FACE Atelier - 25% Off & Product Update!

Hello Ladies!

One of the most relied upon names, as far as foundation is concerned, in the pro community is FACE atelier. Their foundations are KNOWN for their flawless finish. I know at The Artist Summit, Johnny LaVoy said he swears by this foundation. Anyhow, they are having a sale! 25% off from now until Nov. 1st! Use promo code GOOD NEWS to get in on some fab foundation!

Also, FACE atelier is coming out with a line specifically for women of color! From what I understand, some artists have been waiting on this for a while! "Ultra Foundation for Women of Colour" will be debuting in 2010.

Until next time,

~be Beautiful

Racquel Simone~

My Life As An MUA - The Artist Summit Chicago

I blog about a TON of stuff, so you KNOW I had to blog about The Artist Summit! I'm back from Chicago, where I experienced one of the most life changing events ever (as far as make-up is concerned). I attended a 3 day summit in the heart of downtown Chicago that focused primarily on artist education, inspiration, and instruction. I can honestly say that it was WAY more than I expected it to be. I felt like I was in make-up artist boot camp college 8) This is going to be a LONG post. LOL, but it's more for my fellow artists who'll appreciate the re-cap. You can just pretend you're in the 2nd grade again and only look at the pictures if you wish! ;)

The Venue:

The River East Arts Center

The location of the summit was picture perfect; literally. Tons of glass doors, and floor to ceiling windows with bricks all around. Very artistic feel, and rightfully so since it is a fully operational art gallery. The summit shop was on the 1st level and the seminars and hands-on workshops were all held on the second floor. There was an amazing Whole Foods + Panera type combo store right next door called Fox & Obel. That's where I had lunch. It was great. The intelligentsia cappuccino was so good!

The Hands-On Workshops

I took two hands-on workshops. The first workshop was two hours long and was called "The Art & Science of Airbrush" taught by Orlando Santiago. Ladies and gentlemen I learned the basics of learning how to break down and set up your air brush gun and compressor up to applying flawless foundation with an airbrush compressor and gun AND did my first ever application on my new friend Dawn, who I met at the summit. Isn't she pretty? I airbrushed her foundation. Love this technique. Do you see how smooth and clean the look is. I forgot to mention another benefit: SPEED! (This picture brings me to my only complaint about the venue, the lighting was not good at all!) http://www.montgomerygroup.tv/category.php?cat_id=86&id=88#

The second workshop that I took was with the Artist Relations head of Make-Up Forever in the US, Mr. Kevin James Bennet. His class was called "Faces on Screen". WHAT AN INCREDIBLE workshop. It was a 2 hour comprehensive course that filled you in on the basic and intermediate things you needed to know in order to work in film and TV. Kevin himself has been nominated for 5 Emmys and has actually won 3! I had a front row seat. (Didn't I tell you this was an amazing experience?) Kevin even gave us handouts! I took so many notes. We didn't even do make-up because he wanted us to get all of the info we could. He also noted that HE was the person who introduced airbrushing in the film & TV industry as a way to make make-up compatible with the increasing quality of the technology offered in the film industry, with the latest being airbrush. Wonderful is all I can say about this workshop. http://www.makeupforever.com/#/int/en/pro-only/

The Seminars

I took more than a few seminars that were so enlightening. Each seminar lasted an hour. My very first seminar was a brow seminar taught by Eugenia Westwood, the founder of Senna cosmetics and owner of four make-up studios in L.A. She is THE brow master. Eugenia's been doing make-up in Hollywood for 38 years. Can you say master make-up artist? For some reason, doing brows totally clicked for me when I took Eugenia's class! Do you know how thrilled I am? LOL. She's also won Emmy's for her work in TV. She has some amazing brow products including stencils. Um, please know that SHE created brow stencils in 1992. Please and thank you! Haha. http://www.sennacosmetics.com/

I also went to a seminar by marketing and agency guru Ms. Crystal Wright. She delivered the opening keynote on Monday morning and I had a chance to sit in on her workshop with Michael DeVellis about website and portfolio development. There was so much substance and great information in this seminar. There was a lot of "blunt" truth too, which I definitely appreciate! Ms. Wright even accompanied a group of us to dinner Sunday night and offered personalized advice on our business cards as we did the biggest business card swap I've ever seen in my life! LOL. She was very inspiring and is proving how you can take your career to the next level, no matter what, including following two divorces, like she has done! http://www.crystalwrightlive.com/

One of the most enlightening seminars was a seminar by THE Mr. Johnny LaVoy!!! LOVE him! OMW! (Oh my wow) LOL. All I can say is I learned how to studio style hair the day I took his seminar! I mean he explained curl patterns and showed us the insider secret on two looks that are wildly popular right now, and you'd never think they were as simple as they were. The 1st was the Victoria's Secret beach hair (easy) then the Old Hollywood vintage look a la Vivian Westwood; he taught us how to do finger waves without doing finger waves!!!! LOL. Nuts! Last one was the look prevalent in many of this season's PRADA adds. The nappy afro textured look that seems impossible to have on a fine haired woman. That technique totally wowed me. Amazing. Johhny works for the Ford agency. That's a pic of me and Johnny below. Look at his amazing work here: http://www.fordmodels.com/portfolios/13415/4540?division=91

The very last workshop I went to was about detailing your work. It was taught by Daven Mayeda. (See pic above) I loved his attitude about make-up and application. It was pretty much that there are no "rules" and you should do what you want as long as the end result is amazing make-up. Showed us quite a few tricks and shortcuts. Best one, buying a tote-a-light from an art store so you always have great lighting, no matter what. Heck if I was getting my make-up done and someone brought a light that looked like it belonged on a movie set, it'd make me feel like a star for sure! LOL. Here's a link to his work: http://www.davenmayeda.com/ That's a pic of Daven working down below.

