Make me over.

Ah-the wonderful world of make-up. I have been asked to do a blog post regarding my journey thus far in this fabulous world.......

To be honest, I sort of just "fell into doing make-up". Now, don't get me wrong, I have always had a love affair with cosmetics. It began at a very early age, with Bonnie Bell lip smackers, and from there my obsession became maybelline kissing coolers. You remember them? Short, stubby little suckers, with swirly packaging, and delicious flavors -creamsicle being my FAVE. I even wore them to bed!!

As I became a tad more "mature", my mother introduced me to great lash mascara (yes, the infamous pink and green tube-what is all the fuss about with that crap??). It all sort of grew from there.

Fast forward to after high school, I was working at the local Marshall Field's (r.i.p), and became friendly with some gals in cosmetics. I spent most of my breaks, and lunch hours there, getting my hands into all the testers. There was an opening for Elizabeth Arden-I interviewed, and got the job. No experience. I had NO idea what I was doing. The first time I did an actual make-up application on someone, it took almost 2 hours! I almost gouged her eyes out with the mascara wand.

From there, I just practiced, practiced, practiced, and sort of immersed myself in make-up. Companies do train you, but it's mainly just product related. In order for me to get good with color, I pretty much had to teach myself. Back then, in the early 90's, color, and texture weren't all that great, but MAC began changing all of that, and soon make-up artist lines began popping up all over the place.

I have been doing make-up now for about 16 years now-CRAZY! I have worked with many lines, but I have to say, that the best line, in my opinion is NARS, hands down. You cannot beat the color range, and the quality. the textures are amazing, and their image is the coolest.

My favorite thing to do is wedding make-up, and I just LOVE when bride's are willing to think outside of the box. Nothing crazy, but a little something extra, say, red lips, or big lashes can make the look so much more special.

People have asked my advice in how they can get into make-up. I always say to try and work at a counter--you can really learn a lot in a cosmetics department, and can really grow from there.

After you gain some experience, there are amazing make-up schools out there that can teach you about lighting, special effects, etc. The main thing, like anything you are trying to learn, is to really throw yourself into it, and STICK with it! No, you may not become Pat McGrath overnight, but who really does?

Bottom line, the world of make-up is fun. It really pulls a look together, and you can get so creative with colors, textures, etc. If anyone has any specific questions, I would be more than happy to answer.

And no, I don't think cherry chapstick is a good product.