Big Wreck - New Music Fest - Sudbury - June 7th, 2014

I will begin this post with letting my followers in the beauty industry that this post has absolutely nothing to do with makeup. It does however have everything to do with my favourite band. If you love Canadians (which you obviously do) feel free to keep reading and check them out for yourself. The album release is tomorrow June 10th, 2014 for Canadians. http://www.bigwreckmusic.com/

Ok, so here it is. The review of my Saturday night. For those who are unaware, it was my 38th birthday on Sunday. What a twist of fate and perfectly tailored weekend for TOAD to cancel their show and Big Wreck to fill in. I still have a hard time believing that all actually happened. What a gorgeous mess of chaos. I promise you this will be a terribly shitty review. I barely remember a thing, my mind is a damn blob.

The Glorious Sons took the stage at around 8:15 or so and were really great, they were followed by Monster Truck who rocked the stage and amped up the crowd for sure. Their songs get quite a bit of airplay here and were received very well. I was sitting in the front row seats for their portion of the show secretly planning how I would be weaseling my way to the front, standing area against the metal fencing. I was hoping the crowd would dissipate after Monster Truck and that is indeed what happened and I made my move. I then planted my feet and would NOT be moving. It took a bit for the road crew to set everything up, some drunks were shouting nonsense to hurry and I wanted to drop elbows on all of them.

The local rock radio guy announced them and was sure to reiterate that they filled in last minute and saved the day for Sudbury.

The boys came out to a very warm reception and they were all smiles. I was nuts trying to figure out what they would open with. I was so shocked and surprised that it was "Look What I Found".
I, of course sang my damn head off and screamed like a complete fool and loved every second of it. Next it was onto "That Song" which was warmly received and had the whole crowd singing along.

After they were done, Ian spoke about Sudbury and that they had great memories here and were happy to be back. I don't know if they all had a great nights sleep or the fact that they were hanging with the Monster Truck guys or what but the entire band was all smiles all night and genuinely having a real great time together. They were constantly teasing each other and just had a GREAT chemistry and vibe. The crowd loved seeing the positivity and responded positively in return.

Third song was ready to start....I was busy swatting away the drunken fool of a woman who was stretching her arm literally across my best friends face trying to get Dave's attention, making googly eyes at him and snapping her fingers and drooling all over herself. Due to this distraction I missed Ian saying "Where's Dana?" People started tapping me and I heard him say... "Oh, there she is!" He then said "Happy Birthday! This ones for you!" Rips into "Hey Mama". Dead. It is my favourite and as I explained to Buk (James) I feel almost guilty for loving it as much as I do. It rips my soul from my body and takes it to the moon and back, I'm gone. After so many years of nostalgia with so many BW songs, this one has just engulfed my heart and mind. It was an epic dedication to say the least and pretty much made my life. Only to be outdone by Ian finishing a song and bending down to give me his slide. A few people tried grabbing it from him but he swatted them away nicely and locked eyes with me and I told him I had it. He then went to the mic and said Happy Birthday again :) Dead....er.

Suffice to say everything after that was a blur. I know Bohemian Rhapsody was brought into a song and I cannot even tell you which one. Ian and Dave did a little battle a few times, their instruments answering each other in this melodic tango. Dave had a great energy as did Paul and Brian. Brian played his guitar and the banjo at the same time during Ladylike. His guitar would hang around his neck while he strummed the banjo from behind on its stand moving fluently from one to the other without skipping a note. Chuck was a monster on the drums. Paulo had a perma-smile and had great chemistry with everyone on that stage. Paulo's stance reminds me a bit of Ken's. Dave and Paulo were constantly singing and mouthing the words to every song. Near the end of the show, during "The Oaf" Ian did his down tuning as he did on the bag of tricks release, and the others left the stage and let the crowd soak in the feverish solo. So amazing. They then teased Chuck and would not end the song, making him drum like a hurricane with sticks, he kept up and was INSANE. It was so fun to watch and experience. They smiled the whole time and were just having so much fun, it was so great to watch.

They ended the night with the crowd singing along and very into it. I don't even think they were off the stage before the crowd was chanting "encore". The Glorious Sons and Monster Truck guys were all on stage alongside in the wings singing and taking pictures and smiling having a blast watching.

They encored with "Shout/Falling to Pieces". Then just like that it was over. It will never in this lifetime be possible to outdo that night. My husband said once we were home "Short of me paying them tens of thousands to come play a private concert for you, there is no way I could have ever topped this or had it be more perfect for you".

I am eternally grateful to Ian for his generosity and for making my night so supreme. It is one I will never forget.

Cheers.

How To Choose a Makeup Artist for Your Wedding Day

Photo Courtesy of Stacey Lalande

Hello ladies and congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I have wanted to do a post on this subject for a very long time and decided that today is that day. I hope it helps some of you grasp a better understanding about bridal makeup and what to look for in an artist.

http://bernieaho.com/

RESEARCH:  You’ll need to do your research. You may already have an idea of an artist you’d like to use, perhaps a recommendation or someone you have heard of.  A recommendation is the best kind of information to have when it comes to selecting your artist. It gives you a real account of somebody else’s experience and the more you can read, the better. That being said, makeup represents your personal style and what may be one persons cup of tea, may not be anothers. Never ONLY take someones word for it. Seeing is believing. Many professional make up artists have websites that will give you an idea of their work through portfolios and testimonials. Use this to see the styles that the artist can create, the range of their ability and their level of professionalism. Some people recommend someone not having actually had their services used personally, but rather a friend of a friend of a friend used this person once and they heard they were good. That also brings up the question.....is this person actually knowledgable? Or did they buy some make up and figure, "Hey, this can't be difficult!" "I'm going to be a make up artist!" A trained professional, knows about contouring, highlighting, face shapes, skin types etc.  Just because you may personally be terrible at applying make up on yourself, it should not give you the mindset to just settle for an "artist" because "It is better than I could do on myself."
If you are going to ask anyone, ask your photographer. They are usually the ones stuck trying to fix bad makeup later when editing photos and this creates an enormous amount of extra work for them. They will know which artists work they barely need to touch or edit. Make up to go out is NOT the same as make up for photography. Looking decent in person and looking flawless in photos are two entirely different things. Your artist needs to know about finishes of products, how will they work with flash photography, hot days, cold days etc. Oily skin, large pores, etc.

