My Fashion Week adventures

This year I was given an opportunity to be a lead make up artist for all of the Elle Magazine Style 360 shows, what an amazing experience.
I got to work and meet with some incredible people, like super talented and nice Danilo, inspiring stylist Arianne Philips who styled our Bebe show, lovely and fun Toni and Guy crew lead by Whitney Blischke, Gia, David, Shannon and all of the rest of the crew that made this happen with such organization and grace......it was just magical.

It was amazing how calm and focused I was able to be amid all of the chaos of the backstage madness.
So much to think about, so much more than just doing make up, like captain of the glam ship.
We had an amazing crew of make up artist who with their talent and focus made all of it possible.
I am so grateful.
My beloved agent Brandi (the tiny cutie I am hugging the air out of in the picture) was there to land me her support and my agency was amazing at doing backstage coverage with our own blogger following me around.
I had special treat that one of my first assistants Crystal flew all the way from Atlanta to land me her support, and she was there with me trough make up tests, negotiations and everything else other than make up. She joined my dearest Emma to bring calming and reassuring presence that was a glue that kept everything together. Team is everything.

Our sponsor for Spring/Summer season was Beauti Control. Besides having some of the most delicious, kind and friendly crew, their product was beautiful and made our lives so much easier.

They provided myself and my crew with full kit that I used to create all of the looks for the shows.
They are famous for excellent skin care, but I have to say their color line was very impressive.
From beautiful foundations in wide range of color, to pigmented eyeshadow and lipsticks to my new favorite - liquid eyeliner pen, that I am glued to right now, even in my personal life......kudos Beauti Control team.

I was really lucky to be able to create so many different looks in the span of few days. It was an amazing platform to showcase different make up range I have locked up in my head.
We did everything from porcelain dolls for Bebe, to greasy eyed rock chick for Avril Lavigne's Abbey Dawn line to painted on cowboy boots for Marithe + Francois Girbaud.

I had fun doing wonderful Stacy Igel Boy Meets Girl presentation with Bachelorette Ashley Herbert leading the pack. Inspiration was Americana, so we added stars to join the red lipstick, homage to our flag.
Making sure JP did not kiss of her red lipstick was an extra homework I did not mind doing. They were so cute together.
Daisy Fuentes easy breezy St. Tropez girls were so much fun and so easy to do, since we just survived very intense day before.
Making models look rested and bronzed up with smokey eyes was walk in the park. Sachika twins, full of joy and beautiful energy wanted us to help them bring mermaids to life, and we were happy to deliver with gold, aqua and deep blue eyes.

For Abbey Dawn by Avril Lavigne, we did greased up black rocker eye that I brought back to sweet girlyness by adding  Hot Pink lipstick (by Beauti Control).
I was also mindful of the star guest Kylie Jenner (Kim Kardashian little sister, who was in the front row cheering her on) young age when doing her make up. I did not go as dramatic on her eyes as with rest of the models, I wanted to preserve the fact she is 14 years old.

 For Samantha Black we did graphic liner and salmon colored lips,  to mimic some of the black and white prints she had in her collection.

So there you have it.

From porcelain dolls, boys and girls wearing painted on shoes, hard partying rock chicks, all the way to posh St. Tropez girls and seductive mermaids....
I was given an opportunity to send colorful cast of characters down the runway, and be proud of it.
I love my job!!!

Stay tuned

I am few days away from exciting event of being a lead Make up artist for shows under Elle magazine Style 360. Backstage report to come!!

I am BAACK!!!

My two dearest readers, as you know, I was away for a good while, for a good reason though.
I became a wife, I introduced my beautiful husband to my country and I am moving in amazing direction in my career. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and I have so much to tell you. Lets start from the beginning.

Who would have thought, that little girl, obsessed with purple and far away lands would say yes to a man of her dreams in front of Statue of Liberty, dressed in her favorite color.
Dressed and married by a woman who is beloved friend and who lived with me trough some of the most painful and life changing moments of my life. It is like a fairytale.

But there I was, in the shadows of the beloved city, looking in the eyes of the man who brought me out of the darkness and has become my true constant companion, my inspiration and my true light.
My husband.

Getting married in front of the Statue of Liberty was very important for my life story. I wanted to say thank you, to people I lost, for people that envelop me with their love,  for the country they gave me and country that gave me them. This city, my true home. It's street are veins that course to my heart and pump me with constant inspiration and hope. How can I not fuse everything that I love, with the city I love.

