Fashion Flashback: "Australia" The Movie

I can attest that I am usually on the late train when it comes to watching popular films but I have also seen some pretty obscure titles due to my random DVD selections from the library. When I picked up the 2008 "Australia" movie directed by Baz Luhrmann recently, little did I know that it was going to be set in the fashionable 1930's and 40's. Nicole Kidman's character, Lady Sarah Ashley, wore finely tailored suits, perfectly structured bodices, and amazing accessories that instantly pulled me in wanting more.

The wardrobe did not go unrecognized as the costumer for this film, Catherine Martin, was nominated for the Best Costume Academy Award that year. Nicole's outfits were paired with clean, simple makeup, the occasional rouge lip, and impeccably coiffed hair until the real action kicked in.

Excuse me while I swoon a few years too late but it is better late then never, right? For more styles (and Hugh Jackman fix) check them out here.
 

 Vogue July 2008 editorial by famed photographer, Annie Leibovitz. 

 

Devonation + Choiyee Wong: "To Sacrifice Is To Love" Collaboration

A perfect union between fashion + art in Portland, photographer Choiyee Wong and fashion designer + professional water colorist, Devon Yan-Berrong teamed up together to create a beautiful series that exhibit their endless creativity. 

If you would like to view the whole photoshoot series, check out this slideshow created by JiaHau Jan. 

Last month, the team put on a fashion and gallery show at theSlate exhibiting Choiyee's photography collection as well as preview the public Devonation's 2012 line with an incredible turnout in the crowd. Here is a photo of all collaborators of the project:

DESIGNER: Devon Yan-Berrong/Devonation

PHOTOGRAPHER: Choiyee Wong/ICE Digital Studios

MODELS: Kristi Sakura/OMM + Steve Teegardin

HAIRSTYLIST: Kellen Eason

MAKEUP: Nadia-Artistry

Jonesin' for Gems: Part II

"These gems have life in them: Their colors speak, say what words fail of." 

                                                           -George Eliot

PHOTOGRAPHY: Choiyee Wong/ICE Digital Studio   

MODEL: Kate Troedsson (Option)

HAIR: Kellen Eason

MAKEUP: Nadia-Artistry

Jonesin' for Gems: Part I

Never come between a girl and her best friend...

PHOTOGRAPHY: Choiyee Wong/ICE Digital Studio      

MODEL: Kate Troedsson (Option)

HAIR: Kellen Eason

MAKEUP: Nadia-Artistry

Riordan Roache: Fall/Winter 2011 Lookbook

Local women's wear designer, Emily Riordan-Roache, approached me to paint the face of model Lauren Luiz for her upcoming Fall/Winter 2011 Lookbook shot by photographer, Allegra Villella, and who wouldn't oblige after seeing her meticulously hand-crafted designs below? There is nothing like a great structured coat, or what I like to refer to as the "cloak of confidence", to make you feel perfectly dressed for any occasion.

We decided to keep the makeup look light and feminine for this shoot; I chose a color palette that would complement the collection's fall/winter season as well as Lauren's beautiful auburn mane.

You can learn all about Emily's fashion design journey as she was specially chosen for the Etsy Handmade Portrait Feature video below- and please do check out her shop as well...you will not be disappointed!

DESIGNER: Riordan Roache
PHOTOGRAPHER: Allegra Villella 
MODEL: Lauren Luiz/Ryan Artists
MAKEUP: Nadia-Artistry

Preview...Riordan-Roache Fall/Winter 2011 Lookbook

DESIGNER: Emily Riordan-Roache
PHOTOGRAPHY: Allegra Villella
MODEL: Lauren Luiz/Ryan Artists
MAKEUP: Nadia Artistry


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Rêves De Jardin

A rope swing, two massive Irish wolfhounds, vintage furs, an amazing Sarah Seven gown, and an other-worldly location- made this shoot filled to the brim with decadence. But if that got you thinking this was a walk in the park for our model, Kate, just imagine 30mph winds on this cold, blistering winter day. Check out this behind the scenes clip of Kate wrangling her two furry co-stars here. This spread was shot by the talented photographer, John Campbell, whom is also known for his work as a cinematographer for films and the like.

PHOTOGRAPHY: John Campbell       

MODEL: Kate Troedsson (Option)
MAKEUP: Nadia-Artistry

HAIR: Kellen Eason
DRESS: Sarah Seven 

Special thanks to the wolfhounds' owner.