TLC Photography

FIND YOUR STYLE:  Choosing a date well ahead of your wedding day will mean one less thing to think about as your day draws nearer as your trial should leave you feeling confident and relaxed about how you will look in front of all of your guests when the time comes. Having an idea of the sort of style you’d like is always an advantage. It is useful to take with you a few pictures of styles you like to give your artist an idea of the look you’re hoping to achieve. A fun and creative way to do this is to make a collage of images from your hair and make up ideas, to the colour scheme and theme of your wedding. This will help your artist subtly coordinate your look with the rest of your day. It will also help you to get to know one another, which will become very important in the crucial few hours leading up to your big moment.

Click photo to visit Jonathan's website.

LASTING ALL DAY: Airbrush make up is NOT magic. It was confused with the photoshop term years ago and has confused brides since. Airbrush foundation is liquid foundation with added water to thin it and some silicone additives. It is very time consuming, a thin application which needs to be layered to achieve a flawless look. Airbrushing for body painting yes, bridal no, if an artist uses the proper face primers and setting sprays, the same look is acheived with any foundation medium. I have never had a brides face come off before or during the wedding ceremony. In fact, brides will tell me they partied well into the night and they still looked flawless at 4 a.m. I have literally had brides go to sleep exhausted after the festivities, go to sleep and wake up looking great and go to the gift opening. True story.

Click Photo to visit Jonathan's Website

NAME BRAND MAKEUP: Expensive makeup, name brands etc....Society, ads etc. have brainwashed us in MAC MAC MAC, Clinique, Stila etc.... Don't get me wrong some are great, and I own plenty...but some are bad and a HUGE waste of money. A good artist can use anything and turn you into a supermodel.

TLC Photography Sudbury

LISTENING: If an artist doesn't listen, do not be afraid to speak up. If you ask for something in particular and they are doing whatever they want, or using colours you really don't like, let them know. If they do not respect your wishes or work with you to compromise, using their expertise, coupled with what you want, run the other way. I have heard stories of glitter on brides, brides being shushed by the artist, brides washing their faces or literally crying when they looked in the mirror. I have actually been called in emergency basis by brides to fix someone elses mess, because they didn't want to hurt the artists feelings. Hence, the importance of a trial run.

TLC Photography Sudbury

DO A TRIAL RUN:  Some women may choose to go to a makeup counter for their bridal makeup because its cheaper, or may choose to have a friend do their makeup for their wedding day because its free. While in theory these options may sound great, the reality of it is, if you end up hating the way it turns out, you’re stuck with it. The bad thing with getting your makeup done at places like department stores or drug stores, is the majority of the personal working there aren’t real makeup artists, and are not trained in how to properly analyze and work on different face shapes and colors. A few are, many aren't so be sure to ask questions about their credentials. They may only be knowledgeable about store products and be there to SELL store products. Being able to do a good makeup job on yourself is one thing, but being able to do it on someone else’s face shape or skin color is a totally different ball game. Having a trial run of your makeup for your wedding day is essential. A trial run is basically a preview of what you will look like on your wedding day. Most professionals will charge for a trial, being that they are spending their time, money, and supplies doing this makeup application. In my opinion, this is money well spent. A professional will assess and analyze your face and personality to help determine how soft or bold you’d like your bridal makeup to be.  Additionally, if the makeup is not done to your liking for the trial, you have the time to communicate with your makeup artist, in order to make the necessary changes right then and there. If your artist DOES NOT have a website or online portfoilio, which lets face it, these days in kind of ridiculous. Anyone can create a facebook page or website free of charge. Do the trial.

Photo by Fuel Multimedia

LASHES: Quality, human hair strips or individual lashes are really essential to your overall look. It finishes the look and adds so much beauty and femininity to the make up application. It does not matter how long, full, dark your lashes are. You want the eyelashes, trust me. That being said you don't want dollarama eyelashes or thick band lashes that scream fake. If an artist is coming at you with Wal-Marts halloween end of season clearance lashes, run the other way.

I hope this gives you a little insight into what to look for when choosing your artist. Yes, I am a professional of almost twenty years, but there are indeed some artists who are self taught and fabulous. There are also some that came out of nowhere and think they are the cats meow. Someone who constantly toots their own, best be able to produce the skills they claim to own. Your wedding day is not the day you want to find out you made the wrong choice because you didn't do your research.

Feel free to email me with questions through my website here or in the posting area below and I will be happy to answer them. I am in no way against sharing information nor do I try to monopolize the city for myself. When you brand yourself correctly, the competition becomes irrelevent.

Much Love as Always,
Dana xo

A little drama :)

So as we all know I took a long hiatus from you tube. I was busy raising babies and life in General was just far too hectic to make time for videos. I have been slowly getting back into things and have posted a few videos over the last few weeks. I did a look yesterday, just playing around really. I didn't record it, but due to the amount of requests, I will be recreating it for you tube in the next week or two.

I used make up geeks "mermaid" as well as "corrupt" MAC "soft brown to blend as well as a teal from the original bh cosmetics 120 palette. As a highlight, I used "opal" by MUD (make up designory) The lashes are from Dolluxe lashes and they are called "Lashing out loud".

Here is a photo of the look!