Pretty Blissful Bride

Do you love what you do? A lot of my friends and probably you, yourself would say "NO". I have to admit, i was one of you guys too. i`ve worked alot of jobs before but nothing seemed right. In the end, i left my job and pursue my dream. I started my course to be a makeup artist at the age of 26 years old. During that time, i had my fair share of ups and downs. But thanks to my mentors, sharon and jiahui, i managed to pull it through.  So there is never too late for anything.

I was talking to a friend last night. In our conversation, she told me she always feel like "she is not what she wanted to be". I encouraged her to pursue her dreams and don`t sell herself short. My idea is you will never be as great as you are meant to be, unless you are in the right position and you will soar through the sky. 

Anyways, i am proud to present my lastest complete studio work,

Pretty Blissful Bride

:) 

                                                    

                                                        

shooting in Mt KK

Hey folks, finally i`m back from Sabah after being there for a week. 

i had a lovely time working with the guys, Jeffery and Alvin (the photographers) and all my clients were super! big round of applause to them!! :)

In case you guys are wondering, how`s life in Sabah after the war broke out. well, nothing has changed. Sabah still is a gem in terms of food and picturesque mountain views. 

Every morning i start my day at 4.30am, and we start our shooting at 6am. By that time, the sky would be lit by the sunrise. i was surprise most of us hadn`t watch sunrise before but we were utterly amazed when the sun rises, all bright and mighty!  

I am very grateful for the given opportunity to be able to take part in this shooting. I wouldn`t want to spend my week in any other way.

Here are some mv and scene during the shoot. Let you guys have a taste of what i experienced.



cattle range, Tenusu milk farm




mountain range, view from the Cottage Hotel




your majesty, Mt. Kinabalu






Mt. Kinabalu







the lads working




Abby,Victor and Alvin





Kim and Daniel




Sunrise in Mt.Kinabalu




Sunrise




me,Alvin and Jeffery (the crew)



Pretty Powerful Bride

 

 

Hey folks, ill be away for a working trip in Mt. Kotakinabalu, Sabah for a week. But before i leave you all, i have just enough time for another post.

 

This is something i`ve done in the past few months and its my utter pleasure to share my work in this project to you girls. This project is called " Pretty Powerful Bride".

 

Pretty Powerful Bride is about brides empowering their inner beauty and confidence, hence being the prettiest bride on that day. Stop letting fashion magazines telling you how you should look or " you are so last season". Everybody is pretty in their own special way. So talk and discuss with your artist or stylist, let them help you and find a suitable look for you on your special day.

Getting married should be a easy, breezy and happy!

 

 

Prepping your hair

For this post we are exploring about prepping your hair for shooting or actual day. We will explore it through a makeup artist point of view or rather my point of view :)

A lot of my clients had asked me what length of hair is the most ideal for styling. Personally, i think hair that is longer than your chest area is excessive. We don`t want it to be too much or too little to work on. So girls, don`t think you`re doing your makeup artist a favor by leaving your hair extremely long :)

Ever find yourself ogling at the pictures on wedding magazine? wondering why their hairdo looked so "3D" ?

Let you guys on a secret. We, makeup artist secretly love dye-damaged hair. Simply because this type of hair are easier to handle and their curls tend to be bouncier and last longer. Of course i will not ask for all my client to damage their hair but there is one important suggestion that you should take into account - colour your hair. The reason is coloured hair reflects light, and dark coloured hair absorbs light.

As you can see in the picture. Both client has curls on their hair, but the client on the left hand side has nicer and prominent curls. Talk to your makeup artist or hair stylist if you wanted to colour your hair. 

I would suggest my clients to keep it in the shades of brown...so good luck ladies and be a happy bride :)

  

Get Set......Ready......Shave!!

Men`s Grooming

It can be quite a nuisance for men who need to shave every morning. Especially for those of you who frequently snooze a dozen times before dragging yourself up. Well, like it or not, men’s grooming can’t be taken lightly. Here are a few tips on shaving.

 

I’ve taken this picture to show my somewhat “short boxed beard” resemblance that a special someone had asked me to grow. But for this post, I suppose I can make an exception. This picture will be my BEFORE picture for comparison later. J

 

Before you start applying on the shaving cream, it is a must to make sure you face is clean. So wash your face with a cleanser. I personally think guys do not really need to buy skin care specifically for men. Just use your wife’s or your girlfriend’s cleanser. It works just the same on men’s skin. Cosmetic brands come out with the men’s range of skin care mainly for the guys’ ego. It is much easier for guys to readily accept skin products if the product is specifically labeled “For Men”. This is, of course, to not bruise the guys’ macho hunky image.