The Products

The entire lower level was set up as a "shop" vendor style. It There was so much to see. Brands like Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, Temptu, Makeup Forever, Kiss, Alcone, Senna, The Ruby Room, and a few others that I'm going to refrain from mentioning because they're pretty much pro only, BUT let me tell you that there is a new company on the block called INGLOT and it is GREAT. INGLOT is a company to look out for. They had the biggest display out of everyone and the display was almost too overwhelming to look at on your first attempt! LOL. Their lead out concept was the "Create Your Own Palette". The palettes came in all shapes and sizes and you could put whatever you wanted in them. I was blessed with a 10 pan shadow palette (see below) that I am just in love with. Ha. Can't wait to paint my face this weekend! I'll post a review sometime next week with pics! There were such steals of deals as far as products were concerned. It was just great.

All in all, The Artist Summit was phenomenal. I learned SO much. I cannot believe that all of that was included in a mere $125 for two days price tag. The hands-on workshops came my way at $9 each on a special and I am just too happy about that! LOL. This information was excellent. The humility and "touchableness" of these artists was almost beyond belief and I am so glad that I was a part of this. I'll DEFINITELY be back next time, Lord willing! I am so inspired to continue pursuing my passion and taking things to the next level! I pray that whatever your passion is, you pursue it with the same fervor! Let me never forget that my 1st pursuit must always be the Lord Jesus! Blessing to you all.

~be Beautiful

Racquel Simone~

Beauty On Tap - Beauty Is In The Eye Of the Beholder?

Ladies,

Check out this phenomenal video I just saw online. This was put out by Dove. Many people don't know but Dove has launched a campaign to help raise the self-esteem of children, young ladies and women around the world. I decided to post it because it is so revealing into, what I believe, are issues that women all over the world deal with as it relates to "beauty". Post your thoughts in the comments section of this post.



~be Beautiful
Racquel Simone~
http://beautybecomesher.blogspot.com/

New FTC Blogging Rules - A Quick Heads Up

Greetings everyone! I have a serious matter to address. As you know, one of the main things I do on my blog is review products. I've had a couple people ask me some questions about the topic I'm blogging about today, so here is my official statement:

Effective December 1, 2009 the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is requiring that ALL bloggers who receive compensation for their product reviews MUST disclose that on their individual blog posts. Violating the rules, which take effect Dec. 1, could result in various sanctions including a lawsuit.

It is my understanding that this is to crack down on Unethical bloggers who knowingly, and willingly receive compensation as small as free products to large compensation such as paid vacations and big-ticket items without the "end-user" (reader) knowing. It's basically being paid to write a good review for something and deceiving people, because even if it is horrible, you say it's fabulous! Or, even if it truly is a wonderful item, there is an obvious conflict of interest because the appearance can be given that the review is not pure, and has been polluted by the allure of freebies and other compensation. In my opinion, this takes away from the purity of what writing reviews is all about!

Now, I will say that Revlon has been very good to me. Mainly, because I use the products that they send to me when I do my outreaches to women's homes and shelters. (Ask the ladies at the Darlene Bishop Home for Life and New Light Home For Recovering Women :) I do have some products (the eyelashes) that I use for personal use as well, but it is important to note that even with the items that I receive from Revlon now, I am in no way, shape, or form, asked or obligated to write a review about any of the items. Ever. If I do so, it is by my own choice, and when I HAVE written a review on a Revlon product, I have actually let you, the readers know that Revlon has sent me the items, if they have. Revlon is the only company that I have EVER received free items from. For that, I will always be grateful . It is important to note though, that before Revlon ever sent me any free products, I had already reviewed their products on my blog and NO compensation was ever received. Revlon has been very generous in providing me with overstocked nail & lash products, from the previous seasons to use for a GREAT cause, which is the non-profit that I have in the works. I absolutely adore the women that I come in contact with at the shelters and group homes. Period! I am grateful that a company like Revlon recognizes a good cause when it sees one!

In short, (lol, not really) I wanted to let you, my readers, know that I plan to fully comply with all FTC regulations and honestly, it will be super easy, because the "new rules" are rules that I've always played by on my blog. I take my integrity very seriously and good ethics are always at the forefront of what I do in life. Period. I don't take $ or products to write my reviews. I don't ever foresee that happening, but if for some crazy reason it did, I'd be sure to disclose it at the top of the post in bold, italicized letters, because I don't ever plan to become an author of confusion ;)

~be Beautiful

Racquel Simone~

SO Unrelated to Make-Up - But I Had To Share!!!

Let me be up front. This Beauty Becomes Her blog post has absolutely nothing to do with make-up. This is the 1st time I have ever posted an un-related topic to my blog. However, I know that there are a lot of women who read my blog that love to cook, don't love to cook but have to, have families or live by themselves. Whatever the case, if you have been in a bore with your meals, or have run out of ideas on what to prepare at home, check out this blog! She lives on a ranch, and spends most of her spare time, cooking and coming up with recipes. She comes up with easy recipes for meals and takes the mystery out of some dishes you never thought you could prepare. With step-by-step instructions that include PHOTOS you really can't go wrong. Enjoy, you will absolutely thank me once you land on the site. Don't just browse. Make one of the recipes. Actually, an overwhelming urge to jump in your kitchen will come over you. For all of you ladies hoping to be a wife one day, if you start practicing these recipes now, your beloved will thank you later! Check her out!

The Pioneer Woman

http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/cooking