Our wedding was very intimate and every bit made by us and people we love. We made our own invitation, we, along with our friends decorated our love boat, our photographers were people we know and love. We were a part of very personal and emotional event. Both of my dresses were made by my best friend, who has fused all of the intimate details into them, she has weaved our life story into the fabric and weaved her soul into the every stich. How lucky am I?

So there we were, promising each other, something we lived for this beautiful 10 years. To continue to be each other best friends and to respect each other individuality and intellect.
Together, so individual and our own, we managed to create one person that is able to embrace dual aspects of itself and be stronger united.
We made this promise surrounded by people we love and I can not tell you how happy I am to be a wife to the kindest, gentlest, most talented and inspiring man in the world.
Thank you universe!

Exciting New Year

It has been such eventful end of the last year for me. After not so exciting and almost drab year, on my birthday it all changed with a question "Will you marry me".
That is right ladies and gentleman, this lady is engaged :).  But it is not I who is turning into Bridezilla, oh no sir :)
My beautiful love is dreaming up magical wedding and stars are shooting out of his eyes, oh,  I love him so.
Every year, somehow he manages to throw me surprise birthday party and I swear to you I never catch on. Which is sad, since I do consider myself super sleuth; I am the last person you want to watch movie with, I will figure out the plot and the ending in first 20 minutes. But for some reason, Michael's surprise parties always get me. It is like covert ops with him, he engages army of people to distract me and help him out.
This year he had enlisted help of our friends Amber and Julien (aka Juliber) to lure me out to Central Park to do our routine ritual of gorging on fattening crap from Grace's market on our favorite meadow, before engaging in game of badminton (how counter productive). They always bring their black Pomeranian pooch, my dear friend Ivan with them, but this time Amber said, while holding up bandaged finger, that Ivan bit her (he does have a bit of a drama queen personality), I believed her.

This is my portrait of Ivan

So here we are walking around central park, taking our time, I am like Ferdinand the bull distracted with every pretty flower, and I HAVE to take the picture. Instead of birds chirping, all I hear is my dearest Amber mentioning how much she has to go to the bathroom. I know we are walking toward one, so again, I am taking picture, inhaling pretty November air, but my dear friend is doing a pee dance. So I join her at the boathouse on the lake, where upon exiting bathroom she suggest little drink, which sounds magical.
I am surveying place where we will sit, see my cousin Alex beaufiul face smiling at me, go back to surveying the seats and then.....schreeetch.....did I just see my Alex in the same restaurant...

I look now, for real, and there they are standing by the bar, my friends, neighbors, my cousin, with flowers in their hands, smiles on their faces.... SURPRISE!!!
Yep, he did it again, surrounded me with people I love and his love on that beautiful November day.
Another cast member of the covert operation was my cousin Alex, who helped him organize everything and brought most amazing cupcakes from Magnolia bakery.

There I was surrounded with people I love, content and happy, when Michael asks me to take a walk with him for a few minutes. So I am hopping after him, joking that he has Mariachi band waiting for me somewhere, but he is so serious and focused, I can feel something is up.
He sits me down on the edge of Bethesda fountain, at sunset, and goes down on his knees. He pulls up the most beautiful antique looking box, and starts telling me about his search for a perfect ring…then he starts to sound like Charlie Brown character to me (mhuahah, ahljfku, buahha bahha), since I am too busy crying, realizing what he is doing.
And there it was, on the bed of purple silk, laid the head of the crow. Its elegant silver beak pointing to my heart and I scream YES trough river of tears, I put the ring on the wrong hand and cry some more.

Then jogger stops by and offers to take our photo, I flaying hands saying “We just got engaged”, he smiles and says he knows, he figured it out.

 Hello captain Obvious 

So there I was, once again surrounded by my friends, admiring my beautiful engagement ring, basking in the glow of a promise.

My ring is so magical, he listened to my explicit opinions of no diamonds and that engagement rings should be something unique to the person. Crow is a protector and a messenger and she delivered the most amazing message to me.

So here I am, I start this New Year, knowing I will say “I do” to most important person in my life, I will be his wife.

I start this year toasting to the new chapter, to us working hard and working together … our pockets full of dreams.

The Messengers

And in my darkest moment, fetal and weeping'
The moon tells me a secret, my confidant
As full and bright as I am, this light is not my own and
A million light reflections pass over me

It's source is bright and endless, she resuscitates the hopeless
Without her we are lifeless satellites drifting

                                                                                                                        Tool

Today, I have a need to write my heart on these virtual pages, open that window little more.

