest difference. but there are so many things that come to mind when we think of eyebrows.......lets make the list

1. DO NOT tweeze or wax your eyebrows! everyone says whhhaaatttt?! here is the reason why: eyebrow trends change, constantly. The trend used to be pencil thin and very arched. Now, the trend is a thicker, more natural look. When you wax or tweeze your eyebrows, it pulls the root of the hair out with it. If that happens enough, hair will NOT grow back in that spot. Because the trend changes so often, I suggest using an eyebrow shaver. You can buy these at Sally's Beauty Supply for 3 dollars! This is what most of them look like.

      2. There are a few rules to filling them in, which everyone SHOULD. You MUST make sure that there are the right length and shape. The beginning should always line up with the tear duct of your eye, the middle arch should line up with your pupil, and the end should meet diagonally from the corner of your eye.

    3. This is a personal opinion, but for natural looking brows (or as I call them, daytime brows) use a matte eyeshadow or brow powder. For a more defined looking brow (evening brows) use a good pencil. some of my favorites are Lancome and Smashbox.

Now that we have those out of the way, lets talk about what a difference it makes if it is done correctly with the right color choices. 

BLONDES: most blondes have a naturally ashy hair color so you need to choose a very light griege/gray to look realistic.

BRUNETTES: be very very careful of color choice. Most brunette pencils and powders have a great deal of red in them, so to look natural choose one without the red undertone. I am a redhead and use Brunette by Lancome and it matches perfect.

RED HEADS: be very careful to not go too red. You need to go light on the color since most red heads are very fair.

I had this young lady approach me about a new " Back to school" look. she said she felt like she could not get her makeup to look like adds she sees no matter how hard she worked on her eyeshadow. So, I did only one of her eyebrows with a matte grey shadow, handed her a mirror, and showed her the difference between the two...

Such a small thing that makes you look so polished. Just make sure you go with the direction that the hair grows. make short upwards strokes with the hair closest to your nose, then take it horizontal to the arch, then diagonal downward to the point. it just takes a little bit of practice.

Please share with your friends and let me know what you think:)

How to REALLY conceal

Ok so,  one of the most popular questions I get is, "what kind of concealer should I use?" 
the more important question is what you are trying to conceal. This is one of the most popular things that women get WRONG. Different concealers do different things. If you have really dark spots or dark circles, you need to use a concealer with a PINK undertone. It goes back to color theory.You use something with a pink/red undertone first as a "primer" then use a skin colored concealer. 


This lady came to me the other day and said she has tried every concealer and full coverage foundation on the market and cant conceal her dark spots...and they were extremely dark! Between the foundation, camera phone, and lighting you cant tell as well, but you get the idea.

She was looking at the wrong product to cover these spots. Let me show you with a little color theory. We took a red lipstick with a MATTE finish(this is important because you don't want shimmer or sparkle to show under your foundation) and lightly tapped it on her concern areas

It sounds crazy, I know, but it works! There is nothing I like better than to have multiple uses for my products, I like getting my money's worth!! so after you apply the red lipstick, pat on a powder to set the lipstick and remove the moisture. You don't want the red lipstick moving around all over your face. after you have set it with powder, pat on a long wearing skin tone concealer.

and there you have it!

Great coverage!

Disclaimer: if you have a light skintone use a PINK lipstick, if you are more olive, use a deep Orange or Red. 

this is also a fantastic way to cover up bruises with a deep color to them. I have a lot of women that use this technique because of bruising due to cosmetic surgery.

I hope you enjoy! please comment your thoughts and share with your friends:)

The beginning of it All

Why Hello there! After much demand by friends, family, and coworkers I have decided to start a "Tell All' Beauty blog. I want to share my knowledge and passion for making people feel beautiful with the world. I have discovered that there are thousands of women everyday who say the words, " I have no idea how to apply makeup, and I cant seem to fix my hair like the pictures I see.." what a terrible way to feel! women are such emotional and insecure creatures anyways! there is no reason why every women shouldn't feel super confident whenever getting ready! Ok, so now that my mission statement seems clear... a little about me:

• • I am a freelance, on site hair designer and makeup artist. I get paid to play with makeup and hair products all day, everyday. I am living the dream! I specialize in special event hair and makeup (weddings, pageants etc.)
  • I am a regional makeup artist for Estee Lauder, which means they pay me to promote and use their makeup. (not a bad gig if I say so myself) 
  • I have just been picked up to be on the platform makeup artist team for the Alabama region with Lancome cosmetics, very exciting!
  
  
  

I believe that I still have so much to learn, and let me go ahead and say, that if you meet a hairstylist or makeup artist who disagrees with that statement...RUN. they are lying. The beauty industry is constantly evolving and changing, and you have to keep up to stay current and in demand. I am so excited about this adventure! I look forward to teaching people a few things, and learning some in return.

I will post step by step blog posts, along with tutorial "how to" videos. I will also blog about events and private makeup and hair workshops that I perform. there is no better way to see if you want to hire someone for an even than to SEE what a day in the life would be.