I have been fortunate enough to work with Mary Amons, founder of “Labels for Love”, a number of times  this past year and let there be no doubt, she proves a mother of five can make her marks in the fashion industry! Mary has the heart, the wit, and the style to make a charity like Labels for Love succeed and she has no shortage of industry friends who will support her cause.

I am so excited to announce her event happening this January 14th at the Washington D.C. Mayflower Renaissance Hotel featuring designer clothes from Lela Rose’s Spring 2010 collection and the man who brought the original hairstyles to the New York Fashion Week  runway for this show:  one of my favs, Ted Gibson and team!  Christian Dior’s National Beauty team will be backstage along side creating a complimentary look for the show featuring T.H.E. Artist Agency models.

This is a can’t miss event to benefit The Center for Heart, Lung, and Kidney Diseases at Children’s National Medical Center. It is already being touted as an “An exclusive evening of Fashion, Art and Philanthropy!” and I know it will live up to the hype.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Click  to get your tickets for this exciting event now!

Skinprep FX Primer by Cover FX

In yesterday’s post I mentioned I used an extra primer for skin that needed a bit more help in the texture department. I sometimes find myself finding my moisturizing/primer in one (Embyolisse) is just not enough for my mature clients. That is when this stellar primer steps in: Skinprep FX by Cover FX.

I ran into this gem at the Chicago Artist Summit I was teaching a workshop at. I was asked to do a class on “Makeup for Mature Women” and I ran right over to the Cover FX booth to find a particular foundation but ended up talking to the reps at the booth about this baby. I started to play around with the consistency on my hand and added it to silicone based makeup to see how it could thin some of my favorite products out. Kevin, from one of my favorite lines, even came over (his booth was across there’s!) and started showing me why this primer was considered “Liquid Gold” in the makeup artist community. I mean seriously, when you have people coming from competitor’s booths to show you something that says a lot!

Free Smashbox Mini Blush/Soft Lights Duo in Sunbeam/Glimmer with purchase of $65 or over using the code NEWYRS. Expires January 10th.

Free shipping on every order!

Click here for more information

I’ve found through reading various blogs that there are different types of product reviews. There are reviews of products that one has thoroughly tested for wearability, texture, coverage, and all the other elements that goes into making a beauty product great. It’s tested for the day and then decided upon whether the product is fantabulous, okay, or something you give to your kids to do art with. There are also the reviews that have come from the writer truly knowing the product thoroughly and who has fallen in love with it enough to use it on a daily basis. Those are the beauty products that will be featured in “Kat’s Kit Spotlight” . I have a number of products that I have used and abused on every shoot or event because of it’s reliability. When I use these products I know that it will do precisely what I need it to do which makes the job that much easier. I’m sure over time this section will be condensed more and more to being affectionately known as a “KatKit” product, but for now I introduce you to my first official product spotlight.

There is no better place to start than with one of my basics I use to prep most the skin I work on for print and events: Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre also known as 24-hour miracle cream.

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to work with a fantastic up and coming designer named Marti’ who has a knack for making classic fitted pieces for her self named collection. A good photographer friend, Josh Marks, had asked me to join him in shooting for her first look book along with another friend and model of ours Missy, of Q Models.

Marti’s pieces are meant to be classic, yet simple and sexy so we wanted Missy’s look to stand out a bit more in terms of hair and makeup. I opted to give Missy’s hair a mass of curls which form was almost bell like. We kept her eyes dark and simple with a winged liner, and used OCC Lip Tar in “Safety Orange” for the extra pop that this beautiful red head could pull off!

When I talked to Marti’ at our second shoot together yesterday, I found out the first look book was a success and the line is stirring up business while Missy’s look has become a signature one for the company. Here is a sample of some of the looks we did that day and to see all of the photos we did for the current season click here.

Copyright Josh Marks

Copyright Josh Marks

Yesterday we did another photo shoot to showcase many amazing new pieces Marti’ has added to her collection including leggings, draped skirts, and stunning dresses. At the end we decided to play a bit with the makeup and take out those oh so perfect curls to give Missy a more colorful statement.

Happy 2010 Everyone !!!!

I hope everyone is settled down from the Holidays and just as pumped as I am to start a whole new chapter for 2010! I have been busy so far in making some necessary changes and am ringing in the new year with a clean, uncluttered face lift to MakeupisArt.com. Trust me when I say I have already resolved to blogging on a regular schedule and have so many things up my sleeve I can not wait for you to see! I have a great feeling about this year and things have already been put in motion to make me feel that way.

Recently, our photography/makeup studio that we started a few years ago called Studio 400 had to close it’s doors suddenly at the end of  last year when our landlord we were subleasing from decided not to continue his lease. I searched diligently and came across another space in the same Lorton area the was twice the size of our last place, and was not a shared space. We asked more amazing talent to come on board and Studio 400 has opened again and has already been in action every day of the new year!

Hello followers!

I wanted to quickly let you in on a great sale going on right now over at www.shrimptoncouture.com. I know I don’t normally name fashion sales on the beauty blog but I have a special tie to this one…my suggestion had the honor of being picked as the winning name for the sale!

Although they appreciated my entries of “Couture for the Poor”, and “Shrimpton Couture’s Annual Sale” (lol) the voters thought “Luxe for Less” fit the brands and site perfectly.

Thanks for all the votes and I’m looking forward to hitting the sale up myself. This sale ends January 13th but the items are going fast so act now!

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