This is my love letter to inspiration and people who deliver it.

I get visited by moments, where upon seeing, reading or hearing something beautiful, I feel my own life somehow connected in this quilt of overwhelming emotion and expression.

From music, paintings, books or little flower growing in pavement crack. Beautiful wrinkled hands of a smiling stranger, their eyes filled with knowing kindness and gray streets of the city that embraced me as its true daughter, offering peace to restless heart.

That gets me jolted from everyday trance and bustle of endless aspirations. I stop and I can feel warm tears flowing down my cheeks. I cry from beauty.

I get filled with this strange happy sadness and realization that I am surrounded by complex minds and fingers of individuals. The messengers.

They paint, compose, think, build and weave their own letters to universe, reaching me on its journey.
They are reminding me I am alive, leaving me breathless. I am reminded of my own flawed humanity, telling me to never forget.

I see my mother’s soft hands lift me up to the world. With her kisses building an armor to protect me from harm, preparing me to survive most painful blows, for I am loved. Wide eyed child, smelling of promise.

I see my teenage self, dreaming of first crush and wondering what will become of me, will I make difference in the world, will I be loved?

I see the deepest depths of my despair and loss. I still smell fragrant pale flowers that grew out of moist earth of my darkest hours.
I still carry the loss and communicate with ghosts that follow me.

I see faces of lost ones in the smiles of dolphins, and I love them, still.

I feel their life force seeping through my fingers, into everything I am and everything I create.I did not forget.

I see warm understanding eyes of my lover, his soothing voice coating every nick with the balm of endless patience and quiet constant.I see home in his eyes.

I see faces of my friends, my lovers and my family; ones still here, as well as passengers who stopped for brief moment to teach me a lesson, to add another stone to mosaic of my life.  They inspired me, challenged me, hurt me, loved me, misunderstood me, were misunderstood by me, and loved by me. They made me.

I am the clay, shaped with their loving hands and  nicked and bruised by life experiences. That makes my statue complete, with all its flaws.

As life flashes before my eyes, when I hear beautiful song, when I get moved by a painting, or inspired to create something.  I know that I am leaving  trace of me, every time I stop to hear, see, and take in beauty around me. I carve my life experience by being present.

So my friends, when life gets crazy, stop. Turn around and you will see thousands of messages, created by people just like you and I.  Their life, described through so many ways of self-expression paint their loss, love and their beautiful minds. It is a reminder that you are not alone, that most beautiful flowers grow in darkest places. You are not alone.  I know…..I am loved.
So are you.

15 Most used products in my kit

I have so many beloved products in my kit. Palettes and boxes filled with magic potions and fun colors.
We are all creatures of habit and somehow I find myself reaching for certain products all the time, so I wanted to share my kit staples that with you guys.
Please forgive wear and tear and unpolished imagery. These are ACTUAL products from my kit, shot with my Iphone. They appear in no particular order, I like them all!

 1. BATHINA body balm by BENEFIT
Ok guys, if this was edible, I would spread it like butter on my morning toast EVERY DAY!!!
I use this by gallons it seems. It gives skin most beautiful glow and not to mention it smells heavenly.
Models often say they feel like they are somewhere near sea, when I apply Bathina on their skin.

2. AIRFLASH foundation by DIOR
When I got these from Dior, I was little skeptical, since most of these "gimmicky" airbrush foundations don't work.
They spray all over the place or their nozzle gets clogged very fast. Let me tell you, this stuff WORKS and it works beautifully.
Psssssst and whole face is covered, in seconds. Coverage is on the heavier side, so I use it when I really need very even, canvas like skin. I use sponge to ad finishing touch (especially around eyes). It works wonders in covering tan lines and body make up in general. Life and time saver!

3. HD Powder by MAKE UP FOR EVER
I am not fan of powder, I find it cakes on skin very fast, especially in more humid environment.
MUFE solved my dilemma with this finely milled powder that is always on its best behavior. I wait till last minute to finish skin with HD and can keep blotting it on the skin with large brush, without worry it will turn model into scaly lizard.

4. MATTE lipsticks by ILLAMASQUA

When I first discovered Illamasqua, I thought I died and gone to (my goth) heaven. I love so many products from them, but their lipsticks are standout in their vibrant, creamy symphony.
I can't tell you enough how much joy I get in painting these on. I even personally wear their sassy red color called BOX (named after its creative director Alex Box, amazing make up artist).