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Femme Fatale: The Outcome

Although we all agree smoking is a definite faux pas, we must admit that Emma, or rather "Natalia", does make bad look pretty darn good. Which killer outfit do you think she rocks the best in this spread?

PHOTOGRAPHY: Choiyee Wong/I.C.E. Digital Studios
MODEL: Emma Pelett
HAIR: Kellen Eason
MAKEUP: Nadia Artistry

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Makeup Lowdown: Femme Fatale

After seeing many photos of the fair-haired Emma with her mega-watt smile and captivating eyes flashing the camera, the team knew we had to do a 180 and take her to the dark side- at least for one night. We threw around the idea of seeing Emma as a brunette with plenty of attitude and thankfully, she was more than game. Here is how we transformed the beautiful blonde into her alter-ego "Natalia" for another Choiyee-Kellen-Nadia production. The makeup look consists of an imperfect smokey eye; a little smudged to give her the I-don't-give-a-damn demeanor and a soft lip.

MAKEUP LOWDOWN:

1.  Prep the skin with proper skin care and moisturizers, primers. Curl the top lashes with Shu Uemura's eyelash curler (my favorite by far).
2. I always like to begin with the eye makeup, this is preferred because I can clean up any debris left behind without having to re-do the face makeup.
3. Start with sweeping neutral tones across the eye for your base. Next take a black matte shadow (Yaby in Abyss) with a wet shadow brush to the base of the upper eye and undereye.  Use the same shadow brush to sweep the color up into an almond shape following the natural crease of the eye. Use a dark brown (Yaby in Coco Powder) at the crease to help transition the dark black and the brow bone for that chromatic effect. 
4. Layer a creamy black eye paint on top of the black almond shape you have created for that messy, sultry look using a concealer brush or your clean fingertips. Try Makeup Forever Aqua Black Waterproof Cream Eyeshadow.
5. Line the inner waterlines of your eye with a soft, jet black liner (Stila's Kajal Liner in Onyx). Line close to the upper lash line as well.
6. Deepen the brows to match the darker haircolor with a brown powder or liner- groom the brows with a brush.
7. Clean up any fallout with a Q-tip dipped in makeup remover and coat your lashes with two layers of black mascara.
8. Perfect the skin by concealing any blemishes first with a creamy concealer, try Yaby's.  Follow with a mineral makeup in the correct foundation shade for your skin tone, try Jane Iredale. Set the base face makeup with a translucent powder.
9. Contour your cheekbones using matte neutral brown shades (I mix Clinique's "Teddy Bear" Eyeshadow Set) and then top with a peachy pink cheek shade onto the apples.
10. Give your pout a soft nude lip by lining your entire lip with a neutral lip liner (Rimmel's "Tiramisu" 1000 Kisses Lip Liner) and top with matching lip gloss. Voila!

Following this post will be the rest of the fashion spread shot by Choiyee Wong....stay tuned!

BACKSTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY: Dior Baumjohann
MODEL: Emma Pellet
HAIR: Kellen Eason
MAKEUP: Nadia Artistry

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Makeup Lowdown: "The Black Swan"

When it comes to Halloween, I don't mess around. Why do I get so excited for this ghoulish holiday even though I cannot sit through five minutes of a horror flick? For one, it allows you to be somebody else for one night (or in my case, three nights in a row this year) and it makes striking up a conversation at a party a bit easier. I normally do not opt for makeup-inspired costume ideas but after being introduced to the yet-to-be-released film by a client, "The Black Swan" character seemed like the perfect choice. (Especially after the idea of making a giant sock monkey costume wasn't appealing anymore!) The movie stars the gorgeous and talented Natalie Portman and is directed by Darren Aronofsk and should be coming to a theater near you this December. Here is how I achieved the look:

 

The Makeup:

