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.

Illamasqua and Mizz Worthy Art of Darkness Part Three

I'm not sure if this counts as one entry or two... because there are two faces... but only half of them count.....

So, my third and final (or perhaps third and fourth) entry to the Illamasqua and Mizz Worthy competition are the Siamese Twins.

When coming up with characters for a dinner party I immediately though that there needed to by a story teller. But I also wanted to provide a set of twins. And I couldn't decide whether the story teller should be reviled and reveled. So become the Siamese Twins; one a charlatan and the other a raconteur, neither will admit which is which and who is who. 

My fabulous roommate Dru and his wicked hot girlfriend, Heather, posed for these photos and I couldn't be more grateful to not have to take images of myself. These two are super babes.

One of my favourite books, is Geek Love. And when I saw the Art of Darkness collection, I pictured parts of this book. I won't give too much away, but I have to add, my inspiration for the characters, the siamese twins, came from this book. Even though, again, without giving too much away, the twins in Geek Love are totally different. Anyways - get the book. It's awesome.