Playing harmonica, getting things done.

If you've been following me on facebook you will know that I've had some computer troubles as of late. Last week I had the disc drive (reader...? The place where discs go) replaced, the case and keyboard replaced and the harddrive wiped... and it is still running like a computer from the early 90's. Steve Jobs and I are not friends right now.

So in my down time, my super roommate and I have started a harmonica band. Here were are covering the beatles. Well, a few notes from Love Me Do because frankly, that's all I could figure out. And I'm barely doing that well. But trust me, we're going to be huge.

Enjoy.

xoxo

Makeup Movie Monday - Christina Aguilera

With Burlesque having come out on Friday I thought it would be appropriate to showcase one of my guiltiest of pleasures, Christina Aguilera. (Side note: still haven't seen it. Heather and I are planning a most special 

A lot of her videos and appearances often have her showing off some questionable (at best) makeup choices. I'll be honest, I don't love her makeup most of the time. But I love that I know what to expect from her and that it's always done perfectly. Her eyeliner, lipstick and skin: gaudy - yet flawless. It's not my style but it's hers and that's all that matters.

Her video, Not Myself Tonight, was like a 2010 'Dirrty.' I can't get enough of it. A bit of Madonna and Gaga and a ton of Chrissy A. 

Speaking of Burlesque, I broke my OPI buying ban and picked up a bottle of their super sparkles from the collection for the movie. The shine and texture is amazing but it is otherwise just another bottle of OPI and chips at every opportunity. But it looks so good on that I've been religiously retouching for three days. 

xoxo

a.

I was featured on WeddingGirl.ca!

This week I had the pleasure of blowing (with my hair dryer... don't be gross!) Mary, a wedding planner from Toronto. 

She came into blo to check out our services and find out more about how awesome we are. Later that very day, she wrote all about it on her blog. She's also giving away a free consultation for a lucky Toronto bride. You can check it out here. So spread the word.

Makeup Movie Monday - Elizabeth

It seems as if it is too easy to follow up last weeks post with another historical film. What can I say? I'm a sucker. Elizabeth came on TV on Monday night and I knew what I had to do.

My last year of school, I remember locking myself in my room one weekend to do work and had a lineup of historical dramas to watch. Including Marie Antoinette, Elizabeth I and II, Goya's Ghosts etc. There is a scene at the end of the first Elizabeth; Cate Blanchette has her hair chopped off and as she raises her head and - gasp. It is phenomenal. 

Side note - the best thing about writing/talking about historical films is that you can't ruin anything or give something way. It already happened!

Jenny Shircore was responsible for the hair and makeup of both films. She was also behind Girl with the Pearl Earring, Clash of the Titans. Historical seems to be her thing. Historical and being awesome. She won an Oscar for Elizabeth. 

Anyways, I can't find that scene that breaks my heart when I think about it, nor a picture, so here are the trailers. 

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My Kit!

And here I am, Friday night. My entertaining self, chillin' at home with a puppy.

The evening began with me cleaning my kit before seeing a client tomorrow, but honestly, there is nothing I love more than playing with makeup and organising. Break out the label maker - it's going to be a wild night. 

All finished!

After IMATS I picked up some new palettes.

Some wicked new brushes.

Makeup Forever Aqua Colours.

And my fav - Yaby Liquid Foundation.

Top left: 

skin palettes.

From left to right, top to bottom.

Yaby cream foundation, yellows; Yaby powder foundations, light

Yaby concealor; Yaby PF, medium; Yaby highlight

Assorted cream colours (cinema secrets, mufe flash); Yaby PF, dark; Assorted blushes

Bottom left:

A few liners

Face Atelier liquid foundation

Assorted glues

Inside the box:

MUFE HD powder, MUFE Aqua colours, MUFE Elixir

Benefit Shellac, MAC and Smashbox liners

Loreal Voluminous

Bottom right:

Colour palettes

Disposables

Left to right; top to bottom:

Assorted lipsticks, light;

Assorted lipsticks, medium; Yaby Dramatically Neutral shadows; Assorted pink-based shadows

Assorted lipsticks, dark; Yaby Pearl Paint shadows; Assorted brow and shadows

Top right:

moisturiser, nail polish remover, brush cleaner etc.

Yaby liquid foundations.

OCC Lip Tars

I'm really excited to work with the Makeup Forever Aqua Colours. I detest not being able to palette them but they are a pretty cool product. I picked up a red, pink and dark silver/grey (as well as the matching liner). I swipped them all over my hand at IMATS and kept showing Jessica exclaiming 'they really don't budge.' Which is what she had been telling me for ages.

A few people have asked me about the Yaby palettes, which I am obviously, a big fan of. To keep them clean I use makeup remover. Shocking, right? But seriously, that comes up a lot. 