1. Prep the skin with proper moisturizers and primers.
2. Using Bobbi Brown's waterproof gel liner in Black Ink (my favorite liners), follow the eye outline shape as seen in the above face charts with a fine liner brush. Create thin "wave" shapes inside the basic outline.
3. Fill in the empty waves with a bright silver shadow- I used Yaby pearl paint shadow in Platinum with a fine tipped wet brush.  If you want a more intense look- I would suggest filling it in with Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in Glam Rock from Urban Decay.
4. Repeat the black gel liner over the "wave" lines if necessary. Clean up any errors with a cotton swab dipped in eye makeup remover (I love Victoria's Secret Oil Makeup Remover). Set the entire eye makeup with a translucent loose powder so it does not smudge.
5. Line the inner rim of your eye with a white eye pencil, try Stila's Kajal Eye Liner in Pearl.
6. Add some drama by applying thick false lashes to your lashline using a waterproof black adhesive glue from Duo.
7. Use concealer on any blemishes and visible under eye circles.  I opted not to do the pale "swan" skin but if you do, I suggest sponge application of the white cream foundation from Ben Nye and remember to take it down to any visible skin.
8. Contour your cheekbones with an even mix of brown and black eyeshadows applied with a blush brush.
9. Fill the entire lips with a dark burgundy lip pencil (Stila's Countour #23), then a similar shade lipstick on top.  Finally, dab a black gel cream (Sephora Collection) to deepen the look as far as you want to go. 
10. Take a brush and add vertical stripes of the black waterproof gel liner and white eye liner to your wrists/hands.

The Outfit:

• Black tutu and pale pink tights, The Leotard store.
• Crown and ring from the toy section, spray painted gunmetal.
• Black lace tube top, Express.
• Shoes, DKNYC "Teela" (not shown)
• Fur shawl from BCBG (not shown)

 Hope you enjoyed "The Black Swan" Makeup Tutorial; feel free to let me know what you would like to see on my blog and I will try to make it happen. Special thanks to all who took the time to contribute to this post!

PHOTOGRAPHY: Ethan Huynh
PHOTO EDITING: Dior Baumjohann

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She Wolf

When the crew is still waiting for a custom made dress to arrive from an overnight shipment and everyone is ready to shoot- what else can you do but improvise? Here we are making due with whatever we could get our hands on and our model even makes the potato sack-fitting dress look devine.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Daniel M. Noval
MAKEUP/WARDROBE STYLING: Nadia-Artistry
HAIR: Joaquin Parker
MODEL: Victoria Ward (Q6)
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Modern Day Adam + Eve: The Outcome

Without further ado, here are some of my favorite images by Choi Yee for the "Modern Day Adam + Eve" shoot (honestly, pretty hard to narrow it down to just a few!). We had on board our two lovely models, Kate and Daniel, whom perfectly fit the bill and a fantastic styling team consisting of florist Rosemary, hairstylist Kellen and makeup by yours truly. The concept of the classic Adam + Eve dropped into modern day circumstances had been running through my head for some time and everything turned out exactly as we had envisioned.

We were lucky to have acquired our last minute shooting locations- courtesy of Rosemary's Aunt's backyard (whom may still not know we ever snuck back there) and the Indigo downtown. It was also fun to work with Kate on her first shoot as a new ethereal blonde.

Check out the behind the scenes video of our long but amazing day together on set!

PHOTOGRAPHER: Choi Yee Wong
FLORIST/PROPS: Rosemary Stafford
HAIR: Kellen Eason
MAKEUP/WARDROBE STYLING: Nadia-Artistry
MODELS: Daniel Noval (Q6) + Kate Troedsson (Option)
VIDEO EDITING: Ethan Hyunh
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East Meets West

Perhaps this can best be described as a Chinese opera singer meets a Western comic book character- but I will leave it up to your interpretation. Photographer Choiyee, created the striking "fan" pack and Kellen, the hairstylist, pretty much delivered the hair concept based on a sketch she provided. This unique shoot location is no stranger to our model, in fact, it shares the same parking lot as her day job.

Now if only I can get my sideburns to do that...

PHOTOGRAPHER/PROPS: Choiyee Wong
HAIR: Kellen Eason
MAKEUP: Nadia-Artistry
MODEL: Crystal Bee

Preview: "Modern Day Adam + Eve"

More to come of my "baby"....thank you to the wonderful team that made it all happen. A behind the scenes video is coming to you soon!

PHOTOGRAPHER: Choi Yee Wong
FLORIST/PROPS: Rosemary Stafford
HAIR: Kellen Eason
MAKEUP: Nadia-Artistry
MODELS: Daniel Noval (Q6) + Kate Troedsson (Option)