5. CLEANSING ROSE WATER by LANCOME

Proper term for this product is Eau Fraiche Douceur, but I like to call it Rose Water. As the name implies, it is very gentle make up remover.
It reminds me of very hard to find, and expensive in US, Bioderma cleansing water (models are addicted to it).
This is great alternative to Bioderma, it is as gentle and pure. Like thousands of gentle kisses wiping your make up off (ok that was corny, but could not help it).

6. Lipglass by MAC
There is no denying it. The shiniest, craziest, gooiest gloss of them all, I use it so much, I think I need to subscribe to instant refiles.

 7. PIGMENTS by MAKE UP FOR EVER
If I was to be sent to an island and told  to pack essentials, I would pick these little guys.
I can do ANYTHING with pigments. Their vibrant saturated color gives me option to use it as eyeshadow, or mix it to create everything, from body paint to lip colors.Just like painting!

8. LIP tars by OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE COSMETICS
Kudos to OCC for creating most unique products on the market. I am yet to see such vibrant and dense lip product that virtually explodes with color and joyously spreads like paint on skin.
I do mean on skin too, I have used lip tar as body make up and to create interesting effect on face (they run slowly and deliciously, like slow performance art). Yum!

9. POSIE TINT by BENEFIT
This is flirtatious, sweetest tint of them all. It bats its cute lashes right at you and bam....you are in love.
It gives cheeks softest flush from within, it is blue based pink and can be used on the lips for that soft bitten effect. Just make sure you blend it fast, not to stain the skin.

10. BRONZER by SMASHBOX
What I love about this bronzer the most is it's matte texture. It gives me beautiful contour color that I can finish of, if I like with something shimmery on to or leave it matte. I use it as contour all over the face, since it has nice neutral bronze hue.

11. VIRTUOSO lipgloss by SMASHBOX

Sadly, this product is not available any more, but I had to include it, since it is probably one gloss I reach out for the most.
It was part of Smasbox MUSE spring collection, it is a perfect sweet pink with fine golden undertones. I am yet to see face and skin tone that it does not flatter.
Pigment is dense and it spreads so beautifully and with incredible shine. When in doubt, this is the color I turn to, when I use last drop of it, my heart will break :(.

12. TEINT IDOLE matte foundation by LANCOME

Colors are so beautiful and fool proof. I mix them on my palette to achieve desired hue, their beautiful matte texture is why I favor them above all sheerer foundations.
You can still build coverage, but there is no fear in losing skin texture. It creates perfect cover without any distracting reflections, thus giving me control in introducing shine to skin "my own way" (hmmm Frank Sinatra is playing in my head for some reason).

13. CREAM eyeshadows by URBAN DECAY
OK, I alwasy say Urban Decay designs their packages with me in mind, all of those skulls and bones....the JOY!
I love putting these cream shadows by themselves or as primer to powder shadow on the lids. Colors are vibrant, shiny and they do not crease like some of the other cream shadows I have.

14. PRIMER by URBAN DECAY

I use this Potion (I love the name, makes me sound like some great sorceress) after I have moisturized the skin, to ad that very light weight matte layer. It works beautifully.
I go between this primer and one of Benefit called Porefessional (how cute!) which gives me even matter look and can be used over foundation.

15. 24 hour cream by Embryolisse

This cream has many uses, it can be make up remover, after shave balm and is gentle enough to use on children.
My main purpose of this cream is as moisturizer. When it comes to moisturizers, simple is better, especially on shoots.
This cream respects your natural PH balance and is least likely to give model any reaction. More complex face cream is, more possibility of allergic reaction, and that will not do on my watch. No sir!!!



So there is. I have more products and tools to share with you guys and I will keep you updated on new finds as well.
I have recently received some new spring collections and  products in the mail, and I am eager to try them out, so stayed tuned.  But for now, these are my faithful companions! Thanks for reading!

Urban lash by URBAN DECAY

I have died and gone to lash heaven. In front of me is symphony of textures and colors weaved in blue fun box.
Wanted to share with you guys, new lash series by Urban decay.

Check out all of the styles

I do a lot of beauty shoots, so to me having amazing lashes to play with is essential and you can imagine my excitement when I got these. I love variety of length and thickness and the fact that even blue colored lashes are done with taste and wearability.
So yay for Urban Decay, off I go to bat my lashes :)