Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics – Lip Tars reaching Cult Classic Status!

Posted on November 19, 2009 by Kathy Aragon

For anyone who knows me in the industry, you already know I rave about Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (OCC) foundation and loose pigments, see post on NFL shoot I exclusively used OCC products on,  but today I wanted to really profess my undying love for OCC Lip Tars and let you in our new exclusive color designed for Clothing Designer and TV Personality, Indashio.

When asked by On Makeup Magazine to do a beauty story with lips as a focus I immediately thought of showing off the then brand new Lip Tar collection which only consisted of about 8 colors at the time. The moment I tried the first color I knew there was something very different about the texture, finish, and wear of this product. To say that the tiniest amount of product is all that is needed to cover the entire pout is an understatement. I lightly touched the very tip of my lip brush into the NSFW (That’s Not Safe For Work folks!) color and I was soon finding the entire mouth covered in intense pigment. It’s always been hard for me to describe the texture I get but the way I have come to think of lip tars is a vinyl finish without the bulk of traditional glosses. It has shine to it without gloppiness, and their is intensity in the colors that I has not come close to anything I have ever tried.

OCC Lip Tar in NSFW for On Makeup Magazine Photo by: Luis Aragon Makeup by: Me

OCC Lip Tar in NSFW for On Makeup Magazine Photo by: Luis Aragon Makeup by: Me

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Behind the Scenes: Washington Ballet’s “Wonderland” Commemorative book premieres

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Kathy Aragon
I had the immense pleasure of working on some scenes for a book that is already getting such wonderful praises for having been released to the public for only one day.

This book is called “Wonderland” and is the brain child of the incredible Design Army , The Washington Ballet, and a photographer whose style takes one’s breath away, Cade Martin.

I have since received some of my best works through the Design Army/Cade combination and this is where it all started. I got a call to do about 4 scenes for The Washington Ballet and in no way knew this would be an amazingly grand production when getting into it. I walked into the Meridian House in Washington D.C. and saw all the lights, the fog, the costumes, the dancers, and already knew this would be unlike anything else I worked on before.

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Oh, what it would be like to set up in a room like this all the time. Smile
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We started with our first dancers of the day, George Washington and King George III, also known as the Nutcracker and the Rat King. Septime Webre, dancer and extroidinary choreogapher for the Washington Ballet showed them what he would like to see in their upcoming scene they were playing out for Cade’s camera. I was fortunate enough to have my blackberry camera on me to get a few shots but not as fortunate to have a camera that worked very well. Alas, I wanted to include some of the behind the scenes shots to show the energy and hard work that went into this production.

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Behind the Scenes of our “On Makeup Magazine” editorial.

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Kathy Aragon

Lots has happened since my last string of posts on my beloved blog, so I have a lot of catching you up to do! One great opportunity my husband, Luis Aragon, and I had was to do a beauty lip story for The Powder Group’s “On Makeup Magazine”.  Here is a behind the scenes look at what went down at Studio 400 in Washington D.C. for this shoot.

On Makeup Magazine Behind the Scenes from Kat Aragon on Vimeo.

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NFL Players Campaign shows “Strength in Numbers”

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Kathy Aragon

Hello folks! Ok, so I admit. I was going to just go ahead and put up a post and act like I haven’t been away for almost the entire year…but anyone who knew my blog is  intelligent enough to notice something is up. So here is my official apology “My bad Y’all!” and I’m back with an all new layout and amped to get going all over again.

So with that ackward moment out of the way, I want to share with you something I did this year during my blogging lull that FINALLY just got released! I worked with dozens of amazing NFL Players in the course of a couple of weeks, most all in one day, and a wonderful campaign sprouted from it. You can check out the grooming I did for the NFL Campaign here.

I’m also thankful to have had my new OCC compact airbrush compressore and Skin foundations to get me through this entire week. We were out in the middle of every location possible, many with no available outlets, so my battery powered compressor completely kept up with the tough demands. I am so thrilled to have found Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. Definitely check them out!

Make sure to put in your email address to get behind the scenes access to the videos. I am shown getting Luis’ Fathers Day present (an autograph from Minnesota Vikings bad boy Jared Allen) and Jared is absolutely crazy. I loved working with them all!

