Custom Kicks

I bought a whole lot of new nail polishes at the Professional Beauty Expo, it's a tough choice but I think my favourite of the lot is Custom Kicks by China Glaze. Its a beautiful bright teal with gold shimmer, the pics do it no justice at all! It is extremely vibrant and you could definitely get away with only wearing one coat. This may very well be the colour that forever reminds me of summer 2010! Let's see if it's the first bottle of polish that I manage to finish in a single season.


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I… just… can’t… do it Captain

Many people think that modeling is easy, after all how hard could it be to sit and look pretty? However, shoots are mentally and physically exhausting, for everyone involved. The photographer/ makeup artist/ stylist/ anyone present can’t help but act out the pose/expression required from the model:
Tog: ”Lift your chin”
*all chins in the room lift*
Tog: “Bend your knees”
*all knees in the room bend*
Tog: "Give me a smile"
*colgate smiles all around*
It’s a subconscious thing, and before you know it we've all had a face and body workout.
But sometimes we consciously make the model uncomfortable. Generally, the more uncomfortable a pose the more beautifully it photographs. And the photographer never gets it right with one click, never ever.Tog: "Beautiful, now hold it, hold it,*click*, one more, hold it, *click*, hold it, one more (for the record, it's never just one more, never ever!), hold it, hold it.


Model: "WHY AREN'T YOU TAKING THE PICTURE?!?"

Photographer: Matthew Rademan
Model: Celeste Mellett

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Porno pickle

I did makeup for a wedding and absolutely loved how they presented their rings; a nice change from the usual rings-on-a-cushion approach.



It was only when I transferred the pic from my cellphone to my laptop that I noticed the background.... does anyone else see what I see?? Maybe I need to wash my mind out with Sunlight soap.

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Magic - 2 for R9

I bought Magic Clips. They are magic because the fong kong packaging said so -and at R9 for 2 who can't afford to add a little magic to their lives? I am now a huge fan of Magic Clips! These nifty little things hold a model's hair out of her face while you are doing her makeup and they dont make a goonk (technical term) in the hair like normal clips do. So what exactly is a magic clip? Erm, its kinda a trade secret.... okay I lied, its just a piece of velcro - the hooky side not the afro side.




But wait! There's more... you can even brush hair with them!


These pics are from a shoot I did with Kat Grudko (photographer, although she is gorgeous and should rather be in front of the camera) and Els Van Mol (a school friend of Kat's, she's an actress and needed some new headshots). Els is full of character and I can't think of anyone else (har har no pun intended) who would have made a better Magic Clip model, she really should endorse them. Here are the actual pics from the shoot, can you see the magic?

You want me to wear...that?

I was asked to be part of a shoot for the cover of Living Well magazine. The photographer, Matthew, explained the magazine's target market... he could have just shown us the outfits chosen for the shoot....take a look, a picture says a thousand words!
------->

Our lovely model (Theresa) and I looked at each other, blinked, and hoped Matt wouldn't take offence to our comments on the granny clothes. We pulled and pinned the outfits in all sorts of directions to try make them more flattering - maybe Theresa should eat more! I must confess that some of the outfits actually looked quite nice on her, yes I know Mrs Brown down the road is 'nice'.

I wasn't convinced that our target market would approve of the outfits but some of the ladies who work with Matt decided to sneak a peek and boy when they spotted the outfits it was like feeding time at the zoo! They called the other ladies to come have a look and started trying the outfits on. If we were selling those clothes we would have made a small fortune right there and then. It just goes to show that there really are different strokes for different folks.

Here's the cover, nice hey?

Photographer: Matthew Rademan - http://www.modelbase.co.za/11217
Model: Theresa - http://www.modelbase.co.za/12929


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Junk in her trunk

I shot with Timme (tim mee, timmy, get it?) *focuses* I shot with Tim Hulme and Natalie Simmonds and am so pleased with the results, the pics are very Guess ad campaignish. Natalie used to model when she was younger and has decided to give it another go, the purpose of the shoot was to update her portfolio and show them she's still got it. We showed them alright!!

I also styled her hair for this shoot and it worked like magic. I consider my hair skills to be very average, but this day I had my A-game and her hair was super obedient.

Of course like every other super gorgeous model I know, Miss Natalie has a hang up or two about her body. While she was complaining I noticed a rubbish truck had parked outside the window, from the angle I was sitting at I could just see it peeking out from behind her bum. I had to take a pic. This is the closest that girl will ever come to having junk in her trunk!


And here she is with no junk (of any kind) in her trunk:


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Makeup that will last forever

One of the biggest concerns my clients have is how long their makeup will last. A good application should carry you through an entire evening with minimal touch ups. But maybe one day I will specialise and then my applications will literally last FOREVER!



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Why it's good to have a gay friend

I did makeup for a wedding and one of the bridesmaids was convinced her dress was too low cut and that her boobs were going to pop out. We all sympathised and swore we would be on nipple alert, what else could we do?

A gay friend of hers arrived and within seconds of hearing the dilemma he had undone the bow on the front of her dress and hey presto converted it into a halterneck! Ingenius! Those boobs were going nowhere, she could have entered the Trampoline Championships if she wanted to. Clever boy.




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Alter Ego

This is one of my favourite photos taken when I was just starting out in the makeup industry. All makeup artists go through a phase of sticking things on the models face, it's a rite of passage.

Photographer: Tim Hulme http://www.timhulme.co.za/
Model: Stephanie Viller http://www.modelbase.co.za/5710



As a rule, photographers throw a huge wobbly if anyone dares edit their pics without permission. Don't try this at home unless you want all the wrath of the light gods sent your way. Let the record show that I don't necessarily agree with what Stephanie did next...... but DAMN it looks so frikken fabulous! *gets a cold shiver and just knows Tim is giving her hairy eyeballs* erm, I mean, never ever edit a togs pic without their permission.




So cool.


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Oh baby

I did a really natural look for the mom which is not at all the focus of this pic. So why did I post it? Look at the baby's itty bitty lips, I just want to pull them off and wear them as earrings!

Photographer: http://www.digidotlee.co.za/