I had other eyeshadow palettes but after picking up the dramatically neutral and pearl paints the others became redundant. And seriously, Yaby trumps everything in quality.

If you're looking to start a Yaby collection, my only regret is that I didn't stick to just freestyle palettes. Buddy-o Jessica did that and got 35 lippies to one palette instead of 20. The white space is pretty, but the thought of condensing my kit even more makes my heart skip a beat. 

I'm still trying out this new silver thingy. I love being able to work out of it and not needing to open things up to get to things but I hate carrying it around. I feel like a tool (haha - because it's a tool box!). Also, it doesn't fit on my bike. Chances are I'll switch it up come spring time.

By no means is this it, but this is generally what I carry around with me. When I need extras there is a space on the lid or I just throw a to-gosie in my purse.

So there it is. My kit.

Marie Antoinette - Makeup Movie Monday

After last weeks departure into sensitive town with my feelings for Loretta Lynn, I decided to return to something purely visual this week.

It is nothing new to say that Sofia Coopola's film, Marie Antoinette is slow. It is not based on accuracy but instead, beauty. And while it won't keep you on the edge of your seat, it's definitely worth a watch. And since visiting Versailles with my special someone last year, it only means more. 

Below, some clips. Enjoy the decadence, finessed skin, perfect lips and over the top hair. 

Just can't get enough.

Of Halloween that is.

While scoping the ol' f-book this week the bf and I came across a website called Clubbing Republic. To sum it up, those people that take approximately 1 million photos every night at clubs across Toronto, then post their photos online for the world to see. Well, the world or the very people who are in the photos.  Bf and I are stay-at-home-rent-movie-make-dinner-types so the world of clubs are very very new/strange to us. We had a good laugh at all the ways girls have found to make costumes slutty on Halloween. Ie. Slutty Chilean miner. Slutty Swat Team. Slutty camo/army girl.

Anywhoo, what sparked my initial f-book hunt was to find the zombie girls I made over for This Is London on Oct. 30th. Here are the results. 

I only made over Randi. The blonde.

She and I both work at Blo during the week.

And lord love her for pulling off that Madonna bra.

I did the cops makeup. Not the blonde's.

Cannot for the life of my recall her name! 

Sorry!

I did both of these girls makeup.

Only a few went for the full zombie face.

The rest just did the ever present smokey eye

and some gorey cuts/bruises.

For the face makeup I used Ben Nye Character Cream Base as well as their coagulated and stage blood. I also busted out my trusty MUFE Flash Palette. I topped with a fine dusting of powder and finished with the MUFE Fix It. I also used the Fix It for those black metal boys. The stuff is like face glue. I L-O-V-E it. The lips were all OCC Lip Tars. I outlined all the lips with the black and filled them in with a variety of colours, depending on the girl. At the apartment, it meant that the girls looked like they had terrible liner but before they got to work the lips had blended and they had a dynamic lip colour with rich colour in the middle that transitioned to black. Wish I had a close up. Either way, give it a shot. It's a good look. 

xoxo

blo hearts parties part two

A few weeks ago I posted about a party taking place at work last weekend. It took place last Saturday after the IMATS. Oh lord. What a day.

The Thursday before the party I got to work to find the entire sidewalk ripped up. In August we got a letter telling us that there would be road work in September. I guess it was delayed a little while.... 

I never expected to have such a great time. It was so fun to dress up and see all the other blo girls dressed up. Ronnie, Euni and I did dry styles for awhile. We drank. We shook hands. There were air kisses and raffle tickets. 

My friends and roommates came which was so awesome. We had all worked so hard to pull that party together and it was so amazing to share that with my friends. I know they definitely have other things to do on Saturday nights so it was really nice that they came.

Here are a few snaps from my camera. The professional pictures are obviously much better but those won't be up for another few days.

This is Cristina!

She's a babe.

She's another blo boss.

My darling English friend, Allen.

Yes, he always looks this impressed.

And Sir Dru.

Roommate Extraordinaire.

The Heathers.

I love these ladies.

I teased both of their hair to the heavens. 

Big hair always wins.

xoxo

IMATS Recap

IMATS!!!!

I finally have a moment after an unbelievably crazy weekend.

Saturday morning I met my first client at 6am. She was entering a body building competition (her first) and was an absolutely fantastic client. I had a lot of fun with her. 

Jessica met me just after 7am and we were off. I was giddy. I am always excited for IMATS. This was my fourth (or fifth?) in as many years (I'm counting the years when Toronto hosted the Makeup Show and not the IMATS). It's so nice to see people doing what you want to do. To reconnect with friends. And really, to just talk about makeup for two entire days and not having any give me grief about it!