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Behind the Scenes look at ChoChengs at MBFW

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Kathy Aragon

I have been so far behind in posting but I definitely did want to get my readers what was promised and put up footage and photos. In this case I felt  pictures speak louder than words! Join me in a look at the backstage fun at ChoCheng @ Bryant Park for his A/W ’09 showing.

Key Makeup Artist, Lottie, created a look of neutral toned shadows with doll pink cheeks, beautiful skin and lush lashes. It  is one that I have already adopted since the show and used on many different types of girls and I swear it looks good on every single person I try it on, including myself! 

The makeup team was sponsored by Face Atelier.

I hope you enjoy!

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Gretchen Mol’s Hair and Makeup for DC’s Premiere of “An American Affair”

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Kathy Aragon

I had the pleasure of working with Gretchen Mol this week for the Washington D.C. Premiere of her new movie “An American Affair” out tomorrow, the 27th of February.

Gretchen is a classic beauty that has a look reminiscent of the iconic roles she tends to play. She was Bettie Page in HBO’s “The Notorious Bettie Page”  and you may recognize her past role as Roxie Hart in Broadway’s “Chicago”. In her new movie she plays a character (a mistress possibly?) that has a relation to JFK in the time leading up to his assassination.

Regardless of the complex characters Gretchen tends to play, Gretchen herself is an amazingly down to earth, talented and beautiful actress as well as proud mother.

For her movie premiere I decided to add some waves into Gretchen’s naturally fine and curly hair. I included her input in the whole process and together we decided on a hair and makeup look that would set the right tone for the evening and would work with her classic Jason Wu dress, whom you may know as the designer of Michelle Obama’s Inaugural Ball gown.

I set her hair in medium sized pin curls while doing her makeup and when we released and lightly finger combed through the curls a form started to take place. I kept more of the formed curls in the front, left the hair pretty loose and carefree on the sides and pinned any extra length up in the back, allowing some of the hair to fall naturally out of the pins.

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A look behind the scenes of our shoot for Elite

Posted on January 30, 2009 by Kathy Aragon

While in the process of putting a few random photos and videos up for friends to see and I figured my “Makeup is Art” readers were considered friends as well, right? I mean, in the past 3 1/2 weeks you have seen this blog from it’s first post ever to over 360+ dedicated subscribers, not to mention over 1,000′s of individual views, not a small feat being that my last blog had all of 13 loyal and awesome readers!

So for that, I thank you and consider you a friend!  Now that we are best of pals, I have decided to bring you some photos and very informal behind-the-scenes videos of the last shoot I did with my husband, photographer Luis Aragon this past weekend. This shoot was  for a handful of Elite’s NY runway girls.  NYC F/W09 Fashion Week is right around the corner so the girls  are getting their books geared up for those designer castings. We wish them the best of luck!

On another note, I am always in love with the wonderful clothes stylist David Widjaja  pulls for us on these shoots, including the infamous green Louis Vuitton dress Madonna is wearing on the front of Louis Vuitton’s website as we speak. Let’s see how fashion savvy my readers are. Let me know if you recognize anything. I know I had to be told 1/2 the time who designed what, but I’m getting there! Smile

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The Brush Guard- Pamper, pack, and preserve your brushes with love.

Posted on January 28, 2009 by Kathy Aragon

Those who take that extra step to preserve their makeup brush hair, or those like me who have a slightly unhealthy obsession with their brush health overall, will appreciate this product from “The Brush Guard”.

I first ran across this product at The Artist Summit by The Powder Group in New York.  I know of a number of artists and brush consumers alike who have run into instances where a favorite brush has gone flat or just become wonky and warped from being placed in the wrong spot. This product offers a simple solution to keep them intact. Some of my own brushes have fallen victim to fraying bristles when I’ve rushed to pack my stuff up after a job and left it unprotected. I’ve even had to sacrifice my XL “aDesign” powder brush to the abyss that is the inside pocket of my makeup kit due to lack of room in my brush roll. I pray it is still intact every time I go into the abyss to reach for it!

So, between a combination of a forum post asking about this product and the fact that my 3 year old has been running around with it on her finger all day, I figure it’s time take a closer look at The Brush Guard to see what it can do for me and my brush set.

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