 

My imagination acting up again:

Guy A knocks on the toilet door, bursting to relieve himself and yells, “Hey man! What is taking you so long??!”

Guy B opens the door and say, “Sorry, I was just washing my face…”.

Guy A goes, “Huh? That’s so gay, man~!?

Guy B explains, “Oh no, you don’t understand. I use the Men’s Range…”

Guy A goes, “Oh really? Let me see~ Where can I get this stuff from??

LMAO!!!! J Oh yeah. As if that will make it alright.

 

 

After making sure your face is clean, you may start applying the shaving foam. These days, there are a lot of different types of shaving products in the market. You have shaving gels and creams and what not. But the men’s shaving market is mainly monopolized by Gillette. Again, you may use any types of shaving products, be it in gel form, cream or foam.

 

 

There are a few cases where men do not use any shaving products at all when they shave. Worst, some even use soapsuds. I do understand the convenience of shaving in the shower. But please understand that soap is not formulated to be used as a shaving cream. When we shave, we literally scrape and remove the epidermis surface of our skin. This causes our skin to be vulnerable to infection and germs invasion. A proper shaving product on the other hand, ensures a smooth glide for the blade on your skin, minimizes friction, and avoids the blade from cutting any deeper than needed.

 

Now this is a very important part. Please pay close attention!

Please disinfect your shaving blade before putting it anywhere near your skin. The simplest way to do so is by soaking it in hot boiling water. Our toilets are full of bacteria and germs. Seriously. Bacteria and germs travel to our toothbrushes, face towels, rinsing cup, tongue scraper, shaving blade, you name it! Every single time the toilet is flushed, billions of bacteria and germs are released into the air if the toilet lid is not down. That means whatever that was previously inside of your bowel may end up on your face if you do not disinfect your shaving blade before you shave each time. Having bacteria and germs on your face is not a good thing as this will cause pimples and acne breakouts to your face. And we don’t want that, no sir.

Another benefit from shaving with hot water is you get a closer shave. The science behind this interesting fact is metal expands when heated and contracts when cooled. Hence, if you want to have a sh*t-free close shave that will not lead to breakouts, remember this one thing – SHAVE WITH HOT WATER.

 

 

Finally, after all the prepping, we are ready to shave now. This part is pretty easy. Glide the blade from up to down or vice versa. But never, and I do mean NEVER, go sideways. The shaving blade is extremely sharp and can easily leave a deep cut on your face. So please be careful guys…and girls! J

 

Once you’re sure you’ve covered all areas on your face, wash all the foam, gel, cream, hair and gunk off your face using cool water straight from the tap. Cool water will help close back the sensitive pores on your face. And just like what Mama always said – “Don’t forget to wash behind the ears!”

 

 

 

TA-DAH! A clean shaven, preppy looking Ben Bernard! Happy shaving everyone!







     

We are not prefect

Flaws

We all have flaws. Let it be on our face or body or in our character as a person. We are not perfect. But on our part, we deal with facial imperfections.  

Since I have become a makeup artist, we are trained to get familiarize with facial imperfection.  As a result, I have developed a bad habit. Whenever I’m with friends or meeting new people, I tend to look and study their face. Usually, it will take me one or two minutes to point out a few flaws. I just can`t help it. Isn’t it terrible?

Scientifically, a prefect face is defined as having symmetrical face. Which means one side of your face should be the same as the other. Unfortunately, most Asians generally have asymmetric face. For example, one most common flaw is, one eye is smaller than the other. You might be laughing at it when you`re reading this, but in our dictionary, it’s a big deal. We will be obsessively trying our very best to correct it with optical illusions by using eyeliner, eye shadow, eyelid tape or eyelashes. Exactly how we do it, it’s a trade secret…. :)

what to expect when you`re in the hands of a professional

 

 

Throughout the years as makeup artist, i realised there`s a recipe for satisfied clients. The key to it is Chatting.

Through the chats that we had, i can more or less gauge my clients` preference. But sometimes most clients have the misconception of since we are the professionals "whatever we do, it will be lovely la". well, ya, its true :) but there`s more to it.

Everybody has preferences.e.g. i might like oranges, you might not. I love to snack on donut (mmmm...donuts), but you choose bananas.

You get what i mean?

So dear future clients, the best way is to think of us as your hands that materialize your idea of beauty. Obviously, if your idea stray too far away from "beauty", we`ll put you on a leash :)

For example, "i wanna eat donuts, but i`m afraid of getting fat". I`ll suggest you to order an organic, less sugar less fat donuts with hazelnut flake as topping instead of jam (if there`s such a thing)

See, you`ll still able to have your braided fringe but i`ll use it to cover your high forehead.

Talk to me!