This year Jess, Mary and I helped out Liz at Yaby. Liz is always so much fun. The conversation has a tendency to turn towards the racy but its always entertaining. Hence the saucy cucumber photos. 

It is not often that I get to be taller than someone.

Jessica bought me this awesome scarf on her recent trip to Paris

And I turned it into a turban. 

Because frankly, I look great in turbans.

Again with the inappropriateness.

Liz and Jess getting a little too close.

The biggest bummer about working the show is that I miss all the presentations. I walked by while Enkore was presenting on the side stage. I really like his demeanor. And we were so close to the main stage that we heard all of Kandy Johnson's appearance. Which was... nuts. There were so many people there to see her. The line up for her signing was so long. And she is a trooper. Very pregnant, she sat and signed every single autograph that was requested of her. 

This year was so different from past shows. Saturday saw a very obvious presence of beauty bloggers. Everyone had a camera, a video camera and there was a lot of chatter about who recommended what on which youtube channel/blog. It's a strange shift for me. Definitely makes me feel a little older and little out of touch.

But one consistency that exists year after year... holy bad makeup batman! What is with all the makeup enthusiasts with TERRIBLE makeup. Terrible. T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. Am I making this clear enough? Year after year, Jessica and I remark to one another how a little bit of blending can go so far. Friends. Let me offer you an everlasting piece of makeup advice. If you are ever unsure about the look you're trying out, blend. Then blend some more. Then for good measure, a little more.

There were some new faces at the show. MAC PRO wasn't there last year and had a booth just for the purpose of signing people up for their pro card... which I think is... kinda icky. They used to have an entire booth at the Makeup Show and their products were pro discounted but now they just buy the space so they can present. Like I said, ick.

Stila was there. Which was cool because Sephora doesn't honour pro discounts. But they are doing some really strange things. Their makeup case/ video player is so gimmicky. They have a lot of products that rely on clever marketing that overshadow their fantastic products like their lip stain, liquid luminizer and convertible colours. 

I'll finish off the week with a new post about my kit so you can see all the rad things I picked up.

xoxo,

ashley.

I will tell you a secret.

Well, it's actually not much a secret. Especially if you've ever snuck up on me while I'm singing to my ipod. In which case, you already know that I'm a huge Loretta Lynn fan.

Huge.

Wikipedia will give you more information that I can succinctly but, I think she's tops. Loretta didn't even pick up a guitar until she was 24 and had been married for nine (9!!!!!) years. I used to think about that a lot when I was changing my life and suddenly studying makeup and hair. Also, I love country hair.

If you want a crash course in all things Loretta, the Definitive Collection is the way to go. Then pick up one of her books (I recommend Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner's Daughter) and watch the movie by the same name.

So, for this makeup monday, I present to you, one of my idols. Aptly named not only for her looks, but for her life.

And now you know too much.

xoxo
a.

Little love.

Here is my puppy. He is four.

Happy Birthday little one.

This Weekend!!!!!

Friends!!!!

I'm sooo excited. I love love love this time of year.

And I'm going to be honest, my shopping list this year might be pretty big. 

mascara spoolies

sponges

foundation brushes (I'm always searching for best one)

occ compressor!!!!!!!

MUFE waterproof pencils

And lets not forget how much Yaby I'm going to pick up. Oh lord. 

aaaaahhhhhhhhh. 

I'll be at the Yaby booth if you want to say hi and give me a high five and share a pepsi (one can, two straws!).

xoxo,

a.

Halloween!!!!

I know it's a little late but I was hoping to get more pictures back. Alas, my zombie muses have not provided images so I'm just going to share what I've got. And take a hint that I need to start taking more pictures through out the day... I always forget. 

My day started at Blo. The night before another blo boss and I discussed dressing up. I rarely dress up but decided to be a good sport. The next day, I was the only one in costume. And lets be clear, this is 8am... I'm covered in blood and feelin' a fool. A lady at the bank asking me if I was alright was probably the highlight of the morning.

I made our front desk girl dress as pippi. Danielle has long gorgeous hair that I fish tail braided and ran some wire through it. And those freckles? Smashbox gel liner. 

After blo I hit up a pre-work zombie party for a gaggle of girls who work at a club in Toronto as servers/bartenders. I made up over ten+ girls into sassy zombies. Well, partially clothed, over sexed, zombies. It was a blast. 

The zombie party ran late making me tardy for my final stop of the evening. And possibly the most fun. My dear dear friend dru, and two friends were going out as black metal... boys? black metal dudes? bmbff (black metal best friends forever)??? They had inspiration and tons of fun. 

btw - that graffiti appeared on the school

opposite our house the 29th of October.

Too perfect.

This picture of dru kills me.

He carried that horn around... it was sooo loud.

Enjoy!

xoxo

Dove Commercial

Sometimes I think we just need reminders